Fall Back on November 1

Clocks roll back to standard time at 2 AM November 1. Benjamin Franklin invented Daylight Savings Time. As a kind of joke. Because he liked to sleep in and the sun bothered him in the morning.

Wall Street Journal Calls Victory For Honduras

Many people are disgusted at the US State Department's handling of the Honduras issue. But the Wall Street Journal says the outcome is excellent news for Honduras.

President Roberto Micheletti agreed yesterday to submit Mr. Zelaya's request for reinstatement as president to the Supreme Court and Congress, and in return the U.S. will withdraw its sanctions and recognize next month's presidential elections.

Hondurans had deposed Mr. Zelaya on entirely legal grounds for threatening violence and violating the country's constitution in an attempt to run for a second term. The U.S. nonetheless meddled and demanded that Mr. Zelaya be reinstated.

But Hondurans refused to bend, and the State Department apparently decided at last that Honduras was going to go ahead with its election whether the U.S. agreed or not. The Honduran compromise provided Mrs. Clinton with an elegant diplomatic exit.

Flu Rage?

The National Post reports on the latest fad: global sneezing, er, well, it does involve friends yelling at friends. And strangers.

Call it flu rage. Across the country, otherwise mild-mannered Canadians are finding themselves admonishing strangers for open sneezing, losing their cool with queue-jumpers at vaccination clinics, writing angry letters to government and media, and lashing out at friends whose H1N1 opinions differ from their own.

"Come back here and take what's coming to you! I'll sneeze on you!"

Happy Hallowe'en

For the occasion, here is Ub Iwerks' cartoon The Skeleton Dance from 1929.  According to Boing Boing, Iwerks was a close friend and collaborator of Walt Disney's for many years and was "true creator" of the Mickey Mouse character. He left Disney and joined Columbia Pictures where in 1937 he re-imagined The Skeleton Dance in color as Skeleton Frolic (see below).

The Skeleton  Dance



Skeleton Frolic

The Real Reason We Need New Energy Technologies

People often think that those of us who disagree with the religion of global warmism automatically care nothing for the environment at all. That would be false. Here is a case in point. This photograph from NASA's Aqua satellite shows the air pollution over eastern China and the Korean peninsula last Friday, October 23.

The grey haze is mostly coal smoke and who knows what other uncontrolled aerosols, solvents and particulates.

Forget global warming, this is the real reason the world needs to find ways to burn fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently. Some day we'll replace them altogether. The good news is that as industrialized nations become more wealthy they also tend to clean up the environment.

Need A Government Grant? Here's How.

From Australia, millions of tax dollars doled out in loony tunes global warming grants. This is why skeptical - and honest - scientists are hard to find.

Honduras Democracy Buckles Under USA Pressure

The United States has finally forced Honduras to knuckle under. After weeks of  diplomatic and financial arm-twisting, the USA has pressured Honduras to restore would-be leftist dictator Manuel Zelaya to power in spite of Honduras' legally  exercising its own democratic constitution to oust him.

Much more on this story at Fausta's Blog, including this photo:

This is Manuel Zelaya meeting with US Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon in the Brazilian embassy. Zelaya has been holed up here for weeks.

Note the tinfoil covered windows.

Zelaya told The Miami Herald he is being subjected to mind-altering gas and radiation and that 'Israeli mercenaries' are planning to assassinate him.

The real "silver lining" to all of this it is that Honduras will hold democratic presidential elections on November 29.

UPDATE: From William Jacobson - Chicago comes to Honduras.

H1N1 Influenza FAQs

Megan O'Toole of the National Post has compiled a useful list of answers to frequently asked questions about the H1N1 flu, including lists of Canadian vaccination centers by province.

Also see this bit of sanity:

It is clear now that the vast majority of people who catch the H1N1 flu will suffer relatively mild illness and recover quickly.

For lots more H1N1 influenza information check out Canada's Public Health Agency.

Climate Chains

Governments around the world are tripping over themselves in an irrational push to pass some kind of climate legislation. Whether you call it cap and trade, energy rationing, or just a huge tax grab, the whole global warming "crisis" has been manufactured for the benefit of a few and the detriment of many.

Climate Chains is another excellent film that pleads for a rational approach and response to global warmism. Lots more information here.


Climate Chains from Climate Chains on Vimeo.

Russian Paintings From WWII

Via Boing Boing, here is a gallery of dozens of evocative war paintings by Russian artists from 1941 to 1945.

These are amazing paintings. I can't think of anything in the west in the same time period that is as moving, as emotionally evocative, except Norman Rockwell.

I have never seen these haunting paintings before, but they reminded me not so much of Rockwell, but very much of the work of American war artist Tom Lea whose work was published in LIFE magazine.

Krauthammer In Der Spiegel

Here is a thoughtful interview with American conservative intellectual, commentator and Pulitzer Prize winner, Charles Krauthammer, in the German newspaper Der Spiegel.

On the Nobel Prize:

Absurd. Any prize that goes to Kellogg and Briand, Le Duc Tho and Arafat, and Rigoberta Menchú, and ends up with Obama, tells you all you need to know.

On the UN:

The UN is worse than disaster. The UN creates conflicts. Look at the disgraceful UN Human Rights Council: It transmits norms which are harmful, anti-liberty, and anti-Semitic among other things. The world would be better off in its absence.

On Obama:

In the course of his presidency, Obama has gone from an almost magical charismatic figure to an ordinary politician. Ordinary. Average. His approval ratings are roughly equal to what the last five presidents' were at the same time in their first term.

 Read the whole thing. It's well worth your time.

Studying Cancers That Just Go Away

In the New York Times, new evidence shows that cancer has the ability to just go away.

There is growing evidence that cancers can go backward or stop, and researchers are being forced to reassess their notions of what cancer is and how it develops.

We need more research on why this happens to some people's cancers and not others.

Guerilla Auto Mechanics

How to change a 1967 VW Beetle generator belt in five seconds. Hint: Leave the engine running.

Is The Sun Waking Up?

Via Watts Up With That:

The sun is showing signs of life. Over the weekend, sunspot 1029 emerged and it is crackling with B- and C-class solar flares.

If this is a prolonged event watch for global temperatures to rise.

Remember, we have no reason to believe that temperature is driven by CO2. See chart at right.

But we have lots of reason to believe temperature has something to do with the sun.

The Health Risks Of Belonephobia

It seems belonephobia is keeping people away from doctors and dentists - and from flu shots. Belonephobia is the fear of needles and I think all of us have a touch of it. The National Post spins the issue as one of ethics - doctors need to make sure the jab doesn't hurt. But that's easier said than done.
 
In the meantime, I've blogged about belonephobia before. Remember the Dentist Sketch from the Carol Burnett Show?

Journos Call For Independent Journalism Tax

Having seen and reported on the bailouts directed at banks and autos, ethanol producers and climate scientists; and having seen their audiences go the way of the Pontiac (and global temperatures), now the media want some bailout money too. A new report calls for a tax "to preserve independent journalism in the age of the Internet".

Bill Frezza at Real Clear Politics:

Have you ever stumbled on an oxymoron so stunning that it takes your breath away? Try coupling this with a case of chutzpah so revealing that the lack of shame on the part of those involved serves as prima fasci evidence that their elite cultural isolation has rendered them incapable of critical thinking.

I would also ask: Is this the quid pro quo demanded by the media for blatantly abandoning their principles in order to get Obama elected? He could say no. Will they then turn on him? Will they still exist? We'll find out. On the Internet.

Hand From Above

Artist Chris O'Shea has found a way to mischievously mess with the, er, minds of people walking near a giant outdoor TV screen in London.


Hand from Above from Chris O'Shea on Vimeo.