Holy crap....Weren't you in ZZ-Top?

AN Arab ambassador has annulled his marriage after discovering his veiled wife-to-be had a beard and was cross-eyed.

The diplomat had only met the woman a few times, during which she had hidden her face behind a niqab.

Local media reported that after the marriage contract was signed, the man tried to give his new wife a smooch only to find she had facial hair.

Heh!

I'm a bit confused by the "cross-eyed" issue though. With a niqab...the eyes are the only thing you can see. And if the niqab is so necessary as to hide the sexuality of a woman to this culture...why should it matter if she sported a beard? Eh?

Someone explain Occam's Razor to U-Cal...

Too much time in front of the television has long been linked to childhood obesity. Now, new research suggests it’s not the TV but the commercials that are making kids fat.

In a study of more than 2,000 children, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, compared the time the kids spent viewing television and video. They asked caregivers to track children’s media use during one weekday and one weekend day during 1997, then again in 2002.

The findings showed that the amount of television a child watched wasn’t a predictor of obesity risk. Instead, risk for being overweight increased the more television commercials a child was exposed to. There was no association with television viewing and obesity for those who watched videos or commercial-free programming.

You probably didn't want to read all that...so I'll summarize:

Kids who don't see commercials as often are usually thinner. The University of California attributes this to children being more educated as they watched educational videos or public television.

HERE'S WHAT THEIR SUMMARY SHOULD HAVE CONCLUDED: When the commercial comes on interupting the intending viewing...that's the time to make a break to the fridge. Without commercials...the option for refueling is just not there...unless the show sucks.

New York Times late to the party...

But Dr. Pachauri and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are now under intense scrutiny, facing accusations of scientific sloppiness and potential financial conflicts of interest from climate skeptics, right-leaning politicians and even some mainstream scientists. Senator John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, called for Dr. Pachauri’s resignation last week.

I love the way the NYT limits the damage by only noting two of the items that plagues Pachauri and the IPCC. Sloppiness? Bull hockey...the information and statements appearing now suggest that it wasn't sloppiness but intentional misrepresentation (significantly more egregious).

Potential financial conflicts. No...it has been proven (not only with Pachauri) that there are, indeed, financial conflicts of interest throughout the entire AGW cast and crew. But, the NYT misses out on informing on the blantant violation of the Freedom of Information Act...wild accusations over the years that never came true...the court case in Great Britian which substantively gutted Al Gore's fictional "An Inconvenient Truth..."

The simple fact of the matter is that this article by the NYT is an attempt to limit the damage (the only reason they are even touching this story)...which is so obviously bad, that even they can't shut it down entirely.

But they try.

"Do these slaves really love their chains?" (Hitchens)

Christopher Hitchens has a piece over on Slate that gives us a window into North Korea's plight (for lack of a better term):

Here are the two most shattering facts about North Korea. First, when viewed by satellite photography at night, it is an area of unrelieved darkness. Barely a scintilla of light is visible even in the capital city. (See this famous photograph.) Second, a North Korean is on average six inches shorter than a South Korean. You may care to imagine how much surplus value has been wrung out of such a slave, and for how long, in order to feed and sustain the militarized crime family that completely owns both the country and its people.

Interesting piece...give it a look. Hell, it's Hitchens. He's always interesting.

Parody fighting it out with Reality...(Never good)

Tim Blair has posted the Audi Super Bowl commercial...and it's disturbing in the fact that parody is way too close to reality. The underlying amusement, however, is that there will be a demographic of viewers out there that just don't understand the humor associated with the bit. The greenies will sit there "smileless" wondering when the humor will kick in.

Most folks will chuckle and realize that the commercial is there to sell the Audi clean diesel vehicle, and take home the indirect punchline that Audi is saying..."yeah...this whole green thing is a bit out of control, but here's our contribution to the trend...and remember us when you Green stormtroopers target major corporations...we're playing along."

HERE'S THE LINK TO BLAIR'S POST WITH THE VIDEO.

My favorite part is the music underneath...Cheap Trick's "Dream Police" is now Audi's "Green Police."

Where's Jay Currie's Blog gone to?

What happened to Jay Currie's Blog? He's a great source for Canadian Hi-jinks, but a trek to his site states that the Account is Suspended.

I, personally, hope this is temporary or that I'm just too daft to realize he has a new site somewhere. Of course, he has a tendency to slap the Canadian Human Rights Commissions around...and rightly so. But, they would never stoop to censorship...*snort*

No one tells me nutin'.

UPDATE: Back in operation after remembering to pay the piper...

Behold the "retarded"...

You know how everyone is all bent out of shape about implying that someone is "retarded?"

Well, not being a subscriber to the whole politically correct cadre of triviality I would like to point out that this guy is...RETARDED:

Which brings us to Barack Obama’s “war on terror.” Conservatives keep saying that Obama doesn’t really believe we’re at war; that he sees terrorists as mere criminals, not the epic evil-doers that they really are. But here’s the irony: It’s precisely because he doesn’t see the terrorist threat as quite so epic that al Qaeda is falling apart.

Yeah...yeah...I suppose my accusation could be considered an ad hominem argument. For those of you reading who, also, happened to be retarded...the reference is an "argument towards the person."

The author of that backwash percipience is Peter Beinart. He is the senior political writer for The Daily Beast, is associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. He's obviously educated. Apparently, he molds young minds, more than likely, to his way of "thinking" in his position as professor. Therefore, I am left with two posibilities in consideration of the absolute nonsense his above statement implies.

Either Mr Beinart is dabbling in parody...or is retarded...in which case he, likely, would not understand the concept of parody.

I'm betting on "retarded."

Just STOP with this esoteric Global Warming nonsense...

A study of beleaguered butterflies in California provides some of the best clues yet as to how other animals may react to climate change, scientists say.

Yes...yes...the butterflies are a "clue" to climate change destruction.

"Like polar bears, these high-elevation butterflies were already living in extreme environments, and now they don't have any options" for escape, Forister says. He says butterfly populations have always shifted over time, but the destruction of their habitat has occurred at an accelerated pace in recent years because of urbanization and warming temperatures.

As I type through my tears shed in sympathy for the wayward butterflies and the down-trodden polar bears...I am ashamed to ask:

HOW IN THE HELL CAN THIS STUDY SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY WHEN THE EARTH'S TEMPERATURES ARE PROVEN TO HAVE FALLEN SINCE A PEAK IN 1998....HUH?!?

The good Dr. Matthew Forister's study says in black in white "accelerated pace in recent years because of urbanization and falling temperatures." Yet, the study is hogwash because the Earth's temperatures have been falling for the last decade!!!

Well, I am pragmatic. So, let's look for a bit of motivation for such a report. How about that the report was initiated by a Federal Grant by the National Science Foundation? In other words, your tax dollars paid for this nonsense. And, since the jackassery in Washington D.C. is bent on disrupting private business by applying "cap and trade" legislation that would hogtie viable US industry, those "scientists" wishing to continue making a comfortable living have to return studies (funded publically) showing "proof" of the necessity. That way, when it comes time for another Federally funded round of grants to be approved, Dr. Forister gets first dibs.

This AGW racket has become a laughable, insufferable...joke.

It's a test...

THE TOPIA INN, a laboratory of sustainability with an artsy vibe here in the Berkshires, confirmed my reservation with a friendly e-mail reminder about its “green” guest policy:

No Smoking.

No chemical fragrances/bug repellant.

Leave your shoes at the front door or cover them with the inn’s neoprene booties, so as not to track in pesticide residue and other pollutants.

Leave all grooming products at home, so as not to interfere with the chemical-free organic mattresses and bedding. Complimentary organic bath and body products provided.

Oooooo...nice! Take that special woman in your life away for the weekend up into the Berkshires...and make sure she leaves all her grooming products at home so she doesn't interfere with the organic matresses and bedding.

If you can still look her in the eye at the end of the weekend...she's a keeper.

Bonus: When you get home...crank the climate control...take a shower and douse yourself with chemicals...order a huge non-fair trade pizza and feel good about your 48 hour tribute to Mother Earth...while sipping a nice glass of Shiraz made from grapes harvested by underage Australian Aborigines in wheelchairs.

"As they say in the glacier business, ice work if you can get it."

Mark Steyn's latest in MaCleans. It's a pisser...

Go back to that Berkeley professor mooning over the loss of that “magnificent landform” he once thought “immutable, eternal.” From his prose style, one might easily assume Orville Schell was a professor of creative writing or some such. In fact, he’s the former dean of the Graduate School of Journalism. Yet, for all the limpid fragrance of his poignant obsequies, professor Schell would seem to lack the one indispensable quality of a journalist: basic curiosity—the same curiosity that led Miss Laframboise to see just how much of the “science” in the IPCC report rested on the assertions of the panda-cuddlers. So instead, professor Schell bid a teary farewell to his beloved landform, even though the glaciers of the western Himalayas are, in fact, increasing.

Each day seems to reveal a new revelation suggesting that man-induced "climate change" is an absolute fairy tale. And, as each small glimpse of reality sprouts to the surface the big picture takes form. Each cry by the supporters of "the science is settled" shows a perceived desparation to protect that "settled science." In other words, scrutiny and time has been plucking pieces of the weigh bearing wall holding up their theories and the realization, awareness and knowledge threatened their stranglehold on what they hoped to pass out as truth and fact. Desparation and frustration had been ramped up in an effort to stave actual science from intervening.