fumiyokohinata

Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Reference Frame: Reagan's Star Wars: 30 years ago

Ronald Reagan gave the following 30-minute talk on March 23rd, 1983, i.e. 30 years ago:

Most of the talk is about the motivation and the situation. The very SDI comments begin at 25:00 or so.

The visionary SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) speech was arguably the most consequential presidential speech in the modern U.S. history. I am somewhat impressed by the depth of the technical arguments that Reagan offered.

In July 1979, Reagan would visit some defense folks in Colorado and they showed him that the Mutually Assured Destruction doctrine was the only possible conclusion. Ronald Reagan couldn't accept such an attitude and the speech above symbolized what he wanted to do to protect the civilians against the Soviet-led attacks from outer space and change the doctrine.

I was 10 years old, I spoke no English, and today was actually the first time I listened to the speech above. But I remember that during a gym class, when I was a 3rd grader or a 4th grader, at the 21st Elementary School in Pilsen with an extended education of languages (Russian, in my case then), we suddenly had to listen to a bizarre scary speech in the school radio sometimes in 1983 or 1984 or so.

We were told that the international situation got worsened a lot and a war could be imminent. Of course, we were told about the imperialist warmongers all the time but this was the only time when I heard an announcement fully dedicated to a possibly looming war.

I have never reconstructed the date of that bizarre announcement or the reason behind it. Now, it seems plausible that Reagan's speech was what sparked the school radio announcement. Some commies at our school could have gotten anxious that the American imperialists could get really strong now and it's necessary to upgrade the war preparations and war rhetoric (although we've never heard anything that would be so pro-war as the North Korean propaganda we observe these days: the official propaganda would always paint us as the "camp of peace" while the capitalist world were the "warmongers").

At any rate, this was the impact of Reagan's speech on the Soviet politicians. Arms races escalated and they effectively led to the surrender of the Soviet Union. It has overspent the money for arms races. This caused some problems in the economy and that helped Gorbachev to be elected and ultimately terminate the totalitarian Cold War era in the Soviet Union ? and, indirectly, in the whole Soviet bloc.

Many people ? especially left-wingers ? have been trying to humiliate the SDI. In 1987, the American Physical Society joined these critics and questioned whether the SDI is allowed by the laws of physics. But it's clear that "something like that" may be immensely useful and nowadays, similar technologies belong to the responsible defense strategists' standard toolkit. The critics usually employ excessively high standards when they evaluate the SDI. They say that because the technology can't be perfectly reliable under all circumstances, it's useless. But nothing in the real world is perfectly reliable but we are still using many things and they are useful.

Also, the critics who said that Reagan would effectively revive an "offensive mode" of the arms races have ultimately been proved wrong. SDI is clearly a defense technology and while it temporarily led the Soviets to be even more offensive in their strategic planning, this had to collapse and this did collapse, leading the world to the end of the Cold War. I would summarize the U.S. critics' motivation by saying that the real reason why most of them were annoyed was that they wanted the Soviet Union to prevail and Reagan's plan made that outcome less likely. They were commies. In fact, Obama's administration is the first Democratic administration after Reagan that accepted that SDI is a good idea. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel proposed to increase the GBIs on Friday.

Before the SDI plans managed to undermine the Soviet empire, the CIA has played an effective misinformation game. The Soviets have spent lots of money on similar anti-rockets, too. X-rays were planned to be the defensive bullets. Most of these devices remained on paper but the implications of these papers were damn tangible and damn far-reaching.

Source: http://motls.blogspot.com/2013/03/reagans-star-wars-30-years-ago.html

chuck series finale welcome back kotter 2001 a space odyssey barefoot bandit polar bear plunge lovelace antioch

Create Online Success Right Now: Best Internet Based Business ...

Are you confused about what are the best internet based business ideas to settle for in 2013? It can be overwhelming for new comers to the internet marketing industry due to the seemingly thousands of different strategies that can be used to make money from home.

In this article we will go over a number of the most tried and test online business ideas to help keep you on the right track this year.

Selling Ebooks Online - Selling ebooks has long been one of the most popular ways of earning an income from home online. What appeals about this strategy is that you do not have to be present at the time of the sale and your customers simply purchase and downline your ebooks on the internet in an automated fashion. Ebook marketing is less lucrative in 2013, but the same process can be applied to video and audio products that have a higher perceived value today. You can either create your own ebooks from expertise you currently have or buy Master Resale Rights products to resell.

Affiliate Marketing - I think one of the best home based business ideas for beginners is with affiliate marketing. You do not have to deal with products yourself, do any product creation, or even have any communication with customers at all. As an affiliate marketer your task is to drive traffic on the internet to a proven affiliate offer that will pay you high commissions when product sales are made. High commissions is the key here. Look to promote high ticket items for the big commissions as it is so much easier to build a successful business that way compared to selling thousands of low priced ebooks as an affiliate.

Sell A Service Online - In a way a service is easier to sell than a product. Because an informational product can be quite generic and you need to persuade the customer that your training is what they need. Where as with a service such as content writing, web design, advertising etc., the client is already actively looking for people to do these tasks for them and you just need to solve their problem. The disadvantage of selling services as an internet based business idea for 2013 is that it is not very saleable. You need to manually deal with customers and carry out there work. I prefer affiliate marketing where you can make unlimited sales since you do not deal with customers yourself.

Hopefully this article has got some ideas floating around your head about the best way to make money in your home based business for 2013..

Source: http://iwanttolearninternetmarketing.blogspot.com/2013/03/best-internet-based-business-ideas-2013.html

Election 2012 map Election Results Map Early voting results BBC Dick Morris Daily Show provisional ballot

T-Mobile takes its UnCarrier plans live earlier than expected

T-Mobile must not want to wait for a special event to lure customers through its doors: it just launched its revamped, decidedly UnCarrier-like plans a couple of days early. As became clearer this weekend, unlimited voice, text and basic data are now things you can take for granted on Magenta's network. It's only the cap on throttle-free data that determines how much you pay: rates sold through T-Mobile itself start at $50 for a basic 500MB of online use and climb in steady 2GB increments that each cost an extra $10 per month, up to a total of 12.5GB for $110. You can still get truly unlimited service if you want, for $70 -- although you'll have to bolt on a separate hotspot plan that the capped tiers get for free. Costs at resellers are expected to run slightly higher, but it's still clear that T-Mobile is aggressively courting those of us who see internet access as the very reason to have a smartphone in the first place.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, T-Mobile

Comments

Via: TmoNews (Twitter), The Verge

Source: T-Mobile

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/C2FpfyPDJXA/

seal team 6 touch nitrous oxide rihanna thug life tattoo arizona governor patrick witt leprosy

Obama ending Mideast trip with tour of Petra

U.S. President Barack Obama, left, and Jordan's King Abdullah II, right, shake hands following their joint new conference at the King's Palace in Amman, Jordan, Friday, March 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

PETRA, Jordan (AP) ? Taking on the role of tourist, President Barack Obama walked through the winding, narrow pathways of Jordan's fabled ancient city of Petra on Saturday, gazed up at soaring cliffs of reddish rock and described the landscape with a single word: "Amazing."

"This is pretty spectacular," he said, craning his neck to gaze up at the rock faces as he emerged from a narrow pathway into a sun-splashed plaza in front of the grand Treasury. The soaring facade is considered the masterpiece of the ancient city carved into the rose-red stone by the Nabataeans more than 2,000 years ago.

The Bedouins named the building the Treasury because they believed an urn sculpted on top of it held great treasures, but they actually represented a memorial for Nabataean royalty. Bullet holes from people trying to retrieve the treasure are still visible in the urn at the top.

Dressed for the occasion in khaki pants, a black jacket, hiking boots and sunglasses, Obama began the walking tour at the entrance to the Siq, a narrow gorge winding between two, soaring cliffs into the heart of Petra. The pathway opens up onto the Treasury, then widens into a street where Nabataean burial chambers are carved into the mountains on both sides.

Marine One touched down near Petra on Saturday after an hour-long flight from Amman, Jordan's capital. Overcast skies in Amman had threatened to upend Obama's travel plans but the weather improved during the flight across Jordan's rugged countryside.

Petra was carved into the reddish rock by the Nabataeans, ancient Arabs who turned the city into a critical junction for the silk, spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome.

Petra is Jordan's most popular tourist attraction, drawing more than a half million visitors each year since 2007. It may be familiar to many people who saw the 1989 movie, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." Some scenes were filmed in the ancient city.

Obama's 24-hour visit to Jordan ? he arrived in the country on Friday ? is his final stop on a four-day trip to the Middle East, the first foreign excursion of his second term. It also was his first visit as president to Israel and Jordan.

Obama spent the bulk of his time in Israel, where held several meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought through a speech and other public remarks to reassure an anxious public that he is committed to the country's security.

He also made a brief stop in the West Bank city of Ramallah for meetings with Palestinian leaders.

In Amman, Obama met with King Abdullah II.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-23-Obama/id-0aeb7137c45f47d599ed5a3688db9af7

Gus Malzahn hyperemesis gravidarum miranda kerr BCS Bowls palestine powerball winner powerball winner

Achebe inspired generations of Nigerian writers

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) ? Nigerian author Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani was just 10 years old when she first read Chinua Achebe's groundbreaking novel "Things Fall Apart."

She devoured the rich use of Igbo proverbs in his book, which forever changed Africa's portrayal in literature.

That inspiration carried over into the creation of a pivotal character in her debut work, "I Do Not Come to You by Chance," which pulls readers into the dark and greedy world of Nigerian Internet scam artists.

"Like many contemporary Nigerian writers, I grew up on a literary diet that comprised a huge dose of Achebe's works," she said. "My parents were so proud of his accomplishments, and quoted the Igbo proverbs in his books almost as frequently as they quoted Shakespeare."

Achebe's death at the age of 82 was announced Friday by his publisher. His works inspired countless writers around the world, though the literary style of "Things Fall Apart," first published in 1958, particularly transformed the way novelists wrote about Africa.

Adewale Maja-Pearce, a literary critic who succeeded Achebe as the editor of Heinemann's African Writers Series, called him a pioneer whose "contribution is immeasurable."

In breaking with the Eurocentric lens of viewing the continent through the eyes of outsiders, Achebe took readers to a place full of complex characters who told their stories in their own words and style.

Achebe once wrote that a major goal "was to challenge stereotypes, myths, and the image of ourselves and our continent."

He resisted the idea that he was the father of modern African literature, recalling a rich and ancient tradition of storytelling on the continent. Still, his influence on younger writers of the late 20th and early 21st century, particularly those from his homeland, was undeniable.

"Achebe's influence has been completely seminal and inspirational, and there are writers that have been called the School of Achebe who have imitated his style," said Chukwuma Azuonye, professor of African and African Diaspora Literatures at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.

A newer crop of successful novelists with ties to Nigeria has broken away from Achebe's mode, Azuonye said, developing their own modernist style of writing that focuses on clashes of cultures and other issues facing Nigerians abroad.

Among those influenced by Achebe was Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who won the Orange Prize for Fiction for "Half of a Yellow Sun."

On Friday, she released an elegy she had written for Achebe in the Igbo language.

"Something has happened. Something big has happened. Chinua Achebe is gone. A great writer, a man of great wisdom, a man of good heart," she wrote.

"Who are we going to boast about? Who are we going to take out to the world? Who is going to guide us? A storm has passed! Tears fill my eyes.

"Chinua Achebe, go in peace. It is well with you. Go in peace."

Nigerian novelist Lola Shoneyin, whose works include "The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives," says Achebe's fiction gives her something new each time she reads his work.

"In the last five decades, just about every post-colonial African author, one way or another, has been engaged in a creative call-and-response with Chinua Achebe," she said.

Igoni Barrett, the author of a collection of stories called "From Caves of Rotten Teeth," said Achebe had achieved a "saintly status among Nigerian writers" through his pioneering involvement in the African Writers Series.

"Chinua Achebe was an inspiration to me not only for his singular talent and his dedication to truth in art and life, but also because he had the fortitude to overcome the countless disappointments of the Nigerian state," he said.

One of Senegal's best-known novelists, 66-year-old Boubacar Boris Diop, was in high school when he read "Things Fall Apart." He says that in it, he found "the real Africa."

"I systematically advise young authors to read Chinua Achebe. I've often bought copies of 'Things Fall Apart' and offered them to young writers. It's well written ? in the sense that it's not written at all. In it, you won't find any great lyrical phrases. That's the great force of this book. It's written in simple language," said Diop.

"He wrote about a continent that is far from perfect, but which at the same time has things within it that fill you with wonder."

___

Larson reported from Dakar Senegal. Associated Press writer Rukmini Callimachi also contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/achebe-inspired-generations-nigerian-writers-183301229.html

mary mary sag aftra merger dj am bully bohemian rhapsody bohemian rhapsody spike lee

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Federal sequester raises issues for exempt employees ? Business ...

Under the federal sequester, almost all government agencies must lop off billions from their budgets for the current fiscal year. This action may affect federal contractors, which would then be forced to rejigger their workforces through reduced hours, furloughs, etc.

Shuffling nonexempts? hours is pretty straightforward, since they only need to be paid for their working time. The problem is exempts, who, under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), must receive a full week?s pay if they do any work during the week. Nevertheless, if you?re caught in this vise, and even if you?re not, but are facing similar issues, you do have options.

Option #1?Reduced hours. Exempts must receive a guaranteed salary of at least $455 a week, regardless of whether they work part time or full time. You could, on a prospective basis only, reduce exempts? work schedules from, say, 52 five-day workweeks to 47 five-day workweeks and five four-day workweeks, with a corresponding reduction in pay during those five weeks.

In a 2009 Opinion Letter (FLSA 2009-18), the Department of Labor concluded that a fixed reduction in salary effective during a period when a company operates a shortened workweek due to economic conditions would be a bona fide reduction not designed to circumvent the salary basis test. In fact, any reduced schedule would probably pass muster, provided it was intended to be permanent. Watch out: Too many changes in exempts? schedules would probably nix the deal. Note: Opinion letters are intended as private advice to an inquiring employer. They may be used for informational purposes only; they may not be used or cited as precedent.

Option #2?Partial-week furloughs or shutdowns. FLSA regulations allow you to require that exempts take a paid full or partial day off provided you have a bona fide benefits plan, and exempts continue to receive payments equal to their guaranteed salary. Trap: Exempts who would run out of accrued time, so that debiting their leave banks would result in a negative balance, or those who have already run out of accrued time, must be paid their full salaries.

Option #3?Full-week furloughs or shutdowns. The FLSA rule is that exempts don?t need to be paid if you shut down for an entire week. They may use their vacation time, if they have any. Key: Working can encompass simple tasks such as responding to email. Therefore, you must clearly communicate to exempts that they are not to work, and define the work they?re not supposed to do. If necessary, have them turn in their company-issued smartphones or laptops and disable their remote access to the server.

PAYROLL PRACTICE TIP: State laws covering exempt employees can vary widely from the FLSA, so you should check those laws. In addition, all furloughed employees may be eligible for COBRA, so it would also be wise to touch base with your COBRA administrator.

Like what you've read? ...Republish it and share great business tips!

Attention: Readers, Publishers, Editors, Bloggers, Media, Webmasters and more...

We believe great content should be read and passed around. After all, knowledge IS power. And good business can become great with the right information at their fingertips. If you'd like to share any of the insightful articles on BusinessManagementDaily.com, you may republish or syndicate it without charge.

The only thing we ask is that you keep the article exactly as it was written and formatted. You also need to include an attribution statement and link to the article.

" This information is proudly provided by Business Management Daily.com: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/34948/federal-sequester-raises-issues-for-exempt-employees "

Source: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/34948/federal-sequester-raises-issues-for-exempt-employees

evan longoria john edwards conocophillips capitals ryan braun bryce harper may day