Hamas' hatred of Israel = shooting itself in the foot

You have got to wonder what Hamas has to gain by lobbing missiles (unguided) into Israel, and then having their buildings blown apart by precision guided missiles. Maybe it is just a blind hatred - and hatred doesn't mind what it destroys, even itself.

clipped from news.yahoo.com In Monday's attacks, Israel focused its bombing on the houses of Hamas field operatives in a campaign meant to tear at the roots of the extremist group ruling Gaza. Israel's defense minister promised a "war to the bitter end against Hamas" and allied militants. Early Tuesday, Israeli aircraft dropped at least 16 bombs on five Hamas government buildings in a Gaza City complex, destroying them, setting fires and sending rubble flying for hundreds of yards, witnesses said. Rescue workers said 40 people were injured. Early Tuesday, Hamas released a statement saying its squads had fired 43 homemade rockets, 17 longer-range Grads and six mortar shells at Israel. Other militant groups also fired rockets at Israel.

Weather was world's biggest killer in 2008

Cyclone Nargis killed 135, 000 in Myanmar and thousands died in other weather related phenomena. When weather is killing more people than anything else, it might be time to consider taking global climate concerns more seriously.

clipped from news.yahoo.com BERLIN (AFP) – Natural disasters killed over 220,000 people in 2008, making it one of the most devastating years on record and underlining the need for a global climate deal, the world's number two reinsurer said Monday. Although the number of natural disasters was lower than in 2007, the catastrophes that occurred proved to be more destructive in terms of the number of victims and the financial cost of the damage caused, Germany-based Munich Re said in its annual assessment. "This continues the long-term trend we have been observing. Climate change has already started and is very probably contributing to increasingly frequent weather extremes and ensuing natural catastrophes," Munich Re board member Torsten Jeworrek said. Typhoon Fengshen killed 557 people in China and the Philippines in June, while earthquakes in Pakistan in October left 300 dead.

In Heaven, as it is on Earth....?

NVDL: In The Lord's prayer we pray that it will be on earth, 'as it is in Heaven'. In fact, we all pray that rather the opposite is true. That the good life we're living here will continue in the life after life. That if we are 'good' people, we will be rewarded with eternal life. Of course, good is subjective, and so is this idea - a rather fanciful one - of being rewarded by someone watching us, as though life is a homework assignment, and death is a long holiday period we get to reward us for the act of living. Please.

The majority of people on Earth though are miserable, and are hoping they will be rewarded for their misery and suffering in an afterlife of comfort (apparently deserved).

Neither belief holds much water unfortunately, but have the thing in common that the uncertain future will be 'happy' and 'good' if we simply make our minds to be 'happy' and 'good'. There is a slim chance that our beliefs may manifest some sort of reality, but we ought to remember that no matter how dearly we wish we could fly like Superman, the law of gravity applies equally to one in all. That's reality.

clipped from www.nytimes.com In June, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published a controversial survey in which 70 percent of Americans said that they believed religions other than theirs could lead to eternal life. The evangelicals complained that people must not have understood the question. The respondents couldn’t actually believe what they were saying, could they? So in August, Pew asked the question again. (They released the results last week.) Sixty-five percent of respondents said — again — that other religions could lead to eternal life. But this time, to clear up any confusion, Pew asked them to specify which religions. The respondents essentially said all of them. And they didn’t stop there. Nearly half also thought that atheists could go to heaven — dragged there kicking and screaming, no doubt — and most thought that people with no religious faith also could go. What on earth does this mean?

Excellent Police Work Halves Holiday Road Deaths - WHAT HOGWASH!

I drove 2400km this holiday and encountered virtually no traffic police. I was driving with an expired license disk so I was concerned that I might be stopped. Since moving to Gauteng I've not been 100% sure where and how to get a new one (I assume you need to get a new license plate as well?).

Want to know the real reason for the lower death tolls? Simple. Far fewer people could afford to go on holiday this year in SA, which simply means there were far fewer vehicles on the road to begin with. QED.

clipped from www.news24.com Johannesburg - The festive season road accident death toll has been nearly halved in 2008, down to 774 fatalities compared to last year's 1 474, the transport department said on Monday. "Seven hundred and seventy four people have died from 596 reported crashes on our roads," said spokesperson Collen Msibi. The statistics referred to the month of December to date. "The decrease is attributed to heightened enforcement operations and heavy traffic police presence on our roads since the start of the festive season." Of those that died on South African roads, 222 were drivers, 307 were passengers and 245 pedestrians.

Seven Best Capers of 2008 - WIRED

The Snohomish Smokescreen

In September, a robber disguised as a gardener pepper-sprayed an armored car driver using a pesticide sprayer and ran off with a bag stuffed with $400,000 in cash. When police arrived seconds later, they found the sidewalk crowded with dozens of men decked out in the same attire as the perp: blue shirt, Day-Glo vest, safety mask and glasses. While the cops hacked through a forest of suspects, the real perp fled to a nearby creek and escaped in a waiting inner tube.

Turns out the unwitting decoys had been lured to the crime scene by a Craigslist ad that promised construction work to those showing up in a "yellow vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask … and, if possible, a blue shirt." A month later, following a lead from a homeless man who witnessed the preparation for the Brinks job, police arrested 28-year-old Anthony Curcio fresh from a Las Vegas vacation. Curcio is now charged with "Interference with commerce by threats or violence," because "Pulling the most awesome robbery ever" isn't listed in the U.S. code.

NVDL: Using a Craigslist ad to plant decoys - how brilliant is that!

clipped from reddit.wired.com The Plumas Lake Penny Pinch If you've ever linked up your checking account to an online brokerage house or digital payment service, you may have noticed that the company automatically initiates one or two small deposits -- typically less than a dollar each -- for verification purposes. If you're hard up for cash, or just really bored, you might have thought, “if only there was a way to make real money off this ...”

The Case For Print: Newspaper Shuns Web, and Thrives

NVDL: South Africa is a tough one. Traditionally print has done far, far better than online. That may be set to change in 2009 with the connection of the SEACOM cable. It may seem like a foregone conclusion, except for the caveat of the RECESSION. In economically tough times, it is far easier to print and sell (and buy and read) a newspaper, than have to pay for all the appliances involved in the online version (on both sides - developing the IT, and subscribing to a ISP). In the end, low cost will be king.

clipped from www.nytimes.com “Why would I put anything on the Web?” asked Dan Jacobson, the publisher and owner of the newspaper. “I don’t understand how putting content on the Web would do anything but help destroy our paper. Why should we give our readers any incentive whatsoever to not look at our content along with our advertisements, a large number of which are beautiful and cheap full-page ads?” Writing in The New York Observer, John Koblin pointed out that when Forbes, Portfolio and Fortune went through recent retrenchments, the Web staffs were hit the hardest. That may be just an old print reflex, but there is a rational argument to be made that the part of the apparatus that has a working business model, declining or not, should receive the resources.

What Carriers Aren’t Eager to Tell You About Texting

NVDL: As the recession hits more people everywhere, we need to identify the 'swindles' out there that suck the cash out of our pockets. Here's one.

clipped from www.nytimes.com TEXT messaging is a wonderful business to be in: about 2.5 trillion messages will have been sent from cellphones worldwide this year. The public assumes that the wireless carriers’ costs are far higher than they actually are, and profit margins are concealed by a heavy curtain. “Operating costs are relatively insensitive to volume,” he said. “It doesn’t cost the carrier much more to transmit a hundred million messages than a million.”

Is this attack on Israel a Strategic Attack?

Kunstler: I wonder if it is the beginning of a new coordinated offensive by Islamic extremism aimed at taking advantage of the West's current economic plight (and the West's probable aversion to anything that will complicate its desired recovery).

We'll know in a month or so, I think, since any coordinated campaign (if such a thing were possible) might well be aimed at confounding the new American president.

clipped from news.yahoo.com The three-day death toll rose to 315, including seven children under the age of 15 who were killed in two separate strikes late Sunday and Monday, medics said. Israel launched the deadliest attack against Palestinians in decades on Saturday in retaliation for rocket fire aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns. On Sunday, Hamas missiles struck for the first time near the city of Ashdod, twice as far from Gaza as Ashkelon and only 25 miles from Israel's heart in Tel Aviv.

Predictions for 2009 don't just sound like doom and gloom, unfortunately they are doom and gloom - reality has come home to roost

Kunstler: Jobs will vanish by the millions and companies will go bankrupt by the thousands, especially in the so-called service sector, and in all the suppliers of such, along with the landlords in all the malls and strip malls. The desolation will mount quickly and will be obvious in the empty storefronts and trash-filled parking lagoons. In the event, two things will become increasingly clear to the nation: that the consumer economy is dead, and that there is no more available credit of the kind that Americans are in the habit of enjoying.

NVDL: The reason for our tragic state of affairs is a situation, a cultural inertia based on indulgence and self deception. This is inculcated via all our entertainments and distractions - from infotainment, to soapies, to movies, to trips to the mall.

Everything we do is a grand circus of empty, useless activity bent on tickling fickless consumers, but which now requires the daily burning of a lot of natural resources. This could never continue indefinitely, in fact, it will only have run its course for around1 hundred years, with the worst excesses less than half that period. To think we thought we'd be living in this digsting overfed manner shows the extent of our hubris and self-deception.

clipped from jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com Households, like businesses, will have to pay as they go from earned income. The house as ATM is over. Credit cards are maxed out and credit ceilings are lowering like the ceiling in "The Pit and the Pendulum," preparing to slice-and-dice the old "normal" of family life in America. Bankruptcy will be the new Nascar. A lot of families will lose everything. They will sift and disperse into the housing owned by other family members -- parents, siblings -- and a strange new not-altogether comfortable kind of togetherness will become common. Counties, municipalities, and states will join in the bankruptcy fiesta. It would be reasonable to expect collapsing services as a result. This would be a situation fraught with danger -- of rising crime, of public health emergencies as water systems are not kept up and sewage treatment becomes unaffordable.

Quote of the Day: "By May of 2009, the stock markets will resume crashing with the ultimate destination of a Dow 4000 before the end of the year."

For the most important insights into 2009 that you're likely to read, click on the link below.

clipped from jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com My hope for the year, at least for my own society, is that we will transition away from being a nation of complacent, distracted, over-fed clowns, to become a purposeful and responsible people willing to put their shoulders to the wheel to get some things done. My motto for the new year: "no more crybabies!"

The View...er...Away from my Bicycle [COLUMN]

After a 10 day hiatus, I am back. Over the past 3 days I have driven about 1200km. The last stretch, just under 400km between Bloemfontein and Johannesburg culminated in the RETURN FROM HOLIDAYS GRAND PRIX. Some very interesting driving out there. For my part in making way for a SUV attempting a new land speed record on the N1 I almost nosedived into a 50's CHEVY going about a third the legal speed limit. Try that - dodging a missile in the fast lane, only to find virtually motionless booby traps in the slow lane.

Yesterday I tried to weave around a caravan that was being pushed by a very strong wind into the adjacent lane...

These are some of the hazards on the way to bliss. I have slept incredibly well this holiday,thanks to overnight stops in plces like Mossel Bay and Nieu Bethesda. It has been a long time since I have seen the Milky Way in such fine stellar detail. You know, the silver mists of stars. And quite appropriately on this holiday I have read the authorised biography of Neil Armstrong, culminating, of course, in the moon the landing. I'm almost there.

The spell in Mossel Bay felt something like being in the confines of the LM [Lunar Module]. Complete with powerful atmospheric winds buffeting the capsule [whilst uprooting adjacent gazebo and turning various nearby tents instantly into floating jellyfish and colorful tumbleweed.

As I say, sleep was incredible these past few days. Virtually no noise pollution, and especially in Bethesda, despite the occasional nightmares of those nearby, sleep in the quiet blackness was what it is meant to be. A solid recharge. Other highlights included the Compassberg climb (2500m) and visiting Helen Martins' Owl House.

I will be writing more about these experiences when I have more time.
For now, I come away from the holidays with just a few salient thoughts.
Our world is filled with pollution: air, light, noise and news. I did not miss the internet or newspapers at all this holiday. I am not sure how much we benefit from poring over bad news before we start the day. I did enjoy the radio whilst driving, and listening to conversations on valuable topics on Radio Sonder Grense.

Our world is filled with wonder, so much of it unseen. And much of this wonder is in ourselves, locked away. I realised this again climbing Compassberg, a beautiful mountain, and being inside the very elaborate Owl House.

Everything is on course for fundamental change- and that change is rapidly underway already. At a toll gate today we waited for ages and when I finally moved through I asked what the hold upwas. Apparently some people were arguing because they had to pay toll fees. Fewer people can now afford to be on the roads.

On a more personal note, I left Johannesburg weighing 81.9kg. I am now 85.7kg. I was lucky enough to be fed some top dollar grub, and did some long runs along the beach, and around Bethesda. I am still limping from the exertions up Compassberg. Now the work begins to adapt to the change underway, and even more, to change ourselves.

Most Spectacular Pics of 2008 - Telegraph

This shot is wizard. Click on the link for the rest.

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk

Is Gotham's Dark Knight going to be...disappointing?

Is Eddie Murphy really a bankable star? I just don't see him playing the Riddler. Why not Johnny Depp? And that irritating Transformer punk Shia LaBeouf will be Robin.

Jeepers, does Nolan want to throw away all the credit he has built up? Rather cast the dude from Wanted - James McAvoy. Rachel Weisz as Catwoman. C'mon, that has to be Kate Beckinsale.

The working title for the next flick is Gotham.

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk Murphy, 47, star of Beverly Hills Cop and The Nutty Professor, has reportedly been signed up by British director Christopher Nolan for the Dark Knight sequel. The role, played by Jim Carrey in 1995's Batman Forever, had been linked to Pirates of the Caribbean actor Johnny Depp. Actress Rachel Weisz is also being tipped to play Catwoman, a role linked previously to Angelina Jolie. Movie executives have also allegedly signed up Transformers and Indiana Jones actor Shia LaBeouf to play Robin, although Nolan has previously stated he would not want Batman's sidekick in any of his adaptations.

Dana [PHOTOGRAPHY]

What a pleasure to photograph this girl!

Christmas in East London 109 Years Ago

Ironically enough this is exactly how I will be spending my Christmas in 2008

clipped from blogs.dispatch.co.za

2008 was well above average for a Hurricane Season - 2009 predicted to be similar

Klotzbach said the new forecast is based on factors including warm Atlantic sea surface temperatures and the likely absence of El Nino conditions.

El Nino is a warming in the Pacific Ocean that can have such far-reaching effects as changing wind patterns in the eastern Atlantic, which can disrupt the formation of hurricanes.

NVDL: The absence of El Nino therefore favours major storms.

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com The 50-year average is 9.6 named storms, 5.9 hurricanes and 2.3 major hurricanes. The season produced 16 named storms, eight hurricanes, with five major.

OPEC will slash supply by a record 2 million barrels

The JSE in South Africa is current 22319 (2%) up and oil prices are at $46.97. It will be interesting to see how these and international indices change as these cuts are implemented. I'd guess that initially there would be very little change, and then later, the effects would be quite sudden and quite large.

clipped from news.yahoo.com ORAN, Algeria – OPEC powerhouse Saudi Arabia said Wednesday the group will slash a record 2 million barrels from its daily production as of Jan. 1, while Russia and other OPEC outsiders announced their own cutbacks of hundreds of thousands of barrels from the market. Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi said there was a consensus within OPEC ahead of a formal agreement later in the day for the move — which would represent the largest single OPEC cut ever. Still, while eager to push prices higher, OPEC must weigh production cuts against the risk of driving the economies of its top customers deeper into recession.

Oprah - You are not your fat ass, but you are still you - so do something about it

You are you. You are your accomplishments. You are the amazing friendships that you have built around you. And you are your body. Losing weight and looking good is a definite way to live happier, be healthier, and feel better. We all know it is also more attractive.

The key is not to treat the condition negatively. IOW - not 'I am fat'. 'I am exercising to get in shape." Identify with what you need to do in order to be...the person we all hope...you're truly going to be.

clipped from shine.yahoo.com "I'm embarrassed," she writes. "I can't believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I'm still talking about my weight. I look at my thinner self and think, 'How did I let this happen again?"' (Source) How sad is it that the richest woman in show business, arguably one of the most inspiring success stories for anyone who has ever tried to start something from nothing, is measuring her successes by the stupid number on a scale? How sad is it that an arbitrary number like "200" would be the knell of failure? And what kind of example is she setting now for people who are, say, 200 pounds or more, and now have just been told by Oprah that their weight is a "failure" or "disappointing." NVDL: Except that I am also battling weight loss and we only have ourselves to blame when we're not successful. To lose weight it's simple - use up more energy than you take in. Simple, not always easy.

Cruise Ships the next Big Fish for Pirates [WIRED]

There’s little doubt pirates have their sights set on seizing a ship full of tourists. With potentially thousands of hostages, the kidnappers could demand an enormous ransom, far greater than the $1 million they might get for a container ship.

What’s unclear is how pirates would manage to control a giant cruise ship with hundreds and hundreds of passengers and crew aboard. - WIRED

NVDL: This looks like it is going to get ugly. I predict that this sort of vigilante-sim is going to spread, with unique banditry spawning everywhere. South Africa has its own piracy. Throwing rocks on highways, killing hte occupants and then stealing the spoils.

clipped from blog.wired.com Two weeks ago, an Australian cruise ship passing through the Gulf of Aden found itself surrounded by more as much as thirty small boats. They were Somali pirates, according to initial reports, operating in the biggest coordinated group seen so far. The MV Athena opened up her throttles and escaped unharmed. Soon after the ship made port, however, the story began to change. There weren’t any pirates, a company official claimed, just tuna fishermen. So it’s possible that the Athena really was targeted by a pirate swarm. If so, the incident reflects a worrying trend.