Israel's Raid on Saddam's Nuclear Reactor (1981)

How the Dutch Became Water Architects

NRC: "1953 flood survivors see much wrong with the film version", by Kester Freriks

People who lived through the 1953 North Sea flood were given a special viewing Sunday of The Storm, the first feature-length movie to be made about the disaster. They saw much that was at odds with reality.

A scene from The Storm; the movie was filmed on location in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Many survivors of the 1953 North Sea flood in Zeeland province had no wish to see the premiere of The Storm, director Ben Sombogaart's movie version of the biggest natural disaster in Dutch history. "I didn't want to go through all that again," said one women who was a rescue worker in 1953. "But when I heard that it was movie and not a documentary with real news footage, I decided to go anyway."

On the night of 31 January – 1 February 1953 many dykes in the south of the Netherlands failed to resist the combination of spring tide and a northwesterly storm. The resulting floods put large parts of the provinces South-Holland, Zeeland and North-Brabant under water, killing 1,835 people and forcing the evacuation of 70,000 more. The storm also affected England, Belgium, Denmark and France, and left another 700 people dead there. (...)



Although it has been more than fifty years, the disaster is still very much alive in the southwestern Netherlands. Now that there is talk of returning a piece of reclaimed land, the Hedwige polder, to the sea - to compensate for the environmental damage from dredging the shipping lane to the port of Antwerp - history, cinema and political reality seem to have come together. (...) >>>

Here's the real thing breaking news in 1953:



- Slideshow of the film
- Slideshow of the disaster
- Flood Museum
- site of "Deltaworks", the infrastructure of levees, dams and dikes
- wiki "Deltaworks"

The Unsung Hero Who Fed the World

Open Market: "The Man Who Fed the World", by Greg Conko

He may have saved a billion people from starvation, but, if you asked a random sample of reasonably well educated Americans who Norman Borlaug was, they’d probably answer, “Norman who?”

I’ll tell you Norman who. His biographer, Leon Hesser, called him the Man Who Fed the World. Science reporter Gregg Easterbrook called him the Forgotten Benefactor of Humanity. I’ve called him a Modern Prometheus. And comedians Penn and Teller said (well, mostly Penn said) that he was the greatest human being who ever lived.

Norman Borlaug was an American agricultural scientist and plant breeder whose work sparked what is now known as the Green Revolution. He was recognized with countless scientific and humanitarian awards, including, in 1970, the Nobel Peace Prize. Quite tragically, he died of cancer yesterday, at the age of 95.

Borlaug was born on a small farm in Cresco, Iowa in 1914 and developed an interest in applying science and technology to agriculture during the Depression-era dustbowl that desiccated the Great Plains in the first half of the 1930s. He went off to study forestry and plant pathology — and compete on the wrestling team — at the University of Minnesota in 1933. He eventually would complete a Master’s and Ph.D. at the U of M, after brief stints with the U.S. Forest Service that periodically interrupted his studies. After completing his Ph.D. in 1942, Borlaug worked for two years at DuPont, contributing scientific research for the war effort. (...) 

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Related:

The Washington Times: "EDITORIAL: The humanitarian the greens hated - Enabling life isn't on the environmentalist agenda"

Norman Borlaug valued humanity and had confidence in the capabilities and aspirations of human beings. He applied his intellect and energy in ways that allowed millions of people to live longer, better lives. He truly was a great humanitarian, in every sense of the word. No wonder the environmentalists hate him so (...) >>>

"A New America", the Movie

The United States economy reached a meltdown point in September 2008. A Republican President and Democratic Congress passed a massive bill to bail out banks. Many Americans were shocked that the wealthiest country in the world could be in so much financial trouble overnight. This financial crisis occurred at a point when many Americans were already looking for change in their government and an election provided the opportunity.

Then Candidate Barack Obama promised to turn the page and take America in a new direction. A majority of voters were receptive to this message. Congressional leaders pledged to work with their new President to help his vision become reality.

Americans made a similar choice in 1932, when the economy was in a serious downturn. Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised a New Deal for America, a series of government programs to turn the economy around. FDR is credited by many historians for having spared the United States from drifting towards the totalitarianism that swept through Europe and other parts of the world at that time.

Barack Obama began his term in office in an atmosphere of heady optimism, in the wake of Abraham Lincoln. Many pointed to the Presidents agenda as the New New Deal and Barack Obama himself promised fundamental change.

And one cold January day, we embarked on the path to a new America...



- A New America Movie official website
- A New America Movie on Facebook
- A New America Movie on YouTube

Related:

On Politeia: "Which New America, Which New World"

"A New America", the Movie (II)

9/11: "The Falling Man"

Today on The Lighthouse the 9/11 special "The Falling Man", powerfully introduced on Pajamas TV's Trifecta in ""Never Forget" Means Never Forgetting".

Chet Baker: "My Funny Valentine"

Morbid Obama Syndrome & the World of Art

Commentary Magazine: "The Art of Obama Worship", by Michael J. Lewis

Of all the images hurled forth by the last presidential election, none will live longer than Shepard Fairey’s poster of a red, white, and blue Barack Obama, gazing significantly into the distance, resting atop the single word Hope. It had already been embossed into the national consciousness as the definitive image of Obama even before it was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery and appeared as the cover of Time’s “Person of the Year” issue. His poignant mien seemed to encapsulate all his personality and promise, an expression that was at once solemn, pensive, yearning, and ever so slightly sorrowful. With good reason the critic Peter Schjeldahl termed it “the most efficacious American political illustration since ‘Uncle Sam Wants You.’”

Campaign posters are discarded like yesterday’s newspaper the morning after an election, but not in the case of Obama. If anything, the demand for posters bearing his image has only grown. A recent New York Times front-page story highlighted the trend of amateur artists’ trying their hand at painting the new president. In one three-month period, 787 Obama paintings were auctioned on eBay, showing the new president in every possible pose, and a few impossible ones: standing commandingly before the White House, cradling a basketball and wearing a Washington Wizards uniform, gamely wrestling a bear on Wall Street, even flying naked on the back of a unicorn. (...) >>>

Read it all >>>

Put The Bstds Where They Belong ...

Threadless Tees design by Tom Burns.

Made with "talent, love, and plastisol ink and a chino additive for softness."

Thomas Edison and the Universal Exposition, Paris 1900

Hat Tip: Nick Wallace Smith

Music: "Claire de Lune", by Claude Debussy

"Twenty Ten", by Lloyd Marcus

"The Government Can"

Time Hawkins' Comedy channel on YouTube

Tim Hawkins Comedy website

Home Made Satire: "I Will Follow Him" (brainless twits!)

An Angry Mob Production by: Joe Dan Gorman Media

Hat Tip: "Mobs R Us" - Sign up also for Conservative social site for Conservatives, KicSpace

"Walking in Memphis", Cher

Hyperinflation: Money to Burn

Der Spiegel: "Germany in the Era of Hyperinflation",  by Alexander Jung

During the hyperinflation in Germany of 1920s, the country's currency, the mark, went crazy. The government of the Weimar Republic may have been able to clear its debts, but it came at the cost of the citizens' savings. It's an era that is still part of the national psyche today.

Editor's note: During the global economic crisis, politicians and economists in the United States and Britain often criticized Berlin for its reluctance to initiate the kinds of expensive stimulus programs promoted by Washington. One of the most oft-cited reasons in Germany for racking up more debt than necessary to revive the economy was the fear of hyperinflation. From 1922-1923, hyperinflation plagued Germany and helped fuel the eventual rise of Adolf Hitler. The following article about this national trauma has been translated from a special issue of SPIEGEL on the history of money.


You could say journalist Eugeni Xammar had a stroke of reporter's luck when the Barcelona daily La Veu de Catalunya sent him to Berlin in the fall of 1922, a pivotal moment in the country's history. In the months that followed, it was the most exciting place in the world to report from. Germany's financial structures collapsed, and the mark began its descent into near worthlessness. (...) >>>

Related:

The Captain's Comments: "The Looming Threat"

Hot, Fresh and Soooo Amazing!

Amaze.fm is a community of music makers and lovers hoping to restore some of that lost quality to what we call "popular" music.

Artists upload their music to be listened to, rated, reviewed, and tagged.

Fans choose the songs that make it to the radio by listening to and rating songs weekly.

Each week the highest rated song from Amaze.fm gets played on nationally-syndicated radio.

We give you ... "Warm Breeeze" played by ...

Fusion Juice

Genre: 'Jazz'

Contemporary Jazz has a new sound in Denver Colorado. " Fusion Juice ” is comprised of some of Denver's finest musicians. This quintet delivers groove oriented Jazz with an emphasis on smooth sexy guitar sounds. "We really felt that the time was right for a more guitar oriented Jazz group here in Denver" says Fusion Juice guitar man Jimmy Schoettle.

Playing original contemporary Jazz, plus wonderful interpretations of classic Jazz fusion hits, this group knows how to satisfy the soul. If you are tired of the same old sounding jazz, then sample Fusion Juice and see for yourself why it's the freshest sound in Denver Colorado.

The current line up for Denver's Hottest New Jazz Group includes Jimmy Schoettle on Guitar, Matt Brodie on Sax and Flute, Carl Sorenson on Keyboards, Scott Fitzgerald on Bass, and David Young on the Drums.

My Sites: Fusion Juice

The Gregory Brothers: Auto-Tune the News #6

The Gregory Brothers present: auto-tune the news

MP3 at Amie St.

Play List on YouTube

Picture of the Month in the #IranElection Collection

Messy Properties

Der Spiegel: "Chocolate Company Promises Melt-Free Revolution"

Chocolate is just as much a part of Switzerland as the Alps. Now, global market leader Barry Callebaut has developed the product that competitors have been hopelessly puzzling over for 60 years -- chocolate that doesn't melt and is low in calories.

Serious mountain climbers know the problem all too well: Packing chocolate in your rucksack only ends in frustration when you reach the summit. If you're walking in freezing cold temperatures, the chocolate bar becomes a rock-hard block that's impossible to bite into without breaking your teeth. But, then again, if the sun is beating down, it won't take long before the chocolate melts into a gooey mess. In the worst-case scenario, you reach the mountain top, finally at your destination, and it's completely liquified.

And even if the temperature is just right, there's still the problem of weight gain. As most of us have finally realized, chocolate is not one of the staple foods of the skinny minnie.

But one Zurich-based chocolate manufacturer thinks it has a solution that could make these problems a thing of the past. Barry Callebaut, whose annual output of over 1.1 million tons of cocoa and chocolate products makes it the world's largest producer of chocolate, has developed a type of chocolate with completely new properties. According to the company's head developer, Hans Vriens, the chocolate has up to 90 percent fewer calories than regular chocolate.

What's more, high temperatures can't touch it (...) >>>

More chocolate ... Wiki ... the movie