Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic over man-made global warming. Just when politicians in Europe and America have been adopting the most costly and damaging measures politicians have ever proposed, to combat this supposed menace, the tide has turned in three significant respects.
"We don't have a location finalized yet, nor do we have a set timetable as to when it will be open," Jones told the News-Banner Monday afternoon. But he added that he has obtained commitments from the architects, consultants and projection firms.
"Chinese parents urge their children to excel at instrumental music with the same ferocity that American parents [urge] theirs to perform well in soccer or Little League," wrote Jennifer Lin in the Philadelphia Inquirer June 8 in an article entitled China's 'piano fever'.
The world's largest country is well along the way to forming an intellectual elite on a scale that the world has never seen, and against which nothing in today's world - surely not the inbred products of the Ivy League puppy mills - can compete.
. . .
American medical schools accept more undergraduates who majored in music than any other discipline (excepting pre-med).
Any activity that requires discipline and deferred gratification benefits children, but classical music does more than sports or crafts. Playing tennis at a high level requires great concentration, but nothing like the concentration required to perform the major repertoire of classical music.
Noble County 911 Director Mitch Fiandt said the 18-year-old female Bengal tiger escaped from the Black Pine Animal Park in Albion about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Park officials say the tiger returned to the property around 11 p.m. and was back in its enclosure about an hour later.
For us to say we can't go to Mars today is to basically say that we've become less than the people who got us to where we are today, and that's something that we can't afford. The risks associated with a human mission to Mars, given what we know today about Mars and about space technology, are much lower than the risks of the Apollo moon program were.
.I think that this freedom to be the maker of your own world instead of simply being the inhabitant of one that has already been made is a truly grand form of human freedom. We had that during the period from Plymouth Rock through the closing of the American frontier in the late 1890s. There's a famous quote from a great historian, Walter Prescott Webb, that says "People will miss the frontier more than words can ever express. For hundreds of years they heard its call and bet their lives and fortune on its outcome." This is why we still look back today at the time of the American frontier as a great time, despite the fact that it was filled with all kinds of harsh experiences and heartbreak.
So with Mars, there will be grand successes and there will be heartbreak. Not everyone will strike it rich, but everyone will get a chance for a new start. There's a reason why millions of people in the Old World sold everything they had to get a ticket on a ship to get them to America. And for some of them it didn't work out so well. But it did for enough of them that they're still coming today.
I'm all for it, it's just that I doubt it will happen. It's not that I believe the world lacks for Christopher Columbuses, no... no, the world lacks for Queen Isabellas. Who out there can fund a trip to Mars? Which country? What people?
Mourning seems to be a time when hallucinations are particularly common, to the point where feeling the presence of the deceased is the norm rather than the exception. One study, by the researcher Agneta Grimby at the University of Goteborg, found that over 80 percent of elderly people experience hallucinations associated with their dead partner one month after bereavement, as if their perception had yet to catch up with the knowledge of their beloved's passing. As a marker of how vivid such visions can seem, almost a third of the people reported that they spoke in response to their experiences. In other words, these weren't just peripheral illusions: they could evoke the very essence of the deceased.
In a gruesome display of bizarre animal behavior, five deer leapt to their deaths off the U.S. 224 overpass and onto the northbound lanes of I-69 about 12:30 p.m. Friday. The last one went through the windshield of a tractor-trailer rig, the Huntington County Sheriff's Department said. The driver was uninjured.
The 20- to 30-foot fall killed all five deer.
Never before in the history of humankind are we making so many discoveries about our neighboring universe. Never in the fifty years of space exploration have we seen so many probes exploring so many interesting places in our solar system.
"In this day and age, a girl should have the opportunity to participate on an equal footing with the boys in high school sports and the IHSAA precludes that," Tae Sture, one of the family's attorneys, said Monday.
"Our feeling is, quite frankly, there's no rational reason for it," he said.
An IHSAA rule prohibits girls from trying out for baseball if their school has a softball team on the basis that the sports are comparable. But the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis argues that baseball and softball aren't the same sport, so girls should be able to try out for baseball.
I think there is a rational reason for the rule. For every spot on the boys baseball team a girl takes, a boy doesn't play. If you say, "That boy can just try out for the girls softball team." Well, just how many boys can be on the girls softball team before it's no longer the girls softball team? How long will a school keep two coed ball teams around? Why not just have one? Not everything is perfectly equal and perfectly fair and that's an important thing to learn, too. How many boys would like to play volleyball if only the IHSAA would let them?
"She essentially lived for 118 days without a heart, with her circulation supported only by the two blood pumps," said Dr. Marco Ricci, the hospital's director of pediatric cardiac surgery. During that time, Simmons was mobile but remained hospitalized.
When an artificial heart is used to sustain a patient, the patient's own heart is usually left in the body, doctors said.
In some cases, adult patients have been kept alive that way for more than a year, they said.
"This, we believe, is the first pediatric patient who has received such a device in this configuration without the heart, and possibly one of the youngest that has ... been bridged to transplantation without her native heart," Ricci said.
In 1990 the IPCC's first Assessment Report concluded that no human influence on climate was discernible. Despite the huge expenditure of research effort and money since that time, the boundary arguments to the debate have scarcely moved. We now have copiously more data and more powerful computers, have spent upwards of $50 billion on climate research, and are the beneficiaries of twenty years of hard thinking by some of the world's most accomplished scientists. Yet the protagonists in the debate remain in the same bunkers they occupied in the early 1990s, and a clear human-caused climate signal continues to elude us.
Professor Jocelyn Faubert and postdoctoral student David Tinjust, put a dozen soccer, tennis and hockey players through multiple object-tracking exercises. The athletes' capacity to absorb a lot of information simultaneously and manage it efficiently increased on average by 53 percent.
In one of these exercises, subjects in the automatic virtual environment cave were asked to follow the increasingly rapid movements of a series of balls and identify those that quickly changed colour. After each training session, which lasted about an hour, results were recorded and athletes could note their progress. "It's like physical training, but for the brain," says Faubert.
We have one of those "virtual caves" at our house. It's called a WII Fit and it throws soccer balls, spiked shoes and/or panda heads at you.
Having a pair of All-NHC first-team picks and a second-team selection who is entering her fourth year as a starting point guard should seem to make Norwell a contender, minimally, for a conference title.
"You start with three kids like that, it's pretty tough to screw that up," said coach Eric Thornton, referencing Andrea Vogel, Haley Chaney and Kylie Dial.
But add in a 6-foot-2 freshman, a junior sharpshooter and three sophomores who should contribute quality minutes, and the Knights could be a lock for a third straight NHC championship.
What is clear is that Barack Obama will now be my President as well as the President of all those who voted for him. I will pray for him and respect his office. I will also do all that I can to influence him and his administration concerning the truth of this fundamental human right to life. I will also do something else. I will join with others in building a new movement which recognizes the failures of both major political parties and seeks to build a new alliance of Americans. This alliance will insist upon the primacy of the fundamental human right to life - not as a single issue - but as the very framework and foundation of a truly just society.
Why wait for Christmas? Obama Claus is on the loose!Just today in Sarasota, Fla., the Democratic presidential nominee said that he'd:
- "give a tax break to 95 percent of Americans who work every day and get taxes taken out of their paycheck every week";
- "eliminate income taxes on Social Security for seniors making under $50,000";
- "give homeowners and working parents additional tax breaks";
- not increase taxes on anyone if they "make under $250,000; you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime –- not your income taxes, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains tax";
- "end those breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas";
- "give tax breaks to companies that invest right here in the United States";
- "eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-up companies that are the engine of job creation in this country";
- "create two million new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, and schools -- by laying broadband lines to reach every corner of the country";
- "invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new energy jobs over the next decade";
- "reopen old factories, old plants, to build solar panels, and wind turbines";
- build "a new electricity grid";
- "build the fuel efficient cars of tomorrow";
- "eliminate the oil we import from the Middle East in 10 years";
- "lower premiums" for those who already have health insurance;
- "if you don't have health insurance, you'll be able to get the same kind of health insurance that members of Congress give themselves";
- "end discrimination by insurance companies to the sick and those who need care the most";
- "invest in early childhood education";
- "recruit an army of new teachers";
- "pay our teachers higher salaries, give them more support. But ... also demand higher standards and more accountability";
- "make a deal with every young person who's here and every young person in America: If you are willing to commit yourself to national service, whether it's serving in our military or in the Peace Corps, working in a veterans home or a homeless shelter, then we will guarantee that you can afford to go to college no ifs ands or buts";
- "stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq whole the Iraqis have a huge surplus";
- "end this war in Iraq";
- "finish the fight and snuff out al Qaeda and bin Laden";
- "increase our ground troops and our investments in the finest fighting force in the world";
- "invest in 21st century technologies so that our men and women have the best training and equipment when they deploy into combat and the care and benefits they have earned when they come home";
- "No more homeless veterans"; and
- "no more fighting for disability payments."
- the number of climate change skeptics is growing rapidly. Because a funny thing is happening to global temperatures -- they're going down, not up
- worldwide manmade CO2 emission each year "equals about 0.0168% of the atmosphere's CO2 concentration ... This results in a 0.00064% increase in the absorption of the sun's radiation. This is an insignificantly small number.
- while manmade emissions may be having a slight impact, "variations in global temperatures since 1978 ... cannot be attributed to carbon dioxide."
Isn't there a story here? Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?
I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. "Housing-gate," no doubt. Or "Fannie-gate."
Instead, it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed.
CROWN POINT | Lake County Republican Chairman John Curley wants a federal investigation into hundreds of voter registrations bearing fictitious signatures or the names of dead and underage people.ACORN is under fire in in most of the battleground states. If you look at their registration effort, most of their focus has been in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida (they've registered about 865,000 names in those three states); they have registered only 23,000 people in Indiana. Personally, I'm not quite sure how much of a danger the fraudulent registrations are -- I mean, even if you register fake names/addresses, you have to keep track of those fake names and addresses and find people to pretend to be those fake names and have those fake addresses.
"Fraudulent applications are the workings of ACORN groups operating from Milwaukee and Chicago who are getting out the vote for Obama. I'm Republican, but I want everyone who should vote to vote. But I want a clean election," Curley said at a Wednesday news conference.
Lake County elections officials acknowledged they have found problems and had to reject a large portion of the 5,000 registration forms turned in recently by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, an activist group that conducted registration drives across the county this summer.
An ACORN spokesperson couldn't be reached Wednesday for comment. Telephones to ACORN offices in Gary, Indianapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee were reported to be disconnected.
The Norwell Lady Knights battled back to force a fifth and final game Tuesday night against the East Noble Lady Knights but came up short losing 3-2 in Northeast Hoosier Conference volleyball at Norwell. East Noble won 23-25, 25-11, 25-10, 23-25, 24-22.Also, the boys Tennis Team came up short in the Regionals, but had a great season.
Lauren Klansek led Norwell's hitters with 11 kills. Haley Chaney added eight, while Lindsey Dahn and Amanda McAfee each had seven. Andrea Vogel added five and Kelsey Kline three. Vogel also had five blocks and Chaney three.
Mallory Bushee had 32 set assists and Elizabeth Ault had 49 digs. Rachelle Rodenbeck had 18 digs, Cassie Rice 17, Bushee 16, McAfee 14 and Breanna Wilson 10. Ault and Kline each had one ace serve.
At the end of September, however, Wells County EMS was in the spotlight not only here but across the state. Indiana's Emergency Medical Services Commission honored Wells County EMS with the 2008 Paramedic Provider of the Year. The prestigious award recognizes Wells County EMS for its contributions to patients and employees.Read the whole thing, it includes the amazing 2006 crash into the beehive-tree on 1050N just north of Ossian.
With four stations around the county, 41 employees (including 21 paramedics) and five ambulances, these men and women responded to 3,016 emergencies last year, which averages out to more than eight runs each day.
But their work in the community extends far beyond responding to 911 calls. Wells County EMS officials created a program to put Automatic External Defibrillators in city and county police vehicles to give officers the tools they need to save a life in case they arrive to an emergency scene before paramedics. Police have saved lives because of the AED program Wells County EMS implemented here.
Its for all of these reasons and more that Wells County EMS personnel have earned and deserve a big pat on the back from us. We commend them for a job well done and thank them for always looking ahead to make Wells County a safer place to live.
The Norwell “Marching Knights” began their campaign for a 10th successive ticket to the State Finals by winning a gold rating. The Knights took the caption awards for Best Music, Best Visual and Best General Effect.
Over the past nine years, the “Marching Knights” have won three State Championships from their nine appearances in the finals. In order to repeat that success this year, they still must progress through the Regional Champs at Lafayette, the Semi-State Champs at Pike High School on Oct. 25, and the State Finals on Nov. 1.
This Saturday, the “Marching Knights” travel to Carmel High School for the Carmel Invitational.
NORWELL 4, HUNTINGTON NORTH 1 : The host Knights dominated the Vikings to win the school's first boys tennis sectional title.Jason Isch won a three-setter at No. 1 singles, beating David Ballard 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
"Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country," Palin told a group of donors in Englewood, Colo. A deliberate attempt to smear Obama, McCain's ticket-mate echoed the line at three separate events Saturday.
"This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America," she said. "We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism."
A nice article... read the whole thing.The Arizona Diamondbacks' first pick (ninth overall) in the 2007 Draft and a late sign that summer, Parker just completed his first pro season at Class A South Bend, just a two-hour drive from his hometown of Ossian, a suburb of Fort Wayne with a population of roughly 3,000.
The debut was, by anyone's estimation, a hugely successful one.
In 24 starts, Parker went 12-5 with a 3.44 ERA, tying for third in the system in both wins and ERA, striking out 117 over 117 2/3 innings while showing impeccable control with only 33 walks.
Fans and alumni coming to Norwell's homecoming football game Friday night [against Dekalb] are invited to take advantage of several events taking place during the evening. Game time is 7 p.m. The events are as follows:
• Girls basketball pork chop dinner 4-6:30 p.m. in the high school cafeteria;
• Tailgate party from 5-6:30 p.m.;
• Class floats on display outside the stadium from 6-7 p.m. (instead of at halftime);
• Norwell dance team performance before the game;
• Norwell Marching Knights halftime show;
• Parade of the classes at halftime;
• Coronation of king and queen at halftime.
Joe won his debate, totally eviscerating President Bush. Unfortunately, Bush wasn't actually at the debate, so it was kind of an empty victory, but Joe takes 'em where he can get 'em.Joe was also very adamant that he and Obama will end the war in Iraq. If only I could be sure that they were just as adamant about winning it.
The O'Biden plan for ending the war appears to be to cut off funding and move the troops to Afghanistan. And Darfur. And Pakistan. Ending a war by starting two more...it's almost as if Obama was a neocon or something.
Gov. Palin flabbergasted Joe when she corrected his mistakes on Afghanistan policy, when he claimed that the commander of the forces on the ground there said the Iraqi surge strategy wouldn't work. It turns out she knew more about what the general said than Joe did, and he was reduced to repeating irrelevant numbers.
By the way, if you watched you saw Senator Biden repeated saying we spend more in three weeks in Iraq than we have in seven years in Afghanistan. According to the Congressional Research Service, spending on the war in Afghanistan since 2001 has been $172 Billion. Spending in Iraq is, as the Democrats repeatedly mention, a little under $10 Billion a month.
CRS Report for Congress:
The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War
on Terror Operations Since 9/11
Covers FY2001 - FY2009
Afghanistan war $172 billion (8 yrs)
Iraq war $653 billion (6 years)
Let's just take average / year / week
AF: $21.5 billion / yr
IR: $109 billion / yr
3 weeks of IR $6.3 billion
7 years of AF $150.5 billion
From the NYT: The Sun has been strangely unblemished this year. On more than 200 days so far this year, no sunspots were spotted. That makes the Sun blanker this year than in any year since 1954, when it was spotless for 241 days.
Before the suspension of the McCain campaign last week, there were four Republicans on record supporting the language in the bill as it was. Senator McCain went back to Washington, got the House Republicans a seat at the negotiating table over the weekend, and their input in the bill for Monday's vote got sixty more Republicans to commit, far more than Pelosi should have needed to get the bill passed.
Senator Obama, on the other hand, showed up to the White House only when invited, spoke in platitudes, left, got beat in the debate Friday night, spent the weekend speaking in more platitudes, and did not lift a finger to dial the phone of any of his Democratic colleagues in the House to try and persuade them to consider supporting a bill Obama was half-heartedly on board with for the good of the country....
Barack Obama has done what he's done throughout his entire career, which is vote present, not offer any leadership. We don't even know what part of the plan he supports or doesn't support. John McCain delivered sixty Republican votes. When he went to Washington last week, only four Republicans in the House were in favor of this. They ended up with 64. There were enough Republican votes for the Democrats to get this done, but a third of the Democrats abandoned Nancy Pelosi. I have a feeling that if Barack Obama were at the table rolling up his sleeves, taking the same risk that John McCain took, they could have gotten that other twenty or thirty Democratic votes.
A READER AT A MAJOR NEWSROOM EMAILS: "Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the tank for O is true. We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor refuses to publish anything that would jeopardize election for O, and betting you dollars to donuts same is true at NYT, others. People cheer when CNN or NBC run another Palin-mocking but raising any reasonable inquiry into obama is derided or flat out ignored. The fix is in, and its working." I asked permission to reprint without attribution and it was granted.
To the extent any Republican voted against the bill because of Pelosi's speech, it may not be a question of them being offended by her partisanship, but the perspective that if Pelosi thinks that the situation calls for partisanship, it must not be a serious emergency, because leaders simply don't engage in such antics when a true emergency is at hand. For that matter, if I were a Democrat skeptical of the bill, Pelosi's speech may have discouraged me from voting for it for the same reason.
Responsibility falls on Speaker Pelosi not just because of her specific actions in this matter (which were deplorable), but because elections have consequences, and the consequence in 2006 was to give her more than ample institutional power to swing at least another 12 members of her party to produce the opposite outcome on this vote.Speaker Pelosi and Barney Frank, etc. are out blaming the Republicans, of course, despite the fact that the Republicans are the minority party and despite the fact that the Democrats were too fearful to pass the bill themselves.
