The Battle of Algiers

The Battle of Algiers is a 1966 Italian film about the Algerian war for independence from France between 1954 and 1962.

I had heard about this movie a few different times but had never seen it. I saw it was on Turner Classic Movies a few days ago and recorded it.

Despite being more than 40 years old, in the context of present day events in Iraq, Palestine, Chechnya and other places this black-and-white, subtitled film delivers a powerful but fairly balanced story about Muslim-Western conflict.

I don't know if history repeats itself or simply that nothing ever really changes. The conflicts of the mid-twentieth century are hardly distinguishable from those of the early twenty-first century.

I would highly recommend this movie as lending to a better understanding of today's world.

Protect Yourself with a Temporary Email Address

You are always being asked to submit an email address when you register or participate in for something online. I'm always a little concerned who's getting hold of my address even when a web site claims they will not redistribute your address.

You can get around this by using temporary, disposable email addresses which will allow you to get and respond to those confirmation emails before doing a Mission Impossible-like self-destruct.

jetable.org provides you with a temporary email address. As soon as it is created, all the emails sent to this address are forwarded to your actual email address. You specify the lifespan of this address from 1 hour to 1 month.

GuerillaMail provides you with disposable e-mail addresses which expire after 15 Minutes. You can read and reply to e-mails that are sent to the temporary e-mail address within that time.

Any e-mails sent to 10 Minute Mail's temporary e-mail address will show up automatically on their web page. You can read them, click on links, and even reply to them. The e-mail address will expire after 10 minutes.

These are all free services. For a more extensive listing of temporary, disposable email addresses click here.

The War Ends When ...

Recently, I watched a documentary on the last day of World War I. It occurred to me that one of the hugely significant differences between the two world wars and the Iraq war is that those wars had defined moments when they were over.

The Germans, the Japanese surrendered and agreed that hostilities would end, there would be no more fighting. How can that happen in Iraq? Who among our opponents has the authority or the power to step up and say, "Enough. It's over."

We are not fighting a traditionally organized, centrally commanded military force that can be defeated, that can be forced to lay down their weapons.

If the end of the war cannot be determined by the capitulation of an enemy force, then how is The End of the War to be defined? What are the criteria for determining a successful (or failed) prosecution of the war? What standard are we trying to meet in the Iraq war that will mean we have accomplished our task?

Creation Museum (Uh-huh)

According to exhibits at the Creation Museum near Cincinnati, God created dinosaurs and other land animals on the same day. Man and dinosaur cohabited the earth just a few thousand years ago.

Creation Museum juxtaposes dinosaurs, Noah's Ark - USATODAY.com

The creation stoy in Genesis is the focal point of the museum. Among exhibits are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the construction of Noah's Arc which stands 20-30 feet tall inside the museum.

"We wanted to show people there's no mystery with dinosaurs, we can explain them," said Ken Ham ...

Monument to Creation - WP: MSNBC.com

Snakes on a Plane

In Egypt, a man travelling to Saudi Arabia was detained by Cairo airport customs officials when it was discovered his carryon bag contained 700 live snakes including two highly poisonous cobras.

Where's Samuel Jackson when you need him?

Egypt: No snakes on a plane - USATODAY.com

A Good Idea But Not In My Backyard

Homeowners trying to harvest wind energy have been frustrated by zoning regulations across the country.

"Planning and zoning are the single biggest obstacle to wind energy in the United States," said Roy Butler, owner of Four Winds Renewable Energy in western New York, who often consults with local governments faced with turbine permit requests.

Local zoning stymies U.S. wind power - USATODAY.com

"Rhode Island Renewable Energy owner Dave Anderson said promoting turbines in some wind-fertile areas can be almost futile, since neighbors there 'want to be green, and they think it's a great idea and, you know, we've got to do something about the Middle East. But 'Just don't do it in my backyard.'"

Save Money on Groceries and More

I saw this Web site featured on WTAE news Saturday morning and checked it out. You can find a ton of coupons for groceries and other things that you can print.

The Coupon Mom

Also, some tips for given for making the most of your coupons. One of these was to not use your coupons too soon. Most items for which coupons have been published will go on sale in about a month after the coupons appear.

Happy Shopping :)

The Italian Solution

Leave it to Italian research to suggest such a pleasant and elegant solution

Imbibing may slow dementia in seniors - USATODAY.com

Many of the Italians in the study said they drank several glasses of red wine every day... And the good news from other research is this: Moderate drinking — one or even two glasses of wine a day — just might help stave off dementia and other ailments such as clogged arteries and heart disease ...

Carbon Offsets

Carbon offset market raises questions - MSNBC.com

Carbon offsets are a way to counterbalance the use of traditional energy resources by paying money toward renewable, less- or non-polluting energy projects.

There is a growing retail market in carbon offsets both by for-profit and nonprofit providers. This market is largely unregulated and lacking in standards.

Environmentalists are quick to note that carbon offsets do have the potential to do good. Carlson said one major benefit of carbon offsets is that they often force people to evaluate how much carbon they actually are responsible for, hopefully spurning people to first make reductions and then buy offsets. It’s also seen as a practical way to fund renewable energy projects ranging from wind power to solar energy.

If you are considering carbon offsets there are a few things to look for including proof the project is having a positive impact, does the contribution prompt the provider to do something other than it would have anyway, and is the project independently verified.

Running Your Car on Water and Aluminum

Clean energy claim: Aluminum in car tanks - MSNBC.com

A Purdue University professor and engineer says he and students have invented a way to extract hydrogen "on demand" from water using an aluminum alloy.

The hydrogen would be generated in a tank (similar in size to a current gas tank) onbard the individual vehicle eliminating the need to transport or store the hydrogen.

"It's a simple matter to convert ordinary internal combustion engines to run on hydrogen," Woodall said. "All you have to do is replace the gasoline fuel injector with a hydrogen injector."

Basics about hydrogen

Yahoo! Green

Take action to fight global warming.

Yahoo! Green is a new place to join with a community of people concerned with reducing CO2 emissions, thus making a better planet.

Having Your Cake While Eating It

Coal plant loans offset carbon cuts - washingtonpost.com - MSNBC.com

A Depression-era program to bring electricity to rural areas is providing government support to the rush to coal plants by the nation's rural electric cooperatives who plan to spend $35 billion to build conventional coal plants over the next 10 years, enough to offset all state and federal efforts to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions over that time.

Rural co-ops rely on coal for 80 percent of their electricity, compared with 50 percent for the rest of the country, and electricity demand at rural co-ops is growing at twice the national rate.

What Is This?

Do you know what this is a photo of?

Sometimes You Have to be Thankful for Stupidity

"Hey, Mohamad, how 'bout you run this video of us preparing for jihad down to Circuit City at the mall and get it made into a DVD we can give to our friends."

"Great idea, Serdar!"

The unidentified [Circuit City] clerk is being credited with tipping off authorities in January 2006 after one of the suspects asked him to transfer a video to DVD that showed 10 men shooting weapons at a firing range and calling for jihad, prosecutors said.

Store clerk's tip was key to foiling Fort Dix terror plot - USATODAY.com

Is Your Computer Safe?

This FREE Symantec Security Check tests your computer's exposure to a wide range of online threats.

It's a free and an effective tool that helps determine your Internet security needs.

It takes only a few minutes to check your computer's vulnerability to hackers, trojan horses, and so forth.

Shoplifters ordered to wear sign ‘I am a thief’

But what about their self-esteem?
Two convicted shoplifters are ordered by the judge to stand outside of an Alabama Wal-Mart wearing signs saying they stole from Wal-Mart.

Shoplifters ordered to wear sign ‘I am a thief’ - MSNBC.com

My Theory of Stupid People

In my many years on this planet I have had an extraordinarily vast opportunity to observe the methods and practices of stupid people. I take this opportunity to share my theory of stupid people developed after years of study.

A genuinely stupid person is so limited in intelligence that he cannot even conceive his own stupidity. It is not possible for him to fathom the possibility that other persons may be more intelligent than he is. He believes he is the best and brightest thing going.

As a consequence of this belief, he thinks any ploy that would fool him would fool anyone. It is inconceivable that someone could see through his plots and deceptions. When his schemes fail, it could only be attributable to back luck, or someone who is out to get him.

Carbon Footprint

What is your carbon footprint?

Carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide or CO2 emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels, the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced.

Primary and Secondary Footprints

The primary footprint is a measure of our direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels including domestic energy consumption and transportation. The secondary footprint is a measure of the indirect CO2 emissions from the whole lifecycle of products we use. (Carbon Footprint)

Carbon Offsetting

Each of our everyday actions, such as driving our cars, heating and cooling our homes, even cooking our food, consume energy and produce carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon offsetting is a way of compensating for the emissions produced with an equivalent carbon dioxide saving elsewhere in the world.

Carbon offsetting involves two steps –

1. Calculate your own carbon footprint. There are many online calculators to help you do this (see below).
   
2. The second step involves buying carbon offset credits from emission reduction projects. Such projects will prevent or remove an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide somewhere else on the planet.

• Some Carbon Footprint Calculators - Carbon Footprint - BP - An Inconvenient Truth - Conservation International

• Other Links of Interest - The Carbon Footprint of a Burger - Ecological Footprint Quiz

Kids Hit by 70-Year-Old Driver Near Middle School

BELMONT, Calif. (AP) — A sport-utility vehicle jumped a curb outside a middle school Wednesday afternoon, plowed into a group of children waiting for a bus and rammed into a tree, trapping several students underneath, police said.

Five to seven children were hit, and the others hospitalized were injured or shaken up as they tried to escape the oncoming car, DeSmidt said.

The male driver of the SUV was at the school in Belmont, about 25 miles south of San Francisco, to pick up a student, DeSmidt said. He did not know the driver's relationship to the child.

The Honda was registered to Mauro H. Yan and Lorenza Y. Yan, of Redwood Shores, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

A woman who identified herself as Mauro Yan's wife but would not give her name told the San Francisco Chronicle that her 70-year-old husband was driving, and that he thought the SUV's brakes had failed.

At the scene, investigators combed through debris, including the SUV's front grill and discarded sneakers and backpacks. They noted the absence of skid marks that would have indicated the driver tried to stop, but said it was too soon to draw conclusions about what that meant.

The crash occurred about 12:30 p.m., at the end of a school day shortened because of standardized testing, Principal Maggie O'Reilly said. School will open as usual on Thursday, but the state tests are canceled for the remainder of the week, she said.

Read more at USA Today ...

Older Drivers, Dangerous Drivers

This article highlights a problem I am beginning to grow very concerned about because of my observations of my aging parents as well as my experiences on the roads.

By Robert Davis and Anthony DeBarros, USA TODAY

DALLAS — As his 90-year-old neighbor struggled last May to set out on a morning drive to the store, David Prager began to worry.

Elizabeth Grimes, a widow who had lived on Meaders Lane for 50 years, had backed out of her driveway, across her lawn and off the curb. Her 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis then hit the curb across the street, Prager recalls, before Grimes mistook the gas pedal for the brake and "took off with a jackrabbit start."

Six blocks away, Grimes drove through a red light. The car slammed into Katie Bolka, a 17-year-old high school junior who was driving to school to take an algebra test. Five days later, Bolka died.

The crash was emblematic of what health and safety analysts say is likely to be an increasing problem as the elderly population booms: aging drivers, clinging to the independence that cars give them but losing their ability to operate the vehicles, causing more accidents.

The only measure scientifically proven to lower the rate of fatal crashes involving elderly drivers is forcing the seniors to appear at motor vehicle departments in person to renew their licenses, says the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), citing a 1995 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

But most states do not require older drivers to renew licenses in person, and only two — Illinois and New Hampshire — require them to pass road tests, which can be crucial in identifying drivers whose physical ability or mental awareness has diminished.

Safety and health specialists are especially concerned about drivers 85 and older, who, federal crash statistics show, are involved in three fatal accidents a day

Normal aging causes medical problems that affect driving. Reflexes, flexibility, visual acuity, memory and the ability to focus all decline with age. Medicines that treat various ailments also make it more difficult to focus and make snap decisions.

Elderly drivers are less likely than other drivers to be in crashes involving high speeds or alcohol, but they are more likely to crash at intersections where they miss a stop sign or turn left in front of oncoming traffic.

Read more ...

To Each Other?

Bill of Divorcement, A
(1932)
A recovered madman learns his ex-wife and daughter are about to marry.
Cast: John Barrymore, Katharine Hepburn, Billie Burke. Dir: George Cukor. BW-70 mins, TV-PG

(Movie description from the Turner Classic Movies website)