Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Toddlers who dislike spicy food 'racist'
The National Children's Bureau, which receives £12 million a year, mainly from Government funded organisations, has issued guidance to play leaders and nursery teachers advising them to be alert for racist incidents among youngsters in their care.This could include a child of as young as three who says "yuk" in response to being served unfamiliar foreign food.
The guidance by the NCB is designed to draw attention to potentially-racist attitudes in youngsters from a young age.
It alerts playgroup leaders that even babies can not be ignored in the drive to root out prejudice as they can "recognise different people in their lives".
New Cars in California Must Display Global Warming Score
California is making it mandatory for cars to be labeled with global warming scores, figures that take into account emissions from vehicle use and fuel production.The law requiring the labels goes into effect at the start of next year for all 2009 model cars, though its expected the labels will be popping up on cars in the coming months.
The labeling law forces cars for sale to display a global warming score, on a scale of one to 10, which is based on how vehicles in the same model year compare to one another. The higher the score, the cleaner a car is. The score takes into account emissions related to production of fuel for each vehicle as well as the direct emissions from vehicles.
The score will be displayed next to the already-required smog score, which also rates cars one to 10 for how many smog-forming emissions they emit. For both scores, an average vehicle will have a score of five.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Freedom
Full post (here).
The history of civilization shows time and time again how decent, sophisticated city dwellers amass wealth through cooperation and the division of labor -- only to be victimized by ruthless gangs of raping, looting cutthroats who couldn't make a fruit basket, sweeping down on them, murdering them and carting away the loot, to return a few years later, forever, ad infinitum. Vikings, Mongols, desperadoes of every stripe -- they are a cancer on humanity, but there they are and there they have always been.If civilization is worth having -- and it is -- then it has to be defended, because the restraining virtues of justice, compassion and respect for laws are products of that civilizing force and completely unknown to those who would do it harm.
Therefore, since I believe in this civilization, in its laws, science, art and medicine, I believe we must be prepared to defend it against what I feel no embarrassment for calling the Forces of Darkness. Those forces could be raiders on horseback, jackbooted Nazi murderers, ecstatic human bombs, or some kid blowing away a shopkeeper.
Plasma, LCDs blamed for accelerating global warming
A gas used in the making of flat screen televisions, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), is being blamed for damaging the atmosphere and accelerating global warming.Almost half of the televisions sold around the globe so far this year have been plasma or LCD TVs.
But this boom could be coming at a huge environmental cost.
The gas, widely used in the manufacture of flat screen TVs, is estimated to be 17,000 times as powerful as carbon dioxide.
Ironically, NF3 is not covered by the Kyoto protocol as it was only produced in tiny amounts when the treaty was signed in 1997.
Levels of this gas in the atmosphere have not been measured, but scientists say it is a concern and are calling for it to be included in any future emissions cutting agreement.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Lt. Mark: Golf Marines KIA
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:30:03 -0700
Subject: Golf Marines KIA
Friends and Family,
I realize I have been out of touch for quite some time now, but I have not had access to the internet until very recently. Since my last writing, Golf company has moved out into our AO and has begun conducting operations. This deployment has already had its share of highs and lows, but the Marines are responding well to all of the challenges of operating in a unique environment such as this one.
It's been a tough week for Golf company. We have had seven Marines Killed In Action this week as a result of three separate events. To put this in perspective, Golf only lost three Marines during the last deployment to Iraq. The Marines are back to work and are doing fine.
Of our fallen brothers, one was a Navy corpsman, two were Privates First Class, two were Lance Corporals, one was a Sergeant, and one was a Captain. The Captain was a helicopter pilot who was attached to the company to talk to pilots when they fly overhead in support of our units on the ground. Marines who do this job are called Forward Air Controllers (FACs). The Doc (Navy Corpsman) was new to Golf Company and I didn't know him well, other than that he was a good doc and liked working with Marines. One of the PFCs was a polish immigrant with a PhD in medicine who was on his first deployment with Golf. The other was another Marine on his first deployment who I knew by professional ability only. The two lance corporals, Andrew Whitacre and Layton Crass, were both in my platoon last year. I knew one from when I was in 3d platoon before I got shot and one from Weapons platoon when I returned. They were both excellent Marines who played an important role in their platoons and will be difficult to replace. The sergeant, Michael Washington, was also one of my Marines when I was the platoon commander for 3d platoon. He was 20 years old and had been meritoriously promoted to both Corporal and Sergeant. He was extremely talented and was one of only nine squad leaders in the company. The captain, Eric Terhune- or "D-Ring" to all of us, was part of my Fire Support Team (FiST) during the workup. He was a good man who was willing to do anything for the company. He chose to go on far more patrols than was required for his job because he cared about the company and about the mission. They were all good men and good Marines.
Five of the Marines died in the way we all hope not to. Lance Corporal Whitacre and Captain Terhune died 'fighting deaths' in an engagement where they repeatedly exposed themselves to enemy small arms fire, medium machine guns, and rockets at close range so that they could engage the enemy and allow other Marines in their squad to maneuver. They did this after charging across 100 yards of open field against dug-in, prepared enemy fighting positions. They died bravely and sacrificed themselves so that others might live, and they will always be remembered for that. There are Marines in the platoon who are alive today because of the selfless actions of LCpl Whitacre and Capt Terhune. There is no doubt about that.
It is always tough when we lose Marines, both for personal and professional reasons. It is important that this doesn't overshadow the success that those Marines died to achieve. LCpl Whitacre and Captain Terhune died while fighting in what ended up being a significant tactical victory for the platoon and the company. They both played a critical role in this success. Everyone on the battlefield knows the Marines won that fight, and success in this engagement has given Marines control of the area. While I'm sure this offers little comfort to the families and friends of the fallen, the success from that day will save Marines' lives in the future and allow for progress in this area. They died accomplishing the mission, which is more important than any one of us individually.
The Marines are doing as well as they can do. It always takes a day or two for everything to return to normal. And for some it never really does. The company is doing fine and will continue to do good work and to positively influence this AO. Of this I have no doubt.
To end on a positive note, I'll share something that will make the Marines on this list proud. During the engagement, one of our Lance Corporals was shot in his trigger finger but continued to fight. He continued moving under fire and firing his weapon as he closed the distance with the enemy. He played an important part in the fight, especially after he was wounded. When the fight finally ended and they returned to base, the squad was unable to find the wounded Marine and get him treatment for his finger. When they finally found him, they found him sitting alone cleaning his weapon. With his 9 fingers that still worked. Trying not to get blood all over the parts he had cleaned. Pretty incredible. He was far more concerned about needing to go back out and fight with his squad than he was about losing a finger. He did not understand what was remarkable about this, which says more about it than I can in writing. Also on a positive note, another Marine from the squad had a confirmed kill on an enemy combatant at close range with a headshot with a 40mm grenade from his M203 grenade launcher. It turns out that this surface presents a hard enough target to cause the grenade to detonate. This is really exciting for Marines, but I realize it probably makes it sound like there is something wrong with us to everyone else on this list. I don't really care. It's the business we're in and it's a job well done. Again, you only get the honest opinions from me in these emails.
That's about all that's going on here. I'll try to put something out in the near future to keep you all aware of what's going on. Thanks for the continued support. As always, send updates.
Always Faithful,
Mark
Muslims outraged at police advert featuring cute puppy sitting in policeman's hat
Full story (here).
A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting in a policeman's hat advertising a Scottish police force's new telephone number has sparked outrage from Muslims.
Tayside Police's new non-emergency phone number has prompted complaints from members of the Islamic community.
The choice of image on the Tayside Police cards - a black dog sitting in a police officer's hat - has now been raised with Chief Constable John Vine.
The advert has upset Muslims because dogs are considered ritually unclean and has sparked such anger that some shopkeepers in Dundee have refused to display the advert.
