How does a story get Density?

1986 to 2009
By Pat Darnell and the Herd

The Pope goes to Africa. He stands before one million Africans in a white garb and a pointy hat. He says to all the mothers of Africa... "Condoms alone will not save you from AIDS."

The Pope is actually halfway correct. Though his followup is shaky -- "Abstinence, my children. That is the only sure way to prevent contracting AIDS..."

The truth is that condoms alone, in a population that has no resources for prevention or long term health care of innocent victims, will not prevent any epidemic of a sexually transmitted disease. This disorder appears in human history many times.

The Catholic Church rejects the use of condoms as part of its overall teaching against artificial contraception. Senior Vatican officials have advocated fidelity in marriage and abstinence from premarital sex as key weapons in the fight against AIDS.

The late Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo made headlines in 2003 for saying that condoms may help spread AIDS through a false sense of security, claiming they weren't effective in blocking transmission of the virus. The cardinal, who died last year, headed the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family. [SOURCE]

Three-quarters of all AIDS deaths worldwide in 2007 were in sub-Saharan Africa, where some 22 million people are infected with HIV — accounting for two-thirds of the world's infections, according to UNAIDS. (VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer Victor L. Simpson, Associated Press Writer; On Africa trip, pope says condoms won't solve AIDS – Tue Mar 17, [SOURCE])

But -- we are exploring the density of this story, right?

Back in 1986, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop spoke the truth when he said “....the best protection against [HIV] infection right now – barring abstinence – is use of a condom. A condom should be used during sexual relations, from start to finish, with anyone who you know or suspect is infected.” Lost in the controversy that has ensued during the two decades that have followed Dr. Koop’s courageous stand is the truth about this innovative piece of medical technology, not so much from intentional misstatement by its opponents as from editing and obfuscation that have confused what is a relatively simple issue. [SOURCE]

Without background, this story could never make any sense. Africans think the Pope is making a hard line statement about Catholic Doctrine for anti-birth-control. In truth the Pope is applying logic, statistics and patterns of human behavior to the question of prevention of spreading AIDS in Africa. A condom alone makes no difference in the over all numbers of victims, in a population like Africa's present populace.

A non-US made condom costs 3 cents.... uhhh is there a question about the nonexistent income of a single mother parent... and her vulnerability? African indigenous women, maybe, make three cents a week. How many times-a-week is the matron expected to put out sex? The Pope, God love him, is not half wrong; but the African opposition is 100% wrong. And all the Cardinals are out of the loop. Both abstinence, condoms, and fidelity including no adolescent or premarital sex will slow down AIDS, maybe.

Can I get a witness? This story is DENSE.

Parents...

You’ll Screw Up!
By Bryan Eisenberg
March 30th, 2009
SOURCE

At around 1:20pm, while presenting at the “Survival of the Fittest 2.0″ session at Search Engine Strategies last Tuesday, I get the text message from my wife “I am in labor.” At 11:32 pm Matthew David Eisenberg joined our family. Baby and mom are doing well. My daughter and other son are enamored with our new addition.

Driving home that night from the hospital brought memories of my Mom and Dad and their great words of wisdom around parenting. “Your job as a parent is to screw up your child the least possible.” We are human and we are going to make mistakes; no child, no parent is perfect. It’s easy to look back and see where we made those poor decisions but the value comes when you start identifying those things “in the moment” and are able to make the changes so as not to repeat the past. It isn’t uncommon to find a first time parent who took the time to read the books, or take the classes on the grand theory of parenting only to be rudely awakened at the “real-time results.”

So why am I providing you with parenting advice on GrokDotCom? Because the lesson applies equally to your online marketing efforts. You’ll screw up and just like we shared during the “Survival of the Fittest” session to succeed you need to learn to be nimble and make changes on the fly. The key is to plan on optimizing, you don’t succeed with a set it and leave it mentality. What’s your plan for continuous improvement?

Join me in wishing Matthew much success in his life and in hoping I screw up as little as possible.

Why does MooPig like to pick on the late Brian Jones?

by Pat Darnell and Why Ikki Peed Ya


Both Jones's parents were interested in music — his mother Louisa was a piano teacher — and this had a profound effect on him. In addition to his job as an aeronautical engineer, Lewis Jones played piano and organ and led the choir at the local church. Jones eventually took up the clarinet, becoming first clarinet in his school orchestra at 14.

Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English guitarist and founding member of the English rock group The Rolling Stones. Jones was known for his use of multiple instruments, fashionable mod image, recreational drug excesses and his death at age 27.

...earning high marks in all of his classes while doing little work. He enjoyed badminton and diving but otherwise was not skilled at sports. In 1957, Jones reportedly obtained nine O-levels passes. Despite academic ability, however, he found school regimented and he refused to conform. He was known to eschew wearing the school uniforms and angered teachers with his behaviour, though he was popular among students.

In the spring of 1959, Jones's 14-year-old girlfriend, a Cheltenham schoolgirl named Valerie Corbett, became pregnant. Supposedly Jones encouraged her to have an abortion, but she placed the baby boy up for adoption with an infertile couple.[3] Corbett later married one of Jones's friends, author Graham Ride.

Brian quit school in disgrace and left home, supposedly traveling through northern Europe and Scandinavia for a summer. During this period, he lived a bohemian lifestyle, playing guitar on the streets for money, living off the kindness of others.

Jones grew up listening to classical music, but he preferred blues, (particularly Elmore James and Robert Johnson). He began playing at local blues and jazz clubs in addition to busking and working odd jobs. He was also known to steal small amounts of money to pay for cigarettes, which tended to get him fired...

Jones placed an advertisement in the 2 May 1962 Jazz News (a Soho club information sheet) inviting musicians to audition for a new R&B group at the Bricklayers Arms pub; pianist Ian "Stu" Stewart was the first to respond. Later singer Mick Jagger also joined this band; Jagger and his childhood friend Keith Richards had met Jones when he and Paul Jones were playing Elmore James' "Dust My Broom" with Korner's band at The Ealing Club.[8] Jagger brought guitarist Richards to rehearsals; Richards then joined the band. Jones's and Stewart's acceptance of Richards and the Chuck Berry songs he wanted to play coincided with the departure of blues purists Geoff Bradford and Brian Knight, who had no tolerance for Chuck Berry

The GATTACA Way: "March Mad-Scientist-ness"

PHOTO: Ask Brian Jones --
"Hey, Mr Jones, would I make a good Gigolo?"
"Uhhhh, I dunno -- let me check your jeans."

Chicago (IL) - Researchers are beginning to identify the genes which makeup a person's physical traits, including facial structure, skin tone, hair and eye color and more. The technology could be employed in the future in a Gattaca-like way, allowing a genetic approximation of your true appearance merely from a DNA sample. (HERE)

With one eye on his dream of working in outer space, a genetically flawed "In-Valid" (Ethan Hawke) hires a DNA broker (Tony Shalhoub) to help him obtain more desirable genetic material from a paralyzed man (Jude Law). In the process, he meets and falls in love with a beautiful "Valid" (Uma Thurman) with a heart defect. Screenwriter Andrew Niccol also directs this futuristic thriller, which marks his debut in the feature-length realm. GATTACA/ 1997

(TG Daily: Retrieved HERE) An article appearing on the Wall Street Journal today suggests this technology could be used by police to create a physical description of a criminal when only a DNA trace is left behind. However, I believe this story has far broader implications.

Scientists discovering more about genetic cues and a person's physical traits
General Sciences, | By Rick C. Hodgin | Friday, March 27, 2009

In the movie Gattaca, DNA was used to classify individuals into their capabilities and limitations before birth. It was already known, based on their DNA profile alone, how much potential a given individual had.

A weak heart, for example, might limit their abilities to be strong laborers. A shorter individual might not do so well in sports, etc. All of these cues were taken by genetic markers -- and in the movie the entire society had been adapted into this way of thinking. They even had a term for people who stepped outside of their genetic profile illegally -- they were called broken ladders.

The technology is still very primitive compared to that movie. In 2004, police used a crime-scene DNA sample to correctly identify a black man who had been described by eye-witnesses as white. In England, forensic services has a similar "ethnic inference" test for murders and rapists. [MooPig would like to add here: "...and Ellen DeGeneres."]

Are we the sum of our genetic code? Or is there something more?

My fear is that when science identifies the genes which mark an individual's traits to a sufficient degree, the answer to that question will no longer matter as scientists and politicians will be unable to stop themselves from categorizing people based on their genetic markers alone -- rather than accomplishments or worldly influences or circumstances which might encourage them in alternate directions. (IBID)

WRESTLEMANIA is 25 Years Old

HOUSTON; we have SMackDown... and we're not talking Geese down now...
Retrieved by Pat Darnell | [HERE]

"Land it in the Bayou... Co-Pilot to Sky Pilot of Comic Books come to life," they say in Houston. Wrestlemania Celebrates 25 Years In Houston -
Written by jstrike on Mar-12-09

On Sunday April 5, 2009 the WWE will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its biggest annual spectacle. Wrestlemania 25 will take place in the Reliant Center in Houston, TX and the WWE is lining up some high octane action and some head turning drama to make this Wrestlemania well worth the pay per view price.

Wrestlemania conjures up the memories of such legendary wrestlers as Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and of course the late Andre the Giant. This year's Wrestlemania will not only pay homage to the great Wrestlemania's of the past but it also promises to make some unforgettable memories of its own.

Triple H will defend his WWE championship against the legend killer Randy Orton in what promises to be a spectacular main event. When Randy Orton knocked Triple H's wife Stephanie unconscious this match became more of a grudge match than a championship match.

As with any Wrestlemania there will be several championship matches. The Big Show challenges Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship and the Money In The Bank match will determine who will be the next challenger for the heavyweight championship. But the match to watch will be the match between two long time Wrestlemania veterans when Shawn Michaels squares off against the ghoulish Undertaker. Michaels is probably one of the only superstars to not be intimidated by the Undertaker and with years of Wrestlemania experience between these two combatants this promises to be a great match and a great anniversary celebration of the Wrestlemanias gone by.

WANTED: Fugue Writer

The new Jazz Rock Opera Epic -- GAZA -- needs urgently a Fugue Writer


Want to more likely than not earn $0.01 per half-day for the rest of your life?

Need a new source of stump and root extraction?

This might be for you!

Pivotal to the success of its newest endeavor, the "MooPig Enterprises Jazz Operaepic Division of Northern Hemisphere EastWest by MiddEast, EWXME" depends on someone to write a fugue in the Bach tradition.
Are you that person. You must be half out of your mind, and half-deaf... to help with the Beethoven angle, should the four part fugue become an eight part fugue in escalation.

If so please send MooPig Enterprises nonrefundable $399.99 [or 4 payments of $99.00] with your resume, and we will put that in our children's college trust funds. If your qualifications are even nearly standard, and you seem like an amicable person, we might consider your resume. But don't take our word for it... look at the treatment Here:

PART SIX
[We do not know how to write a Fugue, so here follows a treatment of suppositions for four timbres for the 4 parts of the work... when someone writes it.]

Ads Paid for in Part by "Science is the Hive Mind: Music is the Petrie Dish," "Pandemic of the Rings" and the "Kosha Kielbasa Bushwasright International, KKBI" and the "Author T MacArthur Return On Investment Foundation."
Sponsored by "MooPig Irrational Numbers: Let's Keep It that Way"

Silly Me: I forgot to Google "Fugue Writer" [thanks Dr J]

Vacation Like the Kennedy's

To: fella
If she opens her mouth she is dead.

That would be Mary Pinchot Meyer, a JFK gal toy who turned up a pincushion, with connections both to the CIA through her husband, CIA officer Cord Meyer, and to then-Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, Mary's brother-in-law.

Those of use who can't afford to vacation like the Kennedy's are destined to view it on YouTube... no?


Like yogurt and the Kennedy's bimbos: they must be eliminated when they've passed their 'use by' dates?

We Pause this Blog for an Ultimate Parody: "It's the Castaway Economy"

It's not ham, its not the cabinet, not the oil and not Osama
No, not those...
Not bacon, cheese, hot dogs... not green eggs and ham
not T-shirts or chewing gum
or bands on the run...
Nothing about twelve stepping sober addicts...
not about ALANON;
It has to do with GDP
and poorly conceived
foundation for financial sham
so keep an eye out
for Greenspan and O'bam

by Pat Darnell





“This is unquestionably the worst global economic crisis since the 1930s”
Posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
By bsetser
So writes Martin Wolf. And despite some signs of hope this morning, he is certainly right.

The IMF’s latest global forecast leaves no doubt on this point. The IMF should be commended for dropping its usually measured language when circumstances, unfortunately, call for candid, vigorous prose. The IMF’s note for the G-20:

“The prolonged financial crisis has battered global activity beyond what was previously anticipated. Global GDP is estimated to have fallen by an unprecedented 5% in the fourth quarter (annualized), led by the advanced economies, which contracted by 7%. GDP declined by around 6% in both the United States and Europe, while it plummeted at a post-war record of 13% in Japan. Growth also plunged across a broad swath of emerging economies … against this backdrop, global activity is expected to contract in 2009 for the first time in 60 years.” (emphasis added)

Both the IMF and World Bank are now forecasting an outright fall in global output in 2009, with a larger contraction than previously forecast in the advanced economies and sharply lower expected growth in the emerging world. I am not sure that even Nouriel Roubini was forecasting an outright fall in global output a year ago. Anything below 2% is generally considered a global recession.
__________________
Suggested Reading:

The Castaway
by William Cowper
[Retrieved HERE]

Obscurest night involved the sky,
The Atlantic billows roared,
When such a destined wretch as I,
Washed headlong from on board,
Of friends, of hope, of all bereft,
His floating home for ever left.

No braver chief could Albion boast
Than he with whom he went,
Nor ever ship left Albion's coast,
With warmer wishes sent.
He loved them both, but both in vain,
Nor him beheld, nor her again.

Not long beneath the whelming brine,
Expert to swim, he lay;
Nor soon he felt his strength decline,
Or courage die away;
But waged with death a lasting strife,
Supported by despair of life.

He shouted: nor his friends had failed
To check the vessel's course,
But so the furious blast prevailed,
That, pitiless perforce,
They left their outcast mate behind,
And scudded still before the wind.

Some succour yet they could afford;
And, such as storms allow,
The cask, the coop, the floated cord,
Delayed not to bestow.
But he (they knew) nor ship, nor shore,
Whate'er they gave, should visit more.

Nor, cruel as it seemed, could he
Their haste himself condemn,
Aware that flight, in such a sea,
Alone could rescue them;
Yet bitter felt it still to die
Deserted, and his friends so nigh.

He long survives, who lives an hour
In ocean, self-upheld;
And so long he, with unspent power,
His destiny repelled;
And ever, as the minutes flew,
Entreated help, or cried - Adieu!

At length, his transient respite past,
His comrades, who before
Had heard his voice in every blast,
Could catch the sound no more.
For then, by toil subdued, he drank
The stifling wave, and then he sank.

No poet wept him: but the page
Of narrative sincere,
That tells his name, his worth, his age,
Is wet with Anson's tear.
And tears by bards or heroes shed
Alike immortalize the dead.

I therefore purpose not, or dream,
Descanting on his fate,
To give the melancholy theme
A more enduring date:
But misery still delights to trace
Its semblance in another's case.

No voice divine the storm allayed,
No light propitious shone;
When, snatched from all effectual aid,
We perished, each alone:
But I beneath a rougher sea,
And whelmed in deeper gulfs than he.


William Cowper | Classic Poems
[ The Castaway ] [ Epitaph on a Hare ] [ Light shining out of darkness ] [ The Poplar-Field ]

Whale Fin Drag

Retrieved by PD and School



Anonymous csven said...

"Mr. Colani ignores these facts"

I'd be surprised if Colani merely ignored facts considering he studied aerospace engineering and once worked for McDonnell-Douglas. While I might be mistaken, I recall reading that he's also included in a patent covering inverted airfoil-shaped racing cars (thus improving high-speed traction/handling). He certainly doesn't follow conventional thinking, but then neither did the Wright brothers.

I will agree with the "shape is critical" part. However, recent breakthroughs relating to drag on the fins of whales suggest that Colani could have gotten quite a bit wilder with his shapes. I'm relatively certain my aerospace professors would have categorically dismissed whale fin-inspired shapes; and they would have been wrong to do so. We'll have to see what comes of those developments (though we should see wind-turbines with "tubercles" from Whalepower Inc fairly soon).

-

I recall seeing all these designs while an industrial design student. Still inspiring.
[source]

Whales, Dolphins Inspire Wind Turbine Tech
Jessica Marshall, Discovery News

July 11, 2008 -- Whales' and dolphins' speed and agility are wondrous to behold -- finely tuned by evolution for efficiency and maneuverability in the water. Now researchers are working to translate these animals' natural innovations into manmade technologies on land, air and sea.

Frank Fish of West Chester University in Pennsylvania began to study the humpback whale fin while on vacation in Boston in the early 1980s, where he saw a statue of a humpback whale in a shop in Quincy Market. He assumed it was sculpted incorrectly, because the figure showed bumps along the front edge of the flipper.

"It just didn't make sense," Fish said. One of the cardinal lessons of fluid mechanics is that the leading edge of a fin or wing needs to be smooth to create the flow that provides lifting force. [SOURCE]

The Haunted Comet

by Pat Darnell

It's Friday. Okay then, here we are all sitting around the campfire. Ever hear the one about the haunted hollow log and the Big Mouth Frog?

Just kidding.

Hey, we could talk about pet peeves. I have some peeves: such as over-used words and phrases... eh? Do you want to know which ones?

• ...Scenario
• Must see
• Suhweeeettt
• half off
• 43 dimensions of compatibility --eeeehhhaaarmoney dot com
• I'm bored
• Stay with me [as in death scenes in movies] "Stay with me, Chuck, stay with me; look at me!!!"
• child support...

... just to give you an idea of what I am peeved at all the time. How about you?

Truth is if I could understand more song lyrics, I would definitely have more words\phrases to be peeved with.

MooPig's REAL Men Division: "Show me a pile of rubble: and I'll build you a Battleship, you Terrorist Sons of Bitches!"

[Unconfirmed SOURCE]
by Pat Darnell


USS New York

It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center.

It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, 2003, "those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence," recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. "It was a spiritual moment f or everybody there."

Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the "hair on my neck stood up. It had a big meaning to it for all of us," he said. "They knocked us down.They can't keep us down. We're going to be back."

The ship's motto? 'Never Forget'

Please keep this going so everyone can see what we are made of in this country. Even if it is half true, it is good for morale... no?