Month: May 2008

The Future Of Faith

The Neural Buddhists – New York Times
The atheism debate is a textbook example of how a scientific revolution can change public culture. Just as “The Origin of Species reshaped social thinking, just as Einstein’s theory of relativity affected art, so the revolution in neuroscience is having an effect on how people see the world.

And yet my guess is that the atheism debate is going to be a sideshow. The cognitive revolution is not going to end up undermining faith in God, it’s going to end up challenging faith in the Bible. Continue reading “The Future Of Faith”

USA Steel Now A World Competitor

Steel once again a hot commodity – USATODAY.com
The infamous”sucking sound ” , blaming NAFTA for lost jobs, is actually the sound of innovation, driven by World competition. Some of the biggest changes occurred in 2002, when financier Wilbur Ross began forming International Steel Group. Amid a steel depression, ISG gradually bought some of the nation’s top steel mills, starting with LTV and then Bethlehem Steel, Weirton Steel and Georgetown Steel.

Labor contracts were amended. Costs were driven down. And mills were modernized. Now, across the nation’s steel industry, 160,000 employees produce 110 million tons of steel a year, says the American Iron and Steel Institute. In 1970, it took 500,000 workers to make 91 million tons. “The industry is better,” Halpert says. Such efficiencies have made producing steel more profitable, he says. Continue reading “USA Steel Now A World Competitor”

“Assassinate Obama The Apostate” Will Be Jihadists’ Call

President Apostate? – New York Times
The NY Times finally faces up to something that I have been saying for awhile. Every Jihadist is going to be gunning for President Obama ,as their ticket to Paradise. The Secret Service is going to have a hell of a time. As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has written, his father said he renounced his religion. Likewise, under Muslim law based on the Koran his mother’s Christian background is irrelevant.

His conversion, however, was a crime in Muslim eyes; it is “irtidad” or “ridda,” usually translated from the Arabic as “apostasy,” but with connotations of rebellion and treason. Indeed, it is the worst of all crimes that a Muslim can commit, worse than murder (which the victim’s family may choose to forgive). Continue reading ““Assassinate Obama The Apostate” Will Be Jihadists’ Call”

Free Online Guitar Lessons

Learn To Play Guitar Online — Online Learning — InformationWeek

Don’t want to pay? Here are some other places to go for free resources.

  • MXTabs.net has an industry-approved franchise for distributing the text-based guitar tab files that have been circulating around the Internet almost since its inception.
  • GuitarWorld (“We make REAL Guitar Heroes”) magazine has made an impressive jump to online. Their premium tabs of the most-requested songs ever are not dorm-room interpretations; they’re the real deal in full detail.
  • WholeNote.com offers RSS feeds of lessons across multiple genres, with a helpful online “groove builder” that allows lesson authors to add synthesized playback of the music being taught.
  • You can practice any chord or scale in any key at the Guitar Rooms of the ChordHouse.
  • Also try ChordBook.com for a slimmed-down, more colorful version.

Given the abundance — and popularity — of guitar suites, this is by no means an exhaustive list. Make sure to add your suggestions in the comments.

Best free guitar lessons on the net: http://www.justinguitar.com/

Jingle Mail Mortgage Myth?

In mortgage market, ‘walkaway’ homeowners may be urban myth – Los Angeles Times
Jingle Mail is the sound of the house keys being mailed back to the lender. Experts say some supposed owner-occupants who are “walking away” may in fact be speculators in disguise: buyers who acquired properties as investments to resell for a fast profit. Investors, unlike genuine homeowners, will treat their purchases strictly as economic transactions; their decisions to abandon payments shouldn’t be seen as a sign that American homeowners no longer feel obligated to pay their debts, says Stuart Gabriel, director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

“A number of [foreclosed] properties are actually investor-owned, not owner-occupied, and we have to be careful that we’re not attributing to homeowners the actions of investors,” Gabriel said. Continue reading “Jingle Mail Mortgage Myth?”

When We Almost Became Extinct

Dry spell almost killed off race – National – smh.com.au
An international genetics project has found that modern humans almost became extinct 70,000 years ago.

The Genographic Project, led by American and Israeli researchers, made the discovery after undertaking the most extensive mitochondrial DNA survey ever undertaken in Africa.

In 1987 a study of mitochondrial DNA, passed down the generations via the maternal line, revealed that every person alive today is descended from one woman who lived in Africa 200,000 years ago. Continue reading “When We Almost Became Extinct”

Kaleidoscope Painter

Kaleidoscope Painter
Click on the link above to a new web page. Wait until the applet loads, then click the applet’s canvas. Move the mouse around the canvas while the mouse button is pressed (this is called “dragging” the mouse). Hint: drag slowly to create smoother drawing.
(Please note: applet requires a Java™ enabled browser.)

Clear Button… Clears the canvas.

Auto Button… Lets the program draw by itself.

DynaBrush Button… Causes brush size to change dynamically.

Brush Size Panel… Click the left-arrow to shrink brush.
Click the right-arrow to enlarge brush.