INTERESTING: Reduce signs; reduce accidents to zero?

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=271482

A sign of movement: Don’t Walk
BY BRUCE KAUFFMANN FOR THE  
Telegraph Herald – Dubuque, IA

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In 2004, the good citizens of Christianfield, Denmark — libertarians to the core — decided to remove all of the traffic signs and signals, including the Denmark equivalent of “Don’t Walk” signs, from their most dangerous intersection. This was done to determine if they would be safer without government intervention, which is what traffic signs unquestionably represent.

“What if,” these citizens asked themselves, “it was up to us, not Denmark’s transportation department, to determine the safest way of crossing an intersection?”

After several months of forgoing government traffic signs and depending on their judgment — including approaching the intersection cautiously — the number of serious accidents dropped to zero.

An isolated, non-representative example? Maybe.

*** end quote ***

Maybe we can try “freedom” and “liberty”?

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INTERESTING: “Survivalists survive by staying out of survival situations”

Monday, February 8, 2010

http://commanderzero.com/?p=1369#comments

What is the very first rule of surviving a disaster?
January 27th, 2010

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Im not saying everyone who gets in a disaster and stuck on a FEMA food line is responsible for what happened to them. Sometimes Mom Nature can be a nasty old broad. But there are plenty of situations out there that a little common sense and self-preservation would suggest you avoid.

The best way to survive any disaster: do not be there.

*** end quote ***

How many “victims” have their head up their a double q?

Self-reliance, help your neighbors, prep!

The Amish and The Mormons have the right idea.

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INTERESTING: 1962 Pa. coal town fire still burns

Sunday, February 7, 2010

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100205/ap_on_re_us/us_centralia_s_final_days

Few remain as 1962 Pa. coal town fire still burns
AP
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press Writer Michael Rubinkam, Associated Press Writer
Fri Feb 5, 10:40 am ET

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After years of delay, state officials are now trying to complete the demolition of Centralia, a borough in the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania that all but ceased to exist in the 1980s after the mine fire spread beneath homes and businesses, threatening residents with poisonous gases and dangerous sinkholes.

More than 1,000 people moved out, and 500 structures were razed under a $42 million federal relocation program.

But dozens of holdouts, Lokitis included, refused to go — even after their houses were seized through eminent domain in the early 1990s. They said the fire posed little danger to their part of town, accused government officials and mining companies of a plot to grab the mineral rights and vowed to stay put. State and local officials had little stomach to oust the diehards, who squatted tax- and rent-free in houses they no longer owned.

*** end quote ***

Interesting in that the gooferment created the problem and can’t solve it.

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INTERESTING: Saudi girl, 13, sentenced to 90 lashes

Saturday, February 6, 2010

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1244689/
Saudi-girl-13–sentenced-90-lashes-took-mobile-phone-school.html#ixzz0dvUDdTrr

Saudi girl, 13, sentenced to 90 lashes after she took a mobile phone to school
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 12:45 AM on 21st January 2010

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A 13-year-old Saudi schoolgirl is to be given 90 lashes in front of her classmates after she was caught with a mobile camera phone.

The girl, who has not been named, was also sentenced to two months in jail by a court in the eastern city of Jubail.

She had assaulted her headmistress after being caught with the gadget which is banned in girl schools, said Al-Watan, a Saudi newspaper. The kingdom’s use of such punishments has been widely condemned by human rights organisations. (snip) The punishment is harsher than tha (sic that) dished out to some robbers and looters. Saudi Arabia is the world’s leading country in the use of torture-by-flogging, public beheadings and publicly crucifying condemned prisoners.

*** end quote ***

This is shocking. It offends my sensibilities. And, I’m an ijineer!

Now I have run into children that I’d have liked to give lashes too, but never 90. Never even one. It’s just a brief idle daydream. Maybe for cell phone abuse.

No one has the right to inflict pain on anyone. Any child, no matter how annoying, no matter bad the transgression, no matter how … … how frustrating deserves to be treated this way.

Where are the women’s libers? Where are the politicians?

Gooferment only has ONE purpose: to protect its citizens and residents from aggression. In a primitive society, one step away from extinction, one can expect brutality to ensure compliance necessary for group survival. In an advanced civilization, brutality is inefficient and ineffective.

We, The People, need to instruct our Gooferment that (a) that’s unacceptable; and (b) they need to exert some moral pressure to help the bozos see the error of their ways. Perhaps, PNGing (Persona Non Grata) male Saudi Ambassadors until they send us a woman as an ambassador might get our point across.

No man can be free until all men are free?

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INTERESTING: Newgrange on the Winter Solstice

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

http://www.irishcentral.com/travel/IrishCentrals-top-10-sites-in-Ireland-41098302.html

Top 10 places to see in Ireland
By CONN CORRIGAN AND MEGHAN SWEENEY, IrishCentral.com Staff Writers
Published Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 2:15 PM
Updated Wednesday, February 3, 2010, 4:11 PM

*** begin quote ***

1. Boyne Valley

Brú na Bóinne (the Boyne Palace) in County Meath contains some of the most important historic sites and monuments in Ireland, and is a designated World Heritage Site.

It features the massive megalithic ancient passage tombs – which are graves dating back to ancient times – of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth. These tombs are older than both Stonehenge in England and the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

Newgrange, which was built about 5,000 years ago, is Ireland’s most famous prehistoric site.

It’s especially famous for a spectacular event on Dec. 21, also known as the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. The tomb was built in such a way so that on this day, it is illuminated by a narrow beam of sunlight which shines through a specially designed roof box. Those who have seen this say its an unforgettable experience.

*** end quote ***

As an injineer, that has been to Stonehenge, (How the hell did they move those ****** ******* rocks?!!?). O may have to add this to my “bucket list”!

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INTERESTING: Celtic Woman. a strange allure?

Sunday, January 31, 2010

http://www.irishcentral.com/IrishAmerica/Celtic-Woman-the-women-behind-the-Irish-musical-phenomenon-82109502.html

Celtic Woman: The women behind the Irish musical phenomenon
By Aliah O’Neill, Irish America Magazine
Published Thursday, January 21, 2010, 11:14 PM
Updated Friday, January 22, 2010, 7:29 AM

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The answer as to why American audiences have responded so enthusiastically to Celtic Woman has not always been clear. When I asked Lynn Hilary, who joined the group in 2007, why she thought American audiences continue to be so responsive to Celtic Woman, she admitted that at first, she wasn’t sure. “I didn’t really understand it for a long time, that they would react in such a way,” she said. “They’d be crying and on their feet every night applauding us. But American people really identify with Ireland, and a lot of Americans have Irish in their ancestry, so Celtic Woman allows them to re-identify with their roots and gives them a feeling of belonging.”

*** end quote ***

Have to admit, I’ve seen the ads, watch some of the PBS, and there is some sort of strange allure? Just like Riverdance, which having seen live twice, it has that “grab” characteristic. Maybe it’s like Irish hip hop? Or with Celtic Women, it’s full size real women in movement — as opposed to the hollywood “heroin chic” that makes women look like refugees from a Nazi Death Camp? But 40$ for a DVD of 20 songs. Not going to happen.

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INTERESTING: The term retronym

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/whats-a-retronym/

What’s a Retronym?
by Maeve Maddox

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Earlier than that, back when he mowed the grass, my big brother longed for an “electric mower.” Now the kind of mower he called a “lawnmower” is called a “push lawnmower.”

“Cloth diaper” and “push lawnmower” are retronyms.

The term retronym came into the language in 1980 when William Safire credited Frank Mankiewicz, president of National Public Radio, with its first use.

*** end quote ***

I never heard of this. Have you?

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INTERESTING: Notre Dame is a hollow shell

Monday, January 25, 2010

http://www.irishcentral.com/sport/Notre-Dame-Coach-Brian-Kellys-religious-values-questioned-81879027.html

Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly’s religious, Catholic values questioned
By SEAN O’SHEA, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Saturday, January 16, 2010, 9:09 AM
Updated Saturday, January 16, 2010, 4:31 PM

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Good for him. It is absolutely no one’s business what private views Coach Kelly holds and to suggest otherwise is ridiculous. After all, few blinked an eye when Lou Holtz campaigned for a Republican candidate when he was head coach.

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What a joke!

We KNOW that long ago Notre Dame sacrificed EVERYTHING to the FOOTBALL program.

And, we know that the administration sacrificed the CATHOLIC identity for a chance to give pro-abortion BHO44 with an “honorary degree”.

So, while he is Constitutionally free to believe whatever he wants, Notre Dame can only pretend to be a “Catholic” institution of higher learning. It’s not about being “Catholic”, and it’s not about “learning”. It’s about “winning”.

Unfortunately, their “winning” is all short-tern short-run meaningless “achievement”!

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INTERESTING: Fixing Haiti long-term

Saturday, January 23, 2010

http://economics.gmu.edu/wew/articles/10/Haiti%27sAvoidableDeathToll.htm

A MINORITY VIEW
BY WALTER WILLIAMS
RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2010

Haiti’s Avoidable Death Toll

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The way out of Haiti’s grinding poverty is not rocket science. Ranking countries according to: (1) whether they are more or less free market, (2) per capita income, and (3) ranking in International Amnesty’s human rights protection index, we would find that those nations with a larger free market sector tend also to be those with the higher income and greater human rights protections. Haitian President Rene Preval is not enthusiastic about free markets; his heroes are none other than the hemisphere’s two brutal communist tyrants: Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Fidel Castro.

*** end quote ***

We can’t fix it, but let’s keep the crooked leaders out of the USA. Persona Non Grata.

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INTERESTING: Dangerous impact of globalization

Sunday, January 17, 2010

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/6958013/The-dairy-farmer-reduced-to-tears.html

The dairy farmer reduced to tears
By Olga Craig
Published: 9:30PM GMT 09 Jan 2010

*** begin quote ***

All across the country, diary farmers are facing the loss of their livelihood. In 1985, there were 28,000 diary farmers in England and Wales. By last November, when Mr Rickatson became one of the nine dairy farmers that throw in the towel each week, there were 11,551 left. As recently as two years ago Britain was self-sufficient in milk. Now we import 1.5 million litres a day. For the farmers who struggle on, their working lives – and that of their herds – have become a grind: such is their despair that one a week commits suicide.

*** and ***

The chief villains are the supermarkets which, by driving down milk prices, are forcing farmers to intensify production or go out of business and leave the way clear for foreign imports. Currently one litre of full fat milk costs around 75p – of which farmers get around 26p, the exact cost of producing it.

*** end quote ***

Interesting.

And, what happens when “foreign imports” can’t or won’t come?

Surely this is happening all around the world. The movie Gandhi had moving sequences about national economics.

Maybe Pat Buchanan is right?

How does one maintain a minimum national capability to feed itself?

It must all revolve around the definition of money?

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