77 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  2. Found: The “missing” honeybees. Honey, I’m hjke.
    …-
    Thousands of bees won’t leave man’s home
    LILLY, Pa. – Matthew Danchanko has squatters in his new home. And they won’t leave without a fight. They’re honeybees — tens of thousands of of them. They buzz through the four-bedroom house, creating a low hum and an estimated 100 pounds of honey. Danchanko recently bought the house northeast of Johnstown, Pa. He planned to fix it up and move in. But shortly after he began renovating, the long-time residents of the house made it abundantly clear they had no intention of leaving. Danchanko won’t exterminate the unwanted guests because the honeybee population has significantly deteriorated this summer. Instead,…-
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1867894/posts

  3. My view is that Catholics and Protestants both have co-equal legitimacy speaking for the Christian tradition.
    So it disappoints me to see some of the initiatives put forward by Pope Benedict.
    Apparently if your church is not the Catholic Church, it is not really the true church. This is much like marriage. Those of us who are not married in the Catholic Church are not really married. Catholics are married, but the rest of us are not.
    Even Kathy Shaidle will apparently have to dwell in some state of sin that disallows her from taking the sacrament even though she is ready and willing to punch all the Catholic buttons in respect to marrying a man she’s been in a relationship with for about 12 years.
    This all comes at an unfortunate time, because the LA diocese has now uncovered something like 200 pedophile priests, and we don’t know how many they missed. Cardinal Mahoney will be paying out $600 million to people who were abused and obviously this does not cover people who committed suicide or regarded coming forward as too humiliating.
    This creates a theological problem with Theodicy that is mind-boggling:
    We are to be sanguine about the idea that an all-knowing God reaches down through bishops to consecrate a priest that He knows will go on to molest infants. God has the foreknowledge to see this coming and has the power to stop it. Jesus Christ apparently ordains bishops, knowing that the individual bishop will send this priest from parish to parish, destroying the lives of the children.
    I personally doubt very much that Jesus Christ has a part to play in a situation that will result in thousands of brutalized children who then go on to lead corrupted lives or commit suicide and thereby make their own damnation a foregone conclusion.
    Come on, people. We need to all be together in a spirit of ecumenical dialogue and unity in a joint struggle against Islamic Naziism. This is not the time to exhibit such pretentiousness as alleging one is the designator about who is Christian and who is not.
    Here is a link that discusses a little of this:
    http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A222981

  4. 3. A REFORMED ISLAM?
    The integrated policies that can secure a free society will also establish the minimum standards that a new Islamic doctrine must reach, in order for the practice of Islamism not to be a threat to western society. Muslims must acknowledge that those parts of their religion hanging over from 7th or 8th century Islamic thinking are unsuitable in 21st century European society. Real, traditional Islam is – according to serious and honest writers and students of the religion – incompatible with democracy and individual freedom. A reformed Islam is essential. Of necessity, such a reformed Islam will differ from the traditional form.
    Conclusions regarding policies for various aspects of human life will indicate which religious theses and statements of Islam are not any longer acceptable. Those parts of the religion should be proclaimed as not valid and not be a part of it any longer. An unreformed Islam may in the future not be a permitted religion in Western countries because of its danger to civilized society.
    Presumably, it is necessary to build a new theoretical foundation for an Islam that protects freedom and human rights. Basic questions arise: Which are the contents of Islam that can be allowed – in the long run – to be preached in a western country? In addition, by whom and when shall that reformed Islam be formulated?
    An even more important question is whether it is really possible or meaningful to reform Islam. This issue may easily be overshadowed by the fundamental question whether the religion is worth saving. It is easy for some people to ask: Why shall one try to save certain parts of a religion that, according to the texts and various accepted interpretations of it, contain so much hate and violence, encourage violations of human rights, and threaten freedom and democracy? If one reads Islamic texts, it is easy to conclude that they advocate inequality between sexes, a hostile behavior towards other religions or world views, violence as a political method, dictatorship (not democracy), and collectivism (NOT individualism). However, ideally those who believe in the religion, if they will step up to their responsibilities for this should answer the question of whether the faith is worth saving. It is their responsibility to decide which parts are now valid and which are obsolete. Just changing the prevalent abrogation rules formulated for the Qur’an will be a good start.
    If the reformation of Islam waits until after a serious insurgency or civil war in, it is easy to envision limited interest in reform among the victors if they are western democrats. Having just avoided a national catastrophe, the leaders may demand eviction of all Muslims from the specific country, or that the Muslim citizens abandon their religion. Such a demand was earlier used in most European countries against other religions, in order to promote peace in the society. Since Islam is the only remaining large religion that can be shown to have a deeply hostile attitude towards other religions, and advocates violence and abrogation of human rights, this old rule may well be needed again. For a reformed Islam to find more permanent roots in Europe, reform should be carried out now. Muslim believers take a risk if this work is not done, done soon, and done completely.
    6thcolumnagainstjihad.com/preventingIslamEurope_p1.htm

  5. 16 or 17 Litres per day of beer??
    Sounds about right …. for a normal person!
    The local record for The Sulphur Springs Hotel in Cambridge ON …. was set by Buck Hansford in 74 he consumed 100 8oz glasses and that works out to about 22.7 liters!!
    But Buck was highly trained athlete 😉

  6. Canada’s New Government Re-Establishes Squadron to Support C-17 Aircraft
    NR–07.071 – July 18, 2007
    TRENTON, Ont. – The Honourable Gordon O’Connor, Minister of National Defence, today announced the re-establishment of 429 Transport Squadron, designated the C-17 squadron, based at 8 Wing / CFB Trenton. Under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Dave Lowthian, the squadron will be responsible for the conduct of C-17 operations, as well as the day-to-day maintenance of Canada’s new strategic airlift fleet of Globemaster IIIs.
    “It is with immense pride and enthusiasm that I officially re-establish 429 Squadron,” said Minister O’Connor at today’s ceremony. “It is a historic time for the operators and maintainers of Canada’s new fleet of C-17 aircraft, as they embark on providing Canadians with a truly independent strategic airlift capability at home and abroad.”
    The stand-up is a resurgence for a squadron with an impressive history and a bright future.
    “The re-establishment of 429 Squadron opens a new chapter in the famed Bisons’ history,” said Lieutenant-General Steve Lucas, Chief of the Air Staff. “Squadron members will have a very real and immediate impact on how the Canadian Forces can support operations – creating endless opportunities for modern-day success stories of their own.”
    Originally formed as a Second World War bomber squadron on November 7, 1942 in Yorkshire, U.K., the squadron was disbanded in 1946 following the airlift of allied POWs back to England. In June 1967, the unit re-established as a CC-115 Buffalo squadron, beginning its association with the transport community. Known as the ‘Bisons,’ 429 (T) Squadron became part of 424 Squadron in September 1971; however it was re-established independently in April 1972, with the squadron’s responsibilities shifting from transport to training. Reorganization returned 429 Squadron to a transport role in 1981; however, it was then consolidated with 426 Squadron in July 2005 as part of the Air Forces’ transformation model at the time. Today’s stand-up as the C-17 squadron marks another momentous day for the unit.
    An initial squadron capability will be in place for the arrival of the first C-17 aircraft in early August. …-
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1867965/posts

  7. The natural end result of socialism: Desperate people fleeing, aka a “surge” to freedom and democracy.
    …-
    Zimbabwe’s desperate people flee across border to escape Mugabe
    “At the rate which they are flocking in, I think there will soon be very few people left in Zimbabwe,” says Peter Thompson, a South African farmer .
    His verdict is typical of the landowners and businessmen the length of the border with Zimbabwe who say they are witnessing a dramatic upsurge in illegal immigration as their northern neighbour’s economic collapse has accelerated in recent weeks.
    In public, South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki, who has been criticised for his “softly softly” approach to Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, is refusing to acknowledge any surge. But the irate farmers say senior officials in the military and police admit privately to the scale of the problem.
    According to their estimates, 4,000 are crossing into South Africa every night. That represents at least 100,000 people a month, far more than official estimates of 20,000. …-
    (jack’s newswatch)

  8. Greg in Dallas wrote, “Apparently if your church is not the Catholic Church, it is not really the true church. This is much like marriage. Those of us who are not married in the Catholic Church are not really married. Catholics are married, but the rest of us are not.”
    With due respect (and keeping in mind the many worthwhile things you also said), I believe this is untrue. The Catholic Church recognizes both civil marriage and those carried out in other religious jurisdictions: not one of the many converts to Catholicism of my acquaintance have had their previous marriage disputed or been required to remarry.
    Yes, the schisms in the Christian churches are a scandal and no help in combatting the common enemy that militant Islam is to the rest of the world.
    But, while many rightly condemn the RC Church for its failure to rout out the scourge of child molestation, there is a gigantic irony: most of the perpetrators are homosexual. At the same time, what is Western society busy doing? It’s busy empowering “gay pride” and its adherents, a militant subset of whom promotes sex with youngsters. (The age of consent was lowered to 14 in Canada by Rosalie Abella, now sitting on our Supreme Court, in order, apparently, to accommodate the “sexual needs and preferences” of homosexual teenagers. Duh. And, really.)
    Most other homosexuals, it seems, and the non-vigilant or lackadaisical among us are quite happy to make and/or allow our public schools to be “gay friendly”. E.g., The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) allowed one of its school buses to appear in the “gay parade” this year. The teachers’ union sponsored both a free restaurant lunch to lesbian teachers and their supporters and the union supplied a float. (Are Christian teachers, who are surely much more persecuted in the public square than gays these days, offered such perqs at Easter?)
    Does this kind of “pro gay” activity–all with official approval, which no one dares question–bother anyone else but me?
    Yes, the RC Church should be held to account. But why do other groups with vast numbers of children in their charge, like the Anglican and United Churches, the TDSB, and large teachers’ unions, all of which actively promote “gay pride” seem to get a free ride here?
    IMO, there’s something seriously wrong and hypocritical with this picture.

  9. Thanks, lookout.
    I’m with you on the gigantic hypocrisy and selective seeing of so many: ‘free pass for the gays, the TDSB and all other school boards that promote and encourage the gay lifestyle, the Anglican/Episcopal Church, the United Church, the media, etc., etc. but sock it to the Catholics.
    It’s getting very tiresome. It’s time for those who smack down the Roman Catholic Church to either justify their anti-Catholic views with facts or to cease and desist from using the RC Church as their whipping boy/girl or scapegoat.

  10. Capturing the Man, Destroying the Idea
    Fox reports that “the highest-ranking Iraqi in the leadership of Al Qaeda in Iraq has been arrested”.
    […]
    … the Islamic State of Iraq is nothing more than a front organization for a bunch of Salafists holed up in a Pakistani cave.
    Roggio is right in saying that Mashadani’s capture is a victory for US Special Forces. Without those kinetic operators and the intelligence behind them no information operations will work. Words need bullets to back them up. But bullets need words behind them too, if they are to destroy ideas and not simply gunmen. So Mashadani’s capture is also a victory for the shadowy warriors of the counternarrative. They are not only telling a story. They are writing one. …-
    http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2007/07/capturing-man-destroying-idea.html

  11. batb, thanks too, and I agree: tiresome’s certainly one word for such selective blindness.

  13. On July 9, in Buenos Aries, Argentina, the snow fell for the first time since 1918.
    I wonder what the Gorzuki’s think about that?

  14. Tenebris: But the carbon that is used in manual labour you can think of as “recycled carbon”. It is carbon that has been taken up by plants, other animals, humans and then released back when we die and decay.
    The CO2 from the gasoline is carbon that has been sequestered away from the environment for several million years.
    Regards,
    John

  15. Teeny footy goody, for Long Malch along shining path to Heavenly Lotus Kingdom.* *H/T Mao Stlong…-
    China’s “Lotus Feet” Women Crippled for Beauty
    XIAOJIE, China, July 18 (Reuters Life!) – Zhang Huaixian was only three years old when her mother broke her toes and bound them beneath the soles of her feet, turning her into one of thousands of Chinese women once crippled in the name of beauty. Foot binding, which aims to make a woman’s feet look tiny and therefore desirable, was practiced in China for centuries before it was banned in 1912 at the fall of the last imperial dynasty. But some women continued the practice in secret, particularly in remote areas like Xiaojie, a small town in the southwestern province…-
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1868053/posts

  16. Jimmah feels your pain, Nelson.
    …-
    Mandela and ‘The Elders’ aim to save the world [Carter, Kofi Annan, etc.,etc.]
    […]
    “The initiative, funded by Sir Richard Branson,…”
    […]
    “During the build-up to the war in Iraq in 2003, Sir Richard persuaded Mr Mandela and Mr Annan to agree to travel to Baghdad and persuade Saddam Hussein to leave the country peacefully.
    But the war began before the idea could get off the ground.”…-
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1868085/posts

  17. John Cross
    I take it the ‘recycled carbon’ you refer to is our daily food.
    It takes a lot of energy(fossil fuel) to produce this food. (I know, I did it all my life)– (and don’t mention organic — humanity would starve if we had to rely on these hippies.)
    Even though the media is trying to suppress the truth, it takes more fossil fuel energy to make food(biofuel) than it releases. Many real environmentalists are now pointing this out.
    It is true though, John, that a pedal pushing engine(human) is a far more efficient ‘caloric engine’ than an ICE.
    Human body ~ 75%
    ICE ~ 32%
    But, we fuel ourselves with much more refined fuel(expensive) than an engine gets. Ever try drinking 87 octane ?? Or chewing on a tree ?? 🙂
    I know, I know. You are saying we should leave the oil in the ground because it makes CO2. Leave it there for someone else, I guess.
    But, John, what would you say to this ?
    Some very credible scientists are now saying we could be in for a period of Global Cooling. Very soon. What happens when we loose a few degrees and some countries (Canada) looses it’s agricultural growing season ?? The above mentioned food supply would be in short supply.
    Would you now agree to cranking up the petro industries to warm(theoreticaly) the planet ? And save ourselves ?? Again. Albert Gore the IV of 2042 style ??

  19. I posted, “Does this kind [vs the RC kind] of ‘pro gay’ activity–all with official approval, which no one dares question–bother anyone else but me?”
    Five hours later, except for batb, no one has made a comment. This is, to me, both interesting and disturbing. But not surprising.
    I certainly hold sda to a higher standard than the MSM. Sometimes I’m disappointed. If not here, where . . . ?

  21. Vitruvius, Tenebris: I know you guys are trying to be funny. Here’s the full quote from wikipedia:
    ” cycling requires about 120 kJ/km[17] This equates to about 0.36 L/100 km or 653 mpg of gasoline”
    Please note that 1 kJ = 1 Calorie (note the capital “C”; this distinguishes the food calorie from the metric calorie. The food “Calorie” is actually 1,000 metric calories. 120 kJ = 120 Calories, which is less than 1/2 a Mars bar, or, to use your unit of measurement, just slightly less than a bottle of beer (141 C).
    And come on guys, let’s try to be intellectually honest here: on a bike, you’re moving your weight plus maybe 20 lbs of bike plus whatever you’re carrying. In a car, it’s your weight plus what you’re carrying, plus, over 1 ton of car. (Honda Civic is over 2,700 lbs). I’ll admit gasoline is terrifically dense energy, but when you have to move 15 times your weight, a lot of that extra energy is lost, particularly in Toronto’s urban driving (it took my wife 80 minutes to drive the 40 km from our Richmond Hill home to her office across from the Skydome this morning; anyone care to guess what the actual mileage her Toyota Sienna got for that trip?).
    Again, look at my post: I said if that 80% of Canadians who live in urban areas used bikes for 1/2 their trips of 2 miles or less, we would use a lot less gas. According to Stats Can for 2000, 7.2 billion km of trips were less than 4 km (or about 2.5 miles). Let’s say that a car gets 6 km/l
    in urban driving (see http://www.wheels.ca/article/19814 for a litany of reasons why cars in the real world don’t get anywhere near their listed City/Hwy mileage.)
    So, if you divide 7.2×10^9 by 6, you get 1.2×10^9,
    or 1.2 billion litres of gasoline saved. At $1.00 a litre, that puts over $1 billion in consumer pockets, which could be used to stimulate lots of other industries, and I don’t think there’s any question that the US would be glad to import another 300 million US gallons of gas from Canada as opposed to, say, any other country in the world.
    And Tenebris, your comparison of people’s CO2 output with that of gasoline is disingenuous to say the least. Do you think people stop breathing when they drive their cars? If you add the figures of the living human with the car, you get 90 Kj/gC, a little less than three times what the person would create cycling – and I’ll be generous to say that someone cycling probably breathes heavier than someone driving a car, so let’s bump the cyclist up to 45 Kj/gC; it’s still half as polluting as the car.
    Again, I’m not saying get rid of cars, or tax cars (yay, Toronto council shot down David Miller’s new tax plans!), or force people to ride bikes. I’m just saying there are a lot of benefits for all of us if some of us would choose bikes for short trips.
    Now, Mr. and Mrs. Sauga Matt, and been round the block: as a teen, I used to ride my bike from my home at York Mills and Victoria Park to Upper Canada College at Avenue Road, just north of St. Clair. That trip meant that I had to traverse the Don River ravine twice; once near York Mills and Don Mills, and again at Leslie and Eglinton. Like any cyclist, momentum was important to me, and I tried to build up as much as I could on the downhill sections to make the uphill sections as bearable as possible. I can’t tell you how many times cars would whiz by me with less than 6 inches of clearance, or turn right after passing me without signalling, causing me to climb all over their trunk, pounding away at them. (I remember one time, some woman in a VW beetle did this, and I had so much speed that I literally pushed her car into the oncoming lane, and she had the nerve to get out and ask me what the hell I was doing after she had nearly killed me.)
    In Toronto, if you ride your bike on the sidewalk, you’re a criminal (although if you search for the number of pedestrians who have been killed by cyclists in Toronto, you’ll find..uh, zero). If you ride it on the street, every motorist thinks you’re a nuisance at best, and a menace at worst.
    Mental defectives (hi David Miller!) should be looking for ways to allow bikes to co-exist with cars and pedestrians. Here’s an inexpensive test:
    Build an elevated bikeway over the Don Valley Pkwy. From north to south, it naturally slopes down, which makes it easy for anyone to ride (you can practically coast the entire way). From south to north, you’d have to build a slightly higher starting point in the south, and keep it fairly level as you head north. There would be multiple access points, with some kind of elevator to get you to the required level. It shouldn’t be free; but since few humans would be required to manage the system, it should be less than the TTC. The pathway would have to be covered to protect riders from snow, rain, and wind, and would need to combine reflective coatings and vents to keep the heat under control during the summer. Nothing I’ve suggested is rocket science; all the technology exists today to make this a reality. All that’s lacking is vision and will. Well, what else is new?

  22. Kevin B: How many young kids do you have? How many other obligations–vs work–do you have to accomplish in a day? How much baggage do you need to carry? Do you have shower facilities and available time to use them at your destinations?
    Although they may be well meaning, I’d say your ideas about bike use are unrealistic, if not Utopian.
    Please think again.

  23. KevinB: I used to live in Ottawa. They were sensible about bikes, having many bike paths by which cyclists could traverse the city and avoid heavy vehicular traffic.
    I’m not defending impolite idiot car/van/truck drivers, but I’m truly alarmed at the huge number of bicycling anarchists now on Toronto streets–just an extension of the increasing anarchy I see in the classrooms I teach in.
    The thinking goes roughly like this: “I do what I want, when I want, because I want to, regardless of the rules. What rules? Who needs rules? I’m a rule unto myself and everyone else had better get out of my way. Accident? Not my fault. His/her fault. Idiot cars.”
    Never mind that, in a collision with a vehicle, though you may be right, you may be dead right.
    The greatest problem with this thought process, of course, is that a motor vehicle is packing a few tons of lethal heft, whereas a cyclist, especially one without a helmet or any other protection, is at an extreme disadvantage if s/he comes into contact with a car/truck/van. You’d think cyclists would factor this vehicular advantage into the way they navigate Toronto’s mean streets, but they don’t seem to: “I am wo/man, I am strong. Watch me tempt fate.”
    Toronto needs far smarter cyclists and bike paths and/or lanes on its streets. I’m not holding my breath. Moron Miller is slow on the uptake and is NOT proactive on any file, as far as I can see.

  24. KevinB, so what you are saying about the poor driving behaviour of cyclists is that a cyclist’s convenience (avoiding extra pedalling) and the fact that “car drivers are bad, too” is sufficient justification for you to break the law and put your life and that of others in jeopardy? I really don’t think that convenience or revenge is a defense.
    As for cyclists killing pedestrians, I know of at least one in Toronto…not zero.
    And, without even looking back at the SDA Employment Survey, I can tell that you are not an engineer or an economist with your suggestion about an elevated bikeway (and if you are…yikes!). Perhaps a more practical solution would be to build a “rope tow” for the steepest parts of the steepest hills.

  25. The Clean Car Push;
    Capt.Cranky, Now yer talking! We are fantisizing in front of the computer while we fail to communicate the gains everyone could make by using our consumer power to demand clean modern cars from auto makers.
    Part of the picture: [ **Oil man as president** ]
    Exxon-Mobile raked in the highest muti-billion$ profits of any corporation
    Exxon-Mobile manufactures the polymer membrane for Lithium-Ion battery
    Chevron bought out ownership of large format Nickel Hybrid battery patents
    Panasonic had to close N.A. plant and produce back in Japan
    GM formed Cobasys battery Mfng with ties to Chevron battery patents
    GM deal with new nano-battery tech from A123 battery firm for new *Volt car*.
    Gm all ready owns *Cobasys Battery* are they going to buy A123 and sit on that too?
    You would never suspect that common shareholders in Big Auto and Big Oil are working together… eh?
    Did you rent the DVD; *Who Killed the Electric Car?*?
    Items mentioned above can be found on :
    TonyGuitar.blogspot.com
    AutoblogGreen.com
    BendGovernment.blogspot.com
    Hybrids are just a string-along to keep us away from;
    Plug-in Electric Vehicles, TDI – Biofuel diesel vehicles, and Compressed air transport. See the J.D. Power Post at AutoblogGreen.com
    http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/17/j-d-power-hybrids-losing-popularity-to-diesels/1#c6001252
    This is a good post to copy and spread the idea to more sites, the least we can do… eh?
    When you are happily rolling along in your new clean quiet electric car with no need to pump or pay for gas nor smell the exhaust, will you be one of us have have pushed for it? = TG

  26. The Clean Car Push;
    Capt.Cranky, Now yer talking! We are fantisizing in front of the computer while we fail to communicate the gains everyone could make by using our consumer power to demand clean modern cars from auto makers.
    Part of the picture: [ **Oil man as president** ]
    Exxon-Mobile raked in the highest muti-billion$ profits of any corporation
    Exxon-Mobile manufactures the polymer membrane for Lithium-Ion battery
    Chevron bought out ownership of large format Nickel Hybrid battery patents
    Panasonic had to close N.A. plant and produce back in Japan
    GM formed Cobasys battery Mfng with ties to Chevron battery patents
    GM deal with new nano-battery tech from A123 battery firm for new *Volt car*.
    Gm all ready owns *Cobasys Battery* are they going to buy A123 and sit on that too?
    You would never suspect that common shareholders in Big Auto and Big Oil are working together… eh?
    Did you rent the DVD; *Who Killed the Electric Car?*?
    Items mentioned above can be found on :
    TonyGuitar.blogspot.com
    AutoblogGreen.com
    BendGovernment.blogspot.com
    Hybrids are just a string-along to keep us away from;
    Plug-in Electric Vehicles, TDI – Biofuel diesel vehicles, and Compressed air transport. See the J.D. Power Post at AutoblogGreen.com
    http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/17/j-d-power-hybrids-losing-popularity-to-diesels/1#c6001252
    This is a good post to copy and spread the idea to more sites, the least we can do… eh?
    When you are happily rolling along in your new clean quiet electric car with no need to pump or pay for gas nor smell the exhaust, will you be one of us who have pushed for it? = TG

  27. Oooops checked twice… the first didn*t post, so corrected last line from *have have pushed* to *who have pushed* and voila both versions pop up. Sorry. = TG

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