Eating Roadkill Revisited

This old posting on eating roadkill continues to generate a lot of traffic -- lots of people are apparently interested in how to do this.

One hit came from a US Marine computer -- which kind of makes sense.

But a lot of anarcho-eco-weenies leave me brilliant comments like this one by an offended roadkill eater:

wow, whoever writes this blog is a fascist. hope you rot in the ground! :)

Hope you become roadkill! :-) :-)

See, the smileys make deathwishes acceptable. Fascists like me deserve to die anyway.

Quite surprisingly, here is actually a reasonably-written response in support of eating roadkill:

peter wrote:

I actually was looking for advice on how to eat roadkill when I stumbled on this forum... I'm going traveling next month and it seems to me like a good way to eat cheap and be self-sufficient. It's true, I guess, that we live like kings or gods compared to the people of the past... but it doesn't seem to me that our lives are so much better, really. Not like we're really any happier. Actually I find modern life kind of a drag. There just isn't the same kick to it when you're not responsible for your own survival. And all the retarded hoops one is expected to jump through for the privilege of living the life get pretty tiresome. I'm talking job applications, company policies, political correctness, dress codes, moral censorship, taxes, social decency, public education, curfews, lawyers, cops, and badly programmed traffic lights. That kinda thing. Really gets me down. I'd rather be out on the open road, gutting a dead rabbit with a utility knife and answering to nobody. If I want electricity, I'm smart enough to make my own, but for the most part I don't want it. I think civilization is an addiction. We did fine before it existed, but now that we've been hooked for just a few millennia we think we'd die without it.

But that's the great thing about primitive living, RDS: it doesn't interfere with your high-tech progressive civilized lifestyle AT ALL! You have complete freedom to enjoy your non-stop to Tokyo and your cell phone and so forth, while still reaping the benefits of the ancient Earth and its ecosystems: stuff like food, air, water, life, and so on. We can both live as we please and need not give each other any shit about it. I don't hate you, and I don't think your life is a waste.

Ok, this helps explain the appeal. I kind of get it now.

Thanks, peter, for not hating me -- much appreciated.

I would personally find scavenging a carcass less self-reliant than hunting and/or trapping, but I agree it's probably easier and it does save money.

Muslims Against Sharia

Someone's getting a clue.

Here's an interesting project:

Many people talk about the need to reform Islam. Now you can stop talking and start helping.

With the help of our readers we went through the Koran and removed every verse that we believe did not come from Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. However, it is possible that we missed something, and we could use your help. If you find verses in the reformed version of the Koran that promote violence, divisiveness, religious or gender superiority, bigotry, or discrimination, please let us know the number of the verse and the reason why it should be removed. Please email your suggestions to koran-AT-reformislam.org.

When we finish editing process, we would like to publish Reform Koran in as many languages as possible. If you could help with translation or distribution of the Reform Koran, please email us at koran-AT-reformislam.org. If you could provide financial support, please visit our support page.

In Memoriam of Aqsa Parvez.

reformislam.org

These are the verses they had to remove.

This is what was left.

Mr. Fusion?

In a few months, we could be hearing exciting news about breakthroughs in nuclear fusion!

If the results of this test project, the culmination of years of Navy-funded research, are successful, a commercially-working fusion reactor could be operating withing 5 years at a cost of a mere $200 million.

By comparison, mainstream fusion-research Tokamaks, on which decades of time and billions of dollars have been spent, are still decades away from viability at best, and likely will never work.

This is not any kind of "new physics" or crackpot research; the basic concept of the fusor was successfully producing fusion since the 1960s and has its roots in simple vacuum-tube technology, and was conceived by Philo Farnsworth who pioneered television. The problem was the original design was inefficient and required more energy to operate than was created -- but it was fusing nuclei essentially on a tabletop!

Fusors are so simple, a high school student can build one for about $500.

In fact, many hobbyists have done so.

The standard fusion approach assumes a magnetic field squeezes ions together and circulates them until they collide and fuse -- but ions are heavy and the magnetic energy required is immense.

Fusors instead work on the idea of using electric rather than magnetic forces to accelerate the ions linearly: imagine a negatively charged cathode that attracts ions towards it in a spherical configuration; as they rush to the center they reach high speeds and head-on collisions can cause fusion. Any ions that miss will gradually slow down after heading through the focus, and then be pulled back in, to recirculate until they fuse.

Simple!

The problem, however, is sometimes particles hit the metal cathode grid, and eventually (rather quickly) melt it...

Oops!

Enter Prof. Robert Bussard -- with a PhD from Princeton and a former assistant director of the Atomic Energy Commission. His redesign of the fusor concept into the "Polywell" device may have solved such problems.

Though he passed away last October, his last prototype seemed to work well enough that a scaled-up version was given $2 million in followup funding by the Navy last summer to be built and to try to replicate their previous results.

Yes, that's a shoestring budget. Here is the official site for Bussard's Polywell, where you can donate to speed it along if you like.

If successful it could send shockwaves through the fusion community! Of course, there can always be unforseen snags in attempting to scale up the device -- but as far as I can tell, there is no obvious reason it shouldn't work. No radical new technology is apparently required; the engineering issues are complex but appear tractable.

Bussard recently gave a talk at Google; you can see the long 90 minute lecture here, or a short highlight version here.

And here is a site with good links to info on the Polywell fusion topic.

The idea is to use magnetic fields to hold a cloud of electrons at the center of the sphere, eliminating the need for a physical metal grid that would melt. Electrons, being lighter, are much easier to contain than heavy ions. The electrons then pull in the ions by the electric force.

It takes energy, of course, to make the magnetic fields, and some electrons get lost. But with the right geometric arrangement of coils, Bussard believed the efficient containment was possible.

The really exciting thing is the reaction is not confined to lighter ions like Deuterium, which tokamaks had to use; such reactions produce excess neutrons which break down the machine eventually and make its parts radioactive.

The Polywell can easily produce energies (it's just a simple particle accelerator after all!) to fuse p-B11, that is, a proton with a Boron atom. Boron is a very plentiful element, and the fusion products are simply a trio of alpha particles, i.e. Helium! Non-radioactive Helium!

We've even got a shortage of Helium...

There are no extra neutrons and no high-energy gamma rays produced -- just a little x-ray energy, easily shieldable.

And yet another bonus is the Helium nuclei, being high-speed charged particles, can be directly converted into electricity with about 95% efficiency instead of having to be used to very innefficiently heat a substance to make steam to turn a turbine to make electricity.

And the reaction can also be used as a clean fusion rocket for space travel, which will suddenly make colonizing the solar system cost peanuts by comparison to chemical rockets!

The device may be too large to be a "Mr. Fusion" to power your car...but it might power your house!

Of course, you can get a mini fission reactor from Toshiba if that suits you better...Not a hoax!

The Toshiba mini reactor is for real. They’ve been having some discussions with remote towns in Alaska. It’s an updated version of the old Army mobile reactors from the 1950’s that were used in Greenland and Antarctica. The idea is to have a very stable, safe plant with a very long life without refueling. The real market is future industrial applications.

In any event, those banking on energy being expensive and rationed in the future are going to be disappointed...

Watch for news of the WB-7 Polywell!

And in a case of life imitating art imitating life, Bussard is already "memorialized" in the future, according to Star Trek:

In 1960, Bussard conceived of the Bussard ramjet, an interstellar space drive powered by hydrogen fusion using hydrogen collected using a magnetic field from the interstellar gas.
...
A highly fictionalized variation of this concept appears in the Star Trek series as part of the "warp drive" that allowed Starfleet ships to travel faster than the speed of light. In the series, Bussard Collectors or Bussard Ramscoops were in place on the front of the warp nacelles, where they could scoop in interstellar gases for use by the ships' propulsion and power systems.

Right around the corner!

Getting a Clue

The media is finally getting a clue on the myths of human-caused global warming, though they try to downplay it:
Small group of US experts insist global warming not man-made

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A small group of US experts stubbornly insist that, contrary to what the vast majority of their colleagues believe, humans may not be responsible for the warming of the planet Earth.

These experts believe that global warming is a natural phenomenon, and they point to reams of data they say supports their assertions.

Interesting word choices for what is supposed to be a non-opinion piece, eh?

Stubborn? Vast?

Too bad about those pesky reams of data though!

In mid-November the IPCC adopted a landmark report stating that the evidence of a human role in the warming of the planet was now "unequivocal."
...
Carbon pollution, emitted especially by the burning of oil, gas and coal [and every breath you take -- ed.], traps heat from the Sun, thus warming the Earth's surface and inflicting changes to weather systems.

Funny how carbon dioxide suddenly became "pollution", when you breathe it out and plants need it to live...

A group of US scientists however disagree, and have written an article on their views that is published in The International Journal of Climatology, a publication of Britain's Royal Meteorological Society.

"The observed pattern of warming, comparing surface and atmospheric temperature trends, doesn't show the characteristic fingerprint associated with greenhouse warming," wrote lead author David Douglas, a climate expert from the University of Rochester, in New York state.

"The inescapable conclusion is that human contribution is not significant and that observed increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases make only a negligible contribution to climate warming," Douglas wrote.

According to co-author John Christi from the University of Alabama, satellite data "and independent balloon data agree that the atmospheric warming trends do not exceed those of the surface," while greenhouse models "demand that atmospheric trend values be two to three times greater."

Data from satellite observations "suggest that greenhouse models ignore negative feedback produced by clouds and by water vapor, that diminish the warming effects" of human carbon dioxide emissions.

The journal authors "have good reason, therefore, to believe that current climate models greatly overestimate the effects of greenhouse gases."

How big is this "small" and "stubborn" group of scientists?

Over 400 and growing!

Over 400 prominent scientists from more than two dozen countries recently voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called "consensus" on man-made global warming. These scientists, many of whom are current and former participants in the UN IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), criticized the climate claims made by the UN IPCC and former Vice President Al Gore.
...
Even some in the establishment media now appear to be taking notice of the growing number of skeptical scientists. In October, the Washington Post Staff Writer Juliet Eilperin conceded the obvious, writing that climate skeptics "appear to be expanding rather than shrinking." Many scientists from around the world have dubbed 2007 as the year man-made global warming fears “bite the dust.” In addition, many scientists who are also progressive environmentalists believe climate fear promotion has "co-opted" the green movement.

This blockbuster Senate report lists the scientists by name, country of residence, and academic/institutional affiliation. It also features their own words, biographies, and weblinks to their peer reviewed studies and original source materials as gathered from public statements, various news outlets, and websites in 2007. This new “consensus busters” report is poised to redefine the debate.

Many of the scientists featured in this report consistently stated that numerous colleagues shared their views, but they will not speak out publicly for fear of retribution.

See the report for all the trashing of the UN fearmongering by real scientists.

And the Washington Times observes the trend:

Year of global cooling

Al Gore says global warming is a planetary emergency. It is difficult to see how this can be so when record low temperatures are being set all over the world. In 2007, hundreds of people died, not from global warming, but from cold weather hazards.

Since the mid-19th century, the mean global temperature has increased by 0.7 degrees Celsius. This slight warming is not unusual, and lies well within the range of natural variation. Carbon dioxide continues to build in the atmosphere, but the mean planetary temperature hasn't increased significantly for nearly nine years. Antarctica is getting colder. Neither the intensity nor the frequency of hurricanes has increased. The 2007 season was the third-quietest since 1966. In 2006 not a single hurricane made landfall in the U.S.

South America this year experienced one of its coldest winters in decades. In Buenos Aires, snow fell for the first time since the year 1918. Dozens of homeless people died from exposure. In Peru, 200 people died from the cold and thousands more became infected with respiratory diseases. Crops failed, livestock perished, and the Peruvian government declared a state of emergency.

And it goes on from there...

Courage To Do Nothing

Interesting reporting at the U.S. Senate website for the Environment and Public Works committee, on The Courage To Do Nothing About Global Warming

Skeptical Scientists Urge World To ‘Have the Courage to Do Nothing' At UN Conference

BALI, Indonesia - An international team of scientists skeptical of man-made climate fears promoted by the UN and former Vice President Al Gore, descended on Bali this week to urge the world to "have the courage to do nothing" in response to UN demands.

Lord Christopher Monckton, a UK climate researcher, had a blunt message for UN climate conference participants on Monday.

"Climate change is a non-problem. The right answer to a non problem is to have the courage to do nothing," Monckton told participants.

"The UN conference is a complete waste of our time and your money and we should no longer pay the slightest attention to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,)" Monckton added. (LINK)
...
Evans, a mathematician who did carbon accounting for the Australian government, recently converted to a skeptical scientist about man-made global warming after reviewing the new scientific studies. (LINK)

"We now have quite a lot of evidence that carbon emissions definitely don't cause global warming. We have the missing [human] signature [in the atmosphere], we have the IPCC models being wrong and we have the lack of a temperature going up the last 5 years," Evans said in an interview with the Inhofe EPW Press Blog. Evans authored a November 28 2007 paper "Carbon Emissions Don't Cause Global Warming." (LINK)

Evans touted a new peer-reviewed study by a team of scientists appearing in the December 2007 issue of the International Journal of Climatology of the Royal Meteorological Society which found "Warming is naturally caused and shows no human influence." (LINK)

"Most of the people here have jobs that are very well paid and they depend on the idea that carbon emissions cause global warming. They are not going to be very receptive to the idea that well actually the science has gone off in a different direction," Evans explained.

[Inhofe EPW Press Blog Note: Several other recent peer-reviewed studies have cast considerable doubt about man-made global warming fears. For most recent sampling see:
New Peer-Reviewed Study finds 'Solar changes significantly alter climate' (11-3-07) (LINK)

New Peer-Reviewed Study Halves the Global Average Surface Temperature Trend 1980 - 2002 (LINK)

New Study finds Medieval Warm Period '0.3C Warmer than 20th Century' (LINK)

For a more comprehensive sampling of peer-reviewed studies earlier in 2007 see
New Peer-Reviewed Scientific Studies Chill Global Warming Fears LINK ]

UN IPCC reviewer and climate researcher Dr. Vincent Gray of New Zealand, an expert reviewer on every single draft of the IPCC reports since its inception going back to 1990, had a clear message to UN participants.

"There is no evidence that carbon dioxide increases are having any effect whatsoever on the climate," Gray, who shares in the Nobel Prize awarded to the UN IPCC, explained. (LINK)

"All the science of the IPCC is unsound. I have come to this conclusion after a very long time. If you examine every single proposition of the IPCC thoroughly, you find that the science somewhere fails," Gray, who wrote the book "The Greenhouse Delusion: A Critique of "Climate Change 2001," said.

"It fails not only from the data, but it fails in the statistics, and the mathematics," he added.
...
New Zealander Bryan Leland of the International Climate Science Coalition warned participants that all the UN promoted discussions of "carbon trading" should be viewed with suspicion.

"I am an energy engineer and I know something about electricity trading and I know enough about carbon trading and the inaccuracies of carbon trading to know that carbon trading is more about fraud than it is about anything else," Leland said.

And don't miss the cornucopia of related links at that site with such titles as:

Related Links:

New UN Children's Book Promotes Global Warming Fears to Kids (11-13-2006)

Scientists Counter AP Article Promoting Computer Model Climate Fears

New Peer-Reviewed Scientific Studies Chill Global Warming Fears

Newsweek Editor Calls Mag's Global Warming 'Deniers' Article 'Highly Contrived'

Newsweek's Climate Editorial Screed Violates Basic Standards of Journalism

Latest Scientific Studies Refute Fears of Greenland Melt

EPA to Probe E-mail Threatening to ‘Destroy' Career of Climate Skeptic

Prominent Scientists Reverse Belief in Man-made Global Warming - Now Skeptics

Senator Inhofe declares climate momentum shifting away from Gore (The Politico op ed)

Scientific Smackdown: Skeptics Voted The Clear Winners Against Global Warming Believers in Heated NYC Debate

Global Warming on Mars & Cosmic Ray Research Are Shattering Media Driven "Consensus'

Global Warming: The Momentum has Shifted to Climate Skeptics

Prominent French Scientist Reverses Belief in Global Warming - Now a Skeptic

Top Israeli Astrophysicist Recants His Belief in Manmade Global Warming - Now Says Sun Biggest Factor in Warming

Warming On Jupiter, Mars, Pluto, Neptune's Moon & Earth Linked to Increased Solar Activity, Scientists Say

Panel of Broadcast Meteorologists Reject Man-Made Global Warming Fears- Claim 95% of Weathermen Skeptical

MIT Climate Scientist Calls Fears of Global Warming 'Silly' - Equates Concerns to ‘Little Kids' Attempting to "Scare Each Other"

Weather Channel TV Host Goes 'Political'- Stars in Global Warming Film Accusing U.S. Government of ‘Criminal Neglect'

Weather Channel Climate Expert Calls for Decertifying Global Warming Skeptics

ABC-TV Meteorologist: I Don't Know A Single Weatherman Who Believes 'Man-Made Global Warming Hype'

The Weather Channel Climate Expert Refuses to Retract Call for Decertification for Global Warming Skeptics

Senator Inhofe Announces Public Release Of "Skeptic's Guide To Debunking Global Warming"

Do Nothing!

Nanny State

This is just too stupid; the Nanny State is in too much control:
U.S. refuses `Any Wounded Soldier' mail

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Hundreds of thousands of holiday cards and letters thanking wounded American troops for their sacrifice and wishing them well never reach their destination. They are returned to sender or thrown away unopened.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks and the anthrax scare, the Pentagon and the Postal Service have refused to deliver mail addressed simply to "Any Wounded Soldier" for fear terrorists or opponents of the war might send toxic substances or demoralizing messages.

"Are we going to forget our soldiers because we are running in fear?" Fena D'Ottavio asked.

Yes.

Apparently, grown adults, our true warriors, must be shielded from the slightest possibility of nasty words.

Better that not a single one gets the thanks from half a million ordinary Americans, than one might see something on paper that is no different than the venom that flows from the media every day!

How noble of the Nanny State!

How pathetic!

Here's someone with an idea:

Some groups are offering to forward mail to the troops. Aides to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., are offering to accept letters, screen them through the U.S. Capitol mail operation, and get them to members of the armed forces.

Megan's Murderer's Law

US state of New Jersey moves to abolish death penalty

NEW YORK (AFP) - The US state senate of New Jersey has voted to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment, a major step toward becoming the first US state in three decades to abolish executions.

New Jersey senators voted 21-16 on Monday to get rid of capital punishment in favor of life without parole for the most serious offenders, and the state's general assembly is set to vote on the issue on Thursday.

With hefty support from New Jersey's Democratic-controlled assembly, the measure also enjoys the backing of Democratic governor Jon Corzine, who has vowed to sign it into law by January if lawmakers decide to pass it.

New Jersey voters largely oppose lifting the death penalty outright, however, backing execution for the most violent murders, according to an opinion poll released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.

Who will benefit from this Democratic bleeding-heart posturing?

Among the death row inmates who would be spared is Jesse Timmendequas, a sex offender convicted of murdering 7-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994. That case sparked a Megan's Law, which requires law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living in their communities.

Of course in a sane world, Timmendequas would be long dead by now, but instead has been able to experience the miracle of life for the past 13 years -- unlike Megan.

Will Corzine and his vile cronies be proud to call this legislation "Megan's Murderer's Law"???

That's what it is, and we ought to call it that.

And who will suffer now?

Megan's parents: 'To offer them life is a disgrace to their victims'

Fake Virtue was flowing freely; their Mercy knew no bounds:

Republicans had sought to retain the death penalty for those who murder law enforcement officials, rape and murder children, and terrorists, but the [Democratically-controlled] Senate rejected the idea.

Just another reason in a huge growing list of why I can never, ever, vote for any Democrat until that party's values change.

Deterrent? There's lots of evidence executions save lives.

Using a panel data set of over 3,000 counties from 1977 to 1996, Professors Hashem Dezhbakhsh, Paul R. Rubin, and Joanna M. Shepherd of Emory University found that each execution, on average, results in 18 fewer murders.[17] Using state-level panel data from 1960 to 2000, Professors Dezhbakhsh and Shepherd were able to compare the relationship between executions and murder incidents before, during, and after the U.S. Supreme Court's death penalty moratorium.[18] They found that executions had a highly significant negative relationship with murder incidents. Additionally, the implementation of state moratoria is associated with the increased incidence of murders

.But that doesn't really matter to me, as it's the principle that's more important than the pure utilitarianism. But way to go New Jersy lawmakers, you just got dozens of your constituents murdered!

Common sense would suggest, too, that if someone has just committed a crime that will send them away essentially for life, that if there's no higher penalty then suddenly society's wise lawmakers have just given them a huge perverse incentive to murder all of the witnesses and to try to kill any police that try to arrest them, because they have nothing more to lose!

How to explain this rush to refuse to severely punish the sex-murderers of our children?

Item:

A pig farmer accused of being Canada's most prolific serial killer has been found guilty of second-degree murder.

Robert Pickton, 58, was being tried for the murders of six women whose remains were found on his Vancouver farm.

Under Canadian law a murder conviction leads to an automatic life sentence. Pickton must wait 10 years for possible parole. He pleaded not guilty.

Got that?

The most prolific serial killer, caught red-handed, will be eligible for parole in a mere 10 years! The jury couldn't bring themselves to call this first-degree murder!

Even with scenes straight out of horror movies:

Pickton is charged with killing 26 women. A trial date for the other 20 murder charges has not been set.

Pickton had been charged with first-degree murder but the jury lowered that to the less severe second-degree murder.

The BBC's Ian Gunn in Vancouver says this means the jury did not believe there was sufficient evidence that Pickton had pre-planned all the murders.

Police raided Pickton's farm in 2002 and found the dismembered remains and personal belongings of the women Pickton was accused of picking up from the streets of Vancouver.

Parts of two of the women's bodies were found in five-gallon buckets in Pickton's freezer, parts of the others were discovered in a dustbin, a pig pen, and buried in manure on the farm.

The 10-month trial heard from almost 130 witnesses, including Lynn Ellingson, who said she once walked in on the pig farmer, who was covered with blood, as Ms Papin's body hung from a chain in the farm's slaughterhouse.

Our correspondent reports that the pig farmer's lawyers argued that none of the evidence proved that he himself had murdered the women.

A witness finds him soaked in blood with a dead woman's body hanging from a chain and nobody can be sure he pre-planned the murders or even did them himself?

Multiple murders just happened, over and over, by accident?

On a whim?

Oh, that makes it ok then, eh?

This is an infection of know-nothingism.

Nobody can take a stand and make a judgment.

Item:

Why Are College Kids Mocking the Dead?

Photos of two Penn State students dressed up as Virginia Tech shooting victims on Halloween have ignited a firestorm of controversy. PJM’s Aaron Hanscom thinks it’s yet another example of young people treating murder as a victimless crime.

“I know everyone will remember me as some sort of monster but please understand that I just don’t want to be a burden on the ones that I care for my entire life. I just want to take a few peices (sic) of (expletive) with me.”

These words are taken from the suicide note of 19-year-old Robert Hawkins, the gunman who murdered eight people in an Omaha mall on December 5. While Hawkins succeeded in destroying innocent lives before taking his own, he incorrectly predicted how he’d be viewed by “everyone” in the aftermath of the massacre. Committing a monstrous crime, it turns out, doesn’t automatically qualify you as a monster in the eyes of many people. For example, sympathy—maybe even respect—for Hawkins is what’s expressed in an interview one of his friends gave to a local television station:

I don’t think anything less of him because I know that Robby would have never done anything like this just for the fun of it…He wanted to go out in style, and that’s what he did.

Apparently murder isn’t even enough to retire the usage of the diminutive form of the murderer’s name. In fact, the reporter also referred to Hawkins as “Robby” when asking the friend questions like “What are you thinking about now that you know that Robby was involved in this shooting?” (The word “commit” can’t be used by the nonjudgmental.) It’s hard to disagree with talk show host Dennis Prager when he makes the case that such rhetoric is symbolic of society’s inability to make moral condemnations.
...
Indeed, a report commissioned by the National Association of Scholars in 2002 found that, “A large majority of this year’s college graduates report that their professors tell them there are no clear and uniform standards of right and wrong.” That’s not surprising when you consider this selection from the text Peace and Conflict Studies by Professors David Barash and Charles Webel, which many students read in their peace studies classes:

Placing “terrorist” in quotation marks may be jarring for some readers, who consider the designation self-evident. We do so, however, not to minimize the horror of such acts but to emphasize the value of qualifying righteous indignation by the recognition that often one person’s “terrorist” is another’s “freedom fighter.”

Similarly, it should not be surprising there is no will to want to see what Iran is up to, in spite of what they plainly say and plainly do, let alone to do anything about it; Pensions and Investments Online says, for example:

Pensions & Investments has named the 10 naughtiest and 10 nicest individuals or firms who affected institutional investors in 2007. Here’s our list:

Who’s been naughty?

Joel Anderson: This California Assemblyman stepped on fiduciary toes when he pushed through an anti-terror law that will force CalPERS and CalSTRS to divest some $3.4 billion in holdings in defense- and energy-related companies that do business in Iran by year-end 2008. No one wants to support terrorism. But forcing pension funds to sell off holdings violates trustees’ fiduciary duty to focus on risks and returns.

Can you imagine supporting investing in Nazi war bonds in 1943? I mean, it could be a good investment, fiduciarily speaking, so PI Online would seem to support that in theory. That pesky little terrorism thing and the risks to our way of life don't seem to figure into their equation.

Too bad so many innocents will then have to die, killed by the Guardians of False Moral Purity.

Remember, call it Megan's Murderer's Law...

Predictions

Here is an amusing list of predictions for the year 2000 apparently written in 1900 for the Ladies Home Journal by John Elfreth Watkins.

Many seem almost too good (or precious) to be true, and I haven't confirmed it 100%, but there was definitely a John Elfreth Watkins who wrote speculative article for the Ladies Home Journal in the early 1900s, according to items at Ebay, and others commenting elsewhere have claimed to confirm it on microfilm. PBS's newshour speaks of it. And a New York Times columnist refers to it -- though perhaps that doesn't mean anything anymore given journalistic standards of "fake but accurate..."

Examples:

Prediction #9: Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance. If there be a battle in China a hundred years hence snapshots of its most striking events will be published in the newspapers an hour later. Even to-day photographs are being telegraphed over short distances. Photographs will reproduce all of Nature’s colors.

Prediction #16: There will be No C, X or Q in our every-day alphabet. They will be abandoned because unnecessary. Spelling by sound will have been adopted, first by the newspapers. English will be a language of condensed words expressing condensed ideas, and will be more extensively spoken than any other. Russian will rank second.

Have fun reading the rest!