text:
This blog discusses current weather, weather prediction, climate issues, and other topics
Friday, September 9, 2011
Latest on La Nina
I don't have to tell you the implications of La Nina for the Northwest--AFTER January 1 it is generally associated with cooler/wetter conditions that produce more snowpack than normal in the mountains and a higher probability of lowland snow. So local departments of transportation should stock up on road deicer!
So what are some of the signs of an upcoming La Nina? First and foremost, colder than normal sea surface temperatures (SST) in the tropical Pacific. Here are the SST anomalies (differences from normal) for the last year. Take a particular look at the Nino 3.4 values. The cold anomalies have increased.
We have also seen that cold anomalies have increased substantially BELOW the surface...here is the proof:
Until recently, the NWS was undecided whether the coming winter would be a neutral (La Nada!) year (when tropical SSTs are near normal) or a La Nina year. The trends now point to the latter, although there is still some uncertainty. The latest computer predictions (see graphic below) are mixed between La Nina and Neutral, although the NWS coupled forecast model (which is a coupled ocean-atmosphere prediction system that is run out for months) is going for La Nina--and this model has been skillful lately.
And here is the latest winter predictions from the Climatic Prediction Center:
Wetter and colder for us, warmer and drier for the SE. Does this look familar?
So it might be a good winter to get that annual ski pass. Probably lots of snowpack for next summer's water supply. And local global warming skeptics will make the usual remarks.
8 comments:
- Unknown said...
Just a quick observation Cliff-
The 2008 "almost" La Nina December Snows and the 1996 huge Late December snow/Ice storm were both the second dip after a stronger La Nina. Pretty interesting even though La Nina doesn't get going strongly until later in the winter.
If we get blasted this December, that would be a pretty interesting coincidence.
- September 9, 2011 at 11:01 PM
- smokejumper said...
I'm a weather nerd who likes to study WA climate almanac. See if there are any connections to one year to another, etc. I've come to the conclusion there is none, lol.
But this hot dry spell sparked an interest and crunched some simple figures. Since 1949 at SeaTac, I took our wettest Novembers.. One S.D. above average (essentially 9+ inches), and the average Sept. rainfall on those years averaged 1.04. Substantially below average.
If you take wet Septembers (1 S.D. above average), November rainfall averaged 4.83 inches (below average).
While this means nothing, one could actually have a better arguement that nice Septembers bring worse late fall weather.
- September 10, 2011 at 1:23 AM
- codetalker said...
According to Joe Bastardi Chief Long Range Forecaster for AccuWeather.com studies over the past 100 years or so show that after the first winter following the onset of a La Niña, the next several winters thereafter tend to be colder than normal in the U.S.
He says the first winter during a La Niña tends to be warm. The next winter that follows is usually less warm, and the winter after that is usually cold.
- September 10, 2011 at 8:21 AM
- Anonymous said...
I'm inclined to agree with codetalker and Unknown. Strength of the Nina doesn't seem to matter when it comes to lowland snow in Seattle. My own unofficial research has shown that the second dip in a La Nina pattern usually brings a snowier winter than the first.
Of course, I would not want to overhype the situation after last winter, which didn't really go according to plan. We didn't see La Nina conditions set in until about the third week of February. If we didn't have that delay, I think last winter would have been unreal.
- September 10, 2011 at 2:10 PM
- lhsouthern said...
after this span of hot weather I am HAPPY its going to be a la nina winter.
- September 10, 2011 at 2:14 PM
- windlover said...
Just read the article by Joe Bastardi that was suggested by "codetalker"....Hmmmmm...then maybe this year we will have a real winter? And maybe next year will lean more towards nuetral and be windier and snowier? That would be so cool!
- September 10, 2011 at 3:42 PM
- Doug said...
I feel very sorry for Texas; they really need to lose the La Nina picture.
BTW, how does one figure out when ex-Accuweather staffer Joe Bastardi is right and when he's wrong? Any clues on that?
- September 11, 2011 at 1:22 AM
- Sysiphus said...
Bastardi is more an entertainer than a weatherman. And, even if he were a good weatherman (which I do not concede), that does not make him a climate expert. Where would Accuweather and The Weather Channel be without NWS data and forecasts, and models provided by public universities and governments?
- September 12, 2011 at 10:09 AM


text:
Why GNOME Do Is Built With C#
Language and Architecture Decisions
GNOME Do is a great example of open source software that started out as the pet project of one individual. In actuality, it began as the senior thesis project for David Siegel. David needed to come up with an idea for a software project that would embrace the development concepts of the open source community. Having most of his experience in the Mac world, he decided on building a Quicksilver lookalike for Linux.
Language Decisions
David had made the initial decision to build his tool for the GNOME desktop environment on Ubuntu. He looked at a number of different languages including C, Python, Vala, Java, Boo, Haskell, Clojure, and OCaml. The decision to use C# came through a process of elimination. Here's how he answered the language question in response to a post on his blog:
"I implemented basic Gtk+ examples in most of those languages (the ones that had Gtk+ bindings in a reasonable state) and found that C# on Mono gave me a statically typed language, pretty good performance, tons of support, preexisting applications to learn from, well maintained documentation, bindings, and libraries, and published books on .NET/C#/Mono."
The Mono group also has a lively IRC channel where you will
Architecture Decisions
One of the features that made its way into GNOME Do early on was the concept of a plugin architecture. Writing plugins can be a difficult task for some environments. One of the examples that David looked at during the evaluation process was Catapult for KDE. The first thing he identified when evaluating Catapult was the difficulty of building plugins. Everything was built using C++, and the whole process was somewhat complicated.
Monodevelop is the development environment of choice for building GNOME Do plugins. The best way to learn how to build a new plugin is to take an existing one and modify it to meet your own needs. You can find a large list of existing plugins on the GNOME Do wiki site.
The other big lift from using C# and managed code is the ability to take user contributed code and just drop it in. For example, the Skype plugin has between 2000 and 3000 lines of code in it. All plugin code is kept on the launchpad site. The team builds the plugins as-is from that site and they are available to GNOME Do users through a preferences menu. The sandbox runtime environment of the CLI provide an extra measure of security you can't get with a language like C while C#'s static typing help take the worry out of runtime errors common to dynamic languages.The last paragraph was corrected to more fully explain how plugin authoring is managed-- ed.
- Skip Ahead
- 1. Language and Architecture Decisions
- 2. Language and Architecture Decisions

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Uptick in Alberta for Mulcair's NDP?
An interesting development does seem to be underway in Alberta, however, where the New Democrats are polling at their highest level in a year. Is the NDP on the upswing in the province for real?
In EKOS's poll for iPolitics, the Liberals moved ahead with a gain of 1.6 points since the previous week to 32.1%. The Conservatives dropped 2.7 points to 30.2%, while the NDP was up 1.5 points to 21.2%.
Only the Conservative decrease was outside the margin of error, though the Liberal bump does end a losing streak for the party. Overall, however, the poll is well within EKOS's usual range.
The Léger poll reported by CTV Montreal showed a similarly close race, with the Liberals at 35%, the Conservatives at 34%, and the NDP at 20%. Compared to Léger's previous poll of Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, the Liberals held firm, the Tories were up two, and the NDP was unchanged. Suffice to say, those shifts would not be outside the margin of error of similarly sized probabilistic samples.
Finally, the poll by CROP for La Presse gave the New Democrats the lead in Quebec with 30%, unchanged from CROP's previous two surveys in the province. The Liberals dropped four points to 29%, while the Conservatives were up two points to 18% and the Bloc Québécois was up one point to 18%.
None of these shifts would be statistically significant. Noteworthy, however, is that the Liberals have dropped in two consecutive surveys (from 37%) while the Conservatives have increased their support over that time (from 13%). Also note that the results from CROP are broadly in agreement with those from Léger for the province.
Alberta turning a little orange
The longest and largest streak (both in real terms and proportionately) in the country currently belongs to the New Democrats in Alberta. Their numbers have been increasing over five consecutive weeks in the province, from 11.9% at the beginning of February to 16.3% in today's update. That is a gain worth 4.4 points, or an increase of more than one-third since that low ebb.
(The third-longest streak at the moment is in Quebec, where the Liberals have fallen over four consecutive weeks from 30.3% to 27.7%.)
This jump for the NDP has pushed the party to two seats in the projection (Edmonton Strathcona and Edmonton Griesbach, though the latter is by a very slim margin). It has also put the New Democrats in play in Lethbridge.
The shift has been registered in most polls. In the two newest surveys, Léger has the NDP up five points in the province and EKOS has them up almost 10 points since the poll it conducted at the same time as Léger's last outing. Over the last eight polls, the NDP has managed between 13% and 19%. In the previous eight, that range was from 10% to 17%.
Whether or not the increase has come directly from the Conservatives is harder to determine. In those same most recent eight polls, the Conservatives have ranged between 49% and 54%. In the previous eight, that range was 47% to 61%. That suggests the Tories' numbers have just become more volatile, rather than necessarily dropping in the face of NDP gains.
The reality is rarely ever linear, and in this instance we may be seeing voters heading in every direction, the net result being an NDP uptick.
But why would this be taking place? We cannot definitively chalk it up to an improved performance by Thomas Mulcair, whose personal numbers in Alberta show no such clear trend line as those of his party.
We instead might be seeing a bit of cross-pollination between the provincial and federal scenes. Talk in Alberta is about the possibility of the New Democrats, under new leader Rachel Notley, taking over from Wildrose as the Official Opposition after the next election. The better press for the provincial NDP may be having a positive impact on the federal party.
The real question, as is always the case, is whether or not these numbers will prove to be sustainable or a mere flash in the pan. In the grand scheme of things, it does not have much impact on the national portrait. But with the race looking as close as it is, even losing an extra seat or two to the NDP in Alberta can have an important effect on the Conservatives' electoral calculations.
87 comments:
The Alberta NDP under Rachel Notley is showing a low of momentum these days and I suspect that is helping drive up the federal NDP numbers as well. FWIW the federal riding of Edmonton-Griesbach is composed of two Alberta NDP ridings - one of which is super-safe and the other more marginal. Definitely a seat on the "watch list"ReplyDelete
Mulcairmania in Alberta? Probably not. I agree with the assumption that it might be due to the positive press coverage of Rachel Notley's provincial NDP.ReplyDelete
NDP support is concentrated in Edmonton, so this can translate into one or even two more seats for them along with the one they currently hold in that city. It may also hamper the Liberals chances of making gains in that city. The Liberals are more focused on Calgary anyways.Replies
As Éric noted, "It has also put the New Democrats in play in Lethbridge."Delete
Does it though? According to Eric's riding projection (and perhaps they have not been updated to include the latest two polls) The Tories hold a 37%-30% lead over the Dippers. That is close perhaps but, given the wide lead the Conservatives hold in Alberta the probability of a NDP win seems almost infinitesimally small. If polls continue to improve for the NDP then so will their odds but, at the moment Edmonton looks like the only place in the Province where opposition parties can win.Delete
I agree I think we're seeing a Rachel Notley bump for the NDP.Delete
With the current aggregate, I have the NDP slightly less than 3% from the CPC in Lethbridge. You may put less credibility in my model, but it does support Eric's claim that the NDP is in play and not that far away from making a gain there.Delete
I don't really expect Justin Trudeau to do that well in Alberta, so I wouldn't be surprised to see voters tired of Harper drift toward Mulcair instead.ReplyDeleteReplies
I agree young Trudeau just seems out of place in Alberta. Obviously his dad's legacy doesn't help but, it is something more personal than that he could be a Vancouverite or Montrealais or even a Torontonian but, an Edmontonian or Cowtowner seems impossible.Delete
I think Alberta is one of the few places where the opposition could more-or-less coalesce behind a single party for the election. I hope this latest oill price drop and the generally poor governance the Province has experience over the last half century have finally brought about the recognisable need to have a true Opposition in the Province for accountabity's sake and good governance if nothing else.
The Liberals did well in the Calgary Centre and Fort McMurray-Athabasca by-elections.Delete
Times have changed in some parts of the province. The Trudeau Sr. boogeyman does not work a generation later.
Even Tories acknowledge that after riding distribution and demographic changes, the Liberals have potential to pick up 3-4 seats in Calgary.
I had a look at the polls that count towards the current 308 estimate. I threw out the Ipsos Reid poll as it was the only one to exclude the Greens, and I threw out the Forum poll from Feb 9-10, as the Liberal rating was an obvious outlier (beyond 3% from the average).ReplyDelete
Support for the CPC is covarient with support for the LPC.
Support for the NDP is covarient with support for the LPC and BQ.
Support for the LPC is covarient with support for the NDP and CPC.
Support for the BQ is covarient with support for the GP, NDP, and Others.
Support for the GP is covarient with support for the Others and BQ.
Support for the Others is covarient with support for the GP and BQ.
To me, this suggests three strong components to the variability of polling results: support shifting between the big 3 and the alternative parties, Quebec support shifting between NDP/BQ and everyone else, and most interestingly, support shifting between CPC/LPC and everyone else. These relationships suggests to me that NDP voters are the most likely to shift to another party and to win a majority, the LPC/CPC need to court the smaller party voters more than each other. Thus, this will be a campaign of polarization between the LPC/CPC as compared to the NDP platform.Replies
"LPC/CPC need to court the smaller party voters more than each other".Delete
I have trouble with this statement because LPC/CPC voters represent nearly 2/3 of the electorate. So while they may have a better chance gaining "smaller party voters" even achieving a 100% success rate may not be enough to push them over the top. It seems to me the "median voter" is very much within the LPC/CPC/NDP (and perhaps BQ and Green) sphere since they account for 90% of voters.
In the last 30 years (8 elections, 5 majorities), the vote share needed averaged 40.64% (39.62% 2011 Harper, 40.85% 2000 Chretien, 38.46% 1997 Chretien, 41.24% 1993 Chretien, 43.02% 1988 Mulroney) with a stdev of 1.54%. To reach that number from current levels, they would need to convert approximately 21.5% of non-CPC/LPC voters. In fact, if you lump the NDP in with everyone else, the national split is 34.6 Other, 33.2 LPC, 32.2 CPC, thus they're a larger population to court. Obviously, policy choices must be made not to alienate the core, but there is more to gain by reducing the vote split.Delete
You're ignoring turnout. In past elections, one of the CPC's core strategies was to suppress Liberal voter turnout, and it worked pretty well.Delete
Vote supression was present in 2011, but the findings were that it wasn't significant enough to disrupt the CPC majority. It's hard to say how much of an effect this could be. From the actual turnout numbers they rose from 58.8% in 2008 to 61.1% in 2011 with Alberta (-0.6%), Manitoba (-1.1%), and Ontario (-1.5%) being the only provinces with lower numbers. Without Ontario, the other 9 provinces had an average increase of 2.0%, so in theory, if the full difference in Ontario was suppressed Liberal voters, they would have taken 26.2% instead of 25.3% and the Conservatives drop from 44.4% to 42.9%.Delete
Might not be that simple.Delete
The Conservatives know they cannot replicate their 2011 success. Trudeau would do better than the low bar set by Ignatieff. The Conservatives are bound to lose seats to the Liberals - especially in BC, Ontario and Atlantic Canada. The question is how many seats they lose.
To offset those losses the Conservatives need to gain in Quebec. Their support in Quebec will more likely come from people who have voted for the Bloc and NDP in the past.
Actually, the CPC isn't that far from majority grounds again. They already are leading in most of their possible Quebec seats (6 more seats have the CPC within 9% of the leading party). If Harper is going to get another majority, it's going to come gains in BC (8 more), Quebec (6 more), and Ontario (13 more, from now, net loss compared to 2011).Delete
"But with the race looking as close as it is, even losing an extra seat or two to the NDP in Alberta can have an important effect on the Conservatives' electoral calculations."ReplyDelete
Well I guess that the NDP taking an extra seat or 2 in Alberta would be off set by the Cons taking 11 extra seats from the NDP in Quebec.Replies
Unfortunately, with the resurgent Liberals in Ontario, and the added seats overall, the CPC needs both.Delete
They might still get both. They're excellent campaigners.
Well I guess that the NDP taking an extra seat or 2 in Alberta would be off set by the Cons taking 11 extra seats from the NDP in Quebec.Delete
Dream on. Not happening.
totally agree... NDP will not be taking these seats in Alberta....Delete
Eric is using the poll numbers as presented.
- Anonymous25 March, 2015 16:22
There's a lot of organising going on to be ready for the expected Alberta provincial election this Spring. The Lethbridge NDP is optimistic.ReplyDelete
At very least the troops will be a well oiled machine ready for the federal election.
Yes, the CPC will sweep rural Alberta, but urban downtowns are fertile ground for the opposition. But LPC, NDP and Greens will generally split the opposition vote in urban Alberta.
Have you seen this poll that shows the provincial parties in a statistical tie?ReplyDelete
One definitely sees the Rachel Notley effect in this poll. 23% for the NDP is good, one also sees the futility and mistake of the Liberals picking Sherman as leader-steady at 20% amongst what has been a chaotic few months in Alberta is nothing short of a failure. Instead it appears Wildrose is experiencing a slight re-bound and I would suspect are well placed to remain the Opposition after the presumed Spring election.Delete
Having said that 30% for the PCs is incredibly low and a couple more points for the NDP, Wildrose or Liberals could produce a hung parliament or even a small Wildrose or NDP or Liberal plurality. All-in-all even at 30% one has to assume the PCs are the odds on favourite to remain in Government.
I'm not surprised at the Wildrose rebound. If Prentice's comments of the last few months show anything, it's that Alberta needs some opposition on the right.Delete
I just hope the party can get its internal affairs in order (they have some efficiency problems) in time to mount an effective campaign.
before you analysis this poll please google "A BAYESIAN, RIVER-SAMPLING METHODOLOGY – ONLINE AND MOBILE" which is the methodology that this survey uses as per its footnotes.Delete
And tell me how this statistic sampling method of predicting how many fish in an area when you can't catch any.
It sounds like you if you can't find and NDP or Liberal in Alberta there must be a way to show that some exist. There must be some.
Intuitively the people of Alberta would be upset with Prentice for raising taxes.. .. It would not be logical on any plane that they would take this vote to the NDP as Prentice does what the NDP would want to do on a larger basis.Delete
The elephant in the room - and it's a hefty one - is that after 50 years of Conservative governments shackling the Alberta economy to gas and petroleum without either diversifying or charging meaningful royalties (à la Norway or even Newfoundland), there's no longer any room for manoeuvre as oil prices drop. Prentice & Co. have taken the opportunity to exacerbate matters by imposing sharp austerity measures (which wasn't how the Conservative government in the 1980s dealt with a similar downturn in the economy). So, you know, people aren't happy with the combination of a precarious economy, high cost of living, gutted social programmes, and promised higher costs for the necessities of life. Yeah, that might just have turned people off the Conservative Dynasty. Plus, the tawdry Conservative/Wild Rose power plays of the last 6 months. Leaves a bad taste in the mouth.Delete
Don't forget the extremely high wages. With Albertans earning 60% more than the typical Canadian, they have a lot more wiggle room in terms of a high cost of living.Delete
BC VoR,Delete
A wee correction. The NDP does not support the kind of tax increases that Prentice is imposing, increases that disproportionately impact the middle class and poor. The NDP proposes higher taxes for corporations and the wealthy, that is, a more equitable tax system, with those who have more paying more and those who have less paying less. It's a tricky distinction, I know, largely because the corporate media, business, and spokespeople from the Conservative, Liberal, and like-minded parties avoid making it with complete discipline. You're left to your own devices to see through the schoolyard taunts of "tax and spend" to find the truth of the matter.
High cost of living is relative; houses in Edmonton and Calgary are a third of Vancouver and about half what one pays in Toronto.Delete
The Alberta oil and gas royalty is tied to price so while the price has gone down so has the royalty-this obviously helpful for producers though the effect will be quite marginal.
I wish I could blame subsequent Alberta governments of the last 50/60 years for not diversifying the economy but, the blame lies squarely with Albertans who lapped up the platitudes with reckless abandon and shirked the tough work of building better cities and Province. The cities in Alberta also hold great responsibility for failing to diversify the economy-low taxes became synonymous with re-election not good governance-that is a failure of the electorate more so than the elected.
From the mid-80s to late-90s oil prices were under half of what they are now. I'm going to suggest that oil prices will recover to the $80-$100 range by mid-2018.Delete
Maybe but, if one accounts for inflation oil prices will stick around $30-$50 until 2030 or longer. Of course the oil market is speculative so a recovery to $80 may well occur. For Alberta oil proponents the calculus is as much about costs as price. When oil was below $20 a barrel, pre-Second Iraq War, oil companies were mining and making money in Alberta. While I suspect some companies will continue many will cease production in the hope $80-$100 oil will return.Delete
You can't focus on housing costs alone; the cost of living in Alberta is significantly higher than the rest of the country. Stats Canada reports that the consumer price index for the whole country in 2014 was 125.2. In Calgary it was 132.7, in Edmonton, 131.8, but in Vancouver it was 120.5 and in Toronto it was 126.4. Wages are, on average, high in Alberta, but that fact is a bit misleading. Wages are high in certain sectors, disproportionately raising the average; for those who work in services, etc. and receiving the minimum wage, it's a tough go. The minimum wage is lower in Alberta than anywhere else in the country, and coupled with the high cost of living makes for a miserable existence for many. Fortunately, with the help of Canada's most concentrated corporate media (along with that of Quebec), we're so focused on the wonders of oil that we don't have to notice this underclass working two or three jobs to get by in this capitalist paradise.Delete
After all the war rhetoric and all the tax funded advertising, all Harper can muster is a an 8 seat lead? He is in big trouble.ReplyDeleteReplies
Not really those 8 seats still equal a plurality and continued prime ministership. Also it is only an estimate, the high range put the Tories 22 seatrrs beyond a simple majority to have a final outcome somewhere in between is probably the likely scenario. In any bcase the scrutiny will be on Trudeau come the campaign not Harper, I would suggest that if a "saviour" can't save he may strike a mortal wound.Delete
The Monthly polling averages for July 2014 (8 months ago) generated a seat count of 159 Liberal 101 Cons and 74 NDP.
So the polls have indicated an change over the last 8 months of
Liberal -31
And this is without a campaign that Eric tends to point out have drastically increase the CPC support over the last 3 elections.
Even without a campaign a even the organic growth of the CPC support over the next 7 months would easily have them bumping up another 35 seats,
And when you add the campaign into it !!!
Maybe Trudeau and Mulcair will be the Obama like in their first campaigns as leaders...
But I have seen now indication of this to date.
If there's a small Conservative plurality but not a majority, which currently looks like the most likely outcome, it's not at all clear whether Harper stays as prime minister. I see the Liberals and NDP as much more likely to try a coalition than they were in the 2000s... of course, since they didn't then, "more likely" doesn't mean it will happen!Delete
Actually, jbalin, it is clear Harper stays as PM until defeated on a confidence motion-this is the basic principle of responsible government. If defeated it is up to the Crown to appoint a PM. Harper as the outgoing PM will have the ability to advise the Crown, and he may advise a dissolution!Delete
Keep in mind that while it is generally advisable to recall Parliament within a fairly short timeframe after a general election, the legal requirement is only that Parliament sits once a year. In short the opposition may not get the chance to defeat the Government.
No sure. Does Mulcair allow Trudeau to be the PM, just so Trudeau can appear prime-ministerial and wipe the NDP out in the subsequent election.Delete
It really isn't up to Mulcair; the Crown will appoint who His Excellency deems fit. Mulcair could decline I suppose and in so doing make young Trudeau PM by default but, the Crown may deem it inappropriate to appoint the leader of the third party to such high office (assuming the parties relative position remains the same).
From an internal party perspective Mulcair would have to accept appointment or resign as NDP leader. Most would argue that if he is wavering on the issue now he should step down.
bede, Canadian law about formation of government is not codified, so it's all about how tradition is interpreted. Following the Westminster model, Harper has first shot to form a majority, whether "naturally" or in a coalition, then the Trudeau and Mulclair. If no majority can be formed, then Harper becomes the minority PM.Delete
Why do you insist on ignoring the natural variation of numbers?
To use your own style argument, in July 2014 (42 months ago) generated a seat count of 162 Conservatives, 102 NDP, and 41 Liberals.
So the polls have indicated a change over the last 42 months of
Even without a campaign even the organic growth of the LPC support over the next 7 months would easily have them bumping up another 14 seats.
Of course, this is all faulty logic, just as your statements was.
I am well aware we are dealing with precedent but, that does not change the constitutional requirements or the legal obligation of the parties involved.
This idea of a "first shot"implying someone has the "next shot" and so forth is just wrong! That is not how the Westminster model works, or the principles of Government formations or the constitutional precedents that effect the Crown.
Mulcair and Trudeau have no right to test the will of the House unless appointed as PM by the Crown. The Crown is not obligated constitutionally or by legal or by constitutional precedent to offer high office to the party leaders relative to their party's seat count. The Crown unilaterally and without the need for justification (if His Excellency so decides) who to appoint as PM!
Harper doesn't need a majority he only needs the Speech from the Throne to pass-that only requires a pluraity not a coalition or majority.
bede, looking at the last century of minority coalitions in the UK, we have the 1923 minority government where the Conservatives won a plurality of seats, but a Liberal-Labour pact allowed the second place Labour party to formed the government. In 1929, Labour won a plurality of seats, and with a similar Lib-Lab pact had the confidence of the house. The Liberals did however have an offer from the Conservatives to alternatively place the Conservatives in power. In 1979, second place Labour again formed government with a limited pact with the Liberals. Finally, in 2010 the Converatives and Liberals formed a 5-year coalition deal for control specific departments.Delete
In Canada, we have two examples, Mackenzie in 1873 and Meighen in 1926. The King-Byng affair is most telling as precedence in that the PM asked the GG for an election and the GG said not and allowed a minority Conservative government with the support of third parties.
Thus, out of the four minority governments in the 90 years, three were formed by the second place party. Specifically, it is the Governor General's discression to allow the party most likely to command the confidence of the House to attempt to form the government. Harper might win the most seats and under normal conditions that translates into most likely to command the confidence of the House, but not under all circumstances. The Governor General is free to appoint Harper, Mulcair, Trudeau, or even May as Prime Minister. The scope of this discretion is not limited, but guided by precedence.
In all those examples the second place party became Government because they could control a majority in the House not because they were second place party or had "second crack at the can". King-Byng and the Australian Constitutional crisis of 1975 also follow that example. In the King-Byng affairs Lord Byng erroneously assumed Meighen could control the House, in the end he could not and an election was held later in 1926.Delete
Secondly, precedence; is the relative order of something (often state officials). A Precedent is a constitutional and or legal principle with a degree of legal, constitutional or cultural force.
Harper undoubtedly, has a constitutional right to test the will of the House and unless defeated on the Speech from the Throne and so remains as PM. In regards to the British examples you cite it is important to remember the respective PMs tendered their resignations and so the Crown was free to act. Maggie Thatcher won the 1979 and became PM after James Callaghan resigned. The Conservatives won a majority.
It would not be appropriate and would damage the legitimacy of the Crown (one of the Crown's primary concern if no the primary concern) to dismiss a PM without reason. In the case of both Tupper and Gough Whitlam from Australia significant constitutional precedents had not been followed in the case of Tupper (he had failed to test the will of the House on a confidence motion after the 1896 election) and in the case of Gough Whitlam his inability to pass a budget gave the Crown a legitimate reason for dismissal.
I am not saying second or third place parties do not form Govwernment I am simply pointing out that no relative order based on party standing exists either in the Constitutional canon or constitutional precedent. When second or third place party do form Government it is because the Crown believes they can control the House not because of some imaginary relative order of government formation.
These polls have Alberta as less orange than Alberta was red in 1980. I don't think you can reasonably call the 1980 election a success for Liberals in Alberta either.ReplyDelete
With the new aggregate, I get:ReplyDelete
By region, it gives:
British Columbia
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
It seems that the big Duffy expense scandal that was going to hurt Harper so badly is in the process of being defused..... by the Toronto Star of all entities.ReplyDelete
If the Toronto Star says there is nothing to see here as per March 25 commentary by John Barber then there really is nothing.
From the tone of the article it would be worrisome for the anti-Harper brigade that this might seem to be an over-reach by the un-elected Crown prosecutors acting on political agendas and give support to Harper's meme that the courts and legal system are over stepping their bounds.Replies
I think you are quite right. If the Duffy scandal ever contained a bombshell, or in fact, anything significantly damaging to PM Harper, Harper would have called an election by now to avoid a certain loss in October.Delete
The fact remains: Harper can still win big in October. And recent developments suggest Harper managed to outclass and outmaneuver the opposition, namely Trudeau (C-51 and ISIS mission). The economy is now the PM's biggest headache.
Harper's opinion is that anyone not listening to him are overstepping their bounds. Nigel Wright was not cleared of wrongdoing, he was not charged with wrongdoing. There is a hugh difference legally. While many Senate claims rules are unclear "primary residence" is not. Let's allow the lawyers and judges to make legal decisions and the media pundits to tell us about it. Otherwise, they are overstepping their bounds.Delete
Maopleson; legally being cleared and or not being charged are essentially the same thing; the presumption of innocence and the conclusion no "wrong doing" was committed.Delete
bede, that's no more true than claiming that being pardoned and being found not guilty are the same thing.Delete
To be pardoned one must be found guilty so, yes, in a round-about-way they are the same thing.Delete
To be found not guilty at trial; hence innocent and not being charged; hence retaining the presumption of innocence are once again essentially the same.
I am pretty sure if you put some thought into the matter you will conclude the same, chirumenga.
Condescension aside, you missed the point. Contrary to your assertion that "legally being cleared and or not being charged are essentially the same thing", the former removes any doubt as to culpability, while the latter does not. A cloud may hang over someone not charged but believed guilty, but someone who has been cleared of wrongdoing has had their innocence affirmed. A related example is that of Steven Truscott, whose 2006 defence team pressed for a declaration of factual innocence. Your comment compels me to be pedantic, but a pardon leaves a cloud over the convicted person, while a not guilty verdict substantially removes it. This is why so many wrongfully-convicted people have been dissatisfied with being pardoned - pardoned for what, exactly, when they haven't committed a crime? And so they fight for the clean slate that a not guilty verdict provides, or indeed, a declaration of innocence.Delete
If one is not charged culpability not assigned! No question exists as to culpability in that case and so the former and the latter are essentially the same-innocent!Delete
Legally a pardon removes that "cloud" and a not guilty does so as well, though, as you note from a cultural or societal context some doubt may remain. The problem for the wrongly convicted is they have committed a crime and been convicted of doing so in the eyes of the law. Usually they have had a trial and often several appeals which presumably they have lost and so a declaration of innocence is not possible unless the case is re-tried. A retrial poses its own dangers and prejudices and the accused runs the risk of being convicted again. In some cases a fair trial may not be possible because of the passage of time for example. A pardon should leave a cloud over a convicted person because they have committed a crime! A pardon may exonerate an individual but, it does not negate his or her past deeds.
Finally it seems bizarre to me that you would argue to narrow the scope of the presumption of innocence and in so doing argue against the principles of fundamental justice, Common Law and human rights law. You are either the most socially conservative New Democrat who ever existed or not a New Democrat at all. The late F.R. Scott would be shaking his head.
You don't understand the difference between exoneration and a pardon. I'll make the point again. A pardon forgives a person for the crime of which they've been found guilty, which is why so many wrongfully-convicted do not accept being pardoned (when that occurs). They fight for exoneration, that is, a declaration of innocence - precisely what Truscott asked for (and was, unfortunately, denied). Legally, a pardon precisely does not remove the cloud of guilt. Your summary of the plight of the wrongfully-convicted is prima facie wrong. By definition, the wrongfully-convicted have not committed a crime, but the judicial process has – for whatever specific reasons – found them guilty and accordingly sentenced them. In successful cases, they have eventually been acquitted, sometimes pardoned, and occasionally declared innocent. Truscott asked for a declaration of innocence because of the infamy of his case (which had necessitated that he change his name after his release) and because of the overwhelmingly unfair and prejudiced police and legal proceedings against him. That is, he wanted the cloud of suspicion over him utterly removed. He wanted to be exonerated.Delete
As I seem to have to repeat to you without it ever sinking in, I am not a New Democrat. And I make no personal claims with regard to presumption of innocence - as usual, you're putting words in my mouth. I'm describing things as they are, not how I would like them to be (which would be quite different indeed). Should I assume that your last paragraph is simply more condescending, bullying projection on your part? The alternative is that you truly can't understand the plain English that I wrote.
With that, I hope this discussion is done.
Let's get back to specifics here. Nigel Wright was investigated on an account of Fraud on the Government, but not charged. There is no question about his direct actions, giving Duffy a cheque for $90,172 in order to repay invalid housing expense claims. Senator Duffy subsequently would not testify in audit hearings. The RCMP case is lacking in explicitly showing that the Senator's actions were a result of taking the payment, rather than merely a consequence. In addition, it is not Mr. Wright who benefits from this action, but the CPC, thus another nebulous connection that ultimately sets Mr. Wright up as a pawn.Delete
The Senator, however, 31 specific criminal charges against him of which only three are related to Nigel's cheque: Bribery of a Judicial Officer, Breach of Trust, and Fraud of the Government. The last charge will most likely fall due to the same evidentiary limitations with Nigel Wright, unless there is some new evidence that comes to light and Mr. Wright can be charged after the fact. The other two charges stand on their own merits and are related specifically to the Senator's position and actions.
I always think when somebody uses Latin phrases incorrectly they use the terminology to appear smarter than they are. In fact, my summary of the wrongly convicted: "the wrongly convicted... have committed a crime and been convicted of doing so in the eyes of the law". Is exactly what has happened from a legal standpoint. Otherwise they would not be convicted of doing so! We can say a crime occurred because the statement of fact at trial would acknowledge as much thus, is it speculation that someone is wrongly convicted both legally and in the historical record.Delete
As for my last paragraph in the past you have claimed to be a New Democrat, I am very happy you no longer support a party which long ago morphed from socialism to champagne socialism.
Oh dear, a Latin gaffe. My meaning was "from first sight". But if you prefer, "res ipsa loquitur". And you've used Latin phrases plenty, Mr. Pot.Delete
The wrongfully-convicted... the significance is that they did not commit the crime in question - a point utterly lost in your summary, which holds exclusively to the legal and prosecutorial side of matters, thereby drifting away from the matter of the discussion.
Again, you demonstrate that you will not or cannot read carefully. I have never claimed to be a New Democrat - that is your fantasy, presumably because you can only handle stereotypes as a way of understanding the world. If you want to discuss my politics, contact me directly. I'm tired of your willful misreading of my comments and political orientation. It's troll-like behaviour. If you want the last word on this, now futile, discussion I'll leave it to Éric to decide whether it's worth posting.
Chirumenga, you have stated in the past that you support the NDP, why you deny the fact today I do not know but, I assume it is because you are embarrassed by your own political record.Delete
Who is Mr. Pot? Yes, I have used Latin phrases correctly many times a fact I don't deny. To say something speaks for itself means that something completely different than at first sight, and does not fit the legal context of prima facie in any case. It is you who have failed to read carefully, I write in the eyes of the law the wrongly convicted have committed a crime-a fact that if you weren't so stubborn-we could both agree on!
For somebody who complains of me being condescending, it is intellectually inconsistent to then, call me a troll! Do as I say not as I do-is that your modus operandi? As for the last word since, you keep replying it appears you want it!
The irony for the East coast is that their best chance of having an Maritimes PM (after a 100 year absence) is for Harper to get a majority and then step down after about 3 years. Peter MacKay is one of the leading candidates to succeed Harper.ReplyDelete
Instead, their voting patterns indicate that there may not be another leader from the East Coast for another 100 years.Replies
I think you have to get in line.Delete
With the Liberals chasing the Quebec vote for decades the last time there was a PM from Ontario was Lester Pearson in 1968.
Turner was Pm for a brief bit but was not a sitting MP at the time so technically he was not a PM from Ontario.
Harper was as close as you could get to an Ontario PM having been born and raised there,
The Atlantic provinces got heavily bribed to join the confederation (4 seats for PEI) .. 30 senators from Atlantic Canada with only 24 from Ontario and 6 each for BC and Alberta.
Jack Layton was the only party leader from Ontario since Turner.
The Liberals missed a chance with their complete two time rejection of Martha Hall Findlay.
I think the next PM will be from Ontario will be a CPC Female MP from Ontario: Lisa Raitt, Kellie Leitch, Dianne Finley or long shot Stella Ambler.
The Atlantic generally vote for the party that forms government; the 1997 and 1972 election being the exceptions over the last 70 years. Stanfield of course came close. Peter MacKay is certainly the Atlantic's best bet for PM in the short or medium term. Dominic LeBlanc is almost certain to run for Liberal leader at some point I think but, given young Trudeau's age such an event could be 10 even 20 years off.Delete
Good prediction on a female PM BCVoR. I think Leitch would be great, but, it will be a crowded field when Harper steps aside-who knows what will happen?
Jack Layton was born and lived in Québec until his university years, so saying he's from Ontario is also somehwat untrue.Delete
Ed Broadbent was also from Ontario and Paul Martin at least has some claim to Ontarioness.Delete
@Thierry Soucie - By that reasoning, though, Stephen Harper is from Ontario, which defeats the entire line of reasoning.Delete
I missed on Broadbent... Mr. Layton was an Ontario elected MP who was the leader of a Federal party.ReplyDelete
It would be an interesting statistical correlation if the NDP benefited from having the only Ontario leader.
Things went poorly for them when they went to Audrey McLaughlin (from Ontario but MP from Yukon) and Alexa McDonough of Halifax as their leader.
For the most part after the NDP stuck to Ontario leadership almost as firmly as the Liberal party stuck to Quebec leadership.Replies
McDonough did well in the 1997 election; 21 seats and11% of the popular vote are about par for the course for the NDP. McDonough laid the ground work for invigorated provincial parties in the Maritimes and arguably set the foundation for Dexter's Government in 2009.Delete
I don't think it conicidence the NDP's two best elections happened under leaders from Ontario; 43 seats for Broadbent in 1988 and 103 for Layton in 2011. Two thirds of the seats are located in Central Canada, it is hardly surprising a Central Canadian leader is able to capitalise.
Eric (and Mr. Soucie)ReplyDelete
The Ottawa citizen ran an analysis of the party break down by ridings by counting $200 + donations.
Sort of like an opt in poll that requires a $200 entry fee.
This would seem to be a measurement of the GOTV support and influence the turn out rate.
It makes sense (well to me anyway) the ridings that have more local people willing to pony up $200 worth would have more serious campaign workers.
As well just party members count by riding would be a good indication the efficiency or lack thereof of of turning polled voters into actual voters.
Do either of you make any attempt to account for ground game in converting poll numbers to seat counts?Replies
I find the Citizen's analysis of donations by riding interesting, but it neglected some important points. First, historically the Conservatives both raise and spend more money per seat won. It's interesting that they are running this analysis when the fundraising quarter ends tomorrow. Also, it looks at total contributions rather than number of contributors, so a single donation of $1000 is considered to give equal party support as 5 $200 contributions. For example, a quarter of the NDPs contributions ($4.408M) came from a single estate (Peter Kirk Sinclair $1.12M). While it's great for his former riding, it doesn't reflect much about voting patterns there.Delete
I downloaded the political contributions from the Election Canada website from Ontario for CPC, NDP, Liberal and Green parties. Just from individuals (includes the big contribution from estates) … I asked for 0 to 10000000. Date range Jan 1, 2014 to March 30,2015 The smallest contributions were $50 (1,825)Delete
A lot of people gave $50 a few times.
The total # of donations in Ontario is 11,874,285.69
There were a total of 12 donations over 1,500.. 1 cpc donation of 1,800, 4 liberal donations of around 2,000, 1 Liberal donation or 20,000 and another for 25,000. The Estate of Peter Kirk Sinclair left 3 donations to the NDP totalling 1.12M plus 1 estate to the NDP for 5,000 and one of 10,000.
So much for the CPC being the party of big money.
Conservative Party of Canada Total 3,864,297.64 33%
Green Party of Canada Total 410,026.53 3%
Liberal Party of Canada Total 5,229,279.93 44%
New Democratic Party Total 2,370,681.59 20%
Dropping the duplicate names bring the donor list down to 17,555
Conservative Party of Canada Count 6254 36%
Green Party of Canada Count 756 4%
Liberal Party of Canada Count 8154 46%
New Democratic Party Count 2391 14%
The Liberals seem to be in better shape in Ontario to GOTV with more money and more committed supporters.
If turnout pattern is the same as in the past, then yes, it takes it into account (as the model is based on past elections per riding). If that changes, then no, not really. It would be interesting for me to use a Québec only model for 2011 (I didn't have a model back then) and see how the pre-electoral polls would project into seats (as well as the election). If there is a major change, then it would indicate my model cannot take sudden changes into account, but if it's fairly close, then it would mean that, while it can't predict it 100% since it's all new behaviour, it can at least simulate different turnout. I know my model didn't do too bad for the CAQ in the last Québec election (which had less votes but more seats), so who knows... my model uses trends, so the actual turnout is considered different in this election than the last and it will be different for the next. That is why, for the LPC in my model, it is difficult to gain many seats, as they have been on a constant downward trend.Delete
So I made a simplified version of my model for the Canadian election in Québec in 2011. I'll start by reminding the actualt results, which are:Delete
So using the election results, I get:
That is very close. By riding though, I did notice a few differences, so the total may be good, but the details may differ somewhat (I didn't look at all of them). The lead was so wide for the NDP, though, that not projecting them as winning almost all the seats would have been a failure.
I'd like to know why on such an imprtant vote the CPC couldn't get it's majority to vote ??ReplyDeleteReplies
You assume they wanted to win.Delete
Because of pairing. It is a long held parliamentary tradition that members who know they will be away from the House on a certain day inform their whip who then informs his opposition colleagues. According if a Government M.P. is away due to parliamentary business or illness etc...one opposition M.P. from each opposition party is asked to not attend the House that day. In this way the relative standing of the parties remain the same for votes.Delete
The Conservatives did produce a majority vote that day as the final tally was 142-127.
Pairing is reciprocal, so, if an opposition M.P. is away from the House for whatever reason a Government M.P. is asked to stay away.Delete
Then bede please exp;lain why virtually every opposition member was there and over 20 CPC weren't ??Delete
Well Peter,Delete
if you read the Globe and Mail you would know that many opposition members were absent including Irwin Cotler! According to the House of Commons only 17 M.P.s failed to vote and the newest Liberal Ms. Eve Adams voted with the Government (great judgement Justin! hahahaha!)
How many bede given there are less than the CPC by a big margin !!Delete
Well Peter,Delete
if the vote was 142-129 that would indicate17 Conservatives were absent-why you decided to be economical with the truth and say 20 or missed the vote is beyond me but, it does demonstrate Liberals aren't very good at math. You really should do your own research. Did you know the House of Commons has its own website? Where information on votes is freely available!
The vote was 142-129 with 33 abstaining or not present. Irwin Cotler abstained. However, 3 cabinet members didn't vote: Maxime Bernier, Greg Rickford and Gerry Ritz. The official record of the vote does not show any paired MPs. The official record also does not record which MPs present opted to abstain on a vote. There were 19 Conservatives that didn't vote, 5 NDP, 5 LPC, and 4 others.Delete
Which raises the real question of why did 19 Cons including 3 Cabinet Ministers abstain ??Delete
17 Tories did not vote. What is your problem or antipathy toward basic adding and subtraction? The Speaker is a Tory therefore 159-142=17! Why didn't Irwin Cotler vote-he is supposed to be the Liberal critic on Rights and Freedoms and International Justice-Isn't this his purview?Delete
The 19 excludes the speaker. 308 - 3 (vacant) - 1 (speaker) - 142 (voted for) - 129 (voted against) - 14 (non-CPC non-vote) = 19Delete
Conservatives absent (19):
■Keith Ashfield.
■Leon Benoit.
■Maxime Bernier.
■Garry Breitkreuz.
■Blaine Calkins.
■Bob Dechert.
■Nina Grewal.
■Richard Harris.
■Jim Hillyer.
■Ryan Leef.
■Larry Miller.
■Gordon O'Connor.
■Blake Richards.
■Greg Rickford.
■Gerry Ritz.
■Kyle Seeback.
■Mark Strahl.
■Dave Van Kesteren.
■John Weston.
Irwin Cotler abstained, among his statements ""In October, I was unable to support the government's motion because of the prime minister's statement that Canada would give a veto to the criminal Assad regime. I remain unable to support the government in this matter because its proposed expansion of Canada's mission continues to allow Assad to assault Syrian civilians with impunity. Moreover, the government's lack of clarity in October has only been compounded by a lack of forthrightness since."
He did not vote with his caucus but abstained from the original vote on the mission last fall, citing a need to be consistent with his principles. The LPC does not whip their vote to the same extend as the CPC.
Very interesting piece on the CBC about NDP rise. Thanks
Also latest Nanos has Trudeau well ahead of Harper as best PM and Liberals moving further ahead of CPC. Interesting days ?
COMMENT MODERATION POLICY - Please be respectful when commenting. If choosing to remain anonymous, please sign your comment with some sort of pseudonym to avoid confusion. Please do not use any derogatory terms for fellow commenters, parties, or politicians. Inflammatory and overly partisan comments will not be posted. PLEASE KEEP DISCUSSION ON TOPIC.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.


text:
Today when the mail came, I opened the new Ensign fully expecting to find information regarding the church in Ghana. That is what the cover depicted. But I stopped short when I saw the title of the First Presidency Message: "Sugar Beets and the Worth of a Soul". It is a President Monson special.
Quoting the first few paragraphs:
"..........Picture with me,...a farmer driving a large open-bed truck filled with sugar beets en route to the sugar refinery. As the farmer drives along a bumpy dirt road, some of the sugar beets bounce from the truck and are strewn along the roadside. When he realizes he has lost some of the beets, he instructs his helpers, "There's just as much sugar in those which have slipped off. Let's go back and get them!"
...The sugar beets represent the members of this Church for whom we who are called as leaders have responsibility; and those that have fallen out of the truck represent men and women, youth and children who, for whatever reason, have fallen from the path of activity. Paraphrasing the farmer's comments concerning the sugar beets, I say of these souls, precious to our Father and our Master: "There's just as much value in those who have slipped off. Let's go back and get them!"
"Right now, today, some of them are caught in the current of popular opinion. Others are torn by the tide of turbulent times. Yet others are drawn down and drowned in the whirlpool of sin."
"This need not be. We have the doctrines of truth. We have the programs. We have the people. We have the power. Our mission is more than meetings. Our service is to save souls."


text:
|Faculty Athletics Representative
|(860) 832-1834
Paul Resetarits has served as the Faculty Athletics Representative at Central Connecticut since Fall 2004. As such, Resetarits is responsible for directly reporting to the CCSU president and is the Central representative to the NCAA and Northeast Conference. He is also responsible for ensuring the academic integrity of the intercollegiate athletics programs.
Resetarits has been a faculty member of the CCSU School of Technology since July 1984 and was named Outstanding Professor of Industrial Technology by the National Association of Industrial Technology in the fall of 2002.
In January of 1989, Resetarits obtained his doctorate in technical and industrial education from the University of Connecticut. Prior to Connecticut, he earned a Master of Arts degree from Ball State University in industrial education in 1983 and a Bachelor of Science degree in education with a specialization in industrial arts education from State University College of NY at Buffalo in 1979.


text:
Rory McIlroy, a native of Holywood in Co Down, Northern Ireland, may not have to choose between Ireland and Great Britain for which nation he wants to represent in the upcoming 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The Guardian reports that Peter Dawson, chief executive of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, said that McIlroy may not be forced into choosing, rather that a regulation will make the decision for him.
In January, McIlroy had indicated that he may even opt out of the Olympics in 2016 altogether in order to avoid any major backlash following his decision. He told the BBC, "Play for one side or the other — or not play at all because I may upset too many people. Those are my three options I'm considering very carefully."
However, Dawson, speaking to a group of select journalists, has now said, "Because of Rory's history of playing for Ireland at amateur level and at World Cup level there may be a regulation within the Olympic rules which would determine who he would have to play for."
"We are still looking at the matter but under that regulation he could play under Irish colours."
"It's quite ambiguous as there are regulations within the IOC (International Olympic Committee) that if you play previous world championships for a certain country that has to carry with you."
"So the question is, is the World Cup of Golf a world championship and so on. Golf isn't structured in the same way as it is with other sports."
"But I would very much like to take this burden of choice away from the player, if possible, because it's not fair."
"I think Rory has made it pretty clear, and what I have heard privately he is worried about it and the last thing we want is a player worrying about it."
Currently, McIlroy is ranked number two in the world. Golf is returning to the Olympics in 2016 for the first time since 1904.


text:
mknormanPosts: 58Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:01 am
** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
Hi All,
This is just a place to put any books you'd recommend or, I guess, specifically recommend against. Try to keep your contributions novel, interesting, or otherwise relevant.
Oh, and do have a quick look-around to see if your favorite has already been recommended a gazillion times. Feel free to 'second' other's suggestions if it will add to the discussion, but possibly refrain from doing so if the title in question has already been seconded a bunch of times.
In other words, use your best judgment.
Or else!
Last edited by mknorman on Sat Apr 25, 2009 10:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
|Sat Apr 25, 2009 9:13 am
mknormanPosts: 58Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:01 am
Re: Recommended reading
And, the reason why I made this thread:
Extracted from theowarner's vid:
The Genealogy of Morals
Beyond Good and Evil
The Gay Science
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Ecce Homo
The Will to Power
The Anti-Christ
theo says: "[T]hey are foundational reading for anyone interested in surviving modernity."
I've read BG&E, EH, TGoM, and 1/2 of TSZ. I'd reccommend BG&E first, just because it is the most approachable. EH was fun for Nietzsche's egotism, and useful for his summaries of his works. The first two chapters TGoM were very approachable, but the third, On Ascetic Ideals, was a bit of a rough go. TSZ is a trip.
Theo liked TWtP. My instinct is to avoid it until you've read the others, as it is a posthumous compilation of his notes assembled by his sister. As such, it contains things, so I'm told, that run counter to Nietzsche's philosophy. Nietzsche is difficult enough without that added confusion.
Oh, and get Penguin Classics of these where you can. The appendices are fantastic!
|Sat Apr 25, 2009 9:20 am
PJDesseynPosts: 67Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:08 amLocation: Flandres, Belgium
Re: **Sticky** Suggested Reading
A great, simple book on Evolution, for those who can read Dutch:
"Kaas & de evolutietheorie" by Bas Haring.
I doubt there's an English version, but if there is, then it translates into "Cheese and the evolution theory"
It's a simple, down-to-Earth explanation of Evolution, without invoking complex science that nobody understands. Great to recommend to the younger audience (12-18?)
|Sat Apr 25, 2009 10:22 am
blinddesignPosts: 114Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:24 pm
Re: **Sticky** Suggested Reading
"the ascent of man" by Jacob Bronowski.
If the Bible had verses like "Lord God halted the lands and it was set in place" and "the generations are a slight change, and these changes can make animals never seen before", would you reject plate tectonics instead of evolution?
|Sun Apr 26, 2009 9:32 pm
acerbaPosts: 68Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:58 am
Re: **Sticky** Suggested Reading
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontà«.
The Ender books from Orson Scott Card.
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice.
Story of O by Pauline Réage. It should be noted that the Story of O is NSFW and is probably something you wouldn't want your parents to know you read.
The Conan stuff by Robert E. Howard.
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.
The Visit by Friedrich Dà¼rrenmatt.
Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind.
And, of course, the obligatory Shakespeare recommendation. Othello, Hamlet, and Much Ado About Nothing are my favorites.
I've also heard good things about the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett, but I haven't gotten around to reading them.
You can conceal sadism in technical language or flowery words, but its still just as fun to watch.
Especially if tentacles are part of it.
|Thu May 07, 2009 2:35 am
desertedcitiesPosts: 74Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 5:53 amLocation: wØØt
Re: **Sticky** Suggested Reading
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Ben Franklin (duh)
Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind - Herder
Treatise on Human Nature - Hume
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding - Locke
Common Sense - Paine
Essay on Man - Pope
The Social Contract - Rousseau
Democracy in America - de Tocqueville
The New Science - Vico
Candide - Voltaire
The Human Comedy - Balzac
Faust - Goethe
The Philosophy of History - Hegel
Critique of Judgment - Kant
The World as Will and Idea - Schopenhauer
The Ring of Nibelungen - Wagner
Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
Remembrance of Things Past - Proust
The Act of Creation - Koestler
|Thu May 07, 2009 3:08 am
Sir Pwn4lotPosts: 19Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2009 4:06 pm
Re: ** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
desertedcities wrote:The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Ben Franklin (duh)
Wouldn't it make it a biography if he wrote it? Pedant alert!
The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene
If you don't know how to get your foot into the door as far as theoretical physics is concerned this is a good place to start. I'd recommend it to anyone from senior school to tertiary student. I read this little number when I was in year 8, and I've recently re-read the thing, it's what got me interested into Physics.
Letter to a Christian Nation - Sam Harris
A timeless classic. I'm always admired Harris' less condescending attitude towards theists, he just get's straight to the point and doesn't bother with any of the insults. Beware this isn't going to make you feel necessarily superior to Christians or anything, at least not to the degree that Dawkins will, but it's a good read none-the-less.
The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins
Even though this was written a year before "Of Pandas and People" started replacing Creationism with Intelligent Design it still manages to destroy their entire argument, which is an epic accomplishment on Dawkins' part, but also a testimony to the fallacious nature of their hypothesis.
The Lord of the Rings Series
How can you not include LOTR on a book list? Even if you've seen the film you still must read the saga in it's original glory. I still don't get why they didn't just use Gandalf's huge eagle to fly them into Mount Doom in the first place but every story has it's problems I suppose.
The Harry Potter Series
The first real series of books I ever read. I was 8 years old and had already read the first 4, then the movie released. Not necessarily the most intelligent of books, but a good, nostaligic read none-the-less.
No Country For Old Men
Yes, I know it's a movie, and an excellent one at that. The character development is what makes it shine, yyou really feel for the characters. Also, the gore is nice.
Hope people can recommend me some.....
|Fri Jul 31, 2009 5:37 pm
BillahPosts: 9Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2009 3:06 am
Re: ** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
I very rarely read novels, but I read all of Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" yesterday and I thought it was amazing, I read all 460 pages in one sitting, definitely recommended.
|Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:27 am
Aught3Posts: 4290Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:36 amLocation: New Zealand Gender: Male
Re: ** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
Sir Pwn4lot wrote:No.desertedcities wrote:The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Ben Franklin (duh)
A good reading list though, apart from the Harry Potter books which were crap. Especially the last few
Wanderer, there is no path, the path is made by walking.
|Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:22 am
derkvanlPosts: 164Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 6:32 pm Gender: Male
Re: ** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
acerba wrote:The Ender books from Orson Scott Card.
I love them. Ender's game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide
I like to read trilogies I think
Null-A trilogy - AE van Vogt
Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, The Rise of Endymion - Dan Simmons
The Jesus incident, The Lazarus effect, The Ascension factor - Frank Herbert / Bill Ransom
Helliconia (spring, summer, winter) - Dan Simmons
The 10th of October 2010 will be 101010, which is 42 in binary. The answer to life, the universe and EVERYTHING!
|Thu Oct 15, 2009 7:11 pm
GegoXARENPosts: 42Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:19 pmLocation: sweden
Re: ** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
Any thing that pops out of Alistair Reynolds ass...
The Revelation Space series are so good it hurts...
|Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:44 pm
ShaedysPosts: 343Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2009 2:15 pm Gender: Cake
Re: ** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
|Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:14 pm
5810SingerPosts: 982Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2009 2:51 pm
Re: ** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, and Jack Cohen: The Science of Discworld Series.
More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Science_of_Discworld
Briefly, the books alternate on a chapter by chapter basis between a fictional story by Terry Pratchett, and factual chapters written by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, which discuss the scientific/political/historical concepts raised by each previous chapter.
The books are very entertaining, highly informative, and full of eye-openers.
BTW here's some info about Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen:
|Sat Dec 19, 2009 11:23 pm
MaliceJonesPosts: 23Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:11 pmLocation: Erratic City Gender: Female
Re: ** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
Even though I get a lot of feminist bashing for it, I have to go with my foreposters in recommending Nietzsche.
Not much has delighted me like Ecce Homo, the first and recent thing I read by him, and I intend to take on the Zarathustra next. It is very refreshing to read someone who does not apologize for being intelligent, who dares to and sees his purpose in offense and does not defend himself all the time.
And should any female readers care to discuss it, I shall willingly provide my take
Other than that, I love Hermann Hesse's Glassperlenspiel (Glass Bead Game), but I don't know about the translation, I'm afraid. As I am a translator by profession, I'm quite aware of the detrimental effects that translations can have on the impression a text makes.
Other writers I love and recommend:
- Alex Haley (e.g. The Autobiography of Malcolm X)
- James Baldwin (Another Country)
- Richard Powers (Galatea 2.2)
- Margaret Atwood (Oryx and Crake)
- Tim O'Brien (The things they carried)
- Bill Bryson (The complete Notes)
and Stephen Clarke (A year in the Merde). For the fun of it
|Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:41 pm
CafeeinePosts: 13Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2009 11:45 pm
Re: ** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
Isaac Asimov, "I, Robot" specifically but really anything of his is good.
Robert A. Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love"
Jerry Coyne's "Why Evolution is True"
|Fri Feb 12, 2010 5:48 am
MRaverzPosts: 1838Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2009 10:00 am Gender: Pinecone
Re: ** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
Bill Bryson - A short history of nearly everything,
Matt Ridley - Genome,
George Orwell - 1984,
|Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:54 am
infectingthecryptsPosts: 7Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 7:11 amLocation: Midwestern America Gender: Male
Re: Recommended reading
mknorman wrote:And, the reason why I made this thread:
Forgot Twilight of the Idols.
And to all: I'd recommend getting the Kaufmann translations and Kaufmann's "Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist."
|Mon Feb 22, 2010 8:47 am
tangoenPosts: 108Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 4:58 am
Re: ** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
I would suggest "Day of the Triffids" John Wyndham or "Spin" Robert Charles Wilson for good sci fi novels.
|Wed Apr 28, 2010 4:39 am
lrkunPosts: 3831Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2010 8:37 pmLocation: R. Gender: Tree
Re: ** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
I suggest the following books:
1. Being Logical by D.Q. McInery
2. This is Water by David Foster Wallace
3. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (I think this is available on the net, but a book is neat to have).
Unsupport unthink.
|Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:59 pm
LaurensPosts: 2995Joined: Sat Mar 20, 2010 11:24 pmLocation: Norwich UK Gender: Male
Re: ** STICKY ** Suggested Reading
Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell
Like the League of Reason on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Shameless Self-Promotion
Listen to my music on Soundcloud
Like my music page on Facebook
|Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:03 pm


text:
New Delhi: In an important directive to prevent loss of life from delayed medical help, Delhi High Court on Thursday ordered the city government to issue notice to all hospitals, including the privately run, not to deny admission to rape and road accident victims for "first-aid treatment".
A division bench of Chief Justice D. Murugesan and Justice V.K. Jain asked the principal secretary of the health department, Delhi government, to issue directions to all the private and government hospitals in the city to not refuse admission to the victims for immediate treatment.
"We direct principal secretary of health department, government of Delhi, to issue directions to all hospitals including private - recognised or not - to attend the victims of rape and road accidents for immediate first-aid treatment, depending upon the conditions," said the bench.
The bench also directed the commissioner of police to immediately take such people to a nearby medical facility instead of the government hospital, which could be far away.
"The commissioner of police shall also issue immediate direction after an order is passed by the Delhi government. Police to take such persons to nearby hospitals for treatment...," the court added.
It further ordered that hospitals "should not refuse treatment for the simple reason that the case related to some offence".
City police counsel Dayan Krishnan told the court that the entire PCR system will be reviewed and guidelines has been issued to make them better.
He further submitted the status report on the role, duties and responsibilities assigned to the PCR officials.
The bench also suggested the police to come out with a system that has GPS installed in it to track the location of suspected vehicles.
It asked the police to take help from Infosys or TCL for the software.
The court was suo moto hearing the case of Dec 16, 2012, gang-rape case.
A 23-year-old woman succumbed to the brutal gang-rape and torture in a moving bus in a Singapore hospital Dec 29, sparking a nation-wide outrage.


text:
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
I've Consistently Understimated Rails
Initially I thought it was something on the level of TurboGears or Nevow; a minor evolution, a package to maybe learn if needed. Turns out it's much more than that.
At Canada on Rails I didn't think Dave Astels' BDD presentation made a word of sense. Today I think RSpec and BDD are the best thing to happen to development practices in years.
The whole REST thing, I just thought it was silly. Turns out REST is the same thing to Rails in 2006 that Ajax was in 2005. The ability to craft APIs cleanly and nearly effortlessly is the advantage that Rails gives to people who are on the very cutting edge. (Obviously that group of people is a group of which I'm not a member, since it took me til mid-2007 to figure this out.) Just to expand on that, the Rails community is growing like crazy, but it's not just how many people, it's also which people that matters. Ajax and now REST are the reason Rails keeps attracting people who do exciting things.
Anyway, back to the whole skepticism thing. The other day I discovered to my surprise that the method_missing code in ActiveRecord's associations needed to be refactored. So I thought aha, that's interesting, and I went into my copy of edge Rails to play around with it, only to find that the refactoring's already underway. The association collection and association proxy classes still use it, but the only actual specific association class still using method_missing at all is has_many :through.
There's a real trend here, and I hope I remember it next time Rails makes me skeptical about something.
2 comments:
I was always under the assumption that you got the REST part of rails and still dissed it anyways. Thats what made me start reading this blog in the first place!ReplyDelete
The only problem with REST in rails is in your rails apps once you start doing similar entities in various scopes and polymorphic routes writing views and proper route redirections + detection in your controllers can become really ridiculous.
I personally generate & detect my routes now from my models and its saved me hours of headaches and DRY'd my controllers and views.
The most compelling part of a RESTful design to me right now is in the media space and once you've developed a truly RESTful CMS you basically can blow the doors off of anything out they're right now from a physical distribution perspective.
I got it, but I didn't really get it. I got it abstractly, I didn't realize how useful it could be.ReplyDelete
How do you detect/generate your routes from your models? That sounds like nifty code.


text:
Welcome to the website of the Systems Biology Research Group at the University of California, San Diego
This website contains information on our:
- current and alumni researchers,
- publications,
- classes,
- job openings, and
- information on currently available reconstructions.
All are accessible from the menu. Contact information can be found at the bottom of each web page. Directions


text:
I can see two real problems at the moment.
- You have a huge amount of very small bonuses. Nicely spread but this map is going to come down to a lot of luck on the drop and who can grab one the first. In a two player game, if I drop 2 stations in a 3 line station, all I need is to take one neutral for a +2 bonus. This is not going to be fun for what I reckon will be the majority of games.
- You have 2 solutions for this one. You have two lots of hats on the map. 2 and 3 line stations. Remove all of the hats from 2 line stations and reduce the 3 line station to a one bonus. This will only give you 3 3 hat bonuses and seems a bit fairer. The second solution to this and probably a much fairer one would be to have a collection bonus system in place. If you said that to get the hat bonuses, you needed 3 hats, you not only get rid of the problem entirely, but you will then be able to remove a lot of the neutrals and get back to your preferred golden number.
- Q line. This is another 3 line station on a map dominated by small bonuses. It seems pointless to me to have it there as it does not seem to serve any function.
- Again, 2 solutions for you. Remove the line completely. Easy, and clean fix. Second one would be to make the line longer. Run it down to SSA or SMS.


text:
Polyhydramnios is too much
Amniotic fluid is a clear, slightly yellowish liquid that surrounds the unborn baby (fetus) during pregnancy. The amniotic fluid constantly moves as the baby swallows and breathes in the fluid, and then releases it through urine.
While in the womb, the baby floats in the amniotic fluid. Amniotic fluid surrounds and cushions the infant throughout pregnancy. The amount of amniotic fluid is greatest at around 34 weeks of pregnancy.
The amniotic fluid helps:
- The developing baby move in the womb, which allows for proper bone growth
- The lungs to develop properly
- Keep a relatively constant temperature around the baby, protecting from heat loss
- Protect the baby from outside injury by cushioning sudden blows or movements
Common Causes
Polyhydramnios can occur if the developing baby does not swallow and absorb amniotic fluid in normal amounts. This can happen if the baby has certain health problems, including:
- Gastrointestinal disorders, such as
duodenal atresia, esophageal atresia, gastroschisis, and diaphragmatic hernia
- Brain and nervous system problems, such as
anencephalyand myotonic dystrophy Achondroplasia Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome
It can also happen if the mom has poorly controlled diabetes.
Polyhydramnios may also be due to increased fluid production, which occurs with:
- Certain lung disorders in the baby
- Multiple pregnancy (for example, twins or triplets)
Hydrops fetalisin the baby
Sometimes, no specific cause for polyhydramnios is found.
Call your health care provider if
Call your health care provider if you are pregnant and notice that your belly is getting large very quickly.
What to expect at your health care provider's office
This condition is discovered during pregnancy. You doctor or nurse measures the size of your belly at every visit. This tells them your womb (uterus) size. If your womb is growing faster than expected, or it is larger than normal for your baby's
- Have you come back sooner than normal to check it again
- Perform an ultrasound
If the health care provider finds a birth defect, you may need an
Mild polyhydramnios that shows up in the latter part of pregnancy does not often cause serious problems.
More severe polyhydramnios may be treated with medications or by having extra fluid removed.
Women with polyhydramnios are more likely to go into early labor. The baby will be delivered in a hospital with specialists who can provide immediate evaluation and treatment.


text:
Views: 1235
I get the most traffic from Facebook, but that's where i spend most of my time. Lately I've considered exploring other options as FB has changed a lot of things such as what's posted to the newsfeed. Currently I can no longer post on the walls of the various groups I'm in without it appearing not just in my newsfeed, but that of my friends as well which has cause those who are not in an online business (and some who are) threatening to "de-friend" me.
Interesting that many of the responses are saying Twitter.... I never understood how to use it but I think I'm starting to see the light.
Has anyone considered joining a tribe network such as Tribe Pro? I use them from time to time. You can meet tons of other bloggers here that will syndicate content for you. Your only requirement (that I've seen) is that before you can begin having your content shared you have to share the content of others.
I'm thinking of starting a mommy blogger tribe as there are none. If anyone is interested, let me know =)
I actually don't know… I'm working very hard to get my blog out there, and I'm using Twitter and everything, but I don't really know what I'm doing.
Hi Nicole! I was just on your blog and I love your header...very cool chic. I've been blogging since last March and love it. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask :-)
here's the link...i am interested too. looks like another search engine tool.
I think the blog hops that I joined but depending if the host has lots of visitors. I did not try stumble upon yet. I should do that. twitter helps too


text:
Putting the pieces together
2 Attachment(s)
Long time coming. Catching one of these fish on a squid bite is one thing, and trying to fool one of theses fish with live bait is a whole different animal . No tape shot and no on the water photo (sadly). Just some lame driveway photos and some primo fillets. Who could argue that the sweet taste of this fish might be the best the West Coast has to offer? 42 lb on the bathroom scale. Probably tied with my personal best. Caught with live bait on edge of kelp. Needless to say that's where he ran. Drag set lightly, just enough to get a good hook set but not enough to slow the train down, which led to him to him taking more line than I would like. I had another line in water and partially got crossed up but was fortunate to get it cleared without any problem. When I got the line cleared and got on top of the fish I felt pretty good but within minutes there was that sinking feeling when I felt all that resistance from the thickest section of the weeds. I was not gonna loose this fish. All of a sudden the fish try's to take a squirt and I quickly started to grind on him and turn his head. It was over. He came through that last 15 feet of kelp without hesitation. Catching this fish on fin bait feels like a giant milestone for me because it's like linking all the pieces of a good kayak angler. I've been fortunate to have caught 4 yellowtail this year ( all around 25 lb ) and now this sea bass. I've put time on the water to achieve my goal and I hope everybody has a great summer and does not give up up on their goals. I know that discouraging feeling of what it's like to go the first couple of years in this sport without having a fish under your belt. Don't give up. Tight lines everyone. Ohh, if you are fortunate enough to have landed one of this fish, never stick your hand in his gill rakers.
Congrats, really nice WSB.
Awesome catch, congrats!
Been sucking on this succulent meat the past couple days. Little salt n pepper quick pan fried with grape seed oil is all you need! Man it delicious!!
I hope to be in a position to take your advice regarding their gill rakers!
Congrats. And enjoy those fillets for sure. Having white meat and a tiny heart, WSB can't slug it out like yellows do. But that first screaming run is amazing. Hope this one is the first of many for you. Mike.
F-N-A man!!! Congrats! :cheers1:
You need a bigger cooler. :cool:
1 Attachment(s)
I'm not the kind of guy to call out "Bull Shit"...well, yes I am! Bull shit that I can't catch one!:the_finger: And bull shit of the no tape shot because...well, just because...compare pic of your hand with pic of your cooler...nuff said. HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Congrats! Jim :the_finger:
Oh man...
It seems the planets are aligning (literally). Heavy hitters going out tonight...
Wow, LJ could look like July 4 at night tonight with this WSB bite.
Probably got a dozen under his belt this year
Cbass hands... the sign of a true donkey roper.
My cheap
Forgive me
5 Attachment(s)
Got to do it.
Garage photos. Got to love it.
You would think I would have learned
1 Attachment(s)
Congratulations!:wsb:, yum yum looks like you know how to make the most of the fillets.
|All times are GMT -8. The time now is 02:33 PM.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2019, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
© 2002 Big Water's Edge. All rights reserved.


text:
"Consciously Crafted Natural Incense and Fragrance Since 1984"
Natural Incense Blends
Natural Perfume Oils, Mists and Balms
Raw Incense Materials
Incense Accessories, Censers, Charcoal and Electric Heaters
All Things Frankincense
The Golden Lotus Electric Incense Heaters
Mermade brings you the finest in Natural Incense Blends and Materials, as well as Artisan Perfume Oils, and fine Frankincense. All our products are lovingly created and packaged by hand here in our workshop. Katlyn's blends are unique and we believe that they will enrich the beauty of your life. Most Incense on this site is available only from this website. But we do carry a few carefully chosen scents and imported items that we believe are very special and want to make them available to you. Almost all of our incense raw materials are directly sourced, we strive to only carry the best.
Our selections are made in small batches and change frequently, so always check out "What's New and Featured" as well as our Facebook page. We announce all new products and blends as they come out on Facebook, if you want to know about them first, please visit there often.
We also offer as a gift to our customers a selection of articles and offerings on Incense and fragrance - its history, art, rituals and uses - as well as full directions for burning fine incense
Contact Mermade by email if you have any questions or requests at:


text:
Follow RFF News on your cell phone. Text follow rff to 40404 you will receive txt messages with RFF News
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
RNO: What are your future plans? Eric: Im moving up to New York to continue a relationship with Danielle from the show.
i called them metrosexual if you pointing your boney finger at me
Page created in 0.064 seconds with 32 queries.


text:
Name: Jasmine Brion Chatman-Hamlett
When and where were you born?
Who did you grow up with?
Do you have any pets now?
What do you like to do with your friends?
What things are you afraid of?
What is your favorite food?
What is your advice to young people today?
Who or what has had an especially strong influence on the direction of your life?
What kind of student were you?
What was a challenging or cool job you've done?
What is the place you're most looking forward to visiting?
What are you not so good at?
Meet Abeja
Meet Kevin
Meet Kavitha
Meet Monica
Time Machine | Multimedia and Special Guests
Home | Search | Teacher Zone | Odyssey Info


text:
Cubs prospect Bryant homers in Triple-A debut
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Kris Bryant is making it look easy.
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Kris Bryant is making it look easy.
In his first start with Triple-A Iowa, Bryant hit an opposite-field two-run homer in the seventh inning of a 6-2 win over El Paso on Thursday night.
"I went up there today figuring I was due -- I haven't hit one in a while," Bryant said. "The home runs I've been hitting were in the Home Run Derby [in the Southern League All-Star Game]."
Just think: A year ago, Bryant was hitting in cages with his dad in Las Vegas and had yet to sign with the Cubs, who made the third baseman their first pick in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft.
Bryant has been on a fast-paced trip through the Cubs' Minor League system. He did what the Cubs wanted at Double-A Tennessee, and was leading the Southern League in the Triple Crown categories at the time of his promotion, batting .355 with 22 home runs and 58 RBIs in 68 games.
On Thursday, Bryant batted fifth and went 1-for-4. He was matched up on the left side of the infield with Javier Baez, the Cubs' No. 1 pick in 2011 and top prospect, who has been with Iowa all season. Baez hit third and went 1-for-3.
The Cubs are hoping the two of them will be paired up on the left side of the infield for a long time.
Iowa manager Marty Pevey called Bryant "humble" and "coachable." Those are great traits. Bryant dominated at Double-A, but he admitted it took a little time to get in a groove.
"The beginning of the season was a little adjustment period," said Bryant, who batted .281 in April. "In terms of numbers, they weren't where I wanted to be. I figured it out. A lot of the credit goes to my coaches. They helped me form an approach at the plate and try to figure out how they're trying to get me out. I just hit the ground running. It's been a flash since then. It was a really fun experience."
Bryant not only talked to Smokies hitting coach Desi Wilson but also pitching coach Storm Davis and several of the players. Catcher Rafael Lopez, now with Iowa after beginning the season with Tennessee, would compare notes with Bryant, and not just from a hitter's perspective but how he has pitchers approach hitters.
"It's kind of like a soup with all these ingredients, and it was the best soup ever," Bryant said.
Bryant's numbers made it look as if Double-A was too easy. Did he feel challenged?
"I did," Bryant said. "Baseball's so hard, it's such a challenging game. You're still failing seven out of 10 times. If you wrap your head around that, it brings you down and you realize this is a hard game. There are going to be games when you're not feeling well and you're going to strike out four times -- five times in my case in my first game [with Boise]. It's all about bouncing back."
Cubs fans are eager to see the so-called core four of Bryant, Baez, Albert Almora and Jorge Soler at Wrigley Field sooner rather than later.
"I don't pay any attention to it," Bryant said of the hype on the prospects, "because I know there are other players in the organization who are very deserving of the attention. All the pitchers at Double-A, the starters, they have a really bright future. There are other guys -- [Dan] Vogelbach, he goes under the radar, and you've got guys like Rafael Lopez, who's one of the best catchers I've ever played with."
Despite the stellar stats, which were dazzling in his final year at the University of San Diego when he belted 31 home runs and won the Golden Spikes Award as top collegiate player in the country, you won't hear Bryant say he has all the answers.
"I will never know it all in this game," Bryant said. "Once you think like that, this game will bring you back to reality. I think there's always something you can learn, and that's how I go about every day."
Bryant's father, Mike, is making the most of his son's Minor League days. The Bryants went with Kris to the Southern League All-Star Game, where he won the Home Run Derby. While Kris flew from Tennessee to Chicago to Des Moines, his parents drove his car 14 hours to get to Des Moines in time for Thursday's Iowa debut.
Mike was sitting behind home plate, wearing the watch Kris won in the Derby. It was a gift from his son.
The two are taking advantage of this time. On Father's Day, Kris and his dad played catch on the field before Tennessee's game.
"You can't get that moment back -- that was really cool," Kris said.
Cubs director of player development Jaron Madison called Bryant with the news that he was being promoted.
"He asked me where I was, and I told him I was driving home [from the All-Star Game], and he said, 'All right, when you get home, start packing,'" Bryant said.
Because he played with all of the players on the Iowa roster in Spring Training, Bryant is familiar with his teammates.
"Hopefully, it'll be a pretty easy transition," he said.
Des Moines is only a one-hour flight from Chicago. Triple-A is the last step before the big leagues. Does Bryant feel that much closer?
"I wasn't really good in geography in school," he said, laughing. "I was more of a math and science guy -- I didn't know how far it is [from Chicago to Des Moines]. It is exciting. My family is here. I'm having the time of my life. Hopefully I can help the Iowa Cubs as much as I helped the Tennessee Smokies."
Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. She writes a blog, Muskat Ramblings, and you can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat.


text:
President Trump Addresses a Joint Session of Congress: A Call for 'Direct, Robust, and Meaningful Engagement with the World'
By DipNote Bloggers on February 28, 2017
On February 28, 2017, President Donald J. Trump addressed a Joint Session of Congress -- his first such address since taking office. In his remarks, President Trump underscored progress his Administration has made, including on several foreign policy challenges, and outlined his vision for the United States' leadership in the global arena.
The President discussed his obligation to serve, protect, and defend the citizens of the United States by taking strong measures to protect our nation from radical Islamic terrorism. Citing examples of terrorist attacks that have occurred both abroad and at home, the President stated, "It is not compassionate, but reckless to allow uncontrolled entry from places where proper vetting cannot occur. Those given the high honor of admission to the United States should support this country and love its people and its values. We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside America. We cannot allow our nation to become a sanctuary for extremists. That is why my administration has been working on improved vetting procedures, and we will shortly take new steps to keep our nation safe and to keep out those out who will do us harm."
The President went on to outline other actions his Administration will take to fight terrorism. "As promised, I directed the Department of Defense to develop a plan to demolish and destroy ISIS -- a network of lawless savages that have slaughtered Muslims and Christians, and men, and women, and children of all faiths and all beliefs. We will work with our allies, including our friends and allies in the Muslim world, to extinguish this vile enemy from our planet." The President added that he has imposed new sanctions on entities and individuals who support Iran's ballistic missile program, and reaffirmed our unbreakable alliance with the State of Israel.
During his address, President Trump shared a vision for U.S. global leadership affirming that "our foreign policy calls for a direct, robust, and meaningful engagement with the world. It is American leadership based on vital security interests that we share with our allies across the globe."
.@POTUS: Our foreign policy calls for a direct, robust and meaningful engagement with the world.#JointAddress pic.twitter.com/jq0ZeS3L7U— Department of State (@StateDept) March 1, 2017
President Trump reaffirmed the United States' support for NATO hailing the organization "an alliance forged through the bonds of two World Wars that dethroned fascism, and a Cold War that defeated communism." The President highlighted the need for our partners to meet their financial obligations in support of the alliance and noted that as a result of strong and frank discussions they are beginning to do so. "We expect our partners, whether in NATO, in the Middle East, or in the Pacific -- to take a direct and meaningful role in both strategic and military operations, and pay their fair share of the cost," he said.
President Trump went on to underscore the critical need to place the interests of the United States first, while recognizing that America is better off when there is less conflict.
To this end he urged, "We must learn from the mistakes of the past -- we have seen the war and destruction that have raged across our world. The only long-term solution for these humanitarian disasters is to create the conditions where displaced persons can safely return home and begin the long process of rebuilding. America is willing to find new friends, and to forge new partnerships, where shared interests align. We want harmony and stability, not war and conflict. We want peace, wherever peace can be found. America is friends today with former enemies. Some of our closest allies, decades ago, fought on the opposite side of these World Wars. This history should give us all faith in the possibilities for a better world."
Concluding his remarks, President Trump called on all citizens to embrace this renewal of the American spirit and declared with optimism, "From now on, America will be empowered by our aspirations, not burdened by our fears; inspired by the future, not bound by the failures of the past; and guided by our vision, not blinded by our doubts."
Editor's Note: This entry is also published on Medium.com/StateDept.
For more information:
- Read President Trump's full remarks to a joint session of Congress.
- Watch the full video of President Trump's remarks to a joint session of Congress.
- Read U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's statement on the President's speech to a joint session of Congress.