19 September 2008
17 September 2008
Freelancerhans.wordpress.com has moved to blogger!
This is my new blog! All old articles have been uploaded and i will start blogging soon once i settle some minor problems. Wall Street's dramatic crash... AIG's bailout by the Feds...implications Mccain/Obama there's a lot to talk about.
I moved from Wordpress.com as it provided no capacity to open up the funding that this project needs. Thanks for supporting the previous blog and allowing it to enjoy up to 700 hits/day in merely a week. Do continue to provide the support for this blog as well. Thanks.
-Mr Hans
Chavez Tells United States To Go To #$@%* Hell, Sh*t Yank*es
While everyone has been dissecting whether Obama called Palin a pig, or whether Palin insulted Obama's community organizing, we've missed some rather massive mud-flinging in the United States' backyard.
Last night, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez told the United States to "Go to hell a hundred times." In front of an applauding crowd, he yelled "We have had enough of so much s**t from you, s**t Yankees!" as he expelled the U.S. ambassador, giving him just 72 hours to leave. Watch him here:
[ TRANSCRIPT: HUGO CHAVEZ, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA SAYING (SPANISH):
"The has seventy two hours to leave Venezuelan territory. Immediately, Mr. Chancellor Maduro, immediately, send for our ambassador before they throw him out of there. Our ambassador, the great companero Bernardo Alvarez should return to his country. When there is a new government in the United States we will send our ambassador, a government that respects the people of Latin America and Simon Bolivar's America. Go to hell, shit Yankees, we are a dignified people, go to hell 100 times." ]
I know: Chávez has always been something of a loose cannon (he enjoys calling President George W. Bush a donkey, the devil, and other colorful names). But to think this is nothing more than his usual Yankee-bashing would be a mistake. Minor crisis would be a better interpretation.
The Venezuelan strongman's outburst comes after his neighbor and left-wing soulmate Evo Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador earlier this week, accusing him of backing conservative opposition movements now protesting in the streets. The United States in turn kicked out Bolivia's ambassador.
Bolivia is in far more trouble than just having a few picketers on the street. Morales has proposed drastic energy and government reforms, to be voted upon in December, that would consolidate his power and allow him to redistribute agricultural land. Protesters, demanding a greater autonomy from the government in the natural gas industry, have shut down much of the country and dozens have been killed in street fighting. Perhaps emboldened by joint exercises with Russia, Chávez promised to militarily intervene if his buddy Morales is lifted from power.
But the U.S. government is in no mood for such funny business. Not only has the State Department sent the Venezuelan ambassador packing, but the Treasury Department today called out Venezuelan officials for helping the cocaine-trafficking rebel group FARC in neighboring Colombia.
"Today's designation exposes two senior Venezuelan government officials and one former official who armed, abetted, and funded the FARC, even as it terrorized and kidnapped innocents," said Adam J. Szubin, director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, in a toughly worded press release. Interpol accusations that Venezuela -- and even Chávez himself -- aided the FARC first surfaced this summer after Colombia got its hands on a FARC laptop, but this is the first time the U.S. government has formally charged any Venezuelan officials.
No doubt Chávez has a response up his sleeve.
Sarah Palin’s Hot Photos (& Interview)
By BILL TANCER
Time Magazine
Tuesday, Sep. 02, 2008
I doubt that any of us have ever considered any of our past vice-presidential candidates a sex symbol. But if recent Internet searches are any measure of the average American's current interest in politics, that may be changing.
On the Richter scale of Internet search energy, Republican presidential candidate John McCain's announcement on Friday that he had chosen Sarah Palin, the current governor of Alaska, as his running mate measured a magnitude 10. If you compare the number of searches for "John McCain," "Barack Obama" or "Joe Biden" with those for "Sarah Palin," there's no contest. In just two days, the number of U.S. Internet searches for "Sarah Palin" reached a peak greater than any other political personality in the past three years. In the week ending Aug. 30, 2008, searches for Governor Palin were almost four times as popular as Obama searches, eight times as popular as McCain searches and over 10 times more popular than searches for Biden.
So, what exactly are Palin searchers seeking?
Of the 1,323 unique search queries containing "Sarah Palin" over the past four weeks, there were many that you'd normally expect to see regarding a newly named vice-presidential candidate: queries about Palin's biography, for example, her voting record and her stance on abortion. The No. 1 search was simply "Sarah Palin." The next nine most popular search terms that appeared in conjunction with "Sarah Palin" were:
2. Vogue Magazine
3. Photos
4. Beauty Pageant
5. Bio
6. Biography
7. Pictures
8. Scandal
9. Alaska Governor
10. Hot
And if you look more carefully at the 1,300 searches Hitwise tracked, one of the most commonly entered search topics surrounding Palin was "hot photos." (Hitwise search data updates weekly on Mondays, so information on searches related to the news of Palin's pregnant teen daughter, Bristol, were not yet available.) Other queries common to the American public: "Sarah Palin Bikini Photos," "Sarah Palin Naked," "Sarah Palin Nude." People also searched frequently for Palin's physical stats - particularly her age and height - as they did with the other candidates and running mates. Internet searchers also appear to be fascinated by and confused about her religious orientation, with several queries such as "Sarah Palin Religious Beliefs," "Sarah Palin Christian," "Sarah Palin Catholic," "Sarah Palin Mormon" and "Sarah Palin Jewish."
Examining which of their search results Internet users click on provides additional clues on searchers' intent. Of those searching for information on the Republican Veep candidate, 28.5% continued on to reference websites such as Wikipedia, indicating that a large portion of searchers were either interested in finding out general information or simply answering last weekend's common question: Who is Sarah Palin?
Given that the most popular searches surrounding the candidates include queries about Meghan McCain's lunch with Heidi Montag, Web videos of Obama Girl and slogans like "Alaska: Coldest State, Hottest Governor," it's getting harder and harder to distinguish news about the 2008 presidential race from the latest chatter from celebrity gossip magazines.
Are Mccain & Palin Mavericks? Or Is It Merely 'Lipstick On A Pig'?
Obama recently criticized the Mccain-Palin duo a few days back, pointing out that the change rhetoric Mccain was attempting to pull was, in fact, nothing more than a cheap bluff. Ironically, what in the end became more controversial were the words 'lipstick on a pig' which resonated throughout the entire campaign trail, leaving some Republicans fuming while sparking off widespread debates.
Now to be honest, Mccain should have seen this coming ever since he stole his opponent's catch-phrase during the RNC last week. After all, Obama certainly wasn't going to sit around idling after his opponents had adopted his slogan of change as their own.
In fact, the illinois senator already started ruffling feathers on Tuesday when he begun
Don't get too excited. LHC will probably take a year to warm up.
News about the Large Hadron Collider was certainly ubiquitous today, hitting the front pages of the mainstream media all over the world. It was only after reading some of the featured articles, however, when I realized (to my horror) that it would probably take about one full year for the LHC to warm up before the actual experiment occurs.
New to the LHC?
Check out the previous articles first to understand what it's all about:
09/09/2008: Will The World End Tomorrow?
01/09/2008: The LHC: Of Black Holes and God Particles
Hurricane Ike Devastates Cuba, Texas Next
More updates on Hurricane Ike. I know people near the Gulf of Mexico are worried.
Similar Article:
Hurricane Ike Smashes Through Carribean Towards Florida Keys
Please DONATE and help people to rebuild their lives after Ike's destruction.
Hurricane Kills at Least 4 in Cuba (HEADING TOWARDS TEXAS)By ANAHAD O'CONNOR
The New York Times
Published: September 9, 2008
Hurricane Ike continued its rampage across Cuba on Tuesday, killing four people, prompting more than a million others to flee and sending jitters through those living along the already battered shoreline of the Gulf Coast.
After the storm pummeled Haiti, killing at least 58 people, Ike made landfall in Cuba late Sunday night with Category 3 winds of 111 miles an hour and greater. The storm weakened slightly as it traveled east across the island, but moved so quickly that it claimed its first lives before the government could evacuate about 1.2 million people in its path.
One woman died when her home collapsed, a man was killed by a tree, and two others died while removing equipment from a roof, The Associated Press reported, citing state television. Ike has battered some of the same areas that were walloped in late August by a Hurricane Gustav, which was more powerful. But no one in Cuba was killed by Gustav because hundreds of thousands of people had been safely evacuated.
As of 11 a.m. eastern time on Tuesday, Ike was about 55 miles away from Cuba's capitol, Havana, the largest city in the Caribbean, and dropping as many as 20 inches of rain in some areas while spreading rip tides and hurricane winds over a distance of 35 miles. With Ike flooding streets, downing trees, and flattening several hundred frail, stone buildings - many of them homes - in rural areas, millions fled Havana for government shelters and safer structures. The capital came to a near standstill as schools, businesses and offices closed, and many people across the island were left without power.
According to forecasters at the National Hurricane Center, Ike was generating large swells at sea that have created massive waves and life-threatening conditions in the Florida Keys. They said isolated tornadoes and waterspouts could crop up over the Keys and other parts of south Florida throughout the day.
After heading west over the island at roughly 13 miles per hour throughout the day on Tuesday, Ike was expected to follow a path that could take it straight into the Gulf of Mexico,
Will The World End Tomorrow?
Fourteen years, countless debates, and ten billion dollars later, CERN's gargantuan LHC is finally ready to go and set to fire it's first beam tomorrow on 10th September 2008. Through it, scientists hold modest goals of recreating the conditions of the universe just moments after the Big Bang in order to unravel fundamental secrets of nature that has thus far eluded mankind. It's admittedly ambitious, but with a particle accelerator this big, few - if any - are doubting they will succeed.
[ Don't understand the hype or what this is all about? More information of the Large Hadron Collider and the debate surrounding it is available in this earlier article ]
Hurricane Ike Smashes Through Caribbean Towards Florida Keys
Related Article: Hurricane Ike Devastates Cuba, Texas In Danger Zone
Please DONATE and help people to rebuild their lives after Ike's destruction.
MAJOR NEWS UPDATE: HURRICANE IKE TURNS AWAY FROM FLORIDA KEYS
Some headline news about Hurricane Ike:
Hurricane Ike Smashes West Through CaribbeanBy MARC LACEY
The New York Times
Published: September 8, 2008
MIAMI - Hurricane Ike barreled west across central Cuba Monday after raising the death toll and destruction across the already beleaguered islands of the waterlogged Caribbean.
In Haiti, where the fourth-largest city, Gonaïves, remained underwater from Hurricane Gustav, rain fell Sunday and at least 10 more people died of drowning, according to reports from news services. By early Monday the number of people reported killed in Haiti just from the effects of Hurricane Ike reached at least 61, according to news services. The total of those killed in Haiti in the recent storms was in the hundreds.
In Cuba, where relief efforts from Hurricane Gustav were under way in the west, the government evacuated vulnerable communities as the new hurricane bore down on the island with heavy winds and rain that could total 10 inches.
In the Florida Keys, the authorities also ordered residents and tourists to leave as the outer reaches of the storm could be felt and on Monday a tropical storm warning was issued.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported Monday morning that Hurricane Ike, which had already weakened from a Category 4 storm to Category 3 Sunday after it hit Cuba, had weakened further to Category 2. But it was still considered a major hurricane with tremendous destructive force and it could still regain intensity.
Winds were gusting at around 105 miles per hour as it passed over central Cuba heading west toward the Gulf of Mexico.
Cuba's state-run television showed scenes from the city of Baracoa on the eastern tip of Cuba, where waves slammed into the sea wall and surged as high as nearby five-story apartment buildings before flooding the streets, Reuters reported.
Early Sunday, the hurricane had slammed into the southernmost islands of the Bahamas, where Janice McKinney, who ran a disaster shelter, told The Associated Press, "Oh my God, I can't describe it."
With winds up to 135 miles per hour, the storm also struck the Turks and Caicos Islands, where rain came in horizontally, according to witnesses, and more than 80 percent of the homes in some areas were reported damaged.
"They got hit really, really bad," The Associated Press quoted Michael Misick, the chief minister of the islands, as saying. "A lot of people have lost their houses, and we will have to see what we can do to accommodate them."
The effect of any rain at all on Haiti worried relief workers, who were struggling to reach hungry people cut off by floodwaters from a string of earlier storms. Officials opened an overflowing dam, further inundating residential and agricultural areas.
Meanwhile, a bridge collapsed, adding to the isolation of the suffering people of Gonaïves.
"What I saw in this city today is close to hell on earth," Hédi Annabi, the United Nations special representative to Haiti, said on Saturday in Gonaïves, where children were chasing trucks carrying food and shouting, "Hungry! Hungry!"
The airport in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, was closed for part of Sunday, and flights from Miami were canceled.
Some travelers who were lined up at the Miami airport toted huge duffel bags that they said contained supplies for ailing relatives.
Exactly which path Hurricane Ike would take next remained unclear as night fell Sunday, causing alarm in island after island.
The National Hurricane Center said Ike was expected to continue on a path that would turn toward the west-northwest on Monday, heading toward the Gulf Coast possibly by Wednesday.
The hurricane center said the storm was generating large swells at sea that could generate life-threatening rip currents along portions of coast in the southeastern United States, still recovering from Gustav, which made landfall on Louisiana and Mississippi on Monday, and Tropical Storm Hanna, which hit the Carolinas on Saturday and by late Sunday was dumping rain on Canada.
Bush and Mccain Compared. Funny & Brilliant Clip!
Video says it all. A 2 minute clip that really gets the message through.
[VIDEO LINK FIXED.. again]
Clip taken from The Daily Show by Jon Stewart.
Does Mccain = Bush? Perhaps not exactly, but close enough for me.
More detailed political articles are available on this blog.
[VIDEO LINK FIXED.. again]
Clip taken from The Daily Show by Jon Stewart.
Does Mccain = Bush? Perhaps not exactly, but close enough for me.
More detailed political articles are available on this blog.
Pakistan's New President: Will Things Change? Don't Bet on It
It's official: Asif Ali Zardari, widower of ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto and co-chairman of his party the PPP, has won a landslide victory for the Pakistani presidency. In fact, the margin of victory was so great that he actually begun celebrations before the election results were even out. Read The NY Times Report Here.
But don't be too optimistic for change just yet: behind the superficial smiles and festivity lies very serious issues with the country that Zardari will soon be forced to face. From local residents to hostile neighbour India - even distant Washington - a lot of questions are being asked: Will Pakistan improve economically? Will it continue to play a two-faced game in the war on terror? Or will it sink into the depths of corruption once again? It's all hard to say.
What is certain, however, is that the election was considered a great success for democracy and signified the dawn of a new age in Pakistan. In fact, waves of optimism are currently skyrocketing with hope over the possibility of increased stability within the Middle East and the lowering of regional tensions. Nevertheless, two main issues still need to be addressed:
- Terrorism
One of the primary concerns, especially for the United States, would be Pakistan's allegiance regarding the war on terror. Washington has long been fed up with Musharraf's two-faced balancing game and has threatened on multiple occasions to cut off the billions of US dollars flowing into Pakistan as aid.
The problem is this: Neither the US nor Pakistan has ever officially admitted it, but it is an established policy that the US uses unmanned aircraft and missile strikes to eliminate terrorist targets in Pakistan. And while it may be true that up till now Pakistan have yet to object and has even helped in covering it up, the recent change in power makes the situation much more murky - Will Pakistan still tolerate continued violation of it's national sovereignty? If the billions of US dollars stop flowing in, probably not.
And while Zardari might had made promises to fight domestic terrorists, that certainly doesn't mean he has to do it Washington's way. It true: Pakistan still definitely wants the US as an ally for the economical benefits - but that also doesn't mean it's willing to risk regional hostility towards itself as well. It's a difficult game to play. Inevitably, Zardari might be eventually forced to carefully tread down the same "double-agent" path Musharaff did.
For a greater understanding of Pakistan and it's two-faced stance on terrorism, visit PBS Frontline.
- Leadership
There are also a few distinct problems with Zardari's leadership. First of all, although Zardari appears to have no problems when gathering support, he has little to no experience on the actual governing itself. Secondly, Zardari has also yet to shake off the allegations of corruption and win over the full faith of the people. But while it's undeniable that Zardari, on paper, might not be the ideal leader Pakistan is looking for, that's also an issue thats no longer important: The man is already elected.
The real cause for concern is the big question if he will start handing down much of the substantial presidental powers that ex-president Musharaff has gathered over the years. Now Zardari has made the verbal agreements and subtle suggestions that he would do so, but it ultimately still remains to be seen if his actions will follow. If he does so, however, much of the power is likely to be transferred down to the Prime Minister.
When interviewed by a CNN correspondent about such concerns, Zardari replied this: "Challenges are manys. But those are mostly for the Prime Minister and the Government ... I intend to [hand over power] ... I will hand over as much power as the government desires."
RNC: Republicans Promise Change. Is the party in power running as if it wasn't?
The Republican National Convention recently ended last thursday in Saint Paul, Minnesota, finishing off grandly with a powerful declaration of "Country First" and a clarion call for change. Wait... wasn't that Barack Obama's signature line?
Yes, surprisingly enough, change was one of the main topics during the recent RNC. There, to deafening applause, the Republican Party promised to 'clean up Washington' and 'drain that swamp' in order to achieve 'change, the goal we share'. And while the event sounded like just another political convention, this time the party in question was actually promising change from itself. Personally, I don't know whether to be intrigued or confused: If the party in power seeks change.. why isn't it doing so right now?
Jon Stewarts perhaps said it best when he put forth this question to Republican Mike Huckabee: "I've been hearing so much about change [from the republicans]... do they realize who've been in charge for the most part over the last eight years?".
Think Again: Obama's top 10 worst ideas.
Foreign Policy's website recently released a web-exclusive article listing Barack Obama's top 10 worst ideas. Take a look.
For the uninformed, Foreign Policy is a bimonthly magazine which mainly focuses on global politics and economics. It is actually one of the more respected publications out there and has an enviable reputation in many countries. This time, however, like the characteristic title of one of their sections, they might really need to think again about their accusations.
Well, here is the list: (And my responses)
[Article] Online Degrees: Will it get you a job? How should one find the ideal course?
I recently took on a project to write two brief articles on online education and the issues involved. As some might imagine, online universities still face many challenges when it actually comes down to their credibility and relevance in the real world. Regrettably, the person involved backed out in the end, so i thought i might share and publish them for free instead.
Can a online degree secure a job? How do one pick the best online course? I hope the information helps those who needs it. Enjoy. -Mr Hans
Online Degrees: Will they get you a job?Will an online degree secure you a job?
Increasingly so, experts proclaim, though admitting as well that online degrees are still generally viewed as less credible than their traditional equivalents.
One major challenge that online universities face has constantly been to convince employers who are trained in traditional schools and hold traditional degrees to acknowledge their virtual counterparts. The process is tough, yet necessary. It is, after all, meaningless to complete an entire course spanning up to four years if the economic opportunities don't open up.
Sarah Palin - Are the "double-standards" unjustified? Hardly So
Barely days after she was announced as the Republican's running vice-president, Governor Sarah Palin is already hogging the headlines. Accusations of corruption have become ubiquitous. Her daughter Bristol is 17 years old and five months pregnant. And if all that isn't enough, claims of her being little more than a cheap political ploy to win over the "female vote" are fast becoming prevalent over all forms of media
From the way things are looking, it certainly does seems that the Senator Mccain might be starting to regret his hasty and arguably reckless choice of a running-mate.
Yet what about the current debate questioning if she will be able to juggle family matters along with national issues? Significantly, Sarah Palin is a mother of five children, three of which are below the age of 15 and with her most recent child diagnosed with Down syndrome.
She is undeniably going to have a lot of parental responsibility to live up to. Many have hence raised the question of which if she will be able to handle running the country at the same time, leading women all over the globe to cry foul and pointing out that male candidates had never been questioned so frivolously on such private issues.
Are double standards being placed on Governor Palin? Definitely so. But are they really unjustified and wrong? Probably not.
Forget the accusations of chauvinism or sexism. It is undeniable and scientifically proven that man and woman are profoundly different on both a biological and psychological level. More importantly, men and women have been playing significantly different gender roles since time immemorial and still do today. With economic liberalisation, it's often easy to forget how women are still the major caretakers of the household or how that they are the ones children instinctively turn to in times of need. Who can deny that the role of mothers, while extremely time consuming, are still today irreplaceable in raising children to grow up and for them to develop healthily? Motherhood is something that Sarah Palin cannot escape from.
Equal rights is one issue. Assuming that man and woman are equal on all levels is another. Each will ultimately have their own respective gender roles that they are obliged to fulfill - and that is a responsibility which both sexes must come to face.
[Article] The LHC: Of Black Holes and God Particles
Some quick background information for those who haven't: The LHC, built by CERN and spanning 27 kilometers, will be the largest particle collider ever built. It aims to accelerate two proton beams at (almost) light-speed in opposite directions, causing them to collide and - hopefully - produce some kind of result. Many theoretical particles which remain currently unproven are expected to surface, take for example the notorious Dark Matter or the "God-Particle" Higg's Boson.
Should they fail to appear however, the Standard Model and even the entire concept of quantum physics might have to be scrapped and taken back to the drawing board. And while that certainly might be good news for students, it definitely won't be for the rest of us.
Significantly, unlike other scientific research that mostly goes 'under the rader' of the media, the LHC has largely enjoyed extensive media coverage as well as it's fair share of criticism and controversy. CERN has even recently sent a speaker to TED in a bid to increase it's popularity and create a more politically positive image.
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