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Weekend Cooking Thread - The Dog Ate My Homework

Folks, I never thought I would have to use that excuse where the Cooking Thread is concerned.

But it seems that WordPress destroyed my post a couple of minutes ago by doing something I’d not seen it do before, namely by asking me if I really wanted to post the damn thing. Instead of answering the question, I hit “back,” and poof! No Cooking Thread.

Be that as it may, I’m a bit grumpy now and pressed for time, so I won’t be posting a proper thread now.

I guess it’s anyone’s game now. Take it away, dear readers and fellow editors!



Off Topic and General Interest

Please post your off-topic and general interest items here.



kiddy porn deal

Cable giants bullied into new child porn censorship deal The powers of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children just keeps growing.

Specifically, the cable companies have agreed to use NCMEC’s list of active websites identified as containing child pornography, to ensure that no such site is hosted on servers owned or controlled by those companies. The companies will also report these instances to NCMEC’s CyberTipline and where appropriate revise their policies around other potential sources of child pornography, such as, for example, newsgroups.

The agreement with NCMEC will provide cable broadband service providers with an invaluable source of information to help them enforce their terms of service, all of which forbid the hosting of such illegal materials on their servers. The information provided by NCMEC to cable service providers will also help them identify instances of child pornography, facilitating their reporting of such material to NCMEC as required by federal law. This in turn enables NCMEC to refer these cases to law enforcement for investigation and prosecution.

From the linked press release. Will NCMEC’s definition of CP comply with SCOTUS rulings? Will they actually check out the websites or simply rely on anonymous tips?

Oh yes–NCMEC wants its participation in the takedown to be kept secret. Brumfield cites the memo of understanding (which is not public)–which she said states that cable companies will:

“remove or limit the availability of apparent child pornography images or other content based on the List, and in taking such action replaces the offending page with a notice, such notice shall contain no reference to NCMEC.”

So you won’t have the right to confront your accuser and they don’t take flack for shutting down sites discussing the social or psychological ramifications of CP and treatment of pedophiles.



why?

Why would anyone want to save a Starbucks? After all they serve overpriced, overrated slop that they call coffee.



death warrant

Arab League condemns ICC prosecutor

The meeting in Cairo was called after the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, asked the court to issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, the BBC reported. No warrant has yet been issued.

“The council decides solidarity with the Republic of Sudan in confronting schemes that undermine its sovereignty, unity and stability and their non-acceptance of the unbalanced, not objective position of the prosecutor general of the Internal Criminal Court,” the ministers said in a resolution.

Ocampo asks for an arrest warrant and gets a death warrant instead. For his death.



preventable

The “suspect” in this case was out on probation for a similar crime(according to Arab Press).

He tells us investigators found the victims hands mouth and feet duct taped, and placenta near the scene.

Pieces of an “it’s a boy banner” still remain outside this home on Ella street. Its where some say, they gathered for a baby shower for Andrea Curry Demmus. Now accused of faking her pregnancy.

Andrea stole a newborn and stabbed a pregnant woman in the past and apparently was out on probation instead of serving her time. The woman is crazy and should either be confined until cured or permanently removed from the gene pool.



DMCA

A new twist on the ongoing music copyright mess. Mom fights music giant

Lenz, whose case reached a critical stage Friday, finds herself at the heart of an epic copyright fight over Universal Music’s attempt to force her to take down a YouTube video of her toddler learning to walk with the Prince song “Let’s Go Crazy” blaring in the background.

Lenz and her legal team depict the video as a “fair use” of the Prince song. But Universal attorneys insist the company had the legal right to send the letter in Lenz’s case, and that it would be unfair to artists and media companies to force them to undertake lengthy inquiries before asserting copyright violations.

In other words, the industry would have to take the time to see if there is a violation before taking action. A requirement that seems fair to me.



Suckers

China to bar entertainers it deems threat - International Herald Tribune

The rules are the latest attempt by China to clamp down on any political dissent before the Beijing Olympics, which begin on Aug. 8. Government officials have set up security checkpoints throughout Beijing, deported some foreigners or refused to renew visas and shut down protests by grieving parents whose children died in school collapses in the May 12 earthquake.

China had promised a more open atmosphere this summer and had told the International Olympic Committee that it would adhere to strict standards for human rights. Many people outside China now doubt its commitment to those pledges.

I can’t imagine why anybody would doubt China’s committment. Communist police states are well known for their devotion to human rights - and for keeping their word.



Cheaper Solar Energy

Thin-film dyes boost solar cells

Scientists in the US have shown how to multiply the power output of photovoltaic (solar) cells by up to ten times using organic dyes to concentrate sunlight. They say that their work could be scaled up to make solar cells competitive with fossil-fuel power generation.…

However, Martin Green, who carries out research on solar cells at the University of New South Wales in Australia, believes that the MIT work is still some way from producing useful devices. “The projected 6.8% efficiency is not yet high enough for major commercial impact,” he said.

Even if this works as hoped, it won’t replace fossil fuels. But every little bit helps.

I’m especially interested in situations where cents per kWH isn’t the only consideration. A house out in the woods and off the grid, for instance, or sensors along roads or dams. Someone who wants to get off the grid as a political statement. (Jerry Pournelle has an actor neighbor whose house is all-solar. That’s fine if you have a million to spare.) Orbital platforms are a very good candidate; deployed surface area isn’t much of a consideration for a satellite, but weight certainly is. If the area and cost (and weight) to get X amount of power can be reduced by a factor of, say, four, then a bunch of applications become practical even if they’re more expensive than what the local power company charges.



Another Point of View

abu muqawama: What Maliki Said . . . And What it Means

The confusion reflects the dilemma facing Iraqi government leaders.

On the one hand, many of them - particularly among the Shia factions - face a public which regards the US presence as a problem rather than a solution.

With provincial elections coming up soon, they could be outflanked by more militant elements such as the supporters of cleric Moqtada Sadr, who wants American forces out now and opposes negotiations that would cover their continued presence.

Yet the government knows that its own forces are not yet in a position to stand on their own against the two major challenges they face - the Sunni radicals of al-Qaeda and related groups, and the militant Shia militias which were partly suppressed in fierce battles this spring in Basra and Baghdad.

Both groups could simply bide their time awaiting the American withdrawal before making a comeback drive.

Violence has fallen off considerably from the horrendous levels of 2006 and the first half of 2007, but hundreds of people are still dying violent deaths every month.

Hence the ambiguity in statements by Iraqi leaders, who know that their own survival depends on US support continuing until Iraqi forces are genuinely able to stand alone.

But hey, if McCain wins, we are out of there. How not, now that according to McCain, we’ve achieved “victory?”

Thanks, George Bush, for saving the world from the Axis of Evil, and the threat of Islamofascism! And (not incidentally) saving your Saudi buddies from the threat of Saddam Hussein!

Gosh, I’m so glad all America’s problems are solved, and we can enter the Golden Age together with John McCain. I’ll have to be sure to vote for Saint John, lest the election somehow go to Messiah Obama. Or is the other way round? I can never quite figure it out….



Wishing Will Make It So

Gateway Pundit: McCAIN CLAIMS VICTORY IN IRAQ– Let the Gnashing of Teeth Begin

And, good for John McCain for finally claiming Victory in Iraq:

Republicans ought to follow John McCain’s lead on this.
It’s time to hammer the party that would bring shame and defeat on this great nation.

It’s a good thing McCain has almost no chance of being elected. That will allow him to avoid having to eat his words on a daily basis for the next several years.



Tragedy of the Common Euro

No free ride for Europe, says top Barack Obama aide - Telegraph

“It means we in the United States will have to do our part; but Europe will have to do its part too. There can be no free riders if this is going to be an effective partnership.”

Europe has been a free rider on America’s military might since 1941. President Obama will do absolutely nothing to change that. And everybody - especially the Euros - knows it.



No Permanent Enemies: Has Anybody Told the Mullahs?

AFP: Rice acknowledges US policy shift on Iran

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States has shifted position on diplomacy with Iran by sending a senior envoy to Geneva to participate in nuclear talks with Iran’s top negotiator, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed.

But she insisted that Tehran must suspend its enrichment and reprocessing of nuclear materials for substantive talks with Washington.

“The United States doesn’t have any permanent enemies,” Rice said in response to a reporter’s question on the unexpected move to send a diplomat to meet directly with Iran’s negotiator Saeed Jalili in Geneva on Saturday.

Iraq: Declare victory in the War on Islamofascism and go home. Iran: Declare them a friend and ally and ignore everything that indicates otherwise.

That George W. Bush: what a credit to his father he is.



The Last Word from SDB

Ghosts of my past

As mentioned, average energy usage in the US today is about 3.6 terawatts. If our energy usage remains flat level for 40 years, then 35% of that is 1.26 terawatts.

24-hour-365-day average solar power density in Albequerque is 240 watts per square meter. If our hero’s proposed solar farms are 25% efficient at converting that to useful energy, then to produce 1.26 terawatts he’d have to pave 21,000 square kilometers with high tech. That’s larger than the dry area of New Jersey.

Of course, if the efficiency is more like 10%, which is far more likely, then he needs to high-tech pave more than 50,000 square kilometers. You believe that’ll happen?

Steven Den Beste makes the above the heart of his argument against any effective use of solar power as a primary source of energy in the US. Leaving aside the remainder of his arguments, which boil down to cost and technology, this one is not as iron-clad as Steven might think.

Folks whose engineering backgrounds are as good, or better, than Steven’s have also taken a look at the problem. They aren’t quite as gloomy (pardon the pun) as Steven is:

FuturePundit: Structures In United States Cover Area Equal To Ohio

I couldn’t let another of Steven’s unequivocal statements pass without at least a comment. He said,

“Singularity” is another religious word. It means that the person thinks that technology is going to reach an explosive point where miracles start happening.

For some, perhaps, but for those who actually think rationally about The Singularity, the term is used to describe an explosive point where technology becomes so advanced it resembles magic to those observing it from today’s point of view.

Arthur C. Clarke understood the concept, even if Steven doesn’t. (via Glenn Reynolds)