Exalted Wisdom - Wise thoughts and comments about happenings in the world

Links of the day 8/20

archbob — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:22:48 +0000

Interesting links of the day:

Two 70 yr-old Chinese women sentenced to labor re-education

The advent of ass-bras

McCain takes cue from Clinton to cut Obama’s lead

Russia Condemns US Missile deal

Do we really have free will?

Flying cars on the horizon

Britney spears sucks when not lipsinging

Apple gets sued over crappy i-phone

Play:

Flash Flash revolution

Lone defender

Obama’s lead over McCain Practically vanishes

archbob — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:11:05 +0000

Barack Obama’s once huge lead over John McCain has All but vaporized and the Democrats are reeling and looking for an answer. What was an 8-point lead in mid July dropped to a 3 point lead in the last week and narrowed to 1 point today. Obama and supporters look forward to the convention to boost their numbers. But will it boost the numbers enough? Remember that McCain also has the GOP convention coming up soon.

Obama’s lead has been thinning mostly because of the McCain ads that questioned Obama policies and what they would do for Americans and the recent crisis with Georgia which showed Barack’s Lack of experience in foreign affairs.

The commercial was a great success for McCain. Even though some accused it of being too negative, it did show the bad sides of Obama’s tax policy which many Americans are concerned about. Taxes that hit mainly the middle class(Obama policy hits those making $40,000 and up) just are not too popular. Also displaying his celebrity status has brought some to wonder if he’s really ready to lead the country.

The crisis in Georgia was also a large blow to Obama. McCain took a tough approach and warned Russia that there would be consequences while Obama took a much softer approach and even suggested calling on the UN, which Russia and China have security council seats on, to bring political pressure on Russia. People noticed this and it seriously brought into question Obama’s credibility on Foreign policy. People trust McCain over Obama on this policy by more than 2 to 1.

The tide has turned against Obama and momentum is on McCain’s side now. If Barack wants to win, he has to steer people away from the actual issues and get back his demi-god like status which will be harder to do now since much of his shine has worn off. Either that or he needs to made new policies that McCain can’t pick at all that much. Whatever the plan, it spells trouble for the once invincible Barack Obama.

Most Dangerous Jobs in America

archbob — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:58:19 +0000

According to a recent study for on-the-job fatalities by CNN, fishing, logging, and flying were the three most dangerous jobs in America. Fishing was once again the most dangerous job and one that looks less appealing by the moment as the fishing industry has taken a hit. Fishermen face a variety of perils including ice, storms, and boat malfunctions. Yes, it may not be as dramatic as getting eaten by a shark, but these are very real threats. Next in line was logging.

People die in this profession from being in the wrong place when trees fall and run-ins with equipment. The third most dangerous job went to commercial pilots. These are not the big jet-liners we often think about. Usually these are small pilots who do solo flights or ferry people in small almost bi-plane type aircraft. Such aircraft do not have the stability of a Boeing 747 craft and therefore is more prone to be effect by wind and bad weather.

What surprises me is that neither soldier or police officer made the list of the most dangerous jobs. I know many soldiers are home and not in combat zones but I would have thought that the deaths from those in Combat zones would offset it enough to make being a soldier one of the most dangerous jobs you can have. Police officers also fell way below fisherman and loggers and had about 1/5 of the deaths that fisherman did, I guess Fish are more tricky than criminals. I would have guessed that policemen suffer far more fatalities than fisherman if not for this report.

I suppose the reason why I think of soldiers and policemen when I think of dangerous jobs is because those are the ones shown on TV all the time. When these people die, they often become heros and the story is widespread. No one even knows if a fishermen or logger dies on the job.

Link of the day 8/19

archbob — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:26:41 +0000

Here are interesting links/news for today:

Bigfoot Discovery is a Hoax — again

Fattest Children to be taken away from Parents in the UK

Whiny American ‘explains’ why China isn’t so far ahead in medals

Game sharers get hit with huge fine

Man gets 9-ft tapeworm

College president seek debate on drinking age

Cat with four ears dubbed Yoda cat

McCain was not tortured in Vietnam

Play:

Vinnie’s Shooting Yard 3

Mad Monday

How to determine which country “wins” the Olympics

archbob — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:34:57 +0000

There has been some discussion about how to determine which country “won” the Olympics. Most of the world just goes by the total Gold medal count which China has an insurmountable lead right now. The United States however, is the one country that counts how it does in each Olympics with total medals. Which one of these methods is correct? Its hard to say but lets take a closer look. There are three medals for each event, representing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and are awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze accordingly. Achieving any of these medals is a great feat in itself as it means you are one of the top three in the sport in the world. By this reasoning all three medals should be counted and the total medal count is the best way to go.

However, they should not be counted as the same. I don’t think anyone could argue that a Bronze medal is somehow equal to a Gold medal, that notion is ridiculous. The fact is that if you win a Bronze medal, you are the 3rd best in the world, but you are not “The Man”. However, winning the gold medal means that you are indeed “the man”. I bet if Michael Phelps had won 8 silver medals and not 8 golds, there wouldn’t been nearly as commotion about him as there is now. And besides everyone competes to be the best in the world, not the 2nd or 3rd best in the world. People cheer “we’re #1″ all the time but hardly anyone cheers “we’re #2″ or “we’re #3″, so a Bronze medal or a Silver medal should not count as much as a gold medal.
But then, how do you rank the countries fairly by counting all the medals and making Golds more important? The answer is very simple. To determine which country “wins” the Olympics, determine it by the number of points they have instead of a medal count. In this system make a Gold medal 3 points, a silver medal 2 points, and a bronze 1 point. I think most will agree that this is a fair assessment as one Gold medal is now worth 3 times one bronze medal. I don’t think this is unfair to bronze medals either as I think many athletes with 3 bronze medals would gladly have won a Gold instead of three bronzes. So by this count, the USA vs. China score is.

USA: 26 Golds * 3+26 silver*2+27 Bronze *1=157 total points
China: 43 Golds *3 + 14 silver *2 + 19 bronze *1 = 176 total points

China is still in the lead by a decent margin but its not an insurmountable difference like it would be if we only counted golds. Anyone else think this is a good system?

Russia refuses to withdraw from Georgia

archbob — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:33:09 +0000

Nato has accused Russia of failing to honor the terms of their cease-fire agreement. Russian troops are still entrenched deep in the heart of Georgia despite promises from Moscow to withdraw. Russia, however, said the accusations were ‘biased’ and said that Georgia also had not fulfilled its part in the cease-fire agreement. He also said that some troops stayed to protect South Ossetia’s territory. The fighting has destroyed many parts of Georgia and Ossetia and each side is accusing the other of “Ethnic cleansing”.

The Bush administration says it wants suspension of all spectrums of programs between NATO and Russia but this is unlikely to happen as Britian and many former soviet countries are not likely to respond with that aggression as Russia remains an important trade partner in that region. An exchange of prisoners had occured and Georgia no longer holds any Russian prisoners while Russia still holds some 65 Georgian prisoners.

Russia is worsening its relations with the EU in this move and the United States has called for postponement of an EU-Russia summit. NATO will most likely wait before further action but remains “very concerned” about Russian aggression.

I highly doubt that Russia will withdraw within the next week. The former Soviet Union has been getting increasingly more aggressive through the last few years as economics in the country has gotten better. I get a sense that they are trying to rebuild their status as a major world power. I expect to see many more of these small conflicts and possibly larger ones build up in the future between Russia and the pro-western former soviet states. It probably won’t escalate into war but it is a cause for concern as casualties, especially along the border are almost a sure thing.

Its a shame this had to happen during the Olympics, which are meant as a symbol of world unity. Athletes can’t compete calmly when their homes are being blown up.

Links of the day 8/18

archbob — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:23:57 +0000

Interesting news for today:

China Confiscates bibles from Christians

Is google too black?

Why Short women with long legs are attractive

Russia cites US refusal to withdraw from Iraq as reason to not withdraw from Georgia

Tide Turning in Presidential election?

Will an Iranian be allowed to play in the NBA

Obama veep expected to be announced very soon

New Hack targetted at firefox users

Play:

Pointless Platformer

River War

China’s Hero Liu Xiang pulls out because of injury

archbob — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:39:33 +0000

Chinese hurdling star and national hero, Liu Xiang, pulled out of the 110m hurdles and the Olympics with an injury to his achilles tendon. This shock destroyed the hopes and dreams of China for track and field glory and broke the hearts of millions of Chinese fans. After a runner in another lane had a false-start, Liu clutched his ankle in pain and tearfully withdrew from the Olympics. Fans were heartbroken, volunteers were weeping, but overall, the chinese at the stadium were sympathetic to Liu Xiang. Many said there was simply too much pressure and he caved under it.

Liu’s coach tearfully said that Liu would not have pulled out if the injury had not been serious and commented that he had been having trouble with the ankle since May. While this does indeed make a good explanation, many fans and myself included have to conclude that the immense amount of pressure was just too much to bear and the false start just made things snap.

While I was back in China, there were posters of Liu everywhere and commercials with him all over TV. There was even a half-hour documentary dedicated to his brand of shoe. He was truly larger than life and was treated like a God after winning Gold in Athens. Coming into the Beijing Olympics, there was no Athlete with as much pressure on them as Liu Xiang. The pressure and the complications with his ankle probably built on each other and the stress of the two probably caused his tendon to pop after the false start.

Besides fans, corporate sponsors are also devastated by this. However, major sponsors such as Coke and Lenovo did not put all their bets on Liu Xiang. Even though this is a huge setback, Coke commercials featuring the Chinese hero have already been extravagantly successful and probably has already gotten them returns on investment. Coke is sitting pretty well since they are also sponsors of international basketball star and chinese national hero Yao Ming and many-times over gold medalist diver Guo Jing Jing. However, for those that only sponsored Liu Xiang, this is a tremendous disaster.

Hopefully he can redeem himself in 2012.