Riehl World View

Berkeley Students Flee Capitalism

Aren't they just the cutest little things? Berkeley tuition jumped 32 percent and now students have barricaded themselves in because they just realized it's their school. Hmm.

Great! Now, if all those lovely liberal professors would simply agree to begin taking donations in their classrooms every week for a little take home pay and benefits, of course, Berkeley's little world will be as right as rain.

Don't hold your breath. The  professors, many of them, are more likely to be cheering the kiddies on. This is simply part of their learning experience, you see. In the new world, everyone is entitled to everything, whether they are willing to work and pay for it themselves, or not.

(11-20) 12:56 PST BERKELEY -- A group of about 60 UC Berkeley students and supporters barricaded themselves inside Wheeler Hall early this morning in the most dramatic display of disobedience on the campus since the UC regents voted to raise student undergraduate tuition by 32 percent Thursday.

The group entered Wheeler Hall around 6 a.m. and three students were arrested immediately for burglary as they moved heavy furniture to block doorways on the second floor, according campus police.

Andi Walden, a student among those occupying the building, who spoke to The Chronicle by phone, said the protesters had enough food and water to last four days.

"We decided it was necessary to take action," said Walden, a Middle Eastern studies and political science major. "A lot of people have been saying, 'Who's university? Our university.' So we decided to put that into action."

Walden said the students had two demands: The reinstatement of 38 custodians who were recently fired or laid off, and to be able to leave the building without having to face any legal trouble.

Feinstein Going After Hi-Def TV

This via Congress Daily. (subscription required) Why is it that every little, or big technology advance always looks like an additional source of revenue, or regulation to these people? And, yes, the industry claims it will drive up the price of hi-def, among other things. Of course it will. They'll be forced to re-engineer. And so what if a little of the quality goes away? We have to feed Congress and preserve gaia if we want to sit around and watch great TV.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., wants the federal government to follow her state's lead in cutting the energy usage of power-hungry high-definition television sets.

The California Energy Commission on Wednesday approved a plan to cut the energy consumption of new televisions sold in the state by one-third beginning in 2011 and by one-half starting in 2013.

In a Thursday letter to Energy Secretary Chu, Feinstein urged the department to take a "serious look" at crafting national standards for TVs that are as rigorous as the ones adopted in California.

But the Consumer Electronics Association, which represents the views of most set manufacturers, wants to pull the plug on both the California requirements and the senator's proposal. "It will result in higher prices for consumers, job losses for Californians and lost tax revenue for the state," the group said.

Climate Science Fraud Exposed?

Oh my. This looks as though it could leave a mark the size of a glacier or two receding. heh!

Someone has a lot of splainin' to do. But if this is genuine, he'll have plenty of time to do it, being unemployed until the next ice age and all. What?

From: Phil Jones
To: ray bradley ,mann@xxxxx.xxx, mhughes@xxxx.xxx
Subject: Diagram for WMO Statement
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 13:31:15 +0000
Cc: k.briffa@xxx.xx.xx,t.osborn@xxxx.xxx

Dear Ray, Mike and Malcolm,
Once Tim’s got a diagram here we’ll send that either later today or
first thing tomorrow.
I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps
to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd from
1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline. Mike’s series got the annual
land and marine values while the other two got April-Sept for NH land
N of 20N. The latter two are real for 1999, while the estimate for 1999
for NH combined is +0.44C wrt 61-90. The Global estimate for 1999 with
data through Oct is +0.35C cf. 0.57 for 1998.
Thanks for the comments, Ray.

Cheers
Phil

Prof. Phil Jones
Climatic Research Unit Telephone +44 (0) xxxxx
School of Environmental Sciences Fax +44 (0) xxxx
University of East Anglia
Norwich Email p.jones@xxxx.xxx
NR4 7TJ
UK

NYT's: TV Networks "Douche" For Better Ratings

h/t an Ana Marie Cox Tweet where she's celebrating it.

It isn't as if even that would help, but .... The New York Times suggests television networks are turning to words like "douche" to win the ratings war with the unregulated cable channel market. Wow, such a clever way to try and do the same thing against their Web competition from the Times. Hats off to Pinch. In his case, douching might actually be a good idea.

If it is a strategy as they suggest, it's a misguided one. They'll likely lose at least as much as they think they might get from it. Both print and television are increasingly less relevant due to technology and the Internet. While it might benefit some current and previous notable co-hosts of The View, their problems go well beyond a little feminine hygiene, unfortunately, or not.

LOS ANGELES — On many nights this fall, it has been possible to tune in to broadcast network television during prime time and hear a character call someone else a “douche.”

In total, the word has surfaced at least 76 times already this year on 26 prime-time network series, according to research by the Parents Television Council, which compiled the statistics at the request of The New York Times. That is up from 30 uses on 15 shows in all of 2007 and just six instances on four programs in 2005.

Ever since George Carlin laid out the “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” in 1972, television writers and broadcasters have been digging more deeply into the thesaurus, seizing on new ways to titillate, if not offend. And while the word “douche” is neither obscene nor profane — although this usage is certainly offensive to many people — it seems to represent the latest of broadcast television’s continuing efforts to expand the boundaries of taste, in part to stem the tide of defections by its audience to largely unregulated cable television.

As a result, words that previously were rarely heard on television suddenly turn up everywhere, while once unspeakable slurs become passé from overuse. The use of the word, “bitch,” for example, tripled in the last decade alone, growing to 1,277 uses on 685 shows in 2007 from 431 uses on 103 prime-time episodes in 1998.

MSNBC's Scarborough Reportedly Moving On

While being billed as a national day of service in line with the Obama administration's volunteer-ism agenda, people in the know insist that on November 21st Mourning Joe host Joe Scarborough will be taking a test to enter Starbuck's employee training program for counter help at a Starbuck's location just around the corner from his current MSNBC studio. Scarborough was reported to have discreetly slipped into the location last week after MSNBC executives informed him they thought he might want to start looking for a new job.

Unconvinced he was able to pour their many flavors of coffee at a reasonable clip without becoming confused, Starbuck's manager Van Jones insisted Joe take the standard qualifying test prior to being granted a 90 day probationary period. Joe is said to be thrilled that his benefits will kick in after the probation period assuming he goes on to join Starbucks full-time.

In 2008 alone, Starbucks partners and customers in the U.S. and Canada volunteered 246,000 hours of service toward our goal to contribute over 1 million hours of community service by 2015. We're off to a great start! As we continue to work toward this goal, we will look for creative opportunities to gain wider awareness of the importance of volunteerism and giving back to local communities. With that in mind, we are proud to announce that we are working with MSNBC's "Morning Joe".

On November 21st, participate in the Brewing Together Day of Service, co-sponsored by Starbucks and "Morning Joe." Make a difference on this day, by logging into the HandsOn Network, and finding a local volunteer opportunity in your area.

In tandem with the event, we are introducing the newly updated Starbucks Gold Coast Blend®: Morning Joe Edition, an intense, full-bodied blend that showcases our finest Latin American and Asia-Pacific coffees. Available exclusively where you buy groceries this bold, flavorful coffee is a fitting accompaniment to conversation, whether around the kitchen table, on the set of "Morning Joe", or during a break while you're volunteering in your community.

Click here for a message from Joe & Mika about Brewing Together Day of Service event on November 21, and look for Starbucks Gold Coast Blend® Morning Joe Edition at a grocery store near you.

Feds Look To Seize Four Mosques, Skyscraper Linked To Iran

The mosques and building are linked to the Shiite Alavi Foundation, suspected of links to Iran. This ought to make the nuclear negotiations more fun! As if they've ever been actual negotiations.

NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors are taking steps to seize four U.S. mosques and a New York City skyscraper owned by a nonprofit Muslim organization. The organization — called the Alavi Foundation — has long been suspected of being under Iranian government control. Prosecutors say the foundation has been helping to illegally funnel money back to the Iranian government.

The government filed a forfeiture action in federal court in New York to seize four mosques in the city and in Maryland, California and Houston. The government also wants to take control of a 36-story office tower on New York's Fifth Avenue.

35 Cool Landscape Pics From Mars

Originally from a somewhat spamish tweet. But they're sourced to Boston.com. Thirty-five very cool images of the landscape on Mars - with descriptions so you know what you're seeing.

Since 2006, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been orbiting Mars, currently circling approximately 300 km (187 mi) above the Martian surface. On board the MRO is HiRISE, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, which has been photographing the planet for several years now at resolutions as fine as mere inches per pixel. Collected here is a group of images from HiRISE over the past few years, in either false color or grayscale, showing intricate details of landscapes both familiar and alien, from the surface of our neighboring planet, Mars. I invite you to take your time looking through these, imagining the settings - very cold, dry and distant, yet real. (35 photos total)

MSNBC's Shuster Links Fred Phelps To Republicans, Conservatives

Insufferable nitwit number 2 from MSNBC, David Shuster, demonstrates his party hack bona fides by implying that hate protesters Fred Phelps and his group are somehow part of the actual conservative movement and the Republican Party, too. What an injudicious hack.

Hopefully, some of the more rational conservatives/republicans will condemn this stuff today. It was beyond the pale.

Certainly this moron must read Think Progress. They linked his tweet, after all. Pay attention stoopid, you might learn something. Do you really believe honest conservatives and Republicans go around protesting at funerals for prominent Republican conservatives, the US Military and disaster victims? You have no shame you lamed-azz excuse for a journalist. Crawl back up under Nancy Pelosi's skirt where a proper application of feminine deodorant might keep us from having to smell your stink, jerk! What a hose bag this guy is.

Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church is a hate group that goes around the country staging anti-gay rallies at some of the most inappropriate places (e.g. the funerals of former White House press secretary Tony Snow, victims of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, and U.S. troops) with messages like “Thank God For AIDS” and “God Hates Fags.”

Giant Jellyfish Sink Fishing Trawler

Dang. Those things are big. Check out the video here, or below - neat, though. Wait for the diver to come into view. I don't think I'd be swimming quite so close to one. Sort of makes you feel like peanut butter inside just watching it.

You could say it was the jellyfish, or you could say it was the overzealous fishermen on board. While trying to haul in a catch of several dozen giant Nomura's jellyfish - one of the largest in the world - a Japanese fishing trawler tipped right over.

According to the Telegraph, "The crew of the fishing boat was thrown into the sea when the vessel capsized, but the three men were rescued by another trawler, according to the Mainichi newspaper. The local Coast Guard office reported that the weather was clear and the sea was calm at the time of the accident."

It's no wonder only a few dozen could capsize a boat. Each jellyfish can weigh as much as 450 pounds.

The Fall Of The Wall: US Media On The Wrong Side

The US media wasn't just on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall - where they remain, wall or no wall. It was on the wrong side of history, too. Okay, that isn't exactly unusual for them. Just one more reason why they are dying a death they have earned.

A comprehensive look at the Berlin Wall and its subsequent fall via the folks at CEI. Text item at link along with video there and below.

What a shame, then, that this milestone has been treated more like a millstone by the media. Reporters more concerned with today’s news cycle are giving at best perfunctory attention to a day that showed us all that is good about humanity.

To partially right that wrong, CEI has produced a short video commemorating what the Berlin Wall’s fall symbolizes. I hope you will watch it and enjoy it. Of course, it is hard to convey in a few short minutes what the people living in that Wall’s shadow went through for 29 long years.