New study confirms why Jessica Alba is sexy.

Jessica Alba has the perfect wiggle, study says   Jessica Alba, the film actress, has the ultimate sexy strut, according to a team of Cambridge mathematicians. The academics found that it is the ratio between hips and waist that puts the sway into a woman's walk - and the nearer that ratio is to 0.7, the better. This ratio provides the body with the right torso strength to produce a more angular swing and bounce to the hips during the walking motion….

 

Read the full  story here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/25/nwiggle125.xml

 

 

 

What nerds.  She is hot and it has nothing to do with math.

 

Do you believe that 20% of Americans cannot locate the United States on a Map?

I guess a recent survey indicates that 20% of Americans cannot locate our country on a world map.    Here is an expert on the subject giving an explanation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

 

Here is what we can take from this:

The US lacks maps

It’s “The Iraq” like “The OC”

Our geographical illiteracy has something to do with helping “The Iraq” and South Africa.

“Saved by the Bell”  might have been the best gig Mario Lopez ever had.

 

 

 

Housing Bailout

From 2001-2007 I watched and laughed as foolishness prevailed in the housing lending industry. As property values boomed, lenders were happy to put an un-qualified chump in a loan that everyone knew would only go up. Nobody saved, everybody borrowed more than they could afford, lenders gave loans to people who they should not have, and interest rates were at 40 year lows or something like that. Meanwhile I paid a premium for a conventional fixed mortgage, saved what I could, and thought that my responsible actions would carry me into the future. We’ll it turns out I’m the stupid chump. The Givernment is going to bail the lenders and the borrowers out with my tax money.

The argument is going to be that a collapse of the housing and financial services market will bring down the economy. I call it a correction of the overinflated unsustainable bubble.

Michelle has the details:

http://michellemalkin.com/2007/08/24/the-democrat-clamor-for-a-housing-bailout/

Honest Reflection on Michael Vick

Here is an excerpt from an article about Michael Vick getting involved in dog fighting.    The author is suggesting that Vick can be a lesson to all athletes about the dangers of letting street life and unsavory friends bring you down from your American dream.    It also touches on the anti-intellectualism prevalent in black American culture.

 

 

This should make us mad!

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican Senate committee passed a measure Wednesday urging President Felipe Calderon to send a diplomatic note to the United States protesting the deportation of an illegal migrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year.

The committee also approved a scholarship to help her 8-year-old U.S.-born son, Saul, who is an American citizen and stayed in the United States.

Elvira Arellano, 32, became an activist and a national symbol for illegal immigrant parents by defying her deportation order and speaking out from her sanctuary in the Adalberto United Methodist Church. She announced last week that she was leaving to try to lobby U.S. lawmakers for immigration reform.

On Sunday, shortly after she spoke at a rally in a Los Angeles church, she was arrested and deported to Tijuana, across the border from San Diego.

"We cannot remain quiet in view of this injustice and must ask for firm action from our authorities," Mexican Sen. Humberto Zazue said.

He accused the United States of violating international deportation accords by denying her access to the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles.

"For me it is very important that our government take a strong stand to defend all of us who decide to migrate to another country," she said.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-08-23-mexico-immigration_N.htm?csp=34

My reation

The scholarship money should go directly to the school district educating the boy.

The Mexican Senate should be working to solve the problems causing the mass emigration rather than incredulously demanding citizenship rights for illegals.

Note the last quote where Elvira says it is important that “our government take a strong stand…” I agree that the Government needs to take a strong stand. The US Government needs to stop allowing illegal immigrants to enter the country with impunity and consuming social welfare resources. The Mexican Government needs to fix its own economy and government that relegates a nation with limitless potential to a and third-world backwards nation where people are dying to escape.

Blu Ray vs. HD-DVD

So it was announced this week that Paramount and DreamWorks animation has agreed to release high-definition movies only in the HD-DVD  format.  Quickly, industry insiders wondered how HD-DVD might have pulled off this impressive blow to Blu Ray (Paramount was previously a supporter of both HD-DVD and Blu Ray).  Well it seems that good old fashion payola might be the basis for this decision.  Allegedly the studio was paid $100m to release only HD-DVD titles over the next 18 months.  Of course, nobody is admitting that there was pay to play.

 

Before this announcement, Blu Ray was starting to take the frontrunner position in the battle to become the standard next generation format.  Universal was the only movie studio not producing Blu Ray titles and watchers were waiting for them to change position to declare Blu Ray the winner.  Now it seems HD-DVD has closed the gap.  Paramount and Dreamworks will offer some great titles that will be available on HD-DVD only, including Shrek the Third and possibly Transformers.    These titles will be  up against Blu Ray only Spider Man and Pirates of the Caribbean this holiday season, putting all 4 of the years $300m movies head to head in the high definition disc battleground.  

 

As a side note, Michael Bay who directed Transformers said that he will not make the sequel for Paramount if they don’t release his movie in Blu Ray.  He has since recanted and is now towing the company line supporting HD-DVD.   Stephen Spielberg is also cautiously and diplomatically sitting on the fence with a potential to impact the industry’s direction     

 

 

Further Reading:

http://www.whatpc.co.uk/vnunet/news/2197185/paramount-paid-drop-blu-ray

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/desperation-move-cash-grab-or-intensified-blu-rayhd-dvd-format-war/

 

Just so you are aware, I don’t blog this subject often as I blog to take my mind off of work related things, but this subject is very near and dear to my profession and I dare say my companies future.

 

Fred Thompson on Federalism

Fred Thompson explains the benefits of Federalism as envisioned by the framers. We are worse off if we continue to expect the Federal Giverment to be involved in every issue.

http://www.imwithfred.com/Principles/PrinciplesSummary.aspx

With that in mind:

Why is it that Bush gets the blamed for Katrina? What about the Governor of the State and the Mayor of the City? What about holding people accountable for their choice to stay? What is a reasonable time for a Federal response to a National Disaster? Is a citizen responsible for his own protection/preservation during an emergency situation? Do 2^nd amendment rights help ensure that the citizen is able to protect himself?

Why does Bush get the heat the failing Educational system? No Child Left Behind was bi-partisan effort and education spending under Bush is up over Clinton’s. Never mind that it is an unfunded mandate; Why is the Federal Giverment even involved in education in the first place? I don’t see it mentioned in the Constitution. How much money do we have to throw at the incompetent and corrupt educational bureaucracy to get results? Although the Federal Government only funds about 9% of the cost of schools, this portion has almost doubled in the past generation and there are no signs of stopping this expansion.

Let’s look at some other Federal programs with dubious legitimacy in the constitution;

Social Security: I won’t even contend that this program is unconstitutional. That debate was decided in 1937 with the Supreme Court legitimizing the program according to the general taxation powers of Congress, even though this was decided during the crisis times of the Depression. Regardless, is the Social Security program solvent for the future? Is it providing acceptable benefits to recipients now? Will it in the future? Is it another example of a unwieldy Federal bureaucracy that mismanages my tax dollar and underperforms? Answer: it’s the biggest governmental program in the world.

Healthcare: Does the Constitution mention an individual’s right to healthcare or a Government obligation to provide universal healthcare to all? Leave it to the states to reform healthcare insurance if necessary. If the Fed’s get involved, medical innovation and quality of care will suffer. The best remedy to cure the ailing healthcare system is economic competition rather than reduced Government regulation.

Environment: I am not a fan of pollution or over-consumption. We need to respect our Earth and ensure the sustainability of our environment for future generations. However, we need to be careful not to derail our economy by imposing overburdening environmental restrictions and limitations. I fear that an emotional response to the theory of human caused global warming by the Federal Government will lead to anti-competitive business practices in the country.

Immigration; A glimmer of hope for Congressional restraint:

Ironically Congress is showing restraint on a task the Constitution expressly charges Congress to take care of:“To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions” (Article I Section 8).

I guess they are too busy working on things they shouldn’t be to take care of the things they are supposed to.

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

Monty Python fans need wonder no longer.  Here is the definitive answer to the question that has plagued us all for so long.

 

http://www.style.org/unladenswallow/

 

 

Drinking Bottled Water like Driving a Hummer

Drinking bottled water has an impact on the environment and increases our dependency on oil. 

 

Here is an article that explains the effect and recommends drinking good-old tap water.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20095510/

 

If people are serious about the environment/ human caused global warming / pollution, they need to look carefully at many of the ways they might be contributing to the problem without knowing it.

 

I know I have grown lazy lately grabbing a bottle instead of filling a glass.