2006/05/30

Some Art

Amongst all the things I'm working on, I'm working on a translation of a book on Japanese contemporary art for Kodansha International this year.

In amongst it all, I found this interesting artist Makoto Aida, so I googled his name and found these pickies:






Makoto Aida is full of surprises but he's so politically incorrect it's not funny. He leaves western critics sort of apopleptic with gender war fury. The thing is, he so doesn't give a shit, and neither do the folks who fork out a fortune to buy his stuff, and it's awesome art. Which goes to show ideological modification of art is a fools' errand and has been the bane of art in the west for some time. Just look at the rhetoric required to get an 'arts grant'. Sheesh!

My fave artist in the book is Ken Hamaguchi, who I had the pleasure of meeting in Tokyo twice. He's a quiet fellow but with intense dialectical technique. I can't find anything by him on google yet, but would love to introduce his work to you all.

Huh?

Speaking Albanese

The Annual IWC stoush is coming up again, but this time, there's a feeling even in Australia that it's lacking credibility in pushing an environmental agenda when it won't even sign up for Kyoto.
Opposition environment spokesman Anthony Albanese said Senator Campbell would be taken more seriously if Australia was taking international action against climate change.
Senator Campbell left for Kiribati today for talks with officials on how to force the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to take action.

He also will visit the Marshall Islands and Vanuatu, both of which recently have shown interest in whale conservation.

Senator Campbell's Pacific visits are set against a background of his warning a week ago that pro-whaling forces looked set to win a majority on the IWC.
This bit though, got me laughing:
Senator Campbell said all Mr Albanese's comments did was give hope to the whaling nations and divert the issue.

"Really, in the environment, to use an old cliche, you need to be able to jog and chew gum," Senator Campbell said.

"Just because you are doing a tour of the Pacific to try to save whales, it doesn't mean you can also, at the same time, deal with greenhouse and other issues."
Did you understand the last bit? He says it doesn't mean that he can do both.
What a putz.

Meanwhile, here's an appetiser for things to come.
Foreign journalists here have long struggled to bridge the cultural divide over whaling between this country and the readers they cater to abroad. But this job is about to become much more difficult.

Japan and the prowhaling nations of Iceland and Norway are likely to win control of regulatory body the International Whaling Commission (IWC) when it meets in the West Indies in June.

Led by Tokyo, which has tirelessly lobbied for the return of commercial hunting, the three countries hope to secure 51 percent of IWC votes, paving the way for the reversal of the whaling ban that the environmental movement counts as one of its biggest victories.

Although scrapping the ban requires a 75 percent majority, control of the commission will be a huge propaganda boost to Tokyo's campaign and allow secret voting and other measures likely to help its cause.

The prospect of an end to the two-decade moratorium will make the conference the most vitriolic yet, after years of tension between the two bitterly opposed camps.

The IWC has failed to stop the three prowhaling nations from killing about 2,000 whales a year. Japan's whaling fleet recently returned from a "scientific expedition" to an Antarctic whale sanctuary with a haul of almost 1,000 whales, in defiance of the whaling body.

Pictures of the harpooned, bloodied animals went all around the world and Australia was one of several countries that labeled the expedition "a sham." But Japan has worked for years to win the support of over a dozen smaller nations, by buying their votes with foreign aid, claim critics.

Tokyo says the IWC has been hijacked by environmentalists and is "totally dysfunctional." Armed with its own surveys on whaling stocks, the prowhaling lobby is relishing another skirmish with what it calls the West's "culinary imperialists."

"We think it's possible to use whale resources in a sustainable way," says Hideki Moronuki of the Fisheries Agency. "We don't have much land, we have the sea. Japan has lost so much of its own culture already. Countries like the U.K. and America have their own resources. We don't tell them what to eat."

But strip away the rhetorical fog about "culture" and the issues become clearer. Sending factory ships thousands of kilometers from Japanese ports to hunt whales in sanctuaries is not the same as some idealized picture of locals engaged in sustainable fishing.

The agency claims there are close to a million Antarctic minkes and that it can hunt at a "scientifically sustainable" level, but so many other sources dispute those figures that it is simply impossible to take them at face value.

Moreover, "sustainability" arguments were heard when other species, such as gray whales, were being hunted to near extinction.

These issues, and the enormous damage that an end to the ban will likely cause to Japan's international reputation, should be the topic of a national debate, but the media here has so far remained silent.
Oh joy. The 'enormous damage' is not going to stop kids around the world buying PS3. Life goes on. You'd be surprised at what people don't care about - Like war and famine in Africa and Third World Debt. You know, actual people dying and stuff. Yet kill one whale and your whole country is a pariah? Yeah well, I've seen enough erotomaniac gaijin in Roppongi to be dissuaded of believeing that possible outcome. *Ugh*
There is this bit though, which might be encouraging to all:
One problem faced by this lobby is falling whale meat consumption. Even before 1986, when the moratorium on whaling began, whale eating was declining and about one percent of the population now eats it regularly, say most surveys.

With whale cuisine confined mostly to a handful of outlets, the prowhalers have struggled to dispose of Japan's growing stocks of whale meat -- almost 5,000 tons, according to one recent report.

This problem is being worked out by stealth. Last year, schoolchildren in rural Wakayama Prefecture found deep-fried whale in their lunchboxes, and similar schemes are afoot in government-related organizations that don't have to struggle for the consumers' pocket.
So economic and market reality might end whaling before moralising.
If nothing else, the annual IWC meet is always great blogging season.

2006/05/29

Enron Judgement



Kenneth Lay and Jeff Skilling have been found guilty of the corporate crash known as Enron. All along they maintained the trial was a witchhunt, yet didn't blame their underlings; they just said this was all normal business practices that the government was trying to criminalise. The People didn't buy it.

Lay said: "I firmly believe I'm innocent."

On television Lay invoked a higher authority than Judge Lake's court, saying: "We believe that God in fact is in control and indeed he does work all things for good for those who love the Lord."

Both are almost certain to appeal. They were each released on a $US5 million bond, with Lay having to obtain pledges from his children to make the amount.

They will be sentenced on September 11. Skilling's crimes carry penalties of up to 185 years' jail; Lay's up to 165 years.

Sean Berkowitz, the director of the Justice Department Enron Task Force, said: "The jury has spoken and they have sent an unmistakable message to boardrooms across the country that you can't lie to shareholders, you can't put yourself in front of your employees' interests, and no matter how rich and powerful you are you have to play by the rules.

"You sort of think, "What were they thinking?"
They essentially wiped out thousands of people's retirement savings as well as investment dollars while earning dirty big gobs of money. When the party was over and the cleaners came, what made them think they weren't going to be taken out with the garbage? You really don't wwant to be tried in a jury trial where the jury represent everybody who was envious of your amassed wealth and resentful of loss of their own assets.
The mind boggles at the delusion of these men.

Barry Bonds Hits No. 715


The melon-headed one hit his 715th homerun to surpass Babe Ruth. Bonds is now 2nd on the all-time career HR list.
Bonds now trails only Hank Aaron's 755 for first place. His 715th homer came on a 3-2 fastball in the bottom of the fourth inning from right-handed pitcher Byung-Hyum Kim of the Colorado Rockies before a near-capacity crowed at AT&T Park.

It was the sixth pitch to Bonds in the at-bat and he took a full swing on Kim's submarine-style delivery. Bonds seemed to sense immediately that the ball was hit well and left the batter's box slowly to watch the ball sail over the fence to the right of the 399-foot mark. A fan in the stands appeared to get his hand on the ball but could not hold it and it fell into a gap behind the fence where there are no seats.
Byung-Hun Kim! That'd be right. If there ever was aan unclutch pitcher, it's Kim.

I've kind of kept my mouth shut about Bonds and his HR chase because I really have mixed feelings about the feeat itself. Forget Bonds, the obnoxiouss superstar athlete for a moment; whatever his personal faults, they are his own and we would not know them but for this business of celebrity.

Then there's the issue of performance enhancing drugs in sport.
Steroids and PEDs are bad for you. To the best scientific knwoledge this stuff is bad for athletes so they have been baanned in many sports with good reason. Andd yet, there's always been this niggling interest inwhat the human body can achieve with the assistance of these drugs; call it a perverse curiosity. There's a certain amount of that in Baseball as players who took PEDs did amaazingly well; like Barry Bonds

Now, they drugs weren't actually banned in baseball until recently; so even if you claimed Baarry was a cheat, he wasn't really a drug *cheat* per se. He was breaking the law, and therefore isopen for criminal prosecution; but baseball hadn't banned PEDs until the beginning of last season.

So 715 homeruns by Barry Bonds to pass the Babe. What does it really mean? What ever people want it to mean, I guess.

AFL Fantasy Disaster Weekend
My team has slipped to 8th on the back fo a predicatble loss to the 'UK Challenge' team. It was a thumping, just like 2 weeks ago. With only 5 trades left, I didn't feel like re-jigging my team for one game. Maybe I'll do it this week, maybe not. It doesn't change the fact that my team was left behind in the dust by 200 points.

World Cup Song
I have posted up my FIFA World Cup Song for Australia up at iCompositions.
It's called 'The Wrong Code'
Please check it out and hit the download button. :)

2006/05/27

Jeter's 2000th Hit

When You've Got *It*
Jeter's 2000th hit was a dribbler in a loss to the Royals, but they scored it a hit.


Here's a funny bit in the article:
The Yankees were down by three runs and the fans were up on their feet cheering because Jeter was the one they came to see. He is No. 1 in the fans' hearts, and by the time he is finished he may be No. 1 on the Yankees' career hits list. Jeter took a notable step in that direction with a dribbler in the fourth.

Paul Bako, the Royals' catcher, fielded Jeter's ball, but his throw sailed over the head of the first baseman, Doug Mientkiewicz, and Jeter went to second. After a pause of several seconds that heightened the drama of the moment, the ruling came down: The official scorer in the press box awarded Jeter a hit and charged Bako with an error. That is how Jeter became the eighth Yankee to reach 2,000 hits, joining Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Bernie Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Don Mattingly and Yogi Berra.

Jeter's parents, Dorothy and Charles, were in the stands. As the official scorer deliberated, a television camera caught Jeter's mother mouthing to his father that the play was an "error."

"It's a good thing she wasn't scoring," said Jeter, who also singled in the seventh to finish 2 for 3 with two walks.

The there's this bit which is really interesting as an insight by his long-time teammate Bernie Williams:
Jeter insisted he does not pay attention to individual statistics, that the only thing he cares about is winning. Williams is convinced that that is true but he also believes this: "I think he has a side of him that he doesn't really show anybody.

"I'm thinking in some ways he's reluctant to show somewhat his human side. I think the expectations are so big on him to lead this club on a mental level, on a performance level, on a physical level, that I think he feels he needs to put almost a superhuman shield on."

The shield was firmly in place when Jeter was asked about the prospect of reaching 3,000 hits. "That is a long, long, long ways away," he said.

Maybe 2,000 hits is not a monumental accomplishment in baseball. But one got the sense last night that people were celebrating Jeter, the person, as much as Jeter, the player.
Well, yeah.
Wasn't it owner George Steinbrenner no less, who said that if he could come back as somebody, he'd like to come back as Derek Jeter?

Jorge!
Here's an article on Jorge Posada.

CAREER based on 2,000 PA
All catchers

OBP
1. Mike Piazza .383
2. Jason Kendall .382
3. Jorge Posada .375
4. Jason Varitek .350
5. Ivan Rodriguez .343
6. Gregg Zaun .342
7. Javier Lopez .340
8. Mike Lieberthal .339
9. Paul Lo Duca .339
10. Damian Miller .332

For me, this was the clincher: Career OBP since the year 1900 for catchers with over 3,500 at bats. Posada ranks 8th all-time.

CAREER OPB
MODERN (1900-)
All catchers

OBP
1. Mickey Cochrane .419
2. Wally Schang .396
3. Roger Bresnahan .385
4. Mike Piazza .383
5. Jason Kendall .382
6. Bill Dickey .382
7. Rick Ferrell .378
8. Jorge Posada .375
9. Gabby Hartnett .370
10. Spud Davis .369

In fact, Peter Ridges of the Society of Baseball Research (SABR) computed a variety of updates to Bill James' ranking system. According to Ridges work, Posada currently stands as the 14th-greatest catcher of all time.

Now, I am not going so far to say Jorge is THAT good. But some people who are a lot smarter than me seem to think he is … so it bears mention. After all, there is a REASON why Jorge was on the cover of the 2005 Bill James Handbook.
He is "teh Awesome". No, that's not a typo. :)

2006/05/26

Melky Time

Big Unit's Big Day Of Big Numbers


The Yankees edged out the Sawx 8-6. Randy Johnson pitched like a ERA 18.00 pitcher for half his innings and pitched like an ERA 0.00 picther for the rest of the way. He gave up 5 runs but struck out 8 and walked only 2. The peripherals are there unlike with Jaret Wright's recent smoke and mirror act; however the results aren't there just yet. Maybe he's going to slowly turn it around after all.


However, the hero of the night was Melky Cabrera who was sent in to lead off. He went 2-for-4 with a walk and batted in 4 runs. He's hitting .325/.413/.350 so far after 40 at bats. We're not seeing any power yet (he's hit one double), but his OPS stands at .763. His GPA is .273 which is passably good thanks to the high OBP, though it is nowhere enough for what you'd want from a corner outfielder. It's still small sample-size hour, but so far overall, he's been handy.

Digging a little deeper, his BABIP is a whopping .382, so he's been lucky with his groundballs. It's not going to stay at .382, so when (not 'if') he regresses back to league average on BABIP, expect to shave about chunks off his OBP. On the other hand, his linedrive percentage has been relatively low, and his GB to FB ratio is 4.00, so perhaps there will be an increase in power if he can hit more line drives for doubles. It would be expecting too much for him to provide an OPS of .850, but if he continues to provide an OBP-heavy OPS of about .750-.800, it might just be enough to keep the Yankees afloat.

The other big problem for the Yankees right now is Jorge Posada who is getting an MRI. The Yankees have no depth at catcher prospects since trading prospect Dionar Navarro in the Big Eunuch trade... Oh, that and Terrence Long; but I'm going to cut him some slack because he had 2 hits, actually drew a walk and scored 2 runs.
The Yanks were lucky to walk away with the series and stay only 0.5 games behind the Bosox.

2006/05/25

2006/05/24

Fun With Sourcewatch

Say 'hi' to Tom DeWeese
Would you buy a used car from this man?

A Head In The Sand, Is A Head In The Sand, Is A Head In The Sand
...to paraphrase Gertrude Stein...

In case you're wondering, I trawl my google news for headlines.
If it's computer-based, I tend to just skip it, but if it's global warming, I click on it to see the latest news on the issue. Here's today's account. In amongst all the gloomy looking is this little doozy of an ostrich with its head firmly placed in the sand.

It's actually an article saying that Global warming isn't happening; that the people who are campaigning to curb carbon emissions are ideologues in the manner of communists and that we should just dispense with having the entire debate. Now, I understand that the page is called 'Enter Stage Right', so the agenda is as loaded as they come but even so, I thought it would be fun to pick the argument apart. Here's his main argument:
The simple truth is there is no scientific consensus on global warming. In fact, as the media frenzy screams global warming, there are a growing number of scientists who are expressing their doubts.

In 1992, just prior to the UN's Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 425 scientists and other intellectual leaders signed The Heidelberg Appeal, a quiet call for reason in dealing with the climate change issue. Neither a statement or corporate interests, nor a denial of environmental problems, the Heidelberg Appeal expresses a conviction that modern society is the best equipped in human history to solve the world's ills, provided that they do not sacrifice science, intellectual honesty and common sense to political opportunism and irrational fears. Today, the Heidelberg Appeal has been signed by more than 4,000 scientists and leaders from 100 countries, including more than 70 Nobel Prize winners.

Also in 1992, another statement from some 47 atmospheric scientists was issued saying "such policies (greenhouse global warming theories) derive from highly uncertain scientific theories. The statement cited a survey of atmospheric scientists, conducted in the summer of 1991, "confirms that there is no consensus about the cause of the slight warming observed during the past century." The statement went on to say, "We are disturbed that activists, anxious to stop energy and economic growth, are pushing ahead with drastic policies without taking notice of recent changes in the underlying science."

In 1995, over 85 scientists and climate experts from research labs and universities worldwide, signed the Leipzig Declaration in answer to the International Symposium on the Greenhouse Controversy, held in Leipzig, Germany that year. In part, the Declaration says; "In a world in which poverty is the greatest social pollutant, any restriction on energy use that inhibits economic growth should be viewed with caution. For these reasons, we consider ‘carbon taxes' and other drastic control policies – lacking credible support from the underlying science – to be ill-advised, premature, wrought with economic danger, and likely to be counterproductive."

In 1997, a Gallop Poll of eminent North American climatologists shows that 83% did not support the claims of the green house theory of global warming.

In 1998, The Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM) issued a petition for signature by atmospheric scientists saying there is no scientific evidence indicating that greenhouse gases cause global warming. That petition was signed by more than 17,000 scientists and leaders involved in the issue.

Global warming scaremongers have tried to discredit these statements from the opposition, saying either they are too old to be counted in today's debate or that they weren't signed by real scientists. Neither is true. One only has to look at the signers on the documents and statements to know who and what they are. The relevance of the documents can be answered in two ways. First, most of the signers of these documents from the 1990's hold the same positions today. Second, as is the fallacy in the global warming debate, such drastic climate changes, as described in the scaremongers diatribes, would not come about overnight. Though the proponents would have you believe otherwise, 15 years is but a microsecond in the study of the earth's activities.

However, there is great question about the validity of the documents promoted by the global warming crowd. There is strong, documented evidence to show they care little about sound science and facts and much more about their political agenda.

For example, in May of 1996, unannounced and possibly unauthorized changes to the United Nation's report on climate change touched off a firestorm of controversy within the scientific community. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the science group that advises the United Nations on the global warming issue, presented a draft of its report in December 1995, and it was approved by the delegations. However, when the printed report appeared in May 1996, it was discovered that substantial changes and deletions had been made to the body of the report to make it conform to the Policymakers Summery. Specifically, two key paragraphs written by the scientists were deleted. They said:

1. "None of the studies cited above has shown clear evidence that we can attribute the observed climate changes to increases in greenhouse gases."
2. "No study to date had positively attributed all or part of the climate change to …man-made causes."

That was not the last time data has been manipulated by the IPCC to fit its political agenda. In 2005, a federal hurricane research scientist named Chris Landsea resigned from the UN-sponsored IPCC climate assessment team because his group's leader had politicized the process. Landsea said in his resignation letter, "It is beyond me why my colleagues would utilize the media to push an unsupported agenda that recent hurricane activity had been due to global warming." He went onto say, "I personally cannot in good faith contribute to a process that I view as being both motivated by pre-conceived agendas and being scientifically unsound."

In 2006, the voices of reason are speaking out louder than ever. Professor Bob Carter, a geologist at James Cook University, Queensland, Australia, says the global warming theory is neither environmental or scientific, but rather, "a self-created political fiasco." Carter explains that "Climate changes occur naturally all the time, partly in predicable cycles and partly in unpredictable cycles."

Meanwhile, more than 60 leading international climate change experts have gone on record to urge Canada's new Prime Minster to carefully review global warming policies, warning that ‘"Climate change is real' is a meaningless phrase used repeatedly by activists to convince the public that a climate catastrophe is looming and humanity is the cause."

In April, 2006, using temperature readings from the past 100 years, 1,000 computer simulations and the evidence left in ancient tree rings, Duke University scientists announced that "the magnitude of future global warming will likely fall well short of current highest predictions." The study was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. Gabriele Hegerl of Duke's Nicholas Schools of the Environment and Earth Sciences said her study discounts dire predictions of skyrocketing temperatures.

In 2004 the Heartland Institute published a report by Dr. Richard Lindzen, the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Sciences of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Lindzen reported that global warming is unlikely to be a dangerous future problem, with or without the implementation of such programs as the Kyoto Protocol. Lindzen, a member of the IPCC and one of the world's leading climatologists, said that alarmist media claims to the contrary are fueled more by politics than by science.

Said Dr. Lindzen, "With respect to science, consensus is often simply a sop to scientific illiteracy. After all, if what you are told is alleged to be supported by all scientists, then why do you have to bother to understand it? You can simply go back to treating it as a matter of religious belief, and you never have to defend this belief except to claim that you are supported by all scientists except for a handful of corrupted heretics."

So why, if scientists are researching the issue and if there is no consensus that global warming is a reality, is this voice not being heard? Why is a near panic building in the news media, on Capitol Hill and in research labs across the nation and in the international community?

Answer: fear and money.

Simply put, scientists know where the grants will come from to pay their salaries. Dr. Patrick Michaels, a leading opponent to the global warming scaremongers, calls it the federal/science paradigm. He describes it this way: Tax $ = Grants = Positive Feedback Loop to Get more Grants.
Did you get all that?
So let's go through this piece of demagogery that can only be said to satisfy a narrow-minded leadership that is hoping like hell that the global warming alarmists are wrong. But to structure this so-called truth, he bends quite a few truths to get to his desired conclusion.

Lets' start with the assertion that not all scientists agree.
For a start, let's look at this assertion that the Heidelberg Appeal somehow says that it is against the global warming case. According to Wikipedia:
The Heidelberg Appeal has been enthusiastically embraced by critics of the environmental movement such as S. Fred Singer of the Science and Environmental Policy Project. Conservative think tanks frequently cite the Heidelberg Appeal as proof that scientists reject the theory of global warming as well as a host of other environmental health risks associated with modern science and industry. Its name has subsequently been adopted by the Heidelberg Appeal Nederland Foundation, which was founded in 1993 and disputes health risks related to nitrates in foods and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. However, the Heidelberg Appeal itself makes no mention whatsoever of global warming, or for that matter of pesticides or antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It is simply a statement supporting rationality and science.
So that's a far cry from the 425 signatories disputing that global warming is taking place. Rather it was an appeal made for people to exercise their best scientific judgment rather than run to panic. It certainly does not endorse the position that global warming is not taking place.
It is true that in 1992, not all the scientists agreed. That does not mean that they still don't agree in 2006. There's been mounting evidence. One shouldn't be quoting an old scientific position against a new one; that way leads creationism and flat-earth-ism and that would not be a rational position to take.

DeWeese then comments that a separate group of 47 atmospheric scientists signed a statement to the efffect that not everybody agreed. Again, that may have been the case in 1992, but this is 2006. It really hasn't stood the test of time. if those scientissts are still sticking to their guns, DeWeese really ought to be producing those 47 rogue atmospheric scientists today.

Then there is the 1995 Lepzig Declaration DeWeese cites.
Here's Wikipedia again:
According to the SEPP website, there were 79 signatures to the 1995 declaration, including Frederick Seitz: the current SEPP chair. The signature list was last updated on July 16, 1996. Of these 79, 33 failed to respond when the SEPP asked them to sign the 1997 declaration. The SEPP calls the signatories "nearly 100 climate experts".
The signatures to the 1995 declaration were disputed by David Olinger of the St. Petersburg Times. In an article on July 29, 1996, he revealed that many signers, including Chauncey Starr, Robert Balling, and Patrick Michaels, have received funding from the oil industry, while others had no scientific training or could not be identified.
The 1995 declarations begins: "As scientists, we are intensely interested in the possibility that human activities may affect the global climate". However, those identified as scientists and climate experts include at least ten weather presenters, including Dick Groeber of Dick's Weather Service in Springfield, Ohio. Groeber, who had not completed a university degree, labelled himself a scientist by virtue of his thirty to forty years of self-study.
In any case, it is difficult to accurately evaluate the list of signatures of the 1995 declaration, as the SEPP website provides no additional details about them except for their university, if they are professors.
Well, that's a highly un-credible 'Declaration'. It's laughable that DeWeese is relying on this bunch of people to bolster his claims of science. But it gets even funnier:
The declaration begins: "As independent scientists concerned with atmospheric and climate problems, we...". As with the 1995 declaration, questions have been raised about the scientific background of the signers, and others have questioned the degree to which they can be deemed to be independent. Because many of those who signed the 1997 declaration also signed the 1995 declaration, the concerns raised by David Olinger and others after the 1995 declaration are still relevant.
The signers are generally described by Fred Singer and his supporters as climate scientists, although the current signers also include 25 weather presenters.

One key report opposing the scientific credentials of the signers was a Danish Broadcasting Company TV special by Øjvind Hesselager. Hesselager attempted to contact the declaration's 33 European signers and found that four of them could not be located, twelve denied ever having signed, and some had not even heard of the Leipzig Declaration. Those who verified signing included a medical doctor, a nuclear scientist, and an entomologist. After discounting the signers whose credentials were inflated, irrelevant, false, or unverifiable, Hesselager claimed that only 20 of the names on the list had any scientific connection with the study of climate change, and some of those names were known to have obtained grants from the oil and fuel industry, including the German coal industry and the government of Kuwait (a major oil exporter).

As a result of Hesselager's report, Singer removed some, but not all, of the discredited signatures. The number of signatures on the document, according to the SEPP's own press releases, has declined from 140 (according to a December 1997 press release) to 105 (as of February 2003).
The SEPP's position is that "a few of the original signers did not have the 'proper' academic credentials - even though they understand the scientific climate issues quite well. To avoid this kind of smear, we want to restrict the Leipzig Declaration to signers with impeccable qualifications." To address the signer credibility issue, the SEPP has provided considerably more information about each signer on their website and lists the weather presenters separately from the other signers.
Would you bet the future of this planet on these people's scientific advice? Is this the kind of rationalism that DeWeese thinks is rational?

Next is this claim that "a Gallop Poll of eminent North American climatologists shows that 83% did not support the claims of the green house theory of global warming."
I've tried googling this claim, and I keep running into this DeWeese guy as the source once again. Or they don't link to this research at all, they just insist it is so.

I did type in "1997 83% Climate" at Sourcewatch and I got this page.
And then, this page drew my attention for some reason. Now why would this page even come up with the combination of words "1997 83% Climate"?
The claim smells like bunkum to me. I think DeWeese simply made up that poll to sound more authoritative. So let's discard that one as being untruthful in everyway until proven otherwise.

Next up, The Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine and its petition. The institute, it turns out to be a bit like The Pond's Institute.
This is who OISM are, according to Sourcewatch.
The Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM) describes itself as "a small research institute" that studies "biochemistry, diagnostic medicine, nutrition, preventive medicine and the molecular biology of aging." It is headed by Arthur B. Robinson, an eccentric scientist who has a long history of controversial entanglements with figures on the fringe of accepted research. OISM also markets a home-schooling kit for "parents concerned about socialism in the public schools" and publishes books on how to survive nuclear war.

The OISM is located on a farm about 7 miles from the town of Cave Junction, Oregon (population 1,126). Located slightly east of Siskiyou National Forest, Cave Junction is one of several small towns nestled in the Illinois Valley, whose total population is 15,000. Best known as a gateway to the Oregon Caves National Monument, it is described by its chamber of commerce as "the commercial, service, and cultural center for a rural community of small farms, woodlots, crafts people, and families just living apart from the crowds. ... It's a place where going into the market can take time because people talk in the aisles and at the checkstands. Life is slower, so you have to be patient. You'll be part of that slowness because it is enjoyable to be neighborly." The main visitors are tourists who come to hike, backpack and fish in the area's many rivers and streams. Cave Junction is the sort of out-of-the-way location you might seek out if you were hoping to survive a nuclear war, but it is not known as a center for scientific and medical research. The OISM would be equally obscure itself, except for the role it played in 1998 in circulating a deceptive "scientists' petition" on global warming in collaboration with Frederick Seitz, a retired former president of the National Academy of Sciences.
Did you see that name Frederick Seitz in there? Yep, the same guy who came up with the 1995 Leipzig Declaration. So the OSIM isn't an independent source at all, but just another organ fronting for the same interests as the previous dud petitioners.
Here's more on it:
The Oregon Petition, sponsored by the OISM, was circulated in April 1998 in a bulk mailing to tens of thousands of U.S. scientists. In addition to the petition, the mailing included what appeared to be a reprint of a scientific paper. Authored by OISM's Arthur B. Robinson, Sallie L. Baliunas, Willie Soon, and Zachary W. Robinson, the paper was titled "Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide" and was printed in the same typeface and format as the official Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Also included was a reprint of a December 1997, Wall Street Journal editorial, "Science Has Spoken: Global Warming Is a Myth, by Arthur and Zachary Robinson. A cover note signed "Frederick Seitz/Past President, National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A./President Emeritus, Rockefeller University", may have given some persons the impression that Robinson's paper was an official publication of the academy's peer-reviewed journal. The blatant editorializing in the pseudopaper, however, was uncharacteristic of scientific papers.

Robinson's paper claimed to show that pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is actually a good thing. "As atmospheric CO2 increases," it stated, "plant growth rates increase. Also, leaves lose less water as CO2 increases, so that plants are able to grow under drier conditions. Animal life, which depends upon plant life for food, increases proportionally." As a result, Robinson concluded, industrial activities can be counted on to encourage greater species biodiversity and a greener planet:

As coal, oil, and natural gas are used to feed and lift from poverty vast numbers of people across the globe, more CO2 will be released into the atmosphere. This will help to maintain and improve the health, longevity, prosperity, and productivity of all people.
Human activities are believed to be responsible for the rise in CO2 level of the atmosphere. Mankind is moving the carbon in coal, oil, and natural gas from below ground to the atmosphere and surface, where it is available for conversion into living things. We are living in an increasingly lush environment of plants and animals as a result of the CO2 increase. Our children will enjoy an Earth with far more plant and animal life as [sic] that with which we now are blessed. This is a wonderful and unexpected gift from the Industrial Revolution.
In reality, neither Robinson's paper nor OISM's petition drive had anything to do with the National Academy of Sciences, which first heard about the petition when its members began calling to ask if the NAS had taken a stand against the Kyoto treaty. Robinson was not even a climate scientist. He was a biochemist with no published research in the field of climatology, and his paper had never been subjected to peer review by anyone with training in the field. In fact, the paper had never been accepted for publication anywhere, let alone in the NAS Proceedings. It was self-published by Robinson, who did the typesetting himself on his own computer. (It was subsequently published as a "review" in Climate Research, which contributed to an editorial scandal at that publication.)

None of the coauthors of "Environmental Effects of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide" had any more standing than Robinson himself as a climate change researcher. They included Robinson's 22-year-old son, Zachary, along with astrophysicists Sallie L. Baliunas and Willie Soon. Both Baliunas and Soon worked with Frederick Seitz at the George C. Marshall Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank where Seitz served as executive director. Funded by a number of right-wing foundations, including Scaife and Bradley, the George C. Marshall Institute does not conduct any original research. It is a conservative think tank that was initially founded during the years of the Reagan administration to advocate funding for Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative--the "Star Wars" weapons program. Today, the Marshall Institute is still a big fan of high-tech weapons. In 1999, its website gave prominent placement to an essay by Col. Simon P. Worden titled "Why We Need the Air-Borne Laser," along with an essay titled "Missile Defense for Populations--What Does It Take? Why Are We Not Doing It?" Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, the Marshall Institute has adapted to the times by devoting much of its firepower to the war against environmentalism, and in particular against the "scaremongers" who raise warnings about global warming.

"The mailing is clearly designed to be deceptive by giving people the impression that the article, which is full of half-truths, is a reprint and has passed peer review," complained Raymond Pierrehumbert, a meteorlogist at the University of Chicago. NAS foreign secretary F. Sherwood Rowland, an atmospheric chemist, said researchers "are wondering if someone is trying to hoodwink them." NAS council member Ralph J. Cicerone, dean of the School of Physical Sciences at the University of California at Irvine, was particularly offended that Seitz described himself in the cover letter as a "past president" of the NAS. Although Seitz had indeed held that title in the 1960s, Cicerone hoped that scientists who received the petition mailing would not be misled into believing that he "still has a role in governing the organization."

The NAS issued an unusually blunt formal response to the petition drive. "The NAS Council would like to make it clear that this petition has nothing to do with the National Academy of Sciences and that the manuscript was not published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences or in any other peer-reviewed journal," it stated in a news release. "The petition does not reflect the conclusions of expert reports of the Academy." In fact, it pointed out, its own prior published study had shown that "even given the considerable uncertainties in our knowledge of the relevant phenomena, greenhouse warming poses a potential threat sufficient to merit prompt responses. Investment in mitigation measures acts as insurance protection against the great uncertainties and the possibility of dramatic surprises."
There's more, but I'll leave that to your reading pleasure. Now if this OISM doesn't scream "Front Group!!!", I can't say what a Front Group is. So DeWeese is trying to quote the same fraudster twice in separate entries 2 paragraphs apart, sandwiched by a claim he made up himself. Okay! Points for Chutzpah! - No points for rationaility and reason.

The thought that crosses my mind at this point is, why is it that some people know no shame? Like this Seitz guy; how can he live with himself? Or this DeWeese guy for that matter. There's an answer but I'll tell you later.

Anyway, moving right along to his next dodgy redundant claim that these above documents are relevant,
- the fact that these people hold the same positions today is neither surprising nor persuasive towards being rational; especially given that they are the same people running a 'front' for an agenda agenda. They could just be stubborn and stupid - the more likely explanation.
- the claim that the timescale is too short is even more ridiculous when you consider the claim of these people is that global warming isn't happening at all. It is akin to the argument "God doesn't exist, besides, he's stupid?"

But it gets worse. He then cites the IPCC dispute of the evidence that there is enough dispute to say global warming is not happening. Clearly that is a disingenuous logical error; of course unless DeWeese meant to rhetorically arrive at a point that suited his crooked argument.

It runs parallel to the other hoary topic, the teaching of evolution: The fact that there is dispute in Kansas about Evolution does not mean in way shape or form that the Theory of Evolution as science is in dispute, no matter how maany experts testify on behalf of Intelligent Design. What is being disputed in Kansas is the right of the school board to teach Intelligent Deisgn
Similarly, the dispute surrounding the IPCC at worst indicates that people are arguing about the degree of the probleem; not whether it exists outright or not.

Then DeWeese goes on to list arguments by prominent Global Warming sceptics such as Bob Carter at the James Cook Univesity, Qld. Well, Bob Carter seems like a straight man with no interests: he just helps out with drillings for oil.
Carter could better be described as 'a prominent research geologist with a personal interest in the issue of climate change', from his list of research papers. He has extensive experience of paleoclimatic research, including participation in Ocean Drilling Program Leg 181 in the southwest Pacific which described the benchmark 4 million year long, mid-latitude climate record from Site 1119.
Why is it that these people who are all global warming sceptics cantankerous types with links to the oil industry? I mean, why is it these puppet mouthpieces don't bother hiding their strings?
That's a rhetorical question by the way: Bob Carter just knows which side his bread is buttered on and that's his own business. We as proper sceptics should just view his claims with a very dim view.

Then DeWeese cites some study supported by the 'National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration'. Well, the NOAA actually have a link about Global Warming, so they think it's happening - they just don't think humans are the cause. This is from their FAQ Page:
What is the greenhouse effect, and is it affecting our climate?
The greenhouse effect is unquestionably real and helps to regulate the temperature of our planet. It is essential for life on Earth and is one of Earth's natural processes. It is the result of heat absorption by certain gases in the atmosphere (called greenhouse gases because they effectively 'trap' heat in the lower atmosphere) and re-radiation downward of some of that heat. Water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas, followed by carbon dioxide and other trace gases. Without a natural greenhouse effect, the temperature of the Earth would be about zero degrees F (-18°C) instead of its present 57°F (14°C). So, the concern is not with the fact that we have a greenhouse effect, but whether human activities are leading to an enhancement of the greenhouse effect.
That last sentence does not say, the NOAA deny that Global Warming is taking place. It says they don't know how much of the Global Warming taking place is because of human activity. they're two different things and DeWeese is wrong (as in mistaken, as in incorrect) to cite the NOAA as a body that thinks it is not taking place.

But DeWeese is known to confute the two points.
There Is NO Man-Made Global Warming
By Tom DeWeese
There is no scientific evidence to back claims of man-made global warming. Period. Anyone who tells you that scientific research shows warming trends—be they teachers, newscasters, Congressmen, Senators, Vice Presidents or Presidents—is wrong. In fact, scientific research through U.S. government satellite and balloon measurements shows that the temperature is actually cooling—very slightly—.037 degrees Celsius.
Well, it's one thing to assert that Global Warming is taking place, but that it's not because of human activity; it's most likely WRONG, given the current evidence, but it's a position one could take. It's another thing entirely to claim that credible scientists agree that Global Warming is not happening at all, that it's a piece of fiction conjured up by scared and greedy scientists, which is the thrust of the article of the day. DeWeese would be best advised to get his story straight.
You can't logically have it both ways.

Back to our article of the day. DeWeese then quotes Dr. Richard Lindzen of the Heartland Institute as if it were this great insitution, just because it's called an institute. Again, a bit like the Pond's Institute, it's a front for industry and it turns out it's one for the tobacco companies.
Although Heartland calls itself "a genuinely independent source of research and commentary," its role as a pliant mouthpiece for the tobacco industry can be documented by searching the industry's internal document archives.

Roy E. Marden, a member of Heartland's board of directors, is the manager of industry affairs for the Philip Morris tobacco company, where his responsibilities include lobbying and "managing company responses to key public policy issues," which he accomplishes by "directing corporate involvement with industry, business, trade, and public policy organizations and determining philanthropic support thereto." In a May 1991 document prepared for Philip Morris, Marden listed Heartland's "rapid response network" as a "potential spokesperson" among the "portfolio of organizations" that the company had cultivated to support its interests. [3]
I guess they're worried that all that cigarrette smoke has contributed its fair share of CO2.
Here's a bit on this Dr. Richard Lindzen from Sourcewatch:
Ross Gelbspan, journalist and author, wrote a 1995 article in Harper's Magazine which was very critical of Lindzen and other global warming skeptics. In the article, Gelbspan reports Lindzen charged "oil and coal interests $2,500 a day for his consulting services; [and] his 1991 trip to testify before a Senate committee was paid for by Western Fuels and a speech he wrote, entitled 'Global Warming: the Origin and Nature of Alleged Scientific Consensus,' was underwritten by OPEC." [3]

In November 2004, climate change skeptic Richard Lindzen was quoted saying he'd be willing to bet that the earth's climate will be cooler in 20 years than it is today. When British climate researcher James Annan contacted him, however, Lindzen would only agree to take the bet if Annan offered a 50-to-1 payout. Subsequent offers of a wager were also refused by Pat Michaels, Chip Knappenberger, Piers Corbyn, Myron Ebell, Zbigniew Jaworowski, Sherwood Idso and William Kininmonth. At long last, however, Annan has persuaded Russian solar physicists Galina Mashnich and Vladimir Bashkirtsev to take a $10,000 bet. "There isn't much money in climate science and I'm still looking for that gold watch at retirement," Annan says. "A pay-off would be a nice top-up to my pension."
So Dr. Lindzen is taking money from the oil interests and he won't stand by his word unless it's a 50-to-1 pay out? So much for the claims of stalwartness that the Global Warming sceptics stand by their signatures. DeWeese would be better off not using this man as a credible source.

Having gone point to point, I have to say this article really is a tawdry piece of trash by DeWeese, and is a pretty sad indictment of people who are trying to wish the Global Warming issue away. I've lost the desire to keep debunking each and every one of his lies. It's so appallingly wrong-headed, it's staggering.

At best he could have cited, say, Global Dimming as an off-setter for the Warming, but no, he hasn't even done his research there. Instead he keeps trotting out the Lindzens and Carters of the world who are in the pay of oil interests or quoting Front Groups who are all fronting for insterests who wish that Global Warming wasn't happening.

As for his 'conclusion' of "Fear and Money"? Doesn't it strike you that the oil industry is the one wracked by fear and that is why they are paying money to corrupt scientists who are willing to cash in their titles in exchange for cash? Isn't it the Lindzens and Carters and Seitzes of the world who are fear-mongering oil companies into giving them cashh to disssemble?

So who exactly is this Tom DeWeese?
The American Policy Center is a far-right wing think tank run by PR man Tom DeWeese.
That's all you get. But if you Google his name, you find such wonderful articles like these:

'SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT' THE EVIL FACING AMERICA


THE CONSEQUENCES OF SURRENDERING LIBERTY TO GOVERNMENT SECURITY

Turns out, he's not just your ordinary far-right nut bar, he's the full fruitloop-crazy nutbar.
It's amazing that his craptacular article even gets such a high listing on Google News, but there you go. Call yourself a president of an American Policy Center and you can look like you actually have some gravitas. People get away with blue murder. DeWeese sleeps easy at night because he has no conscience, knows no shame or embarrassment, believes whatever fiction he chooses to and claim is 'rational' and 'science'; and he's completely insane.

The real reason I went and did this was because I've just listed Sourcewatch as a link on the sidebar. It's pretty cool. Check it out.

Another Day, Another Thought

We're All In This Together Kiddo

So says Robert DeNiro's Harry Tuttle in that great Gilliam film 'Brazil'. I found these picks from a cool site here.
Now, today's topic: This is kind of odd.
A 17-year-old student who posted on his blog site that he was being bullied and threatened by the Plainfield School District will face an expulsion hearing this week, a local attorney said.

Superintendent John Harper, who cannot comment on student cases, said the district will take action if it believes there is a safety issue. Meanwhile a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union said school districts must be careful not to discipline students on matters that occur outside school. The student's attorney believes Plainfield School District is overstepping its boundaries.

"The district is going to take away the student's education for exercising his freedom of speech," said attorney Carl Buck. "I feel like they are trying to control his freedom of speech. ... He is saying, 'You can't bully people and we have a right to object and you can't throw people out of school for voicing their opinions.'"

On May 1, the student posted a letter to Plainfield School District on www.xanga.com , telling off the district, using vulgar words and saying he could put whatever he wanted on his site.

On a second post on May 2, without mentioning the school the student wrote: "I feel threatened by you, I cant even have a public Web page with out you bullying me and telling me what has to be removed. Where is this freedom of speech that this government is sworn to uphold? ... Did you ever stop to think this will start a community backlash? The kids at Columbine did what the did because they were bullied. ... In my opinion you are the real threat here. None of us ever put in our xanga's that they were going to kill or bring harm to any one. We voiced our opinions. You are the real threat here. you are depriving us of our right to learn. now stick that in your pipe and smoke it."

Sites like www.myspace.com and www.xanga.com are blocked from most school district computers. These sites are controversial because students often post too much information -- everything from addresses and phone numbers to provocative photos -- making them vulnerable to sexual predators.

"Our beef is it wasn't a threat. It wasn't at school," Buck said. "He doesn't name any individuals. What he is commenting on is their disciplinary action on the Freedom of Speech."

The student's mother said the district suspended her son for 10 days for inappropriate comments and vague threats. She thinks the school is overreacting. "I asked, 'If this is such a serious threat, did you call the FBI?' They said, 'No, we don't have time for this.' I asked, 'Did you call the Joliet police?' and they said, 'no.'"

In most cases, posting strong feelings and opinions on the Internet is not a crime, said Fred Hayes, deputy chief for Joliet Police Department. "Now, they can post it on a Web site. We are not seeing an explosion of new feelings or expressions from students. What you are seeing is the availability of technology to share that with quite a few people," Hayes said.

"It is not a crime to write things on the Internet – though we find them offensive, troubling and disheartening, it is not a crime," Hayes said.

Still, it's a very fine line. "If a student wrote, 'I'm so frustrated I wish the school would blow up' — that would not be a crime," Hayes explained. However, "if a student were to post on a Web site ... at 2 p.m. a bomb will go off in a school -- that would probably cross a line to a crime."
Umm, this is disturbing. A kid gets bullied. He writes his thoughts on aa weblog and the school pull him up and suspend him. I'm not sure that's right. Do you?
Then again, there's this case here which is probably not that great for Freedom of Speech, but they've suspended a kid for his weblog that critiqued junior girls in their school.

The courts have long held - since the Supreme Court's Tinker v. Des Moines decision in 1969 - that public schools can restrict students' First Amendment rights only when what they say materially disrupts school operations.

Officials say that's exactly what happened in Kirkwood. The list Bates and his friends posted left some girls in tears and forced administrators to spend most of a morning handling the situation, said district spokeswoman Nona King.

"These remarks were personal and cruel, and they were made about over 100 junior girls," King said.

Kirkwood officials didn't claim that the boys intended for their list to make its way into school but said its effect justified the suspensions.

But most of the existing case law addresses student speech and behavior that actually occurs on school grounds or at school activities. In the Tinker case, for example, students wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War, despite administrators' instructions forbidding the armbands. The court ruled in favor of the students, finding that their actions weren't disruptive enough to justify infringing on the students' First Amendment rights.

More recently, lower courts have produced a mixed bag of decisions. A federal court in Missouri, for example, ruled in 1998 that the Woodland School District was wrong to discipline a student for offensive comments about his school and faculty that he posted on his Web site. The court found that the comments weren't disruptive enough to meet the Tinker standard.

Two years later, a federal court in Washington state took a different approach. Instead of asking if a student's Web site - created and maintained off-campus - disrupted the school, it concluded that the site fell outside the school's jurisdiction entirely.
Not impressed? I'm not either. Meanwhile they're also trying to muzzle free speech for school kids in Illinois, before it becomes a problem.


An Illinois school district has created a new rule that will punish students for web postings that depict underage drinking, smoking or other "illegal or inappropriate behavior," according to local media reports.

The move caused some parents to complain that the district is invading the privacy of students and overstepping its bounds, The Chicago Tribune reports.

As parents, "we have to watch what they're doing," Mary Greenberg, who has a son at Libertyville High school north of Chicago, said during a public comment period.

"I don't think they need to police what students are doing online. That's my job."

All students who participate in extra curricular activities, about 80 percent of the district's 3,200 students, will now be required to sign a pledge agreeing that evidence of illegal or inappropriate behavior posted on the Internet could be grounds for disciplinary action.

Community High School District 128 Associate Superintendent Prentiss Lea said the changes are part of an effort to get parents, teachers and students more aware of the potential pitfalls of such websites as MySpace.com.

"By adding the blog sites (to the student codes of conduct), we wanted to raise discussions on the issue," he said. "We have taken the first steps to starting that conversation."

District officials said they will not regularly surf student sites for violations but said they will follow up on tips from students, a parent or a community member.

In the pledge, which both students and their parents must sign, the students agree that they will not use alcohol, tobacco or drugs or "exhibit gross misconduct or behavior/citizenship that is considered detrimental to his/her team or school."

The code of conduct states that "maintaining or being identified on a blog site which depicts illegal or inappropriate behavior will be considered a violation of this code."
Fight the good fight kids, and post freely. And as the black-and-white man said, Good Luck and Good Night.

Sometimes They Win, Even With Terrence Long Playing!
Sheff came back, (and in the process dislodging Colter Bean instead of Terrence Long) and the Yankees beat the Red Sox today. Terrence Long went 0-for-4 again, maintaining his offensive output at zero.
Jaret Wright got hit by yet another hit ball.
A-Rod hit a 3-run homer which stood as the difference maker.
Tuesday, Rodriguez blasted another monstrous home run, but this one was anything but meaningless. A-Rod's seventh-inning homer turned out to be the difference for the Yankees, who handed the Red Sox a 7-5 loss in front of a capacity crowd at Fenway Park.

"I could care less; in my career, I've been hearing it for a long time," Rodriguez said of the criticism. "It will never stop until you win five or six World Series in a row and hit a Joe Carter home run. I've done a lot of special things in this game, and for none of that to be considered clutch, it's an injustice."

"I don't take anything personally; I enjoy it, it motivates me and I think it's comical," added the reigning American League MVP. "I think anyone that drives in over 130 runs numerous times in his career, it's impossible not to be clutch."

Jaret Wright threw five shutout innings, while Mariano Rivera rescued the Yankees with a five-out save.
So Jaret Wright lowered his ERA yet again. I have to say this is a bit spooky.

2006/05/23

Well So Much For The Excitement


These pickies of Godzilla and King Ghidorah represent my inner desire to just smash shit up today.

Couldn't Stand The Weather

It's really cold in my room, even with this heater on. When I think of the global warming issue, I feel guilty having the damn thing on, but I can only wear so many layers of clothing andf if there really was a global warming, I want some of that warmth to manifest in my room.

I've been tidying up the loose ends for the Discovery Channel Asia docos I've been working on as Associate Producer. It keeps me in the house, attached to my computer and phone. The grovelling I did two weeks ago has not paid off. They're still waiting on those tapes. So much for swallowing my pride.

Finally, Some Music
Yes, The never ending saga of 'Key Psycho' post-production continues. I have received my first music file from Jim McCrudden and have slotted it into the tracklay EDL. It sounds awesome. He's done a beautiful job, at least for the opening Main Title Theme. He nailed the Bernard Hermann feel we were after.

Slowly Collapsing But Collapsing All The Same
My Fantasy Baseball team fell to 4th today on the back of some abysmal hitting this week. A bit like the slippage of the Yankees this season, I blame Hideki Matsui. Now, Matsui issued an apology, but he sure didn't apologise to the good people out here who have him as a corner piece of their fantasy team.

Similarly, my AFL Team is struggling. They're coming 6th out of 16, but the bleak reality is that my team's upside is all of 1800 points per round. I doubt it's good enough to stay on the winning side of the ledger through this season.

I'm Livin' In Da Nile
I've signed up for the Yahoo World Cup fantasy soccer thingamijeebob.
You sign 23 players to a roster and pick your team from that pool. You can only have 3 members from a country, which rules out filling your squad with Brazillians (that's soccer players, not chicks with certain kinds of body-hair removal patterns).
I'll see how I go; watch this space.

He's Living in Denial
A piece on Terrence Long.
It's been a whirlwind journey since the Yankees called. In the span of seven days, Long signed a minor-league deal, played four games in Columbus and started in left field for the Yankees in last night's 9-5 loss to Red Sox at Fenway Park.

"Everything happened kind of fast," Long, 30, said before the game. "I went home and I sat and talked to my wife and my family for a couple of days. Then I got this got call, and it was the best thing that could have happened for me."

The injury-ravaged Yankees were desperate for outfield help. Right fielder Gary Sheffield has missed 16 games with wrist and hand injuries. Left fielder Hideki Matsui is out three months with a broken wrist. And reserve outfielder Bubba Crosby is on the disabled list with a pulled hamstring.

While there was a deep pool of players to choose from, Long seems like a decent fit considering his seven years of major-league experience and ability to play all three outfield spots.

"I'm sure I'm capable of coming in and helping," said Long, who has also played for the Mets, A's, Padres and Royals. "The good thing about it is it's not my first day in the big leagues.

Long had a rough night at the plate, going 0 for 4, but played a decent left field. He nearly allowed a run to score in the first by mishandling a ground ball, but otherwise covered his ground well.

"I felt good out there," Long said. "I had some pitches I could have hit and swung at a few I couldn't. But that's baseball."
Err, What? Capable of helping? You wanna help? Retire, Terrence, retire.
Talk about self-delusion. But wait, there's even more to this piece:
To this point in his career, Long has been productive wherever he's played. He's a .270 career hitter with good speed and a solid glove. He's also got valuable experience, appearing in 19 postseason games in four seasons in Oakland.

Long came highly recommended to the Yankees by first base coach Tony Pena, who managed Long on the Royals for part of last season.

"He's experienced, and that's sort of what we clung on to," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "I know he's got ability from what I've seen from across the field."
Oh my God. Don't cling to that hope Joe. I'm actually incredulous: The Yankee brass found positives to say about this player? They're in for a real shock. Now, here's the thing. He came at Tony Pena's recommendation. Now, they're going to listen to Tony because they're trying to sign his son Francisco.
The Yankees, Mets, Braves and Nationals are among the teams showing interest in catcher Francisco Pena, 16, the younger son of Yankees first-base coach Tony Pena. Francisco, a native of the Dominican Republic, is eligible to sign with a major-league club on July 2. Teams are attracted to his power, and Tony Pena told the Newark-Star Ledger that he didn't have as good an arm as Francisco at the same age. Pena's older son, Tony Jr., is the Braves' Class AAA shortstop.
Seriously, can there be any other explanation than they're doing Tony a big favour?

It Ain't Workin' So I'm Grumblin'
The Red Sox beat the Yankees 9-5. It was quite the thumping.
Chien-Ming Wang pitched, so wisely this time Joe Torre picked his day to put Bernie Williams in CF and Johnny Damon at DH. Of course this pushed Giambi on to 1B and Phillips to the bench, but such is life. The gaping hole in LF was filled with Terrence 'Expletive' Long who for some reason batted in front of Melky Cabrera at 8. - Melky Cabrera hit a double and scored a run, which is more than what could be said for Long who went 0-for-4 and was the last batter. While you don't want to pin hopes on Melky, you sort of think maybe that was 4 outs that did not need to be given away ahead of Melky coming to bat.

Wang had a forgettable day giving up 7 runs in 6 innings. Worse still, Colter Bean gave away two runs putting his ERA at 9.00. I guess he wasn't fooling anybody on the Sox today. I just hope they don't send him back down after 2 measley innings. I guess it's notime to be failing.
Nothing seems to be working at the moment for the Yanks.

UPDATE:
It occurred to me overnight as I grumbled my self to sleep about Terrence Long and Scott Erickson being on the roster, that maybe (just maybe) Brian Cashman is trying to educate Joe out of relying solely on 'veterans'. Everytime Joe demands a veteran, Cashman gives him one, but he makes sure the player is south of craptastic so that Joe is forced back into using the guys who are effective, regardless of experience. Need a veteran pitcher? Here, have Erickson. Need a veteran outfielder? Here, have Long. Pretty soon, Joe's going to have to count on guys like Colter Bean and Melky Cabrera - you know, actual Yankee farm produce. And just maybe those guys will stick in spite of Joe's prejudice.
In that sense Richard Hidalgo might have been just a little too good for that purpose.
Just a thought. I'm having to come up with crackpot theories to explain all this to myself.

UPDATE 2:
Colter Bean got sent don to make room for Gary Sheffield's return. It's disappointing, but also, so much for my crackpot theory.

2006/05/22

Is This The Beginning?


Colter Bean Pitches An Inning
Carl Pavano ending up with surgery has opened up a roster spot for Colter Bean to come up for a look-see. It kind of went under the radar in the Yankee loss to the Mets. Bean pitched for an inning with no runs conceded, with 1k and 1BB.
The question is, will this be the beginning of the Colter Bean era?

Colter Bean is one of those pitchers over whom the scouting community and sabermetric crowd differ on sharply. The scouts really don't see much in this pitcher. He's even be left off the Yankee 40-man roster to be picked up by The Red Sox no less in the Rule 5 draft, and got flung back at the Yankees by the end of spring-training. Basically, his stuff looks nothing like the strikeout pitcher he's been in the minors.
So what's the big deal you say? What we have here is a guy soft-tosssing a whole bunch of Ks at a pretty good clip in the minors.

2003 Columbus IL Age: 26 AAA ERA 2.87 27BB 70k hits/9: 6.91 HR/9: 0.65 BB/9: 3.52 K/9: 9.13 WHIP: 1.16

2004 Columbus IL Age: 27 AAA ERA: 2.29 23BB 109K Hits/9: 6.64 HR/9: 0.33 BB/9: 2.50 K/9: 11.87 WHIP 1.02

2005 Columbus IL Age: 28 AAA ERA 3.01 39BB 82K Hits/9: 7.53 HR/9:0.63 BB/9: 4.90 k/9: 10.30 WHIP: 1.38

This guy was arguably ready in 2003! Instead the Yankee brass sort of smothered him down in the minors for tossing too softly. Personally, I blame Mel Stottlermyre.
The point is, the numbers are telling us *something*; now is the time we'll find out what that *something* and that's why it's a little more exciting.

Here's a link to the outrage when the Yankees callled up Scott Erickson.
Here's a link to a discussion out at BTF which kind of petered out as soon as it began.

It's seriously about damn time they let this guy have a shot at the majors.

UPDATE:
On further reading the following day I have discovered he was pulled for pitching 5 straight pitches outside the zone in his second inning for the 1BB, according to SG in AT at the RLYW.
Steven Goldman had this to say on his weblog:
I thought my one good eye might pop out of my head when I saw Colter Bean had been called up for Mitch Jones. I had been assured that the Yankees wouldn't call on Bean unless he was the last man alive, but I'm male, and I've just checked with my editor here at YES, and he assures me that he is as male today as he was yesterday. A recent diaper change also confirmed that my son is male. As such, I am forced to conclude that the Yankees have lowered their standards and decided to call Bean even if he was at least the fourth-to-last man alive. Thank heaven for flexibility in the coaching ranks — or maybe the Yankees simply had no alternative at this point. As my wife reminds me every night, desperation makes for strange bedfellows.

If used wisely, which means to take on two or three consecutive righty batters in the order, Bean will pitch well. That's if his Bernie Williams-ish habit of going for a long walk between pitches, concertedly licking his hand all the while, doesn't drive Joe Torre to distraction.
Good luck Colter Bean!

It's Going To Be Too Long Until We Say So Long To Long
In other news, this one really bad, both Bubba Crosby and Shawn Chacon have ended up on the DL. In response to the climbing toll of the injured, the Yankees have bravely (an unwisely) signed Terrence Long. What's worse, he's now with the big club.
Long will get some starts in leftfield, Torre said, because he doesn't want to start Bernie Williams every day in place of the injured Hideki Matsui. Aaron Small, who started in Chacon's place and took the loss last night, will continue to occupy Chacon's turn in the starting rotation, Torre said.
Long was the kind of ballplayer people laughed at the A's for having signed to a long term contract; the joke only got funnier when the Kansas City Royals actually signed him up. What is he doing with the Yankees? he was signed to fill the holes in the AAA Columbus outfield, but now he's actually in the Yankee dugout. *ick!*

Gary Sheffield says he's now coming back sooner rather than later. I'm sure he took one look at Terrence Long and thought, "if that guy plays, I'm never getting to the World Series! That's going to hurt my value ads a free agent if the Yanks don't pick up my option!"
I mean it's one thing to have your playing time filled in by a prospect; it's anonther thing entirely to have it filled by Terrence Long.

It will be a good day when the Yankees bid so long to Mr. Long, obviously, none too soon.

The Weekend Blow By Blow

Lordy Lordi
The winning entry in this year's Eurovision song contest comes from Finland.
Dressed as bloodthirsty orcs and warning Europe to "get ready to get scared" the rockers from Arctic Lapland took the stage as Eurovision outsiders and left as winners who had taken the contest to what Terry Wogan described as a new level of foolishness with their song Hard Rock Hallelujah.

The cartoon metalheads wore latex monster masks and played spark-spewing instruments as they sang: "Wings on my back, I got horns on my head/ My fangs are sharp and my eyes are red."
And they found that a combination of shock and comedy value made them irresistible to several hundred million TV viewers, many voting by phone and text message. Lordi gained 292 points, the highest score in Eurovision history, and their crushing victory was heralded as a turning point for a contest for years dominated by lightweight pop and sugary ballads. "This is proof that there were rock fans watching Eurovision," said the group's singer, Mr Lordi. "This is a victory for rock music and also a victory for open-mindedness." Terry Wogan, doyen of British Eurovision TV coverage, jokingly described the performance as "nicely understated" and added "every year I expect it to be less foolish, and every year it's more so".

Despite giving Finland its first win, Lordi's shock tactics have not met universal approval at home. Scratching his nose with his plastic talon after his band's victory, Mr Lordi said: "In Finland, they've said things like we eat babies for Christmas. Whenever we appear in public people there do their best to ignore us ... We are not Satanists. We are not devil-worshippers. This is entertainment. Underneath [the mask] there's a boring normal guy, who walks the dogs, goes to the supermarket, watches DVDs, eats candies. You really don't want to see him."

Finland's president Tarja Halonen congratulated the band with a telegram, and the culture minister, Tanja Karpela, said it showed Finnish music could succeed abroad. As Finns celebrated on the streets of Helsinki, Satu Puolakka, a 19-year-old student, struggled to come to terms with her new heritage. "It's not Sibelius, but they have their own way," she said. Others had been so determined to end Finland's history of failure in the contest that they launched a fundraising campaign to pay for the band's pyrotechnics.

The win was seen as a victory for silliness in a contest which, in recent years, has seen some po-faced attempts at victory, notably from the UK, which drafted in Jonathan King in 1995 to produce a "credible" entry from Love City Groove. Lordi's victory has confirmed such tactics were a wrong turn.
Here's the performance, already up on the net. Thanks to GK for those links.

There was also this delightful critique from the Times:

IT WAS perhaps the most disturbing performance in the 50-year history of the Eurovision Song Contest, but Finnish rock group Lordi captured the imagination of viewers to win the contest with a record score.
The rockers swept to victory in Athens despite, or possibly because of, widespread protests by Christian groups. Millions fell so heavily for Hard Rock Hallelujah’s thumping rhythms and latex horror masks that they now seem poised for a new level of stardom.

Industry observers are wondering whether Lordi are set to become the unlikeliest heirs to the competition’s great success stories: Abba, Bucks Fizz, Dana and Céline Dion.

The band’s victory was rapturously welcomed in Finland, a country that had never before come close to winning Eurovision. The headline in Finland’s leading newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, read: “It’s official: Hell has frozen over. Finland has won.” Lordi’s victory had disproved the claim that intelligent life would be found on Mars before Finland won the Eurovision Song contest, the paper added.

Eight countries, including Britain, gave Lordi the maximum 12 points, enabling them to accumulate 292 points overall — the highest tally in the contest’s history.

Hard Rock Hallelujah was played in Finnish bars and restaurants into the small hours of Sunday morning.

Although most readers will not have heard of them, Lordi are no overnight success story.

The band’s greatest hits compilation has been released in 20 countries and its debut album Get Heavy went platinum in Finland in 2002, but before Saturday’s competition the group had yet to make an impact in the English-speaking world.

At home there was intense debate over whether they would disgrace Finland’s reputation. Songs about the “Arockolypse” and the “Day of Rockoning” blend religious imagery with tongue-in-cheek rock posturing. But lead singer Mr Lordi (real name Tomi Putaansuu) denies that there is anything more sinister going on.

“We have nothing to do with satan worshipping — this is entertainment,” he said. Born in Lapland, he also said that the band would never remove their masks.

Not everyone is impressed with Lordi’s victory. Father Mitro Repo, an Orthodox Christian clergyman in Helsinki, described the band’s use of the name Lordi as “sacrilege”.

Greece’s Orthodox Church has also deplored its triumph. “Who would have expected that the first prize could have gone to those who showed up (looking) like monsters,” Archbishop Christodoulos said.
That is the height of awesomeness when a 'joke' band takes out the comp.

From The Pleiadean Mailbag
It was a very big week trawling the net for Pleiades. Here are some links that came in over the weekend...

The Big Dam(n) in China.
The last of 16 million tonnes of concrete will be poured in today, making Chairman Mao's dream of a reality, and giving China's current generation of engineers-turned-leaders the chance to proclaim another colossal step forward in the country's "harmonious development".

But the completion of the Three Gorges dam has been anything but harmonious. It is now being cited as a textbook example of how not to build a dam. Before it even starts operating, the giant hydro-electric scheme is threatened by silt - the solution to which is to pour yet more concrete into the Yangtse river.

About Halliburton Part 1.
They're serious about this weird suit being the answer to global warming.
UPDATE: I screwed up. This is actually a satire site.
An advanced new technology will keep corporate managers safe even when climate change makes life as we know it impossible. [Speech, photos]

"The SurvivaBall is designed to protect the corporate manager no matter what Mother Nature throws his or her way," said Fred Wolf, a Halliburton representative who spoke today at the Catastrophic Loss conference held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Amelia Island, Florida. "This technology is the only rational response to abrupt climate change," he said to an attentive and appreciative audience.

Most scientists believe global warming is certain to cause an accelerating onslaught of hurricanes, floods, droughts, tornadoes, etc. and that a world-destroying disaster is increasingly possible. For example, Arctic melt has slowed the Gulf Stream by 30% in just the last decade; if the Gulf Stream stops, Europe will suddenly become just as cold as Alaska. Global heat and flooding events are also increasingly possible.

In order to head off such catastrophic scenarios, scientists agree we must reduce our carbon emissions by 70% within the next few years. Doing that would seriously undermine corporate profits, however, and so a more forward-thinking solution is needed.

At today's conference, Wolf and a colleague demonstrated three SurvivaBall mockups, and described how the units will sustainably protect managers from natural or cultural disturbances of any intensity or duration. The devices - looking like huge inflatable orbs - will include sophisticated communications systems, nutrient gathering capacities, onboard medical facilities, and a daunting defense infrastructure to ensure that the corporate mission will not go unfulfilled even when most human life is rendered impossible by catastrophes or the consequent epidemics and armed conflicts.

"It's essentially a gated community for one," said Wolf.
...and here's Part 2 watching this company we've come to love to loathe.
The new report (the third in the series) is being issued on the eve of Halliburton 's annual general meeting in Duncan, Oklahoma, on Wednesday, May 17th, 2006. It documents:

* how the company management in Iraq and Kuwait has cheated taxpayers out of millions of dollars through bribery and waste;

* how the company has increased its profits in Iraq by employing sweatshop Asian labor and refusing to pay injury claims;

* how senior management used worker's pensions to pay for management benefits, despite the fact that the soaring stock price has made the top managers tens of millions of dollars.

Today as the military slows its purchases of Halliburton services in Iraq, the company is diversifying into such profitable areas as the Hurricane Katrina disaster in the Gulf States and the provision of direct services to the oil and gas industry abroad.

In the latter part of this report, we show that the company's biggest profit center, energy services, has been fraught with charges of bribery and political meddling in Iran and Nigeria.

* Its hydraulic fracturing operations in the United States have had disastrous impacts on the environment, including community water supplies;

* It's lobbying efforts have prevented legally mandated regulatory oversight.
A possible draft of a letter from GWB to Ahmeni-jihad...?
To: President of Iran

From: President of Amurrica

Mr. Moo-uh Abba-dabba-jen,

After carefully listening to a one minute summary prepared by my staff of your recent 18 page letter complaining about so-called wars of aggression by the US, torture and one-sided blind support of Israel, I have decided to write a letter back since -after all- I am the decider.

You clearly do not understand democracy, which is why you are part of the “Axis of Evil.” While you were elected president by a majority of your people, I became president in the year 2000 with a minority of the vote. While your latest election used paper ballots, which allow double checking of the vote, I was elected in 2004 by electronic voting machines in all the key states with no verifiable paper trail. Clearly our democracy is superior to your so-called democracy.

I intend to use the utmost restraint when dealing with your country, Iran. I will not take any rash actions. I will use the same deliberation and careful judgment that I have used before. This is why I plan to hold a prolonged conference with Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Richard Perle and the CEO of Halliburton before deciding if an attack on Iran should take place this summer or after the November election.

It's a sad thing that satire like this is chilling for their insight rather than funny. Says a lot about our times.

A possible British solution to their fresh water problems...
Britain's biggest water supplier, Thames Water, is seriously considering towing icebergs from the Arctic to London to solve what could be the worst shortage in a century, a newspaper says.

"We have to look at any possible alternative, including towing icebergs from the Arctic and seeding rain clouds," The Times quoted Richard Aylard, of Thames Water in London.

Admitting that many people might find the idea "daft," he could not rule out using icebergs. Thames Water has not determined whether it would make most sense to bring in icebergs from Greenland or northern Scandinavia, he added.

Aylard said other plans included transporting water across the North Sea by tanker from Scandinavia.

"Tankers from Scotland and Norway are something that has been looked at. If we get into an emergency situation that's the kind of thing we would be looking at," he said.

He said that bringing water by road has been considered but all but rejected, because it would not be a feasible way to supply quickly millions of people.

What are they going to do when the Icecap is completely gone, due to global warming?

Here's an article archived on Rense.com about the relationship between the US Dollar and Oil.
And that is the tale of the tape from Pleiades this week.

Fantasy Sport Report
My AFL fantasy league trudged aacrosss the line for a lame win against the 'Fredo Frogs' (now there's a name that inspires fear). It wasn't close, even though my players ha pretty bad weeks. I felt my team regressed considerably from their peak-like performance in the previous week, which leave me at 6th with a 4-1 record. Next week's opponent is 'Ian's UK Challenge' which will be pretty stiff, followed by PJ's 'Sydney Scorpions' which is going to be the toughest matchup until I face 'Boutros Boutros' and his 'UN Peacekeepers'..

Amazingly, PJ leapt off the mat this week with a rise of 14 points in the Jack Kerouac Memorial league. My team has held steady at 3rd.

As the World Cup approaches I'm going to put together a fantasy team for that too; and I'm trying to start up a league for the World Cup as well. This ought to be fun - in for a penny, in for a pounding.

Kircher Link
I've replaced the Hoagland link with the Kircher society because Hoagland stopped writing on his blog 7-8 months ago. Today's interesting Kircher link is this one about the highest parachutist Joe Kittinger.

Some months ago, we came across this photo on BldgBlog and were reminded of the story of Joe Kittinger, unheralded U.S. Air Force pilot and Hero of the Athanasius Kircher Society. On August 16, 1960, Kittinger was lifted 31,333 meters into the sky in a pressurized balloon. At the end of his three-hour ascent, at the edge of space, looking out across the arc of Earth, he opened the capsule and jumped into the vanishingly thin air. During his 26 km freefall, which lasted four and a half minutes, he accelerated to 990 km/hr, becoming both the first man to touch outer space and the first to break the sound barrier outside of an aircraft. Fortunately for those of us who will never get to have such an exotic experience ourselves, he brought a camera with him:
Now, the film he shot is pretty astonishing even on lo-res. Make sure you check it out!

Cleaning Up
We've been cleaning up around this house this weekend. It was one big assault on stuff put in storage by people who lived through the depression and decided throwing anything out was bad. Those people have passed on but their legacy of junk has remained. With the permission of the landlord, we've been tossing out huge quantities of what can only be described as CRAP. It's amazing what 40 years of hoarding can accomplish: You can live in a huge house and not notice it's huge, for instance. Anyway, we've got some space now.

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