Women In The Fight

From the LIFE Magazine archives of World War II lots of photos of women firefighters, welders, resistance fighters... very cool.

The Battle Of Leyte Gulf

Today is the 65th anniversary of the beginning of The Battle of Leyte Gulf. The battle lasted from October 23rd to 26th, 1944 and was the largest naval battle in history. Japanese forces suffered over 10,000 casualties and lost the majority of their fighting ships.

Japan had already been defeated for all intents and purposes at the Battle Of Midway in May of 1942 (only five months after Pearl Harbor). By 1944 Japan had less aircraft than the US allies had naval vessels.

When the Allies invaded Leyte in the Phillipines on October 20, 1944 to isolate Japan from its fuel supplies, Japan threw all remaining resources into the fight. The battle saw the first use of organized  attacks by Kamikaze aircraft.

By the end of the battle the Japanese Navy no longer existed in any cohesive fighting form.

Watch the Battle of Leyte Gulf from NBC's Victory At Sea Series (click here to watch at YouTube in High Quality):

The Day The Mainstream Media Grew A Pair

You probably already know about the Whitehouse declaring war on Fox News. Today, Obama made his "pay czar", Ken Feinberg, available to the media pool. Except not to Fox News. The media pool reacted, finally, finally, by doing the right thing.

ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC said that Feinberg would have to be interviewed by everyone in the pool, including Fox News, or he would be interviewed by nobody. The Whitehouse had no choice but to back down. Hallelujah.

Why did ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC go to bat for the network that is eating their lunch and is vilified by their constituency, the left wing? They can say it is journalistic altruism, and that's a really good cover, but I think they are really worried about what might happen when the Republicans get back in and the Obama administration had already got away with setting this precedent. Whatever, it's a good call. I don't even remember Nixon trying this crap.

Video from - who else - Fox News (since the other networks are not carrying this story) and some biting commentary from Moe Lane:

For myself, I’m reminded again of a thought that I’ve had a few times. When you look at this administration’s performance to date, it’s like the Democratic Party went out and found themselves a caricature of everything that they complained about/hated/feared with regard to George W Bush… only this time? It’s all true.

UPDATE: Dan Riehl asks:

If he thinks he can simply shut down a member of the press on a whim, how long before he goes full Chavez? This guy's approval ratings are already terrible. Don't be surprised if they go down the tubes after this outrageous conduct.

UPDATE 2: From Jennifer Rubin (including a tidy definition of "czar"):

...the administration is doing the impossible — offending the mainstream press and forcing some of Fox’s toughest critics to ride to its defense. Nice work, fellas.

First They Came For The Hamsters

I'll bet you didn't know that your hamster has an ecological footprint. Well, having two hamsters has the same ecological impact as your plasma TV. (Yup.)

How about your pussy cat? Why, Moggie's the same as owning a VW Golf. (What?)

And your Newfoundland dog? Might as well go out and buy two Toyota Land Cruisers. (Yes, two.)

Victoria University New Zealand professors Brenda and Robert Vale, architects who specialize in sustainable living have assessed the carbon emissions created by popular pets, taking into account the ingredients of pet food and the land needed to create them.

In their new book "Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living", they say pet owners should swap cats and dogs for creatures they can eat, such as chickens or rabbits.

Time to eat the dog. Well, if the climatists get their way - which is increasingly possible - we may be on North Korean rations soon enough. Oh, you say North Korea doesn't have any dogs? Anymore?

UPDATE: My two angelfish and their buddy the tetra? Six cellphones. Hellloooo.

Will Obama Keep His Marijuana Promise?

Reason.com is not normally a supporter of Barack Obama. However when it comes to medical marijuana, the majority of US and Canadian citizens are on the same page: marijuana is proven to ease the suffering of some people, therefore they should be lawfully permitted to possess and use it.

But as Steve Chapman writes at Reason:

...as opponents of the Iraq war, "don't-ask-don't-tell," and Guantanamo know, a promise made by Obama is not exactly money in the bank. This time, though, he deserves full credit for doing what he said he would do, repudiating a bipartisan legacy of pig-headed stupidity.

What's more, Obama may not stop there. Some drug reformers expect the administration to agree to let a scientist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst grow cannabis for research on its medical potential—something the Bush administration opposed, lest the research contradict its ideology.

And then let's hope he drives straight on and decriminalizes pot altogether. That's change just about everybody can get behind. Well, except organized crime. And the cops. Wait... what?

Some Layout Changes

Check out the new widgets I've added on the right-hand sidebar:

Anthony Watts of Watts Up With That (aka WUWT) provides the World Climate Widget. For a full explanation of what you see in this widget, click here. This widget may change somewhat as Anthony is still working on it. But do notice that the steadily rising purple line is CO2 concentration while the jagged waveform is temperature. The graph goes back to 1979. Notice what the temperature trend is doing. Now why should we believe that CO2 concentrations are driving temperature?

I find the Commodities and Crude Oil Price widgets and the Currency Exchange widget useful from time to time so here they are in one place.

Also, sandwiched in there you'll find a link to Newfoundland and Labrador's government regulated prices for gasoline, diesel and home heating fuel. There's no widget, just a link, and the tables are in PDF (ugh). For my local readers, using the Crude Oil graph and the government link together might help you predict when to fill up and possibly save a few dollars.

If you find these widgets useful or you have a suggestion for other useful tools, let me know by email or drop it in the comments. (Didn't know I allow comments? Just click on any headline!)

Pomplamoose

If you have not heard of indy duo Pomplamoose, plug in your ears and eyes and prepare to be blown away with what looks like a new music video art form: the production-as-performance video or as they call it - the video song.

Pomplamoose is Californians Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn. I suspect these kids are producing their videos for next to nothing except they have gear - lots of it - some, like the acoustic piano, extremely old. And their musicality and musical choices are brilliant. And they have absolutely mad video skills.

Mister Sandman was posted to YouTube today (with guitarist Ryan Lerman):




And here's a tounge-in-cheeky - and far better - version of Beyoncé's Single Ladies. No bump and grind, no pretense - just pure musicality:

Vintage LIFE Magazines Now Available At Google

Vintage editions of the famous weekly photo news magazine LIFE are now available online at Google Books. The reproductions start with the first issue on November 23, 1936 and run up to December 29, 1972.

Google has scanned the magazines in full including all the photos, complete text and all the ads. Everything is in its original layout. Fascinating browsing.

The issue pictured at left is from 1939 and contains an excellent description of submarine warfare.

Every photograph ever taken for LIFE, including current themes and thousands of photos that were never published, are already online at LIFE.com.

Speaking Of Big Chicago Media...

...who were (used to be?) in the tank for Obama... Oprah Winfrey will deign to interview Sarah Palin November 16th. You betcha.

Losing Patience With Obama And His Media Enablers

The Chicago Sun Times , er, that's the Sun Times newspaper of Chicago in case you haven't grasped the significance, is calling out the Obama White House and its media pals. Chicago's top newspaper says the political excuses and media lies are wearing thin, singling out CNN and MSNBC for harsh criticism.

Synesthesia

I know of at least two people in my family who are synesthetes. My aunt, for example, always saw numbers in colors. This allowed her to entertain us kids by solving in her head complex arithmetic problems that we posed. Then of course she would make us actually do the arithmetic to prove she was right and to prove we could do the problems using numbers. It was fun.

I have always wondered why, as a child, I would swear that green traffic lights, or my father's green '58 Pontiac, were actually blue. Although I am not especially color blind, my whole family believes I am for that reason. Interestingly, green lights look green to me now. Alas the Pontiac is too long gone to look at again. It still looks blue in my memory though.

Boing Boing presents a remix of "Synesthesia," a documentary directed by Jonathan Fowler about people whose senses blend, or mix.

Media Convergence Conference Opens In New York

The 3rd annual Media Convergence Conference opened this afternoon in New York. The theme is The Moment of Truth: Consumers, Technology and Commerce and will include presentations on the future of media, how the kids are doing it, the social media phenomenon, new media for marketers and much more.  Conference details here.

And there is this enlightening video to set it all up:

Hummer SUVs As Art

When you think about it, what is art supposed to do?

As Robert Farago points out at The Truth About Cars, art should be controversial, deeply polarizing and emotionally engaging. That definition, he says, applies to the gargantuan gas-guzzler, the Hummer H2. Overwrought SUV as art.

Herewith he proposes five things to do with a dead Hummer.

Vatican Reaches Out To Anglicans

Possibly historic news from the Vatican last night. More from the National Catholic Reporter:

In a move with potentially sweeping implications for relations between the Catholic church and some 80 million Anglicans worldwide, the Vatican has announced the creation of new ecclesiastical structures to absorb disaffected Anglicans wishing to become Catholics. The structures will allow those Anglicans to hold onto their distinctive spiritual practices, including the ordination of married former Anglican clergy as Catholic priests.

How To Become A Billionaire

If only it were so easy as reading an article in a newspaper. The Financial Post interviews eight billionaires to find out how they made "serious cake".

The "Transistor" is 55

Today is the 55th anniversary of the debut of the first pocket-sized transistor radio.

The Regency TR-1 was developed by Texas Instruments. They offered their prototype around to the major radio manufacturers but no one was interested.

It went on sale in November of 1954 for $49.95 (about $400 in todays dollars) but they still managed to sell about 150,000 units.

Prices dropped in the 60s when Hong Kong started mass producing what we called simply "transistors". Every kid had to have one. Lots more at Wikipedia.

"Not Evil Just Wrong" Streams Live Tonight at 8PM ET

Phelim McAleer's anti-global warming hysteria documentary "Not Evil Just Wrong" premieres tonight around the world via Internet streaming.

If the technology works - this has never been done before - it will mark a milestone in the development of new media. But it is the message that is most important.

You can pick up the live stream at 8PM Eastern (9:30PM in Newfoundland) at one of these mirrors (I'll post more mirrors if I find them in time):

Andrew Breitbart's Big Hollywood
Ustream


UPDATE: The technology worked. The film streamed perfectly. To those of us who have been in-the-know on the global warming hoax all along the film was heartening and beautifully made. But in the end it was preaching to the choir.

However, for those who weren't certain about what Al Gore's bogus religion will mean to the world this has to be a blockbuster. I hope this film is shown in every high school from here to Timbuktu. Especially in schools where An Inconvenient Truth was played as received wisdom.

It's a little early yet, but as soon as I see further commentary on "Not Evil Just Wrong" I will link it here. I, as an informed individual, cannot recommend this film too much. And to the emailer who thinks it's "just Farenheit 9/11 for Donkey haters", don't be blinded by politics. Watch the film and be enlightened.

UPDATE: A review at BigHollywood.

Never Wrestle With A Pig

Last Sunday, the White House basically declared war on Fox News (Faux News for you of the sinister persuasion). Today, the New York Times suggests the White House has brought a knife to a gunfight.

The Times of London says this is "embarrassing for the White House".

And Fox news, well they have dug up some video of White House communications director Anita Dunn - the communications director who declared war on Fox News - quoting Chairman Mao (only the greatest mass murderer in human history) as one of her "“favorite political philosophers” to a group of high-schoolers.

How can any of this turn out well for Obama? It can't. The president and his office should be above all this. They have forgotten the Shavian advice:

I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides,
the pig likes it.

The pig in Fox clothing is loving it. Even CNN admits Fox's ratings have never been higher and they are eating the lunch of their competitors.