Ghost Town Orange: 2003

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Wolfgang Simpson's 15 Theses

Another reminder for myself: read 15 theses by Wolfgang Simpson tomorrow.

What's this?

This is a reminder to myself: check out emergingchurch.info tomorrow.

Top News Stories of 2003

Ghost Town Orange's top news stories for 2003
we start with several stories about Iraq:

1. The United States and Great Britain wage war on Iraq under false pretenses
Claims that Iraq had active 'weapons of mass destruction' programs have not been confirmed; nothing has been found. Here's a summary of the lack of evidence regarding WMD from the BBC, 13 July 2003.

Bush: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Robert Scheer reports about this in the Los Angeles Times via TruthOut.org

Geoffrey K. Pullum comments on George W. Bush's mis-use of rhetoric:

When this claim was later queried by the press, defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld was put out front to say, "It's technically accurate." National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice explained, "The British have said that."

What any linguist familiar with English lexical semantics would notice here is that Rice switched verbs. Bush didn't make a statement about what the British had said; he made a statement about what they had learned.

The difference is crucial, because learn is what is known as a factive verb. I can say that two plus two is five time I like, but I can't learn that two plus two is five unless it really is.

Pullum's conclusion:

Whatever the rest of the justification for war against Iraq, the President really did personally vouch for the truth of the Niger yellowcake story in his State of the Union speech to Congress and the people.

That's what happens when you say "X has learned that P": you commit yourself to the claim that P is true. Don't toss factive verbs around lightly.

2. Bush White House leaks spy's name as political payback for blowing the whistle on false claims in 'State of the Union Address'

Here is a summary of the Wilson/Plame story posted at Politics Unusual

Bush welcomed the CIA probe on the leak (via CNN): so what's happened since?

3. Halliburton engages in war-profiteering in Iraq. Here's a summary on Halliburton's role from CorpWatch.
Why is only Congressman Waxman interested (via Global Policy)?
Here's a quote from the relevant New York Times article [I refuse to link to the NYT archive.]

The United States government is paying the Halliburton Company an average of $2.64 a gallon to import gasoline and other fuel to Iraq from Kuwait, more than twice what others are paying to truck in Kuwaiti fuel, government documents show.

Halliburton, which has the exclusive United States contract to import fuel into Iraq, subcontracts the work to a Kuwaiti firm, government officials said. But Halliburton gets 26 cents a gallon for its overhead and fee, according to documents from the Army Corps of Engineers.

The cost of the imported fuel first came to public attention in October when two senior Democrats in Congress criticized Halliburton, the huge Houston-based oil-field services company, for "inflating gasoline prices at a great cost to American taxpayers." At the time, it was estimated that Halliburton was charging the United States government and Iraq's oil-for-food program an average of about $1.60 a gallon for fuel available for 71 cents wholesale.

But a breakdown of fuel costs, contained in Army Corps documents recently provided to Democratic Congressional investigators and shared with The New York Times, shows that Halliburton is charging $2.64 for a gallon of fuel it imports from Kuwait and $1.24 per gallon for fuel from Turkey...

4. Nearly everything the U.S. government says about the Jessica Lynch story is wrong; gullible reporters act as stenographers for government propaganda.
Here's the BBC story by John Kampfner -- 'Saving Private Lynch story 'flawed'' Here's some commentary from the blogosphere (blah3.com)
And here are links to Steno Sue's work:

The original (false) report in the Washington Post Note: this report includes the statement that they found "a 'prototype' Iraqi torture chamber in the hospital's basement, with batteries and metal prods" [why haven't we heard more about this? Perhaps it was another lie?]
The WP ombudsman attempts to cover Steno Sue's ass
The stenographers re-visit the story

A story on the 'war on terror':

5. The report on 9/11 is released without 28 pages--the United States does not want to embarrass 'ally' Saudi Arabia by revealing the truth about Saudi support for extremist Islam.

Here is the text of the 9 11 report (from Findlaw and CNN)
Commentary from Alternet.org
Even the Saudi-American community thinks little is gained by keeping these secrets.

Several stories on politics:

6. The Smithsonian Institution put Arctic wildlife photos in basement after Republican Senator Ted Stevens complains
Again, I refuse to link to the NYT archive, but here's the gist of the article from May 2, 2003:

Smithsonian Is No Safe Haven for Exhibit on Arctic Wildlife Refuge
By TIMOTHY EGAN
New York Times, May 2, 2003

SEATTLE, May 1 Things had been going along pretty well in the improbable life of Subhankar Banerjee, a native of Calcutta, India, who has become perhaps the leading photographer of one of the coldest and most uninhabited places on earth, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

A physicist by training who learned photography from fellow shutterbugs in the off hours at Boeing, Mr. Banerjee found a publisher for a book of his wildlife photos and was granted an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.

Then, in a March 18 floor debate about oil drilling in the refuge, a senator urged every member to read Mr. Banerjee's book before calling the refuge a frozen wasteland. Suddenly Mr. Banerjee's work was being promoted on C-Span, one of the highest honors of his life, he said.

But it has been nothing but trouble ever since. The Smithsonian exhibit will still open on Friday, though in a much different version than what had been scheduled. Mr. Banerjee and the book's publisher say members of the Smithsonian told them that the museum had been pressured to cancel or sharply revise the exhibit of birds, caribou, musk oxen and other images he had photographed.

Smithsonian officials say that no pressure was applied and that the changes to the show -- it was moved from the main floor rotunda to a lower-level room, and captions were deleted and truncated -- are part of the routine, last-minute preparations for a major exhibition. [This is BS, sez Ghost Town Orange]

Now Mr. Banerjee, who had hoped to discuss the journey of the buff-breasted sandpiper or what it is like to be stuck in a tent with a wind-chill temperature of minus 80 degrees, finds himself in a political storm.

"I am naive about politics," Mr. Banerjee, who is 34 and lives in Seattle, said. "I still consider this a great honor. I don't understand how all this happened."

Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, plans to question Smithsonian members at a hearing next week and will display some of Mr. Banerjee's pictures and the deleted captions.

"I want the world to see the caption of the little bird that the Smithsonian says is too controversial for the public," Mr. Durbin said. "There was political pressure brought on this exhibition. And it's a sad day when the Smithsonian, the keeper of our national treasures, is so fearful."

Smithsonian officials are angered and embarrassed at being in the middle of a congressional fight over whether to open the refuge to oil and gas drilling. "We do not engage in advocacy," said Randall Kremer, a museum spokesman. "And some of the captions bordered on advocacy."

Documents from the Smithsonian give an idea of the changes. For a picture of the Romanzof Mountains, the original caption quoted Mr. Banerjee as saying, "The refuge has the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen and is so remote and untamed that many peaks, valleys and lakes are still without names." [gasp, a caption bordering on advocacy--Ghost Town Orange]

The new version says, "Unnamed Peak, Romanzof Mountains." [Just routine last-minute preparations, apparently.]

This year the Smithsonian is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the national wildlife system; the first refuge was created by President Theodore Roosevelt, on Pelican Island in Florida.

But perhaps no other refuge has received as much attention as the Arctic domain, which was first protected by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and enlarged by President Jimmy Carter.

As the centerpiece of his national energy policy, President Bush wants to open about 1.5 million acres of the refuge's coastal plain to drilling. It is, supporters of the move say, a potential motherlode of oil.

Led by Senator Ted Stevens, the Alaska Republican who heads the Appropriations Committee, drilling supporters have derided the refuge as largely barren, frozen and lifeless for nearly 10 months a year. Most pictures of the refuge show the vast caribou herd that migrates to the coastal plain, or the birds that fly in to feast on the fecund grounds in the refuge's brief but intense summer.

Mr. Banerjee's breakthrough was to record four seasons of life on the refuge, particularly around the area where drilling would take place. Mr. Banerjee used his life savings and cashed out his retirement account to pay for the 14 months he spent in the refuge with a digital camera.

"I was looking for a place where I could live with the bears," he said. "Northern Alaska seemed perfect. But on the first day I was there, it was the coldest day of the year so far, and I panicked. My guide said, `It will get worse. But you will survive.' "

Sitting behind snow blinds with an Inupiat guide, he photographed birds, bears and other creatures going about life in the depth of winter. The biggest surprise was to find American dippers, tiny songbirds, feeding on bugs near hot springs when most of the refuge was engulfed by darkness and chill. When Mr. Banerjee returned from the refuge, he was still unpublished. He called the Smithsonian and Mountaineers Books, a nonprofit publisher in Seattle. Both were convinced by the images he brought back.

"Our intention was to produce a poetic testimony to this land," said Helen Cherullo, publisher of Mountaineers Books. The book, "Seasons of Life and Land, A Photographic Journey by Subhankar Banerjee," advocates preservation of the refuge. It features quotations from President Carter, the writer Peter Matthiessen, and the nature poet and essayist Terry Tempest Williams. Some of these quotations were to be in the exhibit; they have all been deleted. Mr. Banerjee's supporters say the changes were clearly a reaction to the debate in March, when Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, held up some of the images and said people who dismissed the refuge as white nothingness were wrong. The vote to open the refuge to drilling failed 52 to 48, prompting Senator Stevens to personalize the defeat. "People who vote against this today are voting against me," Senator Stevens said. "I will not forget it."

A spokeswoman for Mr. Stevens, said his office had applied no pressure on the Smithsonian. The senator, she added, did not even know about the show until last week. Shortly after the vote, the Smithsonian ( which earlier had written to Mr. Banerjee about its excitement about the project and promoted it on its Web site) sent a letter to the publisher, saying that the Smithsonian no longer had any connection to Mr. Banerjee's work, which the publisher thought meant the show might be canceled. Mr. Banerjee complained to some contributors to the book, including Mr. Matthiessen, who raised a fuss, prompting Senator Durbin's inquiry.

Mr. Kremer, the museum spokesman, said the letter disassociating the museum from Mr. Banerjee's work was in error. "There was no pressure whatsoever, either from the White House or anyone else," he said. "This museum is a sacred trust of the American people, and we take that responsibility very seriously."

7. Senator Hatch aides hack Democratic Senator's computers
It didn't make the headlines for long, but aides for Republican Senator Hatch were caught breaking into Democratic Senators' computers, stealing files, and leaking them to the press.

8. Diebold electronic voting under suspicion--the future of honest elections is at stake

If we want honest elections, we won't let Diebold run them. See Blackboxvoting.org for more information on 'electronic voting'

9. Federal deficits with no end in sight
The most fiscally irresponsible administration in American history. A Flood of Red Ink, from the Economist. And recovery from these deficits will not be easy:

This time the turnaround will be much tougher. There will be no peace dividend from the end of the cold war (indeed, the pressure on military spending may continue to increase). America is unlikely to see another stockmarket bubble, with its surge in tax revenues. As baby-boomers retire, the pressure from entitlement spending will be more acute. Set against this background, the path back to a sustainable fiscal policy will be extremely painful, even without any dramatic fiscal crisis. Long after Dubya is back on his ranch, Americans will be trying to recover from the mess he created.

And a pair of disasters to bookend the year:

10. Space shuttle Challenger breaks apart on re-entry
Here's the Voice of America report--RealAudio links on page The conclusion of the investigation into the accident: some blame lies with NASA engineers over-reliance on PowerPoint:

From the New York Times: (no expiring links)
Published: December 14, 2003
In August, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board at NASA released Volume 1 of its report on why the space shuttle crashed. As expected, the ship's foam insulation was the main cause of the disaster. But the board also fingered another unusual culprit: PowerPoint, Microsoft's well-known ''slideware'' program.

NASA, the board argued, had become too reliant on presenting complex information via PowerPoint, instead of by means of traditional ink-and-paper technical reports. When NASA engineers assessed possible wing damage during the mission, they presented the findings in a confusing PowerPoint slide -- so crammed with nested bullet points and irregular short forms that it was nearly impossible to untangle. ''It is easy to understand how a senior manager might read this PowerPoint slide and not realize that it addresses a life-threatening situation,'' the board sternly noted.

10. Earthquake destroys city of Bam in Iran
The Guardian's report for December 30: the death toll could reach 50,000

Still looking for more top news stories for 2003?
Here is Project Censored's top 25 censored media stories of 2002-2003.
And here is The Guardian Observer's news quiz for 2003.

Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing. --Psalm 146:1-4 NIV

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Head's Up

Tomorrow: Ghost Town Orange will feature the top stories of 2003, with some links to 'undercovered' stories.

Pakistan--why is no one paying attention?

Here's an opinion piece in the Guardian by Peter Preston, pointing out the precarious position of Pakistan. I'll quote at length:

Pakistan: the west's soft centre

If Musharraf is assassinated, the war on terror will also be a victim

Here is one terrorist threat even Tony Blair doesn't need to vamp up. It is self-evidently real and ominously recurrent. If, one day soon, it claims its target, then the world of Bush and Blair - plus their so-called war against Osama and chums - will be rocked to its core. The peril couldn't be greater, the edifice more ripe for toppling. Yet somehow, when these bombs go off, we shrug and look away. Somehow we don't make the connections.

Consider the chill facts, though. Twice, during the 10 days before Christmas, General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, has narrowly survived highly professional assassination attempts. First, the bridge he was travelling over near Islamabad was destroyed by five separate charges only seconds after his car made it to the other side. (An electronic blocking device in his limo bought him the fraction of time that saved his life.)

Then, as if to signal al-Qaida's return to more tested methods, a Rawalpindi suicide attack killed 14 people and injured nearly 50. Musharraf, again, escaped by seconds. How many more lives does this president have left?

Not too many, perhaps. He wasn't, on either occasion, following an advertised route. He and his guards were proceeding privately from point A to point B. His would-be killers weren't leaning on a lamppost in case a nice little target passed by. They knew he was coming. They knew where to plant sophisticated explosives. Their intelligence was perfect. They have an inside track. If they keep to it, they'll surely get him in the end. Which is when the core really starts to rock.

Without Pakistan on board, Afghanistan cannot hold. Without Afghanistan, the campaign against terrorism turns to humiliation. Where's Osama? Somewhere in a cave near the border. Where are his men? Regrouping beyond the reach of the stretched forces George Bush has left behind. Musharraf, grimly pursuing his chosen course to the end, keeps Pakistan as the indispensable foundation of coalition activity. But what happens if he vanishes from the scene?

The bombers who try and try again aren't stupid. They've asked and answered that question, too. Pakistan hangs in a constitutional void. It has a president, self-selected and sanctified by a dodgy referendum. It doesn't have an anointed successor waiting to take over and carry on seamlessly if the worst happens, only a void.

Evidently, Musharraf has enemies within his own government that are willing to betray him. These enemies are not apt to be peaceful democrats; rather they are Islamic extremists/Taliban sympathizers/Wahabbists--the very people the 'war on terror' should be focussed on (not Iraq, by the way.)

Remember, Pakistan has nuclear weapons. What contingency plans does President Bush have in place should Pakistan's government should fall into the hands of terrorist extremists? Someone tell me why we are not as concerned with this problem as we were with a secular Arab 'Stalinist.'

Literary studies--scientific? NOT!

The New York Times has a nice piece by Laura Miller deflating an attempt to 'scientifically' validate literary studies. Page 2.

Few literary scholars appreciate the fact that they labor in a field that lacks ''empirically valid hypotheses,'' or perhaps they prefer it that way. So say Daniel J. Kruger, Maryanne Fisher and Ian Jobling, the authors of a study entitled ''Proper and Dark Heroes as Dads and Cads: Alternative Mating Strategies in British Romantic Literature,'' which was published in the journal Human Nature this fall ...

Researchers asked female undergraduates to read passages from the novels of Sir Walter Scott and Ann Radcliffe. The passages describe male characters, either 'dads' or 'cads,' (i.e. 'proper heroes' or 'dark heroes' of Romantic literature. The students were asked to choose which of these characters they would choose for various levels of relationship, from casual sex partner to life-long marriage. The surprising results:

The researchers found that the more serious the relationship in question, the more likely the women were to pick the responsible proper hero, with his ''highly parentally investing disposition,'' though for a quick fling the dark hero was slightly more appealing.

Laura Miller comments:

Now for a tough call: which aspect of this odd project to marvel over first -- the tautology in announcing that women, when asked to select a companion for a long-term relationship, will choose the man best suited to a long-term relationship, or the fact that this is what it takes to make people read Scott nowadays?

And Miller punctures the supposedly scientific claim:

Surely inclinations cannot be considered instinctive simply because they respond to a 200-year-old novel (especially when dark heroes are scarce in ''old writings'' that predate Romanticism). Kruger says he thinks that it's the ease with which his ''21st-century female college students'' identified the two types of men that confirms his hypothesis. He could well be right in his theories about mate selection, but he's no literary scholar. Scott's writings may be neglected today, but they were once ubiquitous (he essentially invented the historical novel), and a contemporary college student who's never heard of him has nevertheless read books by writers who were influenced by writers who were influenced by writers who were influenced by Scott. Literary conventions stick around even when specific books do not. Culture manages its own kind of self-perpetuation.

German words of the year for 2003

From german.about.com: Selected by Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache.
The German words of the year

das alte Europa - Donald Rumsfeld's "old Europe" phrase became a badge of honor in Germany

Agenda 2010 das - Chancellor Schröder's (SPD) label for his reform plans

Reformstreit der - the fighting over "Agenda 2010"

SARS/Sars das - the worldwide disease outbreak (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)

eingebettete Journalisten - imbedded journalists (in Iraq)

Maut-Desaster das - failure of an autobahn toll/tax proposal

Steuerbegunstigungsabbaugesetz das - legislation to end tax advantages

Jahrtausendglut die - Europe's heat wave in the summer of 2003; rhymes with Jahrtausendflut, a 2002 Word of the Year referring to the devastating eastern German floods that year; the Swiss called the heat wave the Jahrtausendsommer.

googlen - to "google" (use a search engine)

Alcopops pl. - sweet (soda-pop-like) alcoholic drinks [ugh, 'wine coolers' in Germany]

Satz des Jahres 2003:

Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS) = Germany seeks the superstar (TV show)

The website of the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache is here: German or English.
And here is the page with the German words of the year back to 1971.

Guatemala Election Results

Following up on our post of Wed November 12, Oscar Berger has won the run-off election for president of Guatemala.
Here are links to Guatemalan newspapers:

Siglo XXI

Prensa Libre

La Hora

King William's College general knowledge quiz

While looking for more answers, I found this site which has possible answers to King William's College general knowledge quiz. Note that there are differences of opinion on many questions.

Sunday, December 28, 2003

Christmas Program at School

Here are some pictures from our visit to school for the Christmas program. I forgot to post them earlier; and then the camera went AWOL until today. Joe playing keyboard

Here Joe is showing me the different sounds the keyboard can make. We visited the music room, where about 30 children played a phrase from 'Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.'

Tim and I in his classroom after the program. (I'm the one with the goofy smile.)
A sudden unexplained surge in visits to Ghost Town Orange today has over-used one of my image hosts, so some pictures will not be viewable until tomorrow. Patience!

Mistaken Identity

Here is an Oklahoma story that has me wondering how it could happen--is prison so de-humanizing that the prison guards don't even know or care who lives in the cages?

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - An Oklahoma family that thought they had just buried a son who killed himself in prison received a phone call after returning from the funeral from the supposed dead man who said he was very much alive.
The relatives of Kevin Wyckoff, an inmate in Oklahoma's Lexington Correctional Facility, were the victims of a case of mistaken identity, prison officials said on Tuesday.

The family was sent the body of another inmate of similar physical characteristics as their son. The two inmates had recently switched cells, which led to prison officials being confused about their identities, they said.

"On Friday, an inmate committed suicide by hanging himself. Our chart reflected it was Kevin Wyckoff who was supposed to be in that cell," prison spokesman Jerry Massie said.

The inmate who was buried appears to be Steven Howe, Massie said. Howe was serving a sentence for driving under the influence and attempting to elude a police officer. Wyckoff is serving a sentence for assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping.

The body of the buried prisoner will be exhumed and then a medical examiner will confirm the identity, prison officials said.

The Wyckoff family has told reporters they are happy their son is still alive but they have a few questions for prison officials, including who will pick up the tab for the funeral.

This was a topic of conversation at our Christmas family gathering yesterday.

Sunday Readings

Jeremiah 31:15-17

This is what the LORD says:

"A voice is heard in Ramah,
mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because her children are no more."

This is what the LORD says:

"Restrain your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for your work will be rewarded," declares the LORD.
"They will return from the land of the enemy.
So there is hope for your future," declares the LORD. "Your children will return to their own land.

I Peter 4:12-19

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
And,
"If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" [Proverbs 11:31]

So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

Matthew 2:13-18

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet:
"Out of Egypt I called my son." [Hosea 11:1]

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled
"A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." [Jeremiah 31:15]

Friday, December 26, 2003

Links cleaned up, mostly

Although the changes aren't very visible, several bad links have been fixed or removed. I used Link Valet to check Ghost Town Orange. It's still a pain fixing things up, but it helps to have a tool that flags all the problems.
Plus I've added some new quotations to the 'random quote' feature, and moved it up front to make it more visible.

Thursday, December 25, 2003

Johnny Cash performs 'Hurt'

Johnny Cash performs his video version of "Hurt" (originally by Nine Inch Nails, I think) at NME.COM: look for the link that says 'Click here to watch it' (RealPlayer required). This is a powerful song about drug addiction (and alienation). Watch it!

UPDATE Dec 25, 2003 10:03 pm CST

Here are the lyrics:

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

(you stay the hell away from me, you hear?)

I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

[Chorus:]
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

Johnny Cash is probably the only musician I liked in third grade that I still listen to now.

Another 52 week music project

52 songs in 52 weeks--Can emerging minister Greg Adkins write 52 songs in 52 weeks? For Christmas he has covers of 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel' and 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' as numbers 15 and 15a in his project. (They don't count as two since they're only 'cover songs.')

I've listened to his versions of these--and they are quite good. I am sure I will check this project frequently. There are lots of other interesting things on his website--a good Christian site, except the dark background is hard (for me) to read.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Not a whimper from Beagle 2

Maybe the European Space Agency's version of 'cheaper, better, faster' is running into problems. The Guardian reports: Not a whimper from Beagle 2 on Mars

The project's chief scientist, Professor Colin Pillinger, told waiting reporters: "I'm afraid it's a bit disappointing, but it's not the end of the world. Please don't go away from here believing we've lost the spacecraft."

I admire the way Professor Pillinger took the initiative in this project; let's hope they can get it to work.

UPDATE Dec 25, 2003 9:45 pm

The Guardian's report was posted just after noon British time (or should I say 'Greenwich Mean Time'?) The second attempt at contacting Beagle 2 failed, according to a Reuters report filed at 1:30 am British time.

Scientists will make their next bid to trace it at 6:15 p.m. on Friday, using a mission rocket orbiting the planet. They can try again at regular intervals over the next few weeks but with each failed attempt, hopes for the mission grow slimmer.

Readings for Christmas Day

A Psalm

Psalm 96:1-9

Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.

The Prophecy

Isaiah 9:2, 6-7

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.

...

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

The Announcement

Luke 1:26-35, 38

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David
And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

...

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

The Census

Luke 2:1,4

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

...

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.

The Birth

Luke 2:7

And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Angels

Luke 2:8-14

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

The Shepherds

Luke 2:15-20

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

The Reception of the King

Psalm 98:1-6

Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
The LORD has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to the house of Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
make music to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn--
shout for joy before the LORD, the King.

52 weeks project

Dutch music teacher Jan Turkenburg has started the 52 Weeks Project. Here's how Jan describes the project:

What is this all about? Every week in 2004 there will be a link to a page with recordings which are not available in the shop. The week will start and finish on sundays. The old pages will remain but without the downloads. Each time there will be a mirror with dial-up friendly versions of the sounds.
Today we'll take off with a special Christmas prologue
I wish you lots of fun.

Jan likes a wide variety of music. He describes himself as an "obsessive collector of amazing sounds."
Each week will feature recordings from different musicians that should be better known. The music files are in MP3 format for downloading. This week is a prologue to the 52 weeks project, featuring 5 songs recorded (at Christmastime, about 1970) by the Youth Choir of the Catholic Church at Vinkeveen NL. I recommend the dial-up friendly version of the prologue to the 52 Weeks Project if you have a slow connection to the web. If you are curious, hop to it. The downloads will disappear on Sunday the 28th, to make room for first week's batch of the 52 Weeks Project.

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Contest in France: design the new Marianne postage stamp

From the AP story:

For the first redesign of this century, amateur artists will have a chance to take a crack at it - the first time the public has been invited to create a new Marianne stamp.

The contests only guideline is that the new postage stamp must show a Marianne who "supports the environment and the fundamental values of the country".

A few sketched examples provided by the national postal service, which oversees the effort, show an innocent, childlike Marianne in the countryside with a flower in her mouth, or a seductive, doe-eyed Marianne.

A jury will select 100 finalists after next year's March 15 deadline.

The public will then weigh in, narrowing the choice to three by July 4. President Jacques Chirac will then select the winning design, which will be printed at an annual rate of three billion, starting in 2005.

La Poste, the French post office, has a website about the contest (in French, of course)--dessinez le nouveau timbre Marianne

UPDATE

I thought it would be fun to try my hand at this. A few years ago Laetitia Casta (super-model) was selected by French mayors to be the "new" Marianne (Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve have been other celebrity Mariannes.) But no Marianne stamp was creating using her image. So I thought I'd start with a bust of Casta as Marianne, using different colors for each denomination, except for the red liberty cap, which remains the same:

Here's some more about the iconography of Marianne, [and how well Laetitia Casta fills the bill: beauty and breasts] from the Brunswickian (the University of New Brunswick's student paper.)

Until Bardot, the common image of Marianne was of a lowly peasant girl leading the lowly peasants towards a greater ideal. After Bardot, and later Catherine Deneuve, it became a symbol of the well-groomed upper class.

According to Debra Ollivier, a writer for Le Monde and Salon.com, everything about Marianne is iconic.

"Her red bonnet symbolizes left-wing radical spirit. The beehive she often carries represents work and industry. The shackles and yoke at her feet evoke emancipation. Her hands are crossed in fraternity.

Ollivier underlines, however, the image of Marianne is, above all, about the bosom.

"It is undoubtedly Marianne's breasts -- flush, freewheeling, insolently raised in protest or subdued in a state of heraldic order, that have the most symbolic weight," she writes.

"The Republic prefers an opulent, more maternal breast, with its promise of generosity and abundance," explains writer/historian Maurice Agulhon, who adds that a pair of identically sized and shaped breasts are "an additional symbol of the egalitarian spirit."

When asked to explain how Casta, a model whose claim to fame is popularly expressed as 5' 7" and 36C beat out all other possible candidates, a spokesperson for the Association of Mayors of France let the truth slip out.

"Well," suggests Catherine Doumas, "perhaps because she's the prettiest. And Marianne, is of course, usually represented as a bust [i.e. a statue]. Casta obviously has the nicest bust of them all."

Well, the original Marianne was shockingly bare-breasted: see the painting La Liberte guidant le peuple by Eugene Delacroix: 'Liberty leading the people' by Eugene Delacroix

'Liberty leading the people' by Eugene Delacroix

I thought it would be neat to have the red Phrygian cap for every differently colored denomination of the stamp. But then I noticed the rules:

Couleur de la maquette ;
Le timbre de la serie courante est monochrome et imprime de diverses couleurs selon les valeurs faciales pour permettre de constituer les differentes valeurs deaffranchissement.
En consequence, le dessin de la maquette sera obligatoirement en noir et blanc.
Cette clause est imperative.

So, back to the drawing board. I thought Marianne should be more 'outdoorsy' and a supporter of the environment (although, not as 'busty')--
Marianne in nature

And now the results, using La Poste's TPP website:
Examples of potential Marianne stamps -- as they might look!

The picture of Casta in the last stamp reminds me of this stamp from French Polynesia: Imperforate margin copy of French Polynesia Scott Catalog # 182 (Girl playing guitar)

Imperforate margin copy of French Polynesia Scott Catalog # 182 (Girl playing guitar)

Readings for Christmas Eve

Isaiah 9:2-7

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest,
as men rejoice when dividing the plunder.
For as in the day of Midian's defeat,
you have shattered the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Titus 2:11-14

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Luke 2:1-20

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Guardian -- King William's College general knowledge quiz

If you want to take a tough test (the average score is two) click on this link to King William's College general knowledge quiz. Quickly scanning over the questions, I know the answers to at least 3! I must be above average. The Guardian will post the answers in the new year. Perhaps we can use our web-browsing skills to find all the answers before then?

UPDATE Dec 25, 2003 9:15 pm CST

First set of questions and links to where I found the answers:

1. In 1903:
1 who founded the WSPU?
The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was founded by Emmeline Pankhurst. (Link includes a short selection from her book, In My Own Words.)

2 what speed limit was imposed on motor cars?
According to a page of 1903 trivia (which also mentions the WSPU), "Motorcar regulations in Britain set a 20 mile-per-hour speed limit. "

3 who was the Sublime Paralytic, who died of cholera?
That would be Apolinario Mabini, Hero of the Philippine Revolution;
Conscience and Brains of the Philippine Revolution;
key adviser of Emilio Aguinaldo;
proposed the first constitution of the Philippine Republic;
born July 22, 1864--died May 13, 1903
"Thou shalt worship God in the form which thy conscience may deem most righteous and worthy; for in thy conscience, which condemns thy evil deeds and praises thy good ones, speaks thy God"--Apolinario Mabini

4 whose weekly journal began to publicise atrocities in the Congo Free State?
That would be E. D. Morel, who founded the West African Mail in 1903. Later he "established the Congo Reform Association, an organisation that campaigned to persuade European governments to take action against those guilty of human rights abuses. " He is an interesting man; one I would like to know more about.

5 whose residence at Holly Lodge was commemorated by the first blue plaque?
That would be George Eliot's residence, but it wasn't the first blue plaque (the oldest existing dates to the 1860s.)
One of the first plaques erected by the London County Council was to George Eliot. This was only the fifth plaque to a woman, and was the first to be erected in south London. Holly Lodge was Eliot's home from 1859 to 1860 and was where she wrote The Mill on the Floss.

6 whose handwritten catalogue described works for sale at their Peckham residence?
I don't know.

7 who was hounded by the Governor of Ceylon to suicide in a Parisian hotel?
That would be Hector Macdonald, falsely accused by Governor Ridgeway:
While Hector Macdonald was on his way back to Ceylon he stopped for a few days rest in Paris. Gov. Ridgeway in his anger decided to do an all out blitz in the Ceylon press and released all the information: rumors, accusations, etc....about Hector Macdonald which became a media mess, not long the world press picked up on the story and set the stage for Hector's doom.

On a Sunday morning at the Hotel Regina in Paris, Hector came down from his room to the lobby to get the morning paper and sat down to breakfast. Macdonald opened the paper and was shocked at what he saw in the headlines "grave charge", a witness said a look of despair came across Hector's face as he held his head low and stared at the paper. Hector got up and walked slowly up the stairs and entered his room, sat on the bed, raised the revolver to his head and shot himself.

8 which Franco-Peruvian reached his journey's end on Fatu Iwa?
That would be artist Paul Gauguin, who died in the Marquesas. The link identifies his place of death as "Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia" but several foreign language auction sites list it as Fatu Iwa.

9 in what was the Chimney-Sweep the first victor?
I haven't looked for this yet; sounds like a horse's name.
UPDATE Dec 25, 2003 9:22 pm
It's not a horse--it is the nickname (le petit ramoneur or the lttle chimney-sweep) of cyclist Maurice Garin, the winner of the first Tour de France. He was also called the 'white bulldog.'

10 how was Giuseppe Sarto renamed?
In 1903, Giuseppe Sarto became Pope Pius X.

Formatting the answers takes longer than finding them.

Guardian Unlimited | - Beagle 2 to land on Mars

See the 'interactive' demo from the Guardian--Beagle 2 lands on Mars (Flash required.)

This is the European Space Agency's first mission to Mars.

Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Personalized Postage Stamps

Joe with Horse personalized holiday stamp from France

Tim, Joe and Bishop at Tim's party--personalized holiday stamp from France

Quite a few countries (including the U.K., Switzerland, Canada, China, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong) allow you to 'personalize' stamps by printing your picture on labels between the real postage stamps in a pane.
Now I haven't shelled out 10 euros for 5 euros worth of French stamps--I just experimented with le Service des Timbres-Postes Personnalises from La Poste, the French Post Office. Recently, the United Nations Postal Administration in New York has started issuing personalized stamps for tourists and stamp collectors. And there are rumors that the United States Postal Service will follow. But will many people pay 14.95 for 7.40 worth of postage?

I notice that Canadian personalized stamps do put your photograph on the stamp (as a sticker on a 'frame' which is the stamp itself.) Many stamp collectors must be groaning: 'now my collection will never be complete!'

Christmas

Christmas cards are in the mail today!

Noted on Joe's calendar for December 24: "sleep in living room"

UPDATE

Tim admitted that he wrote on Joe's calendar. They are wound up, excited and goofy today.

Monday, December 22, 2003

Orange Alert! Orange Alert!

"Honey, is it time to turn on the sirens?"
"I don't know--check Ghost Town Orange:"

"Ghost Town Orange says to remain alert but not change any plans for the holidays. So we probably don't need to turn the sirens on yet. Keep shopping!"
"It is gratifying to see that Ghost Town Orange is always on the alert."

You will notice that the 'ready.gov' site does not have any information about the current security advisory level. (click on the link 'turn the sirens on' and search for 'advisory system' and 'orange' and you will get nothing.) The homeland security bureaucrats are so efficient at making this 'important' information so easy to find. Here's a link explaining the different levels.

Ghost Town Orange's Sources for Upcoming News Stories

News Sources (focusing on upcoming events)

BBC Monitoring--Week Ahead--Former Soviet Republics

BBC Monitoring--Week Ahead--Europe

BBC Monitoring--Week Ahead--Asia and Pacific

BBC Monitoring--Week Ahead--Middle East and North Africa

BBC Monitoring--Week Ahead--Sub-Saharan Africa

BBC Monitoring--Week Ahead--Americas

The UK Guardian's World News Guide

Newsahead.com

ABC News: Politics at The Note

United Nations--News

Sunday, December 21, 2003

NPR : Carols for Christmas Yet to Come

From NPR : Carols for Christmas Yet to Come. The two winners may be good for choirs, but I doubt that many ordinary people will be humming them in years to come. The titles are rather bleak:

Thomas Fielding's carol, "Behold the Dark and Bitter Night," is a setting of his own text and is scored for chorus accompanied by solo harp.

Alan Higbee's carol, "In the Bleak Midwinter" is a setting of a poem by Christina Rossetti, accompanied by solo oboe.
(RealAudio links from Minnesota Public Radio)

UPDATE--Christmas Day, 4:30 pm CST

Here are the words to Christina Rossetti's poem:

In The Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can give Him: give my heart.

The last part about 'what can I give Him'--ugh. As if we, any of us, have anything worthy, of ourselves, to give the Lord.

Sunday's Readings

For the fourth Sunday of Advent:

Micah 5:2-4

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times."

Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor gives birth
and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.

He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.

Hebrews 10:5-10

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.

Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll--I have come to do your will, O God.'"

First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Luke 1:39-45

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

Saturday, December 20, 2003

Cartoon from S'anne

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

South African Newspapers

As an experiment, here is a page I've created with links to some South African newspapers--this will be more comprehensive in the future--maybe with some more information about each paper.

Gravity Probe B

The launch of Gravity Probe B has been delayed. [This was originally posted on December 4](It was scheduled for launch on Saturday, December 6.)

UPDATE

The Gravity Probe B website says:

A new launch date, which is anticipated to be sometime in the 2nd Quarter of 2004, will be announced soon by NASA.

Stanford University's Gravity Probe B website describes the experiment:

Gravity Probe B is the relativity gyroscope experiment being developed by NASA and Stanford University to test two extraordinary, unverified predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.

The experiment will check, very precisely, tiny changes in the direction of spin of four gyroscopes contained in an Earth satellite orbiting at 400-mile altitude directly over the poles. So free are the gyroscopes from disturbance that they will provide an almost perfect space-time reference system. They will measure how space and time are warped by the presence of the Earth, and, more profoundly, how the Earth's rotation drags space-time around with it. These effects, though small for the Earth, have far-reaching implications for the nature of matter and the structure of the Universe.

As Peter Weiss in the November 1, 2003 issue of Science News describes the thing Gravity Probe B is going to observe, "frame-dragging"--

Any spinning body in space, including Earth, ought to drag some space-time along with it. That was Einstein's prediction, anyway. The effect has never been convincingly observed.

This project has taken 40 years to get off the ground. Find out more at these links:

Read The Story of Gravity Probe B from Stanford (PDF, 115KB) for more about the project's purpose and history.

Stanford's Gravity B website

News about Gravity Probe B from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

I'm not including links to JPL's pages about Gravity Probe B . . .

since they haven't been updated for several years, apparently.

It's better to maintain pages or take them down.

Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. --Psalm 146:1-4 NIV

Christmas woodcut

The block that I thought was the key block has become the mid-tone block. I'll explain later. I'm on schedule, honest!

Spring class schedule

Here's what I'm taking, starting in January:

Introduction to Historical Research and Writing

General Biology (which meets every day M-F)

South African History and Film

Beginning German II

This is a bit heavier course load than I've attempted yet (14 hours). All my "General Education" requirements will be complete once I pass biology; from then on it will be all history and foreign language. Then I'll need another 20 hours of history electives (at least 18 of which must be upper division courses.) and the "Senior Seminar" in history. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel . . .

Christmas program tonight at church

The boys were among the wise guys, er, I mean "wise men." We should have taken pictures before the program; they were already out of their costumes by the time we caught up with them. Anyway, a good job by all. "Listen, listen, listen to the story!"

Another program at school tomorrow afternoon--maybe we will be better prepared for photographs, but I doubt it will be as meaningful as the one at church.

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

More fun and games

Identify 15 things that fly in this German crossword puzzle (from about.com)

UPDATE 9:00 pm December 17, 2003

I was able to identify about 5 before consulting a dictionary; I recognized a couple more with the dictionary's help; but I do not know the feminine gender word for airplane.

Math history

A computer-enhanced image of a 1,000-year-old manuscript reveals the faint traces of a copy of Archimedes' Stomachion treatise. It had been overwritten by monks in the 13th century. (Rochester Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University/The Archimedes Palimpsest)

I won't bother creating a dead link to the NYT, but a story by Gina Kolata in the December 14 issue describes how math historians have apparently deciphered Archimedes' Stomachion. Mathematicians have often dismissed the fragments that remain of this work as little more than a description of a children's game similar to the familiar tangram:
Tangram puzzle pieces

You re-arrange these pieces to create these shapes: Shapes to create with the tangram pieces

Archimedes wasn't trying to make different shapes with the pieces; he "was trying to see how many ways the 14 irregular strips could be put together to make a square.
The answer — 17,152 — required a careful and systematic counting of all possibilities."
Stomachion 1 from NYT

(I hope these do not require horizontal scrolling!)

What was Archimedes up to? Dr. Reviel Netz of Stanford University received the insight by chance:

It was chance that led Dr. Netz to his first insight into the nature of the Stomachion. Last August, he says, just as he was about to start transcribing one of the manuscript pages, he got a gift in the mail, a blue cut-glass model of a Stomachion puzzle. It was made by a retired businessman from California who found Dr. Netz on the Internet as a renowned Archimedes scholar. Looking at the model, Dr. Netz realized that a diagram on the page he was transcribing was actually a rearrangement of the pieces of the Stomachion puzzle. Suddenly, he understood what Archimedes was getting at.

Archimedes was an early master of the field of math called combinatorics.

Cod Liver Oil and Diabetes

Quoting from the story:

Cod liver oil 'prevents diabetes'
Giving cod-liver oil to babies reduces the risk of getting diabetes later in life, researchers have found.
Studies carried out by scientists in Norway revealed that infants regularly given a spoonful of the oil during their first year were 25 per cent less likely to develop the disease.

And apparently vitamin D is not the active ingredient; it appears to be the anti-inflammatory long-chain fatty acids: read more here at femail.co.uk. The study was published in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition; here's the abstract to the cod liver oil study.

UPDATE 7:43 pm CST

When I first ran across this story, I thought it would be the typical hype for supplements--another miracle cure. But then I noticed the quotation marks around the words 'prevents diabetes,' when the story actually reports a reduction in risk, not a preventer of diabetes.

Joyce's first reaction: "It doesn't work; Momma gave us cod liver oil; yuck."

I thought: maybe you have to take the stuff constantly for your whole life?

But the story claims that usage of cod liver oil during the first year of life has a measurable impact on the chance of getting diabetes. I wonder--how is the population controlled for other lifestyle factors? People that give their children cod liver oil are going to have significantly different life-styles than those that don't: more vegetables, more exercise, more checkups with the pediatrician, etc. How can they claim that they can isolate cod liver oil as such an important factor? I know that so-called type I diabetes is not supposed to be 'lifestyle-induced' diabetes, but how do we know that?

Sunday, December 14, 2003

Yet another advent calendar

This one's for computer people: The 2003 Perl Advent Calendar, which has a different Perl module each day up to Christmas.

What's Perl?

"Perl is a stable, cross platform programming language. It is used for mission critical projects in the public and private sectors and is widely used to program web applications of all needs. "

PowerPoint Makes You Dumb (we already knew that)

From the New York Times: (no expiring links)
Published: December 14, 2003

In August, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board at NASA released Volume 1 of its report on why the space shuttle crashed. As expected, the ship's foam insulation was the main cause of the disaster. But the board also fingered another unusual culprit: PowerPoint, Microsoft's well-known ''slideware'' program.

NASA, the board argued, had become too reliant on presenting complex information via PowerPoint, instead of by means of traditional ink-and-paper technical reports. When NASA engineers assessed possible wing damage during the mission, they presented the findings in a confusing PowerPoint slide -- so crammed with nested bullet points and irregular short forms that it was nearly impossible to untangle. ''It is easy to understand how a senior manager might read this PowerPoint slide and not realize that it addresses a life-threatening situation,'' the board sternly noted.

PowerPoint is the world's most popular tool for presenting information. There are 400 million copies in circulation, and almost no corporate decision takes place without it. But what if PowerPoint is actually making us stupider?

This year, Edward Tufte -- the famous theorist of information presentation -- made precisely that argument in a blistering screed called The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint (summary and sales pitch!). In his slim 28-page pamphlet, Tufte claimed that Microsoft's ubiquitous software forces people to mutilate data beyond comprehension. For example, the low resolution of a PowerPoint slide means that it usually contains only about 40 words, or barely eight seconds of reading. PowerPoint also encourages users to rely on bulleted lists, a ''faux analytical'' technique, Tufte wrote, that dodges the speaker's responsibility to tie his information together. And perhaps worst of all is how PowerPoint renders charts. Charts in newspapers like The Wall Street Journal contain up to 120 elements on average, allowing readers to compare large groupings of data. But, as Tufte found, PowerPoint users typically produce charts with only 12 elements. Ultimately, Tufte concluded, PowerPoint is infused with ''an attitude of commercialism that turns everything into a sales pitch.''

Good News from Iraq (for a change)

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Saddam Hussein 'captured in Iraq':
Staff and agencies
Sunday December 14, 2003

Prime Minister Tony Blair this morning confirmed that a man captured in a military operation last night is deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
The announcement at 11.15am confirmed rumours that Saddam was captured in a basement in his hometown of Tikrit last night as part of a US military operation. Reports from Basra and Baghdad say that shots of celebratory gunfire were heard this morning as the news spread through the cities.
Mr Blair also confirmed that Saddam would be put on trial by in an Iraqi court. So far the White House and Pentagon have not made any official comment on the reports, but a press statement is expected to be issued at 12pm today which will give further details and confirmation."

Here is more from the Washington Post.

Iraq Council Confirms Saddam Caught Alive

By HAMZA HENDAWI
The Associated Press
Sunday, December 14, 2003; 6:54 AM

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. military captured Saddam Hussein alive in his hometown of Tikrit on Sunday, eight months after the fall of Baghdad, the Iraqi Governing Council said. Celebratory gunfire erupted in Baghdad.

The statement said Saddam was captured in a joint operation by troops from the U.S.-led coalition and Kurdish Iraqi forces.

"He was wearing a fake beard and laboratory tests have proven his identity beyond any doubt," said the statement.

U.S. officials said only that the U.S. military captured a man in the basement of a building in Tikrit during raids seeking Saddam and that initial efforts to verify his identity indicate he is the deposed Iraqi dictator.

"It certainly looks good," one senior U.S. official said, cautioning more scientific testing, possibly DNA, was being done early Sunday morning to try to confirm the identity.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed Saddam's capture.

"This is very good news for the people of Iraq. It removes the shadow that has been hanging over them for too long of the nightmare of a return to the Saddam regime," he said in a statement released by his office.

Saddam was trapped in a cellar, dug a hole and buried himself as U.S. soldiers moved into the house where he was hiding, an Iraqi official said Sunday.

"The American soldiers had to use shovels to dig him out," Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi, told The Associated Press.

Qanbar, basing his account on reports from members of the U.S.-led occupation authority, said Saddam had a salt-and-pepper beard when he was captured. Soldiers photographed him, shaved the beard and photographed him again before running DNA tests, he said.

"The DNA test confirmed 100 percent Saddam Hussein's identity," he said.

Qanbar said the capture took place "in a town very close to Tikrit," Saddam's hometown 100 miles north of Baghdad.

Sunday readings

For the third Sunday of Advent
Zephaniah 3:14-18

Sing, O Daughter of Zion;
shout aloud, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
O Daughter of Jerusalem.
The LORD has taken away your punishment,
he has turned back your enemy.
The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you;
never again will you fear any harm.
On that day they will say to Jerusalem,
"Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp.
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."

"The sorrows for the appointed feasts I will remove from you;
they are a burden and a reproach to you.

Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Bonus verses: Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Luke 3:7-18

John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

"What should we do then?" the crowd asked.

John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."

Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"

"Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them.

Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"

He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely--be content with your pay."

The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Sunday, December 28, 2003

Friday, December 26, 2003

Thursday, December 25, 2003

UPDATE Dec 25, 2003 10:03 pm CST

UPDATE Dec 25, 2003 9:45 pm

A Psalm

The Prophecy

The Announcement

The Census

The Birth

The Angels

The Shepherds

The Reception of the King

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

UPDATE

UPDATE Dec 25, 2003 9:15 pm CST

UPDATE Dec 25, 2003 9:22 pm

Tuesday, December 23, 2003

UPDATE

Monday, December 22, 2003

Sunday, December 21, 2003

UPDATE--Christmas Day, 4:30 pm CST

Saturday, December 20, 2003

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

UPDATE

since they haven't been updated for several years, apparently.

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

UPDATE 9:00 pm December 17, 2003

UPDATE 7:43 pm CST

Sunday, December 14, 2003

Greeting

Barack Obama: Latest News

Random Quote

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Ghost Town Orange - Info and Stats

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