Author: Hafiz Noor Shams

For more about me, please read this.

Categories
Photography Sports

[921] Of between the Wolverines and the Hawkeyes

This is the last tough match before The Game. If Michigan defeated Iowa, the NCAAF sets to witness the most explosive college rivalry in recent times. Michigan will meet Iowa on the field at 1500 EST; that’s 0300 MST. That’s roughly 12 more hours to go.

I plan to stay up and listen to the game online.

Not too long ago, there were 14 undefeated teams. Three weeks later, there are only seven, inclusive of Ohio State and Michigan. After this weekend, I bet only six will survive. Two undefeated teams West Virginia and Louisville are set to duke ’em out against each other.

On related note, presenting to you, the new Big House:

Preliminary schematic designs for renovation and additions to Michigan Stadium were shared with the public today (Oct. 23). Once the designs are finalized over the next several weeks, they will be presented to the Board of Regents for consideration.

Athletic Department officials will hold public presentations in Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn to share the plans with the community. Detailed information, including the designs, can be found at www.umich.edu/stadium.

The best thing is:

The two proposed structures would rise to a height of 85 feet above the concourse, 10 feet higher than the scoreboard in either end zone. Martin notes the structures also will help direct crowd noise back onto the field, providing a greater home field advantage.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

The Michigan Daily has more coverage on it.

The Big House is already the largest college football stadium in the United States. This is how it looked like in 2004, during the Miami Ohio game:

Some rights reserved.

Let’s Go Blue!

p/s – bless the ITD. Listen to the pre-game trash talk, previous games, etc. The ball game should be on when it should be on.

Categories
Society

[920] Of in the spirit of multiculturalism…

Happy Diwali.

Eid Mubarak.

Selamat Deeparaya to all readers.

Categories
Politics & government

[919] Of stay on course or cut and run and bite them in the ass

Earlier this month at a friend’s blog, I highlighted how the Democrats are using Bush in their November election campaigns while the Republicans are trying to steer away from George “The Decider” Bush. Remarkably, I haven’t blogged anything about it here. So, I’m glad to repeat the same thing here: the Republicans are screwed.

Almost three weeks later, things haven’t changed and the New York Times is still running the same scenario over and over again, probably with their editors smirking. I know I’m smirking. At the NYT:

“As the Iraq war gets more unpopular, the environment for Republican candidates erodes,” said Mark Campbell, a Republican strategist who represents several Congressional candidates, including Representative Jim Gerlach of Pennsylvania, who is fighting for re-election in one of the toughest races.

“Only in an election year this complicated can Republicans be happy that Mark Foley knocked the Iraq war off the front page,” Mr. Campbell said.

A senior strategist familiar with Republican polling who insisted on anonymity to share internal data said that as of midsummer it was clear that “stay the course” was a self-defeating argument.

At that point, the strategist said, Republicans started trying to refine their oratory or refocus the debate back to discussing terrorism, where Republicans continue to say they wield the stronger hand and where candidates are running advertisements that Democrats describe as effective.

Democrats, seeing similar data in their polls, advised candidates to confront Republicans aggressively, in the view that accusations that Democrats would “cut and run” would not blunt Democrats’ efforts to mock Republicans as wanting to “stay the course.”

“For the first time in modern memory, Democrats are actually on the offensive when it comes to national security,” said Matt Bennett, a founder of Third Way, a moderate Democratic organization that has been briefing Democrats on discussing the war and national security. “It is really stunning.”

Damn, I love this: “Only in an election year this complicated can Republicans be happy that Mark Foley knocked the Iraq war off the front page”. It really shows something.

Talking about election, at The Caucus, the readers want to see Al Gore and Barack Obama running together for the 2008 presidential election. Oh yeah baby. I’m all for that baby. That’s the ultimate dream team, baby!

For those that are unfamiliar with Obama, he was of course the star of the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. Some even would like to see Obama to run for the Presidency itself in 2008. The Time has an article on Obama.

Fair use. Time October 23 2006.

As for me, I’d just like to say, “Run, Barack, run!”

p/s – let the finger pointing fest begins!

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 — Tax-cutters are calling evangelicals bullies. Christian conservatives say Republicans in Congress have let them down. Hawks say President Bush is bungling the war in Iraq. And many conservatives blame Representative Mark Foley’s sexual messages to teenage pages.

With polls showing Republican control of Congress in jeopardy, conservative leaders are pointing fingers at one other in an increasingly testy circle of blame for potential Republican losses this fall.

Things are starting to look really bad for the Republicans.

Categories
Environment

[918] Of 10 most polluted places on Earth by the Blacksmith Institute

The Blacksmith Institute today comes up with a list of 10 most polluted places on Earth:

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Russian city where chemical weapons were once manufactured and a town in Zambia’s copper mining belt are among the 10 most polluted places on Earth, a U.S. environmental group said on Wednesday.

The list was compiled by the New York-based nonprofit group the Blacksmith Institute, which said the world’s pollution is sickening up to 1 billion people.

The 10 places were chosen by a board of experts from more than 35 nominated sites which in turn were filtered by the same board from a list of 300 sites. The full list is available at the group’s website. While no Southeast Asia country is listed in the top ten list, two Filipino sites were nominated. The two sites are Mount Diwalwal and Marilao; both were caused by mineral extraction activities. Yes, no Kuala Lumpur despite the fact the air quality hit 108 in the Air Pollution Index yesterday.

In the top ten list itself, most of them come from former Soviet state members.

On top of the list is Chernobyl, Ukraine. Of course, that relates to the 1986 nuclear meltdown disaster. Years ago, I highlighted a site that has pictures of the ghost town. Please do re-read that entry. The report is here.

Second is Dzerzhinsk, Russia. The area is Russian chemical manufacturing center. Not just that, it was the production center of chemical weapon. Much of the waste from the manufacturing operation was improperly disposed of and it affected the air, the land and the water badly. Read the full report here.

The next site is Bajos de Haina, Dominican Republic. Source of pollution: smelter. The area is highly comtaminated with lead. More here.

Fourth is Kawbe, Zambia. Cause: mineral mining. Located in an area called Copperbelt, it was on of Zambia’s major source of income. All minerals like cadmium, lead and zinc were heavily mined by the British during colonial period. The detail is available here.

Fifth is La Oroya, Peru. Cause: Mining and smelting activities. Read it up here.

Linfen of People’s Republic of China is sixth. The cause of pollution: the thriving coal industry. Do I have to say “read it here” this time?

Seventh is Maaluu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan. There was a uranium plant here and the waste was placed here. Also, the area played a very vital role in the production of the first Soviet nuclear bomb. Here!

Eighth is Norilsk, Russia. It’s the site of the largest nickel-copper-palladium deposits in the world according to Wikipedia. How polluted the area is? Well, I quote the report:

…the snow is black, the air tastes of sulfur…

Also, interestingly, Norilsk is off limit to foreigners:

Since November 2001, Norilsk has been shut to foreigners, one of 90 “closed towns” in Russia where Soviet-levels of secrecy persist.

On the nine rung is Ranipet, India. Source: tannery. As you might have guessed, it’s here.

The final entry is Rudnaya Pristan, Russia. The source here also concerns lead mining. Read it here.

There you go. Five of the top ten places are in former Soviet territories.

Categories
Liberty

[917] Of the day part of liberty died in America

At the New York Times:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some of the most notorious names in the war on terror are headed toward prosecution after President Bush signed a law Tuesday authorizing military trials of terrorism suspects.

The legislation also eliminates some of the rights defendants are usually guaranteed under U.S. law, and it authorizes continued harsh interrogations of terror suspects.

…

Civil libertarians and leading Democrats decried the law as a violation of American values. The American Civil Liberties Union said it was ”one of the worst civil liberties measures ever enacted in American history.” Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin said, ”We will look back on this day as a stain on our nation’s history.”

”It allows the government to seize individuals on American soil and detain them indefinitely with no opportunity to challenge their detention in court,” Feingold said. ”And the new law would permit an individual to be convicted on the basis of coerced testimony and even allow someone convicted under these rules to be put to death.”

Remember Lex Gabina?