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Via UFO Casebook News Feed

Sex Lives of Supreme Court Justices:

Now that the sex lives of Supreme Court justices have become grist for commentators, we are finally free to discuss a question formerly only whispered about in the shadows: Why does Justice Antonin Scalia, by common consent the leading intellectual force on the Court, have nine children? Is this normal? Or should I say “normal,” as some people choose to define it? Can he represent the views of ordinary Americans when he practices such a minority lifestyle? After all, having nine children is far more unusual in this country than, say, being a lesbian.

The GSS can answer this question. Sort of. It turns out that the highest number of children it asks about are “8 or more.” Limiting the sample to 1998-2008 so it has some contemporary relevance, ~1% of respondents in the GSS has 8 or more children. But that’s not quite fair, since many respondents are young adults, or just starting their families. Limiting the sample to those who are 60 years or older you have ~3.5%. Limiting to 70 and above it goes up to ~4.5%. Scalia is 74 years old, so I think it might be appropriate to judge him by his generation, though the relative gerontocracy of the Supreme Court, and American politics in general, might warrant examination. In 2008 in the GSS asked about sexual orientation, and ~2% of women stated they were lesbian, gay or homosexual. So whether Scalia is more abnormal than a lesbian measured against the general population depends on the reference population you use. For his generation, probably not, but for this generation, perhaps.

Austria is not Australia. Sorry about that.

Late last week we reported that the Australian Mint sold more gold coins in the first two weeks of April than it had in all of the first quarter combined. That was a mistake. It was the Austrian Mint, which makes a lot more sense, given that nearly all of the sales were to Europeans who are in mild state of panic about the stability of their currency and their banking sector.

Speaking of which, a few weeks ago we speculated that Germany might be an earlier victim of the sovereign debt crisis because its various banks and financial institutions own a lot of Spanish and Portuguese debt. Credit default swaps were blowing out faster on German debt than other sovereign nations in which deficits and debt were bigger.

But this is really a question of where risk resides in the credit system at the moment. And the market is pointing somewhere in the middle of Europe. So if you were a speculator, or merely wishing to hedge your position in German financial stocks, you’d buy credit default swap insurance. It seems like a sensible thing to do, although apparently you can’t do it anymore.

Bloomberg reports that, “The euro slid to its least since April 2006 after Germany prohibited naked short-selling and speculating on European government bonds with credit-default swaps and the Bank of Italy allowed lenders to exclude losses on government debt.” Hmmn. Is this like not being able to buy health insurance if you have a pre-existing condition?

Investors unable to hedge their risk may have to sell. Or, short-sellers will have to cover, which means you could get a brief rally in European shares, the euro, and euro bonds. But it’s hardly the sort of thing to boost confidence. Another Bloomberg article elaborates: “Germany will temporarily ban naked short selling and naked credit-default swaps of euro-area government bonds at midnight after politicians blamed the practice for exacerbating the European debt crisis.”

The key words here are “naked” and “politicians”. Naked short selling, unlike the covered kind, is selling a security you don’t own instead of borrowing it first and then selling it. There’s a healthy debate about whether you can or should be able to sell something you don’t own or that isn’t owned by anyone. Why speculators are doing it is obvious. Whether they should be able to do it is less obvious.

But that it’s a good investment idea…well that is another matter entirely. And politicians who are blaming euro bond weakness on short sellers are looking for a villain that is not them. It’s a confusion of cause and effect, like blaming the buzzards for the death of the corpse. It does buy them time though, in the blame game.

Banning short selling does not improve the quality of sovereign debt or sovereign finances in Europe. And by the way, we’ve been copping it from European subscribers lately who feel aggrieved. They point out that there are other even more serious debt problems in the UK and the USA. And in terms of flawed currencies, what about the greenback and the pound?

Correct you are, aggrieved Europeans! The dollar’s day of reckoning will come too. But in the mean time, US bonds and the greenback are enjoying the “flight-to-something-else” bid. We wouldn’t call it a flight to safety, mind you.

But it does explain the chart below, which shows the gold price in both U.S. and Australian dollars. Note the price rising in both currencies. And note that the Aussie gold price appears to move up as global investors flee risk (emerging markets and leveraged commodity plays). The greenback gold price is climbing too, but less fast.

Meanwhile, will the centralised slap down on markets in Europe work? The authorities are trying to protect vulnerable institutions by preventing short sellers and speculators from attacking them. And the Bank of Italy’s decision to exclude losses on government debt from capital adequacy considerations is nothing less than inspired. It could start a trend.

It’s not a loss if you don’t count it!

More seriously, why institute the ban on naked short selling now? And why take the extra step of preventing anyone in the market from going short government bonds? To be charitable, you could assume that the asset price falls (especially in government bonds) are the work of evil speculators (the global wolf pack) who are unfairly damaging and destroying confidence in otherwise credit-worthy securities and sound government fiscal policies (cough).

But more likely, if asset values on bank balance sheets are falling (principally government bonds) then it could again trigger the whole deleveraging vicious cycle we saw in 2008 where institutions are forced to sell some assets to cover losses on other assets or loans. You get a whole lot of selling and much lower prices, which is of course exactly what needs to happen.

Some in Europe are saying another EU aid package is “inevitably going to come” and that the euro’s decline is “unstoppable.” Those are the words of former Bank of England policy maker David G. Blanchflower on Bloomberg Television. “What we really have to think about,” he said: “are rescuing the banks, dealing with this credit crisis, giving confidence back to the euro area, which they’ve not done…And let’s think about how we can organize the next rescue package, which inevitably is going to come.”

Meanwhile, back on the resource ranch, the more we think about the Resource Rent Tax, the more obvious it is that it’s a back-door nationalisation of the mining industry through the tax code. Without asking permission from the miners or the Australian people – and based on the idea that the government owns Australia’s resources even if private capital develops them – the government has made itself a partner in the profits and losses of Australia’s miners.

You can understand, why, when times are good, you’d want to participate in profits – especially if you didn’t have to take any of the risk (as is the case with imposing the tax on existing projects whose risks and costs were born by private investors). It reminds us of what John Dillinger said when he was asked why he robbed banks.

“Because that’s where the money is.”

But has anyone bothered to ask if the Australian people should or want to be responsible for 40% of the losses born by miners? Is that good public policy? What are the long-term consequences? Can anyone know?

That Australians would indirectly be on the hook for losses born by the mining industry is the case, as far as we understand the new proposal. Or, put another way, it’s a subsidy to marginal projects and inefficient producers. In a market system, private capital takes risks and bears the losses and gains from those risks. Investors consent to put their own capital at risk in explorers and that is that.

But now the government is essentially agreeing to put your tax money at risk in the mining business. It raises the possibility that the resource tax going to increase the inefficiency of capital spending in the resource sector at the same it may decrease total investment by the private sector.

If both those things happen, the Rudd tax would distinguish itself in the annals of government policy as being doubly bad. That’s quite an achievement. But really, do we want the same people who gave us the pink bats and BER programs to now get stuck into the mining industry?

Economically, this puts the government on the hook for bad investments in the mining sector in the future, and in perpetuity. When you’re a partner, it’s for better or for worse. For richer AND for poorer. If you really thought about it, you might have second thoughts about whether making all Australians compulsory partners in the mining business was such a good idea. But that would only occur to you if you were thinking. It’s not just a question of coercion. It’s a question of economic prudence.

Right now, the government is hardly thinking about future bad investments. It’s thinking about billions in new tax money it can redistribute to achieve whatever ambition of the day it has for the Australian economy. But at what could be the top of this leg of the commodity cycle, those billions y never materialise, especially if what Bill says about China below is true. And then?

Dan Denning
for The Daily Reckoning Australia

Similar Posts:

• The Practice of Naked Short-selling
• Default Threat Rises
• Short Selling Ban May Kick Off Market Liquidation
• The Castle Keep is Under Siege
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Toyota Motor Corporation is to recall Lexus vehicles due to problems on the computerized steering system. Toyota, the Japanese auto giant, had received about 12 reports of electrical problems causing the steering system to malfunction for a few seconds, as reported by Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun on Wednesday.

Meiko Iwasaki, spokeswoman of the carmaker, said that Toyota is to recall about 11,500 Lexus cars: 4,500 Lexus Cars in Japan and 7,000 vehicles overseas, including 3,800 cars in the United States. The recall covers four models – LS460, LS460L and hybrids LS600h and LS600hL – which are affected with the defect. Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, had recalled about 10 million vehicles worldwide since last year. It had also agreed last month to pay a record US fine for hiding accelerator pedal defects that caused more than 50 deaths in the United States. Iwasaki stated that customers in Japan have complained about wheels not returning to original positions fast enough after making turns. The problem is both mechanical and software-related, she added.

Toyota shares have declined 1.4 percent in Tokyo and were trading 1 percent lower at 3,496 yen, whereas the Nikkei Stock Average was down 1.6 percent.

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Straight from the Department of Defense History comes a recently declassified gem: Samuel S. Snyder’s History of NSA General-Purpose Electronic Digital Computers. It’s a wonderful late-night read with plenty of old-school computing trivia. [GovernmentAttic (PDF) via Schneier via Boing Boing] More »










United States – NSA General-Purpose Electronic Digital Computers – Samuel S Snyder – Collecting – Recreation

Blogger and Tech Lead of Mozilla’s mobile devices team Stuart Parmenter has slipped out a new pre-alpha build for Android 2.x users.  He still warns that it’s likely to be very buggy and isn’t even close to ready for prime time, but for us curious types he has posted it on his blog here to download and play with.

It’s considerably better running and a bit smaller (the download is 9.6 MB, and the install is now 25MB versus 30MB in size) than the last build.  I put it through the paces a little bit and found it to be quite a treat, especially knowing that it’s still an early development version.  And interestingly enough, it outscores the native Android browser on the Acid3 test.  If you’re feeling adventurous head over to Stuart’s blog and give Fennec a spin.  [pavlov.net] 

“No, no, no…In NO way am I dating her,” Lohan told Us magazine when asked about the reports. Lindsay is absolutely in denial with her relationship with Indrani Pal Chaudhuri.

Lohan, who was just reported to be separated with her lesbian girlfriend DJ Samantha Ronson last year, is said to be dating again!  The New York Post reported Lohan who is only 23 years old and Pal Chaudhuri who is 36 years old began dating after meet last fall at a photo shoot. Pal Chaudhuri confirmed the romance to the Post, saying, “We have been spending a lot of time together. I have never had a relationship with a woman before, but Lindsay is just somebody who I find fascinating, gorgeous and extremely smart, as well as super-hot.”

How ever, while Lindsay is completely denying her relationship with Indrani whose real name is Julia I. Pal-Chaudhur, Indrani’s business partner Markus Klinko went one step further by confirming the romance. He told the New York Post, “Lindsay and Indrani have been seeing each other since we shot her last fall. I’ve seen them on dates, I have seen them making out… Indrani is a good influence on Lindsay. She is the opposite of a party girl – a Princeton graduate, she’s into art and is a philanthropist – not what you’d expect (of) the typical girl for Lindsay to go out with.When they are together, they talk about art and the deeper meaning in life.”

Who is talking about the real thing? Lindsay or Indrani? They better need to clear things up so that people will not be troubled. Does Lindsay have relationship with Indrani? Or Indrani is just saying these stuffs just to promote her show?

Related posts:

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Ever wonder what happened to the scattered parts left behind from that relic of a computer called the Commodore? Well they become clocks! Geekware has turned a Commodore VIC-20 circuit board into a clock along with Commodore VIC-20 game cartridges like Cosmic Cruncher and  Jupiter Lander. Who new when computers go to die they become housewares.  If you are desperately in need of feeling retro, I suggest you probably grab these fast – I can’t imagine that they have that many Commodore bits and pieces laying around.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI), the 100% owned 2-wheeler subsidiary of the Honda Motor Company, Japan – the world’s largest manufacturer of 2-wheelers, today launched its Honda CB Unicorn Dazzler bike. Honda entered in the Motorcycle market in India in 2004 with the introduction of Honda Unicorn (now CB Unicorn).

Honda CB Unicorn has been refreshed regularly to meet the diversified needs of customers. With one of the most refined engine in the segment, Honda CB Unicorn has created a very premium image among the mature male customers. Honda CB Unicorn will continue to exist in the segment. The Honda CB Unicorn Dazzler that we have launched today is a step further towards adding more value to the much-admired model.

Living up to the style aspirations of Indian two-wheeler customers, the Honda CB Unicorn Dazzler offers aggressive styling, advanced equipments, blistering performance, impressive mileage of 60 kmpl*, comfort and convenience. The bike has aggressive style with floating side cowl, aggressive front, screenless front cowl, 110/80 wider rear tyre and half-chain case. Other attractive features include: two-tone seat, new design mirror, handle bar weights, 3D emblem, digital meter and front & rear disc brake.

Various advanced equipments have been added in the bike which makes it the best in its segment. Powered with 150cc reformed engine, the bike delivers excellent performance with 14 BHP power. It is equipped with tubeless tyres and alloy wheels and offers best pick-up and mileage combination in the segment. CB Unicorn Dazzler will deliver a mileage of 60 kmpl*. The bike is equipped with maintenance free battery & viscous air filter for more convenience. Strictly adhering to the BS-III norms, it is environment friendly like all other Honda products.

The Honda CB Unicorn Dazzler price for ex showroom Delhi is Rs. 62,900. The CB Unicorn Dazzler will be available to the customers by the end of May, 2010. The bike will be available in four attractive colours – Armour Gold Metallic, Pearl Nightstar Black, Sword Silver Metallic and Pearl Siena Red. Present at the launch event were: Mr Atsushi Amataka, President, Honda R&D India; Mr Shinji Aoyama, CEO & President, HMSI; along with Mr N.K. Rattan, Operating Head – Sales & Marketing, HMSI.

Honda CB Unicorn Dazzler Price & Features:
– Honda CB Unicorn Dazzler price is Rs. 62,900 (ex showroom Delhi).
– Powered with 150cc reformed engine
– comes with aggressive styling, advanced equipments, blistering performance.
– Has impressive mileage of 60 kmpl*.
– Maintenance free battery & viscous air filter for more convenience
– Other attractive features include: two-tone seat, new design mirror, handle bar weights, 3D emblem, digital meter and front & rear disc brake.
– Available in 4 attractive colours – Armour Gold Metallic, Pearl Nightstar Black, Sword Silver Metallic and Pearl Siena Red.

Source: Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd

Source: Auto News India

Is it a surprise that horror stories like this keep someone who wishes she could code everything in life awake in the wee hours of the night? [XKCD] More »










Art – Horror – Image Cache – Movies – United States

I love this theme, simple and yet one we can relate with. It’s the true office theme with red paper clips included. And it’s not taxing on the BlackBerry at all. We had twenty copies to give away of this great theme. And the lucky winners are…

Thanks again to everyone who participated. Let me know what you think of your new theme.

You’re reading a story which originated at BlackBerrySync.com, Where you find BlackBerry News You Can Sync With…

This story is sponsored by the new BlackBerry Sync Mobile App Store. Grab your free copy today at www.GetAppStore.com from your BlackBerry.

Winners of the Zuki Notepad Premium Theme Contest Announced

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Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa., left) and Rand Paul (R-Ky., right) both won Senate primaries on Tuesday night, while Bill Halter (D-Ark., center) forced Sen. Blanche Lincoln into a runoff. (Zuma, Bill Halter for Senate)

The results from Tuesday’s much-watched congressional primaries are in. Now the larger question remains: What’s their significance?

The fall of five-term Sen. Arlen Specter (D) in Pennsylvania marks the end of an era; the rise of ophthalmologist Rand Paul (R) in Kentucky lends both power and voice to the ever-emerging Tea Party movement; and the success of Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter — who hung close enough to Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a conservative Democrat, to force a run-off contest next month — has drawn cheers from the liberal groups that catalyzed his late ascendancy.

Image by: Matt Mahurin

Yet the well-worn theme going into the day’s elections — that a nationwide storm of voter unrest spells mid-term doom for “big government” incumbents, particularly the majority Democrats — was hardly proven. Indeed, two of the three high-profile races featured establishment candidates taking on other establishment candidates — with the liberals coming out on top. If any common message emerged from Tuesday’s results it was this: Republicans, who have been hoping that the public’s discontent will translate into big congressional gains in November, might want to reconsider their strategy come Wednesday.

Specter, for example, was toppled by a more liberal Democrat in the figure of Rep. Joe Sestak, whose late campaign push revolved around ads linking Specter — a Republican from 1965 until he switched parties last year — to George W. Bush. Sestak will now square off against former GOP Rep. Pat Toomey, founder of the conservative Club for Growth, in November.

In Arkansas, Halter rode the wave of an enormous ad campaign bankrolled by some of the nation’s most predominant liberal groups, including MoveOn.org and a number of labor unions, who have been critical of Lincoln’s opposition to climate change legislation and an idling labor reform bill. And while Halter’s name isn’t well known on a national stage, the lieutenant governor is also no political outsider. As the Guardian’s Michael Tomasky wrote Tuesday, a Halter win “would not represent primary voters manifesting some bestial urge to tear the flesh of the establishment. He’s a member of the establishment.”

The run-off election between Halter and Lincoln is scheduled for June 8.

More evidence that the anti-establishment backlash remains unproven arrived Tuesday in western Pennsylvania, where Democrat Mark Critz, a former aide to the late Rep. Jack Murtha (D), defeated Republican Tim Burns in a special election. The result was a blow to Republicans, who’d viewed Murtha’s seat as low-hanging fruit in a conservatvie district amidst an unemployment crisis. “If you can’t win a seat that is trending Republican in a year like this, then where is the wave?” former GOP Rep. Tom Davis (Va.) told The New York Times before the outcome of the race was known. “It would be a huge upset not to win this seat.”

Not that there hasn’t been good evidence of a conservative backlash against incumbents in some districts. Sen. Robert Bennett (Utah), for example, a faithful conservative, was unseated in a primary earlier this month by an opponent who attacked him for supporting Bush’s bailout of Wall Street. And Paul’s win in Kentucky came at the expense of Trey Grayson, Kentucky’s secretary of state who’d won the endorsement of no less an entrenched Republican than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.).

Yet Tuesday’s primary results indicate that there’s more at play than a simple backlash against establishment figures. Another wild card on display Tuesday was the extent of the Obama administration’s willingness to throw its weight behind longtime incumbents. Newsweek’s Howard Fineman noted that Specter, for example, was abandoned by the White House in the lead-up to his defeat Tuesday. Fineman pointed to a report by NBC’s Chuck Todd indicating that the administration, after endorsing Specter, actually preferred Sestak.

The fact that White House political spin doctors would say this to Chuck Todd in time for him to go on the air with it at 5 p.m. Eastern, on a popular political show hosted by Philly native [Chris] Matthews, with the polls open until 8 (!), enraged [Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Robert] Brady. “I guess that’s the White House’s idea of loyalty,” he snapped. “They’re gonna hear from me.”

Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) predicted Tuesday that the creation of jobs — if it continues – will, come November, overcome the current attitude of voter discontent against Democratic incumbents who pushed through the party’s economic stimulus bill and an overhaul of the nation’s health care system.

“Americans are pretty smart people,” Hoyer told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday. “If they see this continued success, I think they’re going to say, ‘Well, I was doubtful, but it seems to be working, and we will stay the path.’”

Whether he’s right or not remains to be seen. But Tuesday’s results are no indication one way or the other.

A gay couple, Twonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza, were found guilty of unnatural acts and gross indecency last Tuesday. It was the result of the couple holding and engagement ceremony. The magistrate stated that the couple will be sentenced on Thursday. In Uganda, a law was recently proposed where homosexuals are to be executed. Just last month, President Bingu wa Mutharika was quoted calling homosexuality as “evil and bad before the eyes of God” and an act “we Malawians just do not do.”  The magistrate, Nyakwawa Usiwa Usiwa, referred to the crime as “bluggery,” and found both men guilty of “carnal knowledge” which was “against the order of nature”. He stated that the two men had been “living together as husband and wife,” which “transgresses the Malawian recognized standards of propriety.” Each of them could face 14 years in prison.

Malawi is a nation that sees homosexuality as nonexistent of something that must be suppressed. Chimbalanga and Monjeza were brought out through the back door to escape from a mocking crowd that celebrated the couple’s conviction. The couple had been in jail since December 28, 2009, two days after their engagement party at a lodge where Chimbalanga worked as a cook and housekeeper. The chief prosecutor, Dickens Mwambazi, said “In Malawi, we don’t allow men to marry men or women to marry women. I think 90 percent of the crowd here agrees with the ruling.” Dunker Kamba, the administrator for a group that provides counseling about AIDS,  said “As much as I expected a guilty verdict, I still hoped for a miracle.”

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O carro exato. Para todas as escolhas, para qualquer que seja a sua necessidade. É com esse conceito, criado pela agência Fischer+Fala!, que a Honda Automóveis veicula campanha nacional de sustentação do Honda City em mídia impressa e eletrônica.

Posicionado no segmento de sedãs intermediários, o carro foi lançado com sucesso no Brasil em julho de 2009 e agora, como líder da categoria com 24.833 unidades vendidas até abril deste ano, está de volta à mídia em ação que dá continuidade à comunicação de lançamento.

A campanha é composta por 2 filmes de 30’ para TV aberta e fechada e 03 anúncios de página dupla para veiculação em revista e jornal. As peças têm como ponto de partida a representação de fluxogramas mostrando que, independente da escolha do caminho a seguir, o Honda City é sempre a solução, o carro exato para você. Exato no design, no conforto, no espaço, na potência.

Em um dos filmes, batizado de “A Passeio ou a Trabalho”, que já está no ar, a história começa com um homem parado na rua em frente a um Honda City e diante de duas possibilidades: “Você pode vir ao mundo a passeio ou a trabalho”.

A locução propõe: “Suponha que você tenha vindo a passeio. Nós temos o carro exato”, enquanto o ator coloca vários equipamentos e bagagens no porta-malas – máscara de mergulho, snorkel, nadadeiras, roupa de neoprene e outros. Corta para cenas de performance do City na estrada. O locutor continua: “Se o passeio for longe, tudo bem. O motor é Honda”. Até que o carro chega a uma praia paradisíaca e deserta. “Puxa, mas você veio ao mundo a trabalho, né?”, diz a locução. O filme então retrocede e vai voltando até a primeira cena, a que mostrava o ator colocando seus equipamentos dentro do carro. Só que, desta vez, vê-se que na camiseta dele está escrito “Instrutor de Mergulho”. Encerra com a locução. “Sem problemas, nós temos o carro exato para você.”

Fonte: TotalCom

The latest iteration of the critically acclaimed Ghost Recon series was originally planned to be released before the Christmas season, but due to the stiff competition from other FPS, Ubisoft has announced that it will push back

Now that we are preparing our 2010 market report we are analyzing in depth a number of important recent developments. A major one, whose implications haven’t yet been properly digested, was the publication in the UK of a fantastic series of policy, scientific and technology reports by the Foresight Project on Mental Capital and Wellbeing. If you want to have a stimulating and substantial read, you can download the Executive Summary (and most other reports) for free.

I was thinking about their main recommendation (the need to focus more attention, as a society and as individuals, on building mental capital and wellbeing trajectories along the lifecourse), as I came across these apparently completely separate news. Doesn’t the lifelong mental capital framework add new light on these articles?

Study Sees Gains In Good Child Care (Wall Street Journal)

A study released Friday found that benefits associated with child-care providers and preschool programs that encourage such activities as language, reading and game-playing last well into adolescence. In particular, teenagers who had such child-care performed significantly better academically than those given low-quality or no care outside the home.

High-quality care was defined as an environment in which care-givers or teachers were warm, engaged and sensitive to a child’s needs, and provided cognitive stimulation through activities that would promote language, such as reading, conversation and game-playing.

Time to Review Workplace Reviews? (New York Times)

The focus on workplace health comes as worker satisfaction in the United States appears to be at an all-time low. The Conference Board reported recently that just 45 percent of workers are satisfied with their jobs, down from 61 percent in 1987. The findings, based on a survey of 5,000 households, show that the decline goes well beyond concerns about job security. Employees are unhappy about the design of their jobs, the health of their organizations and the quality of their managers.

Dr. Sutton, whose new book “Good Boss, Bad Boss” (coming from Business Plus) argues that good bosses are essential to workplace success, said skyrocketing health care costs should motivate businesses to focus on ways to lower stress.

Alzheimer’s Prevention or Cognitive Enhancement (blog post based on NIH independent panel)

“Firm conclusions cannot be drawn about the association of modifiable risk factors with cognitive decline or Alzheimer’s disease.”

(Note: which is true, but, as we discussed previously, this is being misunderstood to mean “there is nothing we can do to maintain if not enhance our cognitive and self-regulation capacities,” which couldn’t be further from truth, based on the very simple facts of lifelong neurogenesis and neuroplasticity.)

Duffer of St. George comes through for Spring/Summer 2010 with a capsule collection that brings attention to the classics. Polos, baseball jackets, hoodies, and more are designed with the UK high street styles in mind. This is British street wear at its best with originals and classic getting a modern unique touch just in time for the season.

Continue reading for more images.

Call of Duty:Black Ops World Premiere uncut trailer has been revealed! The action-packed Call of Duty: Black Ops World Premiere trailer features more of the different locations the game is set in as well as a few of the gameplay elements. The trailer is 1.43 minutes long. Call of Duty: Black Ops is being developed by Treyarch. The Call of Duty: Black Ops game will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the PC. Call of Duty: Black Ops will be released in different countries starting November 9, 2010.

Call of Duty: Black Ops World Premiere can now also be viewed in youtube.

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by Julian Ku

The young Somali captured last year in dramatic U.S. Navy operation has plea bargained himself into a minimum 27 year sentence.

A Somali man has pleaded guilty in New York’s court to seizing a US ship and kidnapping its captain last year.

Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse now faces a minimum of 27 years in prison. He is expected to be sentenced in October.

Muse is the only surviving attacker on the Maersk Alabama merchant ship off Somalia’s coast in April 2009.

A couple of observations about this result, which should caution folks excited about the effectiveness of U.S. federal courts in combatting piracy. (It appears the defendant avoided a piracy conviction and settled for a lesser charge).

1) Timing: Muse was captured in March 2009 and charged with, among other things, “piracy as defined in the law of nations,” under 18 U.S.C. 1651. It has taken 13 months to get a plea bargain on a lesser charge???  If we were just going to plea bargain him, why did it take so long?

2) Evidence: The logistics of finding translators, and dealing with classified evidence, is another reason these trials are going to take a fair amount of time.  Case in point: the federal trial in Norfolk, Va of another group of Somali pirates was recently delayed for five months just so the parties could sort through classified evidence and find translators.

I don’t say federal courts are doing a bad job here.  But the logistical difficulties are going to make this a very weak and ineffective deterrent to further piracy. As Anne Applebaum notes, the other option was tried by the Russians recently when they “released” a group of Somali pirates on a dinghy 350 miles from shore without an navigation equipment.  The 21st century version of “walking the plank”?