February 2009

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When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?

-John Maynard Keynes

May 31, 2006

German Army Gets Wings

A new parachute system, developed by German firms ESG Elektroniksystem-und Logistik and Dräger Aerospace, will allow soldiers to fly laterally up to 125 miles after jumping, making it possible for aircraft to drop parachutists into an area of operations without flying into dangerous airspace. (Although, if I was a parachutist, I think I'd rather be inside a plane over dangerous airspace than outside. Hrm.)

The system is comprised of a parachute, modular carbon fiber wings, and turbojets.

Parts of the system have been in use by the German army since 2003.

"The new wing will...reduce the impact of wind conditions on the jumper and allow operatives to travel up to 40 kilometers carrying loads of around 100 kilograms." --Peter Felstead, Jane's Defence Weekly

No mention of the U.S. Army adopting the technology. I guess we're going to let the Germans play around with it for a while first.

Now where's my flying car? It's 2006 for goodness sake...

Posted by Rick | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 30, 2006

Mars Rovers to get Smarter

Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity will soon get a software upgrade allowing them to make "intelligent decisions" on which pictures to send back to Earth for study of Martian clouds and dust devils (see photo).

JPL's Rebecca Castano explains, "The idea now is to collect as much data as the instrument can, analyze them onboard for features of specific interest, and then down-link only the data that have the highest priority."

NASA plans to build and launch increasingly autonomous robotic craft in the future, to allow human scientists to spend more time studying interesting data and less time sifting through mountains of data to find it.

Source: BBC

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New London Crunch Time

In case you don't normally visit his site, let me say that Tom Blumer of BizzyBlog has had excellent coverage in the aftermath of the Kelo v New London eminent domain ruling last June. It continues. Just because SCOTUS ruled on the case, doesn't mean that it has played all the way out.

Tomorrow, May 31, is the deadline for the homeowners who lost the court case - either take the bad deal the city offers at the point of a gun, or face eviction and nearly a $1 million in fines, taxes, and fees. BizzyBlog's latest is here, along with a couple dozen previous postings linked at the bottom.

For her part, Ms. Kelo has called on Gov. M. Jodi Rell to intercede before the New London City Council can make good on its threat to evict the homeowners. Rell has expressed sympathy, but does not appear likely to actually do anything (see here).

For a case that was the focus of so much national and even international attention at the time of the ruling, it hasn't caught much ink lately. Lawmakers around the country suggested last June that state laws would be tightened to ensure that the actions of the New London City Council would not be replicated around the nation, but little useful legislation seems to have been passed anywhere. Says Timothy Sandefur, a staff attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation:

Of the 16 states that have acted since Kelo was decided, only six -- South Dakota, Georgia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Florida -- have imposed meaningful restraints on government power. Other states have either done nothing or have enacted laws so riddled with loopholes that they allow government to seize whatever property they consider "blighted."

To quote dissenting justice Clarence Thomas, "something has gone seriously awry with this Court's interpretation of the Constitution." Further, something has gone seriously awry with the desire of the American people to reverse course on this erosion of personal rights. I for one will continue checking back in with Mr. Blumer for the latest - and continuing to write my elected representatives on this egregiously flawed trend of collectivism in our government.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)

May 28, 2006

An Everest Dilemma Gone Bad

Merriam-Webster defines humanity as the quality or state of being humane. So I go to humane and get this definition: marked by compassion, sympathy, or consideration for humans or animals. I’m sure all of us have some humane traits in us. Sure, we don’t always give change to beggars. Not all of us volunteer our time to help those in need. But the latest natural disasters, the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Hurricane Katrina, and now this earthquake in Indonesia (they can’t get a break out there) have shown an outpouring of support (no Katrina jokes) from people from all over the world who donate time, money, and in some cases their own lives to try to help those in need. Then you find those who are the extreme opposite and can think of no one but themselves.

David Sharp, a 34 year-old man from England, died while making his descent from the summit of Mount Everest. It has been reported that more than 40 climbers may have walked past him while he lay there still alive, but were unwilling to offer their assistance as they continued to the top of the peak. Sir Edmund Hillary, Everest’s first victim back in 1953, has shown his outward disgust for those who passed Sharp so that they themselves wouldn’t miss out on their chance to reach the summit.

I understand that we are dealing with extremes here. The cold, the wind, the terrain, all things that makes it extremely difficult to survive on your own let alone if you are trying to help someone else. Stopping to help someone would probably mean the end to your own attempt at the peak. What used to be a close-knit circle of people, high-altitude climbing has become a commercial endeavor for some. People pay thousands of dollars to guides just to get to the top of peaks such as Everest. I guess it would be too costly to help keep someone from dying [/end sarcasm].

I’m not trying to say that I’m the type of person that goes out of their way constantly to help others. Let’s be honest, none of us do. But I would think that a climber who sees a fellow climber in trouble would do all he could to help. Don’t you think that he would want that same respect shown to him in case he should get into trouble? Apparently it used to be that way. The “never leave a man behind” attitude. Personal satisfaction has gotten in the way of that I guess. I don’t think I could live with myself if I was one of those climbers who walked past and let this man die.

Posted by G-Dawg | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Memorial Day Plans

Do you have plans for tomorrow? Allow Ralph Kinney Bennett at TCS Daily to make a suggestion:
Go and find a soldier's grave.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 25, 2006

At A Loss

I don't know what to say. I'm speechless. Literally. I have no idea what to write about. It's been awhile since I've posted something, and right now there is nothing out there that is really motivating me. I'm all about quality, not quantity with my posts, so this poses a big problem for me. Sure, there's the whole illegal immigration debate, but everybody is talking about that. The DiVinci Code? New movie, old news. I'm still waiting for the crowds to thin out some before I go see it. American Idol? No thank you. The NBA playoffs are about as good as they've been in awhile, but I still can't get into it. The NHL playoffs? The same, although Edmonton's run is rather impressive.

So until I can find something decent to write about, you are stuck with this empty post about...nothing. Sorry. Just wanted some company for a bit.

Posted by G-Dawg | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Free Market Solutions

NPR's Allison Aubrey had a story on "Morning Edition" today that began,

The Food and Drug Administration doesn't test supplements for safety or purity.

Doesn't that sound like the perfect way to begin a story about how evil businesses are, and how more government regulation is needed? I braced myself. But that's not at all the direction the story takes:

Supplement researcher Steve Bent, MD is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco... [he] says that because there isn't any FDA or government agency that's testing these products, it's important to have independent companies doing the testing.

Listen here to the story of ConsumerLab.com - a free market solution to a problem that many would probably assume the government would address.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

May 24, 2006

Partisan Burnout

Look, I don't know what the excuses are for the rest of the writers at Atlas Blogged, but I have been suffereing from partisan burnout. It seems absolutely pointless to even comment on Rep. William Jefferson, illegal immigration (an interesting op-ed, even if your eyes fall out of your head at the phrase How can we encourage those already in this country to send even more to their families in Mexico?), gas prices and gouging, Al Gore and global warming, or the ubiquitous violence in Gaza.

Even the opening of the rebuilt 7WTC - an excellent story that has a lot of potential tie-ins and the bonus of conspiracy theorists - couldn't get a good article out of me.

I am just trying to write my final exams for my students, finish up the school year, and enjoy the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs - my Buffalo Sabres have been doing very well, thank you.

One of the problems with being interested in politics but unwilling to wed myself to either of the filthy major parties is that as issue after issue comes up, personal liberties are eroded. I am frustrated that the tack taken by the various branches of government at all levels never seems to be to get off my ass - to increase personal liberties in any theater is simply not a realistic government action. The argument is never one of liberty versus authoritarianism - it is simply an argument of which flavor of growing statism we would like. There is no party of small government in this country. Thomas Jefferson is dead.

Atlas Blogged has a very small number of regular readers, but they are an appreciated group. I respect and thank each of the people who comes by on a regular basis, and I apologize for the partisan burnout that grips me. In other words, I blame myself. I'm sure all will be right as rain soon - like, when the Sabres finally win it all.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 21, 2006

Red vs Green

A few weeks ago, Rammage asked whether the American Left would value communism over environmentalism. He specifically asked about the industrialization of China:

How can the Left, with their chosen religion of Environmentalism, reconcile that their beloved China is "desecrating" the earth?

(see here)

As I pointed out to him at the time, the environment wins. This is because the Chinese aren't really communist - if they were, they wouldn't be at odds with the environment, because true communism is so lovey peaceful happy fun. But clearly China has taken a dark path in the last couple of decades, making widgets in sweatshops for nasty tree-hating Americans.

Modernization has brought with it a host of problems for the country's farmers -- among them, the loss of farmland to industry and the onset of industrial pollution.

Of course, under Kelo the Chinese government is able to take land from these farmers and give it to an evil corporation for a pittance.

Song Lingui is one of those farmers. Four years ago, the local government took his land and sold it to the chemical plant. He was given some compensation, but he says it was not enough.

The town and factory in this particular story (link) are not unique in their disagreement over safety and pollution. And obviously, I have no firsthand means of knowing whether the factory is actually at fault for anything. I just wanted to remind Rammage that industry is, in general, evil and ugly. Don't focus on any possible benefits of industrialization, or any personal culpability on the part of factory management or government bureaucrats. Think big picture. Green is the new Red.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 18, 2006

Video into Thin Air

IO2 Technology has released the M2i, a "virtual touchscreen heliodisplay."

Exactly what is a virtual touchscreen heliodisplay, you ask? It's a touchscreen video display that projects video into thin air.

The bottom frame of the image hover[s] a few inches from the Heliodisplay and project[s] up to 28 inches (71cm) into the air at the highest point... The interactive M2i allows desktop navigation in a PC environment such that floating images or video can be manipulated supporting a 'virtual' touchscreen enabling cursor control.

The projector works by projecting video onto a sheet of "transformed air." No word on how exactly the air is transformed. The image quality is not perfect, and for some reason they have chosen a 4:3 aspect ratio, but this is a really cool first step.

See photos, and a movie of the M2i in action, here.

Source: EverythingUSB
Photo: IO2 Technology

Posted by Rick | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 17, 2006

Potentially Life-friendly Planet Discovered

Astronomers will announce in the May 18th issue of Nature that, using the HARPS spectrograph on the 3.6-meter La Silla telescope in Chile, they have discovered the first known planetary system that contains three Neptune-mass planets, the outermost of which is in the star's life-friendly "habitable zone" (the relatively small zone around the star where liquid water could exist).

This multi-planet system, orbiting the star known as HD69830, 41 light-years away from Earth, is unique in that it contains no Jupiter-sized gas giant planet.

Judging from their orbits, the two inner planets are most likely rocky worlds like Mercury. The outermost of the three planets is suspected to have a solid rock/ice core surrounded by a thick gas atmosphere.

The three planets have masses of 10, 12, and 18 times that of the Earth, respectively, and rapidly orbit their star in 9, 31, and 197 Earth days.

Source: Space.com
Artist's Conception: European Southern Observatory

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May 14, 2006

How to Beat a Taser

If you are not familiar with the effects of an electroshock gun (e.g. Taser), it's pretty easy to find video clips of them in action. For example, a police training video can be seen here.

A consulting firm has created a polyester fabric bonded to a conductor in order short the taser and protect the wearer. Compare the previous video with the one in this story. G2, the company who makes the material, won't be making it available to the public.

G2 sells the material only under nondisclosure agreements to law enforcement agencies and the military. The idea behind the fabric is that it could prevent officers from being hurt by their own weapons...

Still, G2 could spawn imitators, which could create headaches for stun gun manufacturers and police agencies, many of which have said that stun guns reduce the number of incidents in which police officers have to fire bullets.

If that happens, cops might have to go back to lethal force more readily. What an interesting comment on our society - considered so decadent and barbaric by so many in this world - that we should spend so much time and effort trying to put our police officers in a position where they can inflict less suffering. Personally, I just find the Thor Shield fabric fascinating from a techie point of view. But I am sure law enforcement sees it a little differently.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 13, 2006

ICANN Rejects .XXX Domains

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has rejected a proposal to place porn websites on a new .xxx domain. Opponents of the new domain are a motley mix of odd bedfellows whose points are a little hard to understand.

Conservative groups didn't want the domain because it could legitimize internet porn make it easy to find. Yes, seriously.

A slightly more thought-out legal argument was made elsewhere:

“Selling hard core pornography on the Internet is a violation of federal obscenity law, so the Bush Administration is right to oppose the .xxx domain,” said Patrick Trueman, Senior Legal Counsel for the Family Research Council and former Chief of the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. “The Bush Administration should not, in any way, be seen to facilitate the porn industry which has been a plague on our society since the establishment of the Internet. The .xxx domain proposal is an effort to pander to the porn industry and offers nothing but false hope to an American public which wants illegal pornographers prosecuted, not rewarded.”

Yet pornographers were also opposed to the new domain, fearing that it would marginalize an industry that is looking to move in the opposite direction - mainstream.

In their opinion, the attempt to gather the the virtual pornography in some sort of a Red Light District will only open a way to easier censorship means.

(Never mind the fact that the .xxx domains would have been voluntary.)

Libertarians usually find it distasteful to agree with religious conservatives, but were correct to do so on this matter. The attempt to segregate pornography would be a mistake, and fairly difficult - probably requiring a big fat bureaucracy of porn-searching federal employees. Which might just be a legitimization of what is already going on in some offices, I don't know. [shrug] Can you picture that cubicle farm? [shudder] It's sketchy enough that News.com refers to one fellow in their article as an "adult-industry observer".

When it is worded like that, it sounds pretty respectable, doesn't it?

In fact, the logistics of policing seems to be the reason ICANN rejected the .xxx domains (story here):

ICANN CEO Paul Twomey said the decision largely came down to whether the creation of "xxx" might put ICANN in a difficult position of having to enforce all of the world's laws governing pornography, including ones that might require porn sites to use the domain. Speech-related laws, he noted, often conflict with one another.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 9, 2006

Croissant of Islam

Ah, the joys of discovery. Allow me to take you through a web-surfing journey:

I read an article today at Little Green Footballs called Belgian Churches Becoming Mosques. A commenter named "Pettifog" responded to a call for Charles Martel:

And to think, it was the Charles the Hammer (born in Belgium) and his Franken armies so long ago that stopped the Moorish armies, thereby saving Western Civilization from the world wide Caliphate. Now the Belgians, with the French and Dutch beside them, are surrendering their culture, religion, society, politics to those who have no concept of "civilization" and without any fight. Charles the Hammer must be turning over in his grave.

I'm not sure how I got from there to here, but Robert W. Martin had this to say about Charles Martel and his famous battle of Tours:

How do you connect a roll with medieval warfare? What does the battle of Tours (732 AD) and a tasty breakfast food have in common? Well, unless you eat your morning meal with a battle axe or you consume your sausage and eggs while clad in Saracen armor, most would say not much. However, there is an edible connection to the Battle of Tours which should make for some very interesting table conversation. When news of the great victory spread throughout the Frankish countryside, bakers began to fashion bread in the form of the Islamic crescent. The croissant was served up as a testament to Charles and a symbol how he devoured the invader on the battlefield. Today, the French croissant still holds a place of respect at most breakfast tables. And yet, many people are unaware that their favorite roll has a direct relationship to an engagement fought over 1200 years ago.

Pretty neat, eh? I was so excited by this Clavenistic Factoid, that I quickly put together the above graphic for an Atlas Blogged article.

Only, it's not true.

According to the editor of the Oxford Companion to Food, "[...] the earliest French reference to a croissant he found was among the fantasy or luxury breads in Payen's Des substances alimentaires, 1853." The croissant, as they say, is a relative newcomer in the pastry world. The myth of it being created as a tribute to Charles Martel is apocryphal, and off by about a millennium.

But I already had the graphic made up...so, I thought I'd share.

The OChef wraps things up nicely:

The sad thing is, the truth in this case is not nearly as interesting as the myth. No one knows when or where the first croissant was baked, but it was definitely in France and certainly not before 1850. The word was first used in a dictionary in 1863. The first croissant recipe was published in 1891, but it wasn't the same kind of croissant we are familiar with today. The first recipe that would produce what we consider to be a croissant wasn't published until 1905, and, again, it was in France.

So there you have it, everything you'd ever want to know about croissants. I take comfort in the fact that - in a thousand years from now - historians will be speculating on how the croissant evolved into the croissan'wich.

Posted by Rammage | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Back Off, Man. I'm a Scientist.

Women are generally able to tell by looking at a man whether or not he is husband material. So says a team of scientists from the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Chicago. Shocking research, or ridiculous?

...an interest in children was linked to long-term partnership potential while women were attracted to men with higher testosterone levels as short-term romantic mates.

(story by Reuters, AP)

The more they perceived the men as liking kids, the more likely they could see having a longer-term relationship.

Isn't modern science grand? The preferences of 29 female college students provided the basis of this stunning conclusion. They had the young women thumb through headshots of male grad students, which were then cross referenced with the testosterone levels of those men, and their reaction to photos of babies. Or, they could have watched Friends.

I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't be so worked up over this. But whenever I see a team of scientists report something like this, I have to wonder a few things. Who funded the research? Who felt this was the best way to spend their research time? And, Have these people no shame? They remind me of something that, as a scientist, I don't like to be associated with.

There is a scene in this movie where Sigourney Weaver says to Bill Murray "You know, you don’t act like a scientist... You're more like a game show host."

I don't have any problem with this research being done. In fact, I don't have an inherent problem with people searching for UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster or the theory of Atlantis.

I do have a problem with the fact that this is considered appropriate for graduate students, Reuters, and AP, showing up at the top of the Yahoo! Science News. This is what science is good for? No wonder students, parents, administrators and even my fellow science teachers behave as though science education is peripheral to everyday life - "a matter of using math to complicate what should be easy to understand."

It's sometimes an uphill struggle to be taken seriously, imo. I could probably do a study on it, if I wasn't such a stiff scientific type.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

The Real Letter from Iran to Pres. Bush

Dear Mr. Bush:

You suk. We gots nuks, and u looz! LOL! Iran FTW!!!

Cincerearly,

"Krazy Kat"

ps. If U luv your kountree so much, why dont U marry it?

Posted by Boon | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

May 5, 2006

"Ronald Chegan"

Mrs. Rammage knows her husband well. In the link below I'm displaying my favorite anniversary gift since my bench grinder: a Communist-red Che Reagan t-shirt complemented by the socialist worker's fist-o-power. I am now ready for the next illegal immigrant march on Washington D.C., where I'll hopefully blend in with the other Che worshippers.

View image

Posted by Rammage | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Microsoft Applies for Gosh Darn Patent

Yesterday, Microsoft applied for a patent on technology that would automatically censor audio data for broadcast by altering preselected words so as to make them unintelligible or "replac[ing] offensive and undesired words with corresponding acceptable words."

(See the patent application here.)

I just hope no one makes a movie about going to Norfolk to see the dam. Uh...on an ass. (It could happen.)

Posted by Rick | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 4, 2006

Linux-operated Flash-frozen Fresh Ice Cream

Now this is cool. (No pun intended, but if the snowshoe fits...)

MooBella, a nine-employee company in Taunton, Massachusetts, has developed a machine no larger than a Coke vending machine that instantly makes a scoop of ice cream from fresh ingredients stored within.

Conventional ice cream is made by slowly whipping air into a cream base. MooBella's machine instantly injects air into the ice cream as it's flash-frozen.

The dairy ingredients are sealed in sterile plastic containers, with no need for refrigeration. The machine includes "mix-ins" such as chocolate chips and crushed cookies. It's run on a Linux operating system, and features an LCD display on the front, where customers can create their own custom flavors from a base of twelve.

MooBella is in talks with Starbucks, which could, practically overnight, become the world's largest ice cream chain.

Other targeted locations include airports, movie theaters, and hotel lobbies.

I can't wait for this one to catch on! Anyone seen one of these yet?

Posted by Rick | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

May 3, 2006

Mexico, a Narco-Tourism Destination.

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

Mexican President Vicente Fox will sign a bill that would legalize the use of nearly every drug and narcotic sold by the same Mexican cartels he's vowed to fight during his five years in office, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The list of illegal drugs approved for personal consumption by Mexico's Congress last week is enough to make one dizzy — or worse.

Cocaine. Heroin. LSD. Marijuana. PCP. Opium. Synthetic opiates. Mescaline. Peyote. Psilocybin mushrooms. Amphetamines. Methamphetamines...

Selling drugs or using them in public still would be a crime in Mexico. Anyone possessing drugs still could be held for questioning by police, and each state could impose fines even on the permitted quantities, the bill stipulates. But it includes no imprisonment penalties.

Presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar said Tuesday that Fox would sign the measure, calling it an important tool in the fight against drug trafficking.

What? Is he crazy? Yes, he is... crazy like a Fox!

Critics, including U.S. drug policy officials, already are worrying that it will spur a domestic addiction problem and make Mexico a narco-tourism destination.

Lawmakers who voted for decriminalization, some of whom have expressed surprise over the details of the bill, said it would for the first time empower local police to make drug arrests and allow law enforcement in general to focus on intercepting large drug shipments and major traffickers. The bill also would stiffen penalties for selling drugs near schools and authorize state and local police to detain users to check whether amounts were over the legal limit.

This should be nice and controversial. Do we expect them to go through with it?

Said Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy:

Many countries, including the U.S. and Mexico, see the drug problem as a trafficking problem. But the real problem isn't trafficking, it's drug use. The costs of drug addiction are staggering.

The costs of the War on Drugs are staggering, Mr. Riley.

So, what will this do for the staggering amount of violence that Mexico sees due to drug smuggling? Chris at Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of... argues that it will get worse, because the decriminalization only takes attention off of the end users, not the suppliers - and that's where the violence is. Don at Cafe Hayek seems to think otherwise. I often agree with his take on things, but doesn't flesh out the argument other than to say in the comments section:

The Mexican government, for example, has already agreed to be less violent towards people with only small amounts of drugs.

Fair enough. But overall? I expect and hope that this will help to decrease the violence, but it strikes me as more than a little wishful, especially given which drugs have been legalized. Have you ever seen a narco-tourist on PCP? I know where you may soon be able to find one.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 1, 2006

Nuestro Himno

Nuestro Himno is the Spanish-language "interpretation" of the Star Spangled Banner - the National Anthem of the United States of America. It is supposedly getting a lot of radio time on Spanish radio stations and conservative talk radio shows, though I confess I don't listen much to either.

A friend told me that NPR had a piece that pretty well summed up my feelings on the issue. I hadn't caught that story on the air, but it's available here (you can also hear the song there), and my friend was correct. NPR doesn't seem to understand the fuss, and I don't either.

Update Below

But it's supposed to be sung in English!

Um, okay. I grant that it was written in English. In fact, it was written about the English - they were after all the ones who were waging a perilous fight against the United States when Francis Scott Key wrote those beautiful words. Ironic, no?

But for me, personally, the meaning of those words transcends the English language. For this reason, I find Nuestro Himno to be not an iota more (or less) disrespectful or inappropriate than the caterwalling, improvisario, jazzed up and funkadelic versions of this song that I have been subjected to at various sporting events over the years. If it is not worth getting into an uproar every time some country or R&B singer stuffs their performance full of extra notes, repetitions, "yeah yeah yeah"s, etc., or if it is not worth getting upset about every time the National Anthem is played as an instrumental piece, i.e. stripped of all of Francis Scott Key's meaning and left as naked music that predates Key's lyrics and their sentiment, then why get upset about the National Anthem being sung en espanol? Or, to turn it around, if you are going to be purist about the National Anthem, like Josue Sierra (and I respect that), then are you at least consistent? If not, then your hypocrisy will interfere with whatever point you might be trying to make.

Well... perhaps there is a legitimate reason to fuss a little. Consider the infamous Harris poll that showed 61% of American adults do not know the words to their National Anthem (even in English). "As few as 15 percent of American youth can sing the words to the anthem from memory".

The fuss should not be about whether the song has been translated and celebrated in another language. The fuss should be about what that translation and celebration actually mean. The song has become neglected by the citizenry of America, who are only half-joking when they say that the last two words in the National Anthem are "Play ball!"

If you are not one of those people, and you are taking this situation very seriously, then let me give you my two cents: If the people who are singing Nuestro Himno are doing so in celebration of the principles upon which this nation was founded, then you should stand up and observe proper etiquette during our National Anthem, even if you do not understand the language in which it is being sung, and even if you disagree with the person singing. To paraphrase something I was told in boot camp, we show respect to the flag and the principles; not to the singer.

And if you don't think the song was meant to celebrate this nation, then you go ahead and celebrate this nation anyway. Have the courage to observe proper etiquette anyway. Stand up. Make that song mean something.

Says President Bush: "I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English."

I agree - but there should be no obligation to do so. This is, after all, the land of the free.

Update:
The Wikipedia authors (users?) are having a nice little row over this song, see here, including the following:
Below is a REAL translation, not a parody. Read it and compare it to the Nuestra Himno parody.

La bandera estrellada Traducción por Guillermo F. Hall, de Guatemala
Oh, decid: ¿podeis ver, al rayar de la aurora lo Que vimos anoche orgullosos flotar? La estrellada bandera, tremolando altanera, encumbrada en La torre y excitando luchar! Y a la luz de la roja, fulgurante centella, la Bandera ondeaba, ondeaba más bella; Y a través de la densa humareda inflamada, Con qué orgullo miramos la bandera ondear!

¡El pendón de la Patria, la bandera estrellada, Encumbrada en la almena convidando a luchar!

Oh! decid, ¿todavía contemplais la bandera, La estrellada bandera, Sobre suelo de libres que defienden su hogar? A través de la niebla, de la mar a la orilla Iracundo enemigo nos atisba a marchar. ¿Qué es aquello que ondula, que flamea y simula Un enjambre de estrellas refulgiendo en el mar? Ya del alba recoge la primer llamarada; Ya se oculta en la niebla, ya aparece inflamada; Ya ostentando sus glorias se refleja en el río; Ya sus franjas y estrellas nos deslumbran al par.

¡El pendón de la Patria, tremolando bravio Y flamenado en la almena nos incita a luchar!

¡El pendón de la Patria, la estrellada bandera, Tremolando altanera Sobre suelo de libres que defienden su hogar!

¿Dónde está la falange enemiga y aleve Que con vana porfía se atreviera a jurar Que al fragor de la guerra, en la lucha que aterra, Perderíamos patria y familia y hogar? ¡Con su sangre lavara la verguenza inferida De su paso a la hulla por la tierra querida! Encontrar no podría un refugio el taimado, Que en su fuga oprobiosa la pudiera salvar Del terror de esa fuga, del morir angustiado Con el ansia del triunfo que no pudo alcanzar. Mientras tanto tremola la estrellada bandera Y triunfante, altanera, Sobre suelo de libres nos custodia el hogar Siempre así, cuando altivo se levante el patriota Defendiendo su suelo, su familia y su hogar, La radiante victoria lo circunde de gloria, ¡Y bendiga al Eterno que lo hiciera triunfar! Y pues Dios nos asiste y la lucha es tan santa, Y el pendón de la Patria nos alienta y levanta, Conservemos la Patria, el hogar que adoramos, Y adoptamos por lema, sacrosanto y sin par: ¡"Sea Dios nuestro guía; en su apoyo confiamos!"

¡Justiciera es la causa que nos manda a luchar, Y el pendón de la Patria, la estrellada bandera, Tremolando altanera, Sobre suelo de libres nos conserve el hogar!

Notice it says "our guide Is God" and "defend our home"
User:Clydeman

There seems to be some confusion about how much liberty was taken with the lyrics, and that may be because there is more than one "interpretation" of the song. The Washington Post notes:

In the Spanish version, the translation of the first stanza is relatively faithful to the spirit of the original, though Kidron says the producers wanted to avoid references to bombs and rockets. Instead, there is "fierce combat." The translation of the more obscure second stanza is almost a rewrite, with phrases such as "we are equal, we are brothers."

An alternate version to be released next month includes a rap in English that never occurred to Francis Scott Key:
Let's not start a war
With all these hard workers
They can't help where they were born

Also, WaPo paraphrases Michelle Malkin:

Transforming the musical idiom of "The Star-Spangled Banner" is one thing, argue the skeptics, but translating the words sends the opposite message: We are not Americans.

It is all about the language. Is that the message from Malkin and others? We don't care what you look like, or what you eat, or how socialist you are, so long as you speak English.

[shrug]

Some people may consider that important. But it certainly does not represent my point of view.

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The Price Cost of a Gallon

NPR has laid out a pretty good article on gas prices and the oil company profits. I was very surprised - not by the information in the article, but by the fact that it was sitting there at NPR. Don't get me wrong, I love NPR, but it's always a refreshing surprise to me when they come to the defense of corporate giants who are making billions of dollars.

Plus there's this really cool pie chart.

Hopefully, they will soon provide a chart demonstrating how stupid a $100 rebate check would be.

The article answers the following questions:

What factors are causing gas prices to rise so quickly?
Who sets these prices?
How does [OPEC] affect prices?
Iraq's oil production hasn't recovered to its prewar levels. Has this had a major impact on global oil supply and prices?
What kind of impact might ANWR oil have on prices?

Go on, even if you already understand the issue. Check it out.

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