Senator McCain’s statement:

STATEMENT BY JOHN MCCAIN ON RUSSIA’S AGGRESSION IN GEORGIA For Immediate Release

Contact: Press Office Friday, August 8, 2008

703-650-5550

ARLINGTON, VA — U.S. Senator John McCain issued the following statement regarding the current conflict between Georgia and Russia:

“Today, news reports indicate that Russian military forces crossed an internationally-recognized border into the sovereign territory of Georgia. Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory. What is most critical now is to avoid further confrontation between Russian and Georgian military forces. The consequences for Euro-Atlantic stability and security are grave.

“The government of Georgia has called for a cease-fire and for a resumption of direct talks on South Ossetia with international mediators. The U.S. should immediately convene an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to call on Russia to reverse course. The U.S. should immediately work with the EU and the OSCE to put diplomatic pressure on Russia to reverse this perilous course it has chosen. We should immediately call a meeting of the North Atlantic Council to assess Georgia’s security and review measures NATO can take to contribute to stabilizing this very dangerous situation. Finally, the international community needs to establish a truly independent and neutral peacekeeping force in South Ossetia.”

Senator Obama’s:

Statement of Senator Obama on Tensions in the Caucasus Region Between Georgia and Russia Chicago, IL | July 23, 2008

Chicago, IL — “Over the last several weeks, Russia and Georgia have been engaged in a steadily more dangerous confrontation over two secessionist regions of Georgia — South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Although these territories are located within Georgia’s internationally-recognized borders, the Russian government seems determined to challenge Georgia’s territorial integrity in both places. Developments took an especially provocative turn several days ago when four Russian warplanes violated Georgian airspace close to the Georgian capital for forty minutes.

All parties — Russia first and foremost — must now reduce tensions, avoid the risks of war, and reengage in peaceful negotiations.

As I stated in April of this year, I am committed to upholding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia. This commitment has long been a fundamental building block of U.S. policy, and it will not change under an Obama Administration. I also affirm Georgia’s right to pursue NATO membership. This aspiration in no way threatens the legitimate defense interests of Georgia’s neighbors.

Only a political settlement can resolve the conflicts over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia needs to roll back the aggressive actions it has taken in the last three months. The Georgian…

“McCain needs only 213 words to get to the point and put out an actual coherent, step-by-step plan. [Obama has a lot of words but nothing of substance.] McCain knows that he can reliably put out a press release on foreign affairs without having to spend an introductory paragraph explaining to his supporters what the Hell is going on.”
(from http://www.redstate.com/diaries/redstate/2008/aug/08/comparing-the-two-candidates-statements-on-t/)
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Spelling “truely atrosious,” says academic

LONDON (Reuters) - Embaressed by yor spelling? Never you mind.

Fed up with his students’ complete inability to spell common English correctly, a British academic has suggested it may be time to accept “variant spellings” as legitimate.

Rather than grammarians getting in a huff about “argument” being spelled “arguement” or “opportunity” as “opertunity,” why not accept anything that’s phonetically (fonetickly anyone?) correct as long as it can be understood?

“Instead of complaining about the state of the education system as we correct the same mistakes year after year, I’ve got a better idea,” Ken Smith, a criminology lecturer at Bucks New University, wrote in the Times Higher Education Supplement.

Continue reading, Spelling “truely atrosious,” says academic

Spelling rules exist for a reason. Now I’ve probably made my fair share of spelling/grammar mistakes on this blog (though the built-in OS X spellchecker alerts me to the majority of the spelling errors). However, mistakes that I do make are just that, mistakes. They are most often a result of a mistyped key. If I don’t know how to spell a word I usually just Google it to get the correct spelling. Granted, phonetically misspelled words are somewhat “readable” but should never be allowed in any formal usage. If I’m reading a blog or any form of written communication and see incorrect spellings to the extent that the above article suggests allowing, I’d laugh and completely disregard the source. If anything, the educational system must crack down on improper spelling. Just because something is “hard,” doesn’t mean that it should be changed to accommodate those that can’t handle it.

In his article, entitled Arguments against Idiots, Glenn Beck goes on the offensive against “liberal whiners:”

What the liberal whiners say:

1.’The rich don’t pay their fair share’

2.’The working class carries the full load in this country, while the rich just keep getting richer, and paying LESS’

3.’How about those 50 hedge fund managers Barack Obama talks about all the time who made $29 billion, but actually paid less in taxes than their $60,000 a year SECRETARIES!’

4.’I'm sick and tired of all the corporate welfare in this country’

Your winning, logical, reasoned arguments:

1.Really? According to the Tax Foundation, the top 1% of wage-earners in this country pays nearly 40% of the burden (an 11% INCREASE over 1999, when WHO was President? Oh that’s right…Bill Clinton). Not fair? Well, you may be saying, ‘that’s because they have ALL the wealth!’ Wrong again. The top 1% of earners account for just 21% of the total adjusted gross income. Hmm. Come to think of it…you’re RIGHT! That really isn’t fair. They’re paying DOUBLE what they should be. By the way, the top 10% of earners pay 70% of the load. When you get all the way down to the top 50% of earners, they account for 96.4% of the entire tax burden. The next 10% pays 3.6%. And the bottom 40% of wage earners…pay NOTHING. That’s right, nothing. In fact, they pay nothing, and then often get a “refund” (handout) at years end.

To see his other responses, continue reading on glennbeck.com

Pike Lake State Park Photo Gallery

Photos from my hike on the blue trail at Pike Lake State Park in the Kettle Moraine State Forest of Wisconsin. The weather was perfect. Unfortunately, the bug spray I brought didn’t stop the flies from “attacking” my head throughout the hike. I’m definitely going to wear a hat next time. Three of the photos were handheld HDR.

Photos after the break:
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The International Cycling Classic is a series of bike races throughout the Midwest in the month of July. Some of the best riders not in the Tour de France come here to race.

The Point Premium Root Beer International Cycling Classic presented by Time Warner Cable is the world’s largest multi-category cycling event. The 40th annual event will take place from July 11 - 27, 2008. The highlight events of each day’s racing will be the men’s and women’s Superweek Pro Tour races, featuring top professional and elite amateur cyclists and teams from across the U.S. and more than 20 foreign countries. The 2008 event series will feature races in twelve city centers throughout Eastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, including many locations throughout the Greater Milwaukee area.

Nowhere else in America can cycling fans see 17 consecutive days of the highest-caliber bicycle racing. What Wisconsin and Illinois will witness again this July is the fusion of the best athletes in the world and today’s high-tech bicycles in an explosion of speed, power and excitement. Join us to see why bicycle racing is one of the world’s great summertime spectator sports. Come and see why the International Cycling Classic is known throughout the world as Superweek!

Photos:
Carl Zach Cycling Classic
The Great Downer Avenue Bike Race

I was taking a little break from studying for the boards (USMLE Step 1) this evening by catching up on the latest Apple news in Google Reader. AppleInsider had a link to a story about the tight security that Apple employs at developer’s conferences, including, as this story explains, needing to have an escort to use the restroom. Really the only thing that reporters at the WWDC were allowed to report on was things talked about or shown in the keynote presentation. The remainder of the conference is strictly for developers that have signed NDA’s. I think it more had to do with the location of the restroom being near some rooms where confidential information was being discussed. Anyway, on to the funny survey part that started this post.

When I opened the link to the Computerworld article above, I was given the option to do a quick survey on Windows Vista migration. I’ve never used Vista before, but maybe they want to know for what reason, or something. It was a chance to win $250 dollars and, supposedly, only 100 people(?!) were going to be offered this survey (plus whoever receives the option to do the survey but then chooses to enter via fax without participating). The first question asked me how many people were in my organization or enterprise. Hmmm. The only valid options for me were “I don’t know” and “less than 1000.” The other options were even larger. Do I really qualify for winning the $250? I clicked on the Computerworld Prize Drawing Official Rules and, sure enough, the drawing is open to any adult legal resident in the U.S. or Canada. So I chose “less than 1000″ and clicked next. And that was the end of the survey; I gave my name and email address (I used a “spam safe” email address) and clicked submit. Now I’m just waiting until June 16th when the winner is drawn; not that I’ll win because I never win these types of drawings.

The funny part (and this may because of some strange Canadian rule), is regarding the selection of the winner. From the official rules, “If the selected winner is a Canadian resident, he or she must correctly answer a time-limited mathematical skill-testing question in order to claim prize.” Wow! They sure make it difficult to win simple random drawings in Canada, eh?!. Ross, you’ll have to example it to me sometime.

I’ve started adding unobtrusive watermarks to some of my favorite photos and then limiting access to the originals. I don’t really know why I’m going to do this because it would be pretty easy to cut off the bottom of each photo to remove the watermark. But, it does, in my opinion, make the photos seem more “professional.” I’m using Smugmug (referral code secretly added…hey, you save $5!) to add the watermark to each photo I designate. What I did was create a transparent PNG and then tell Smugmug that I wanted that PNG to be a watermark. From there it’s very easy to add that watermark to new or existing images. (I think you have to have a Professional level account to do this from within Smugmug.)

Here are a few examples:

Wow!! If I don’t say so myself, those photos look incredible. They’d look great without the watermark, in all honesty. But don’t the watermarks just make you want to buy them? (They do? Contact me as soon as possible.)

I still love the taste of a true Coca Cola, especially on a hot summer day after a hard day of sailing. I hate the taste of diet sodas. However, now it is usually the calorie-free Coke Zero because I’m probably stuck inside studying. Anyway, the taste is “okay.” It is definitely not a true replica of the original (proven by a blinded test when Coke Zero first came out), like the taste infringement lawsuit commercials joking imply. It isn’t horrible like the diet varieties (or worse, a Pepsi). This is where Stevia comes in. I had first heard of this sweetener by reading the ingredients on my 100% Natural Whey protein, which is sweetened by stevia. Truvia is a “great tasting, zero-calorie sweetener made from rebiana, the best tasting part of the stevia leaf.” Coca Cola and Cargill have been working on this and, according to the website, will have it available sometime in 2008. On paper it looks great: zero calories and can be used in cooking applications. Its taste is supposed to be good too. Here’s hoping that it will taste just like the original Coke but have no calories! (I also think we should drop the high fructose corn syrup and go back to cane sugar…)

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Here is the introduction by Paul D. Ryan, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin and a member of the Budget Committee and the Ways and Means Committee, to his legislative plan to secure the fiscal future of the United States:

merica faces a choice between two fiscal and economic futures.

In one, ever-rising levels of government spending overwhelm the Federal budget and the U.S. economy with crushing burdens of debt and higher taxes. It is a future in which America’s best century is the past century.

The second future is one in which the principles that created America’s freedom and prosperity are restored. It is the path set out in my plan, A Roadmap for America’s Future.

Currently, we are on a path of unsustainable Federal spending. The main problem is the looming crisis of entitlement spending. The well-intentioned social insurance strategies of the past century – particularly Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid – are headed toward financial collapse.

Not only will these programs grow themselves into extinction, they will immensely burden our economy and budget – piling massive amounts of debt on future generations, crippling our ability to compete in the international marketplace, and dramatically reducing Americans’ standards of living.

We can and must set a different course. But the time for talk has passed. We need a plan.

Based on the input of many, I developed A Roadmap for America’s Future to:

1. Ensure universal access to health insurance, fulfill the missions of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and make these programs permanently solvent.

2. Return Federal spending growth to sustainable levels and lift the debt burden looming over future generations.

3. Promote sustained economic and job growth and put the U.S. in a position to lead – not merely survive – in the international marketplace.

We are going to have to tackle these problems, or they’re going to tackle us. My plan addresses all these issues at once because piecemeal, incremental “fixes” cannot match the magnitude, the urgency, and the interrelated nature of these challenges.

It’s an ambitious proposal. Not everyone will agree with every aspect of it, and that’s fine. But if nothing else, it’s my sincere hope that it will spur Congress to move beyond simply rehashing the problem – to debating and implementing actual solutions for the American people.

It is a real plan, with real proposals, real numbers to back them, and real legislation to implement it.

The details, including an independent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, is available here: American Roadmap