Russia warns Moldova against "Georgian mistake"

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned ex-Soviet Moldova on Monday against repeating Georgia's mistake of trying to use force to seize back control of a breakaway region.

To read the rest of this article, go here

The real life Simpsons

Speaking of the Olympics....

So Chicago is up for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Mayor Daley and crew went over to China on a "fact finding" mission to watch the games, and I'm sure as they were watching the opening ceremony the words "Holy Crap, how can we top this" went floating through their minds.

As I'm sure it flitted through the minds of every candidate city and city already chosen, and rightfully so - there's no way most democracies that operate under the direct scrutiny of the media, taxpayers and politicians and spend the $40 billion China spent on the games.

London is all "WTF" and "[We] don't think in terms of living up to (Beijing) or making direct comparisons." They've had to deal with a significant downturn in the global economy and cost overruns on the overall US $17.2 billion budget for Olympic venues and infrastructure. (To read a hilarious column with some ideas for how London can save money by recruiting free dancers by gathering participants from the clinically obese community via a quick trawl of the fast food restaurants, providing an "an unbeatable opportunity for the active participation of one of our core sponsors, McDonald's!" go here.)




Chicago's plans include more than a dozen new permanent and temporary venues and money to make existing venues Olympic caliber at an estimated cost of $900 million. There's also a $1 billion athletes' village that would be a public-private partnership.

Yeeeeeaaaaaa. I don't think I need to tell you that these numbers are causing a bit of... disbelief. But that's not the point of

This Blog Post!

I want to show the four different host cities up for the 2016 Olympics and have a discussion about their chances for winning!

And I thought the best way to do that was to look at their ready-made Bid Videos!

Enough with the Exclamations. We're starting with Madrid:







Um, so, doesn't Madrid seem a little weirdly obsessed with cars and mopeds? Actually, forms of transportation in general? And they spent an odd amount of time in an Olympic Video on their airport. Maybe they're very proud of it, I don't know. (Psst, hey Madrid, Chicago has an airport, too! Actually, we got two. Suck it!)






Rio's is just odd in all that Sepia tones... I couldn't quite figure out if it was my screen, or air pollution... and I do think it is so hilarious how they show the Rolling Stones - as if them hosting a concert is a viable reason to give them the games. It does look like a really pretty location though, I'm not going to lie.


As for Tokyo, I can't for the life of me find their video on You Tube, and I can't even get their videos from their website to play on my computer... they've got these weird commercials that are 15 seconds long that are obviously made to drum up support in the population...




Or, at least I think that's what they are. Here's their website, if anyone's interested: http://www.tokyo2016.or.jp/en/


And now, on to my hometown, Chicago. For your approval or disapproval:



Actually, Chicago had to put out a second video because... well, we had to change our logo. You see, it's not exactly kosher to use the Olympic Torch in a logo, apparently. So we changed our logo, and then the Olympic Committee got Chicago kids to explain what it means...




So what do we think? Which city has what it takes? Well, according to some other people that are not me:

"[The] IOC member called Chicago a "“hot favourite” to win the 2016 Summer Games and said only they can mess it up. He said “they are streets ahead of their rivals. They have been the frontrunners since day one and nothing has as yet changed my mind that they can lose. However, as the saying goes ‘it is theirs to lose’”.

And Chicago is the current favorite at $43 according to Intrade, an online trading exchange and prediction market website whose members speculate on the outcomes of non-sports related future events:





The "Dark Horse" in his race is Rio, and for a good reason - South America has never hosted the games so, you know, they kinda deserve to host it after 150 years of games. Intrade has them at $23.


I believe in the power of markets to predict some events. To a degree. Markets are like... competitive wikipedia. Playing the wisdom off other people's wisdom. Or other people's stupidity. Or inside trading. Whatever.

You know what else Intrade trades on? Elections. And those bets should be watched more keenly then the bets on the Olympics, because apparently the decision might be more about who is running the candidate city's country.

The whole thing will "boil down to one thing should the two frontrunners be neck and neck – the head of state of the country... " says an unnamed IOC source. Gamesbid.com says that "It is believed that British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Russian President Vladimir Putin played a big role in their countries winning the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games."


Well, we got two leaders to think about, Mayor Daley, who largely gets what he wants, and the President of the United States, as yet to be determined. If Obama gets elected, the Olympics would be, indeed, ours to lose. The timing is too perfect, the location, idealic, and apparently the IOC likes Obama. There's some indication they're not so fond of McCain, so Daley would have to overcome that if Obama were to lose.


I'm not going to lie there's a whole host of other reasons having to do with tv sponsorships and private/public sponsorships, but... really, I think that about covers it. Who knows though - in this world, anything can happen.

The final decision is October 2, 2009. It's a long time off.

In the meantime, it's not a bad idea to show your support for Chicago is you think it's a good idea. Senator Durbin has set up a website to sign a petition and to send video messages directly to the IOC: http://ga3.org/campaign/olympics2016.

And here is the Chicago Olympic website http://www.chicago2016.org/News/Pages/home.aspx. It's fun because it gives you the opportunity to write in phrases of what you think Chicago is....

Like... Chicago is A Rockstar City! Or... Chicago is the Heart of America!

Woot!

Susan Eisenhower Leaves the Republican Party

"Hijacked by a relatively small few, the GOP of today bears no resemblance to Lincoln, Roosevelt or Eisenhower’s party, or many of the other Republican administrations that came after. In my grandparents’ time, the thrust of the party was rooted in: a respect for the constitution; the defense of civil liberties; a commitment to fiscal responsibility; the pursuit and stewardship of America’s interests abroad; the use of multilateral international engagement and “soft power”; the advancement of civil rights; investment in infrastructure; environmental stewardship; the promotion of science and its discoveries; and a philosophical approach focused squarely on the future."

"This week, I changed my registration from Republican to independent. The two political parties as they exist today, and the partisanship that they foster, reflect the many fights of the cold war, the Vietnam era, the post–cold war and the 9/11 periods. Today we are in a different place altogether, where our security as a nation is challenged not just from abroad but also close to home. The energy, health-care and financial crises threaten our national prosperity and well-being, just as surely as any confrontation overseas or an attack by radical terrorists."

Susan Eisenhower is the granddaughter of President Dwight D Eisenhower and current President of the Eisenhower Group, Inc, which provides strategic counsel on political, business and public affairs projects. She is the current Chairman of Leadership and Public Policy Programs & Chairman Emeritus of the Eisenhower Institute, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. and associated with Gettysburg College.

Read full text here.


President Eisenhower, Susan's grandfather, in his farewell address, said the following:


"As we peer into society's future, we must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow."



This is the video of his final address:

Reasons to Love Google, Yet Again

Google to Invest in Geothermal

By Tom Zeller Jr.

Efforts at mapping geothermal potential in North America at Southern Methodist University are receiving financial support from Google. (Photo: Southern Methodist University)

Google.org, the public-spirited division of Google.com, charged with addressing “climate change, poverty and emerging disease,” is using the backdrop of the National Clean Energy Summit here in Las Vegas to announce a new round of clean energy financing.

In a nutshell, the company is investing an arguably modest sum — a little over $10 million — in the development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems, or EGS. The technology differs from “traditional” geothermal in that rather than exploiting existing wells of earthbound steam and hot water, EGS drills deep — miles down — to access layers of heated granite that exist underfoot everywhere on the planet. Water can be circulated downward for heating, and then upward to drive turbines and generate electricity.

See rest of the article at the New York Times Here

And here's a video about what geothermal energy is:

Chicago Ascendant

2008 is the Year of Chicago.

Proudly multi-racial, ruthlessly pragmatic, open to hustling newcomers and somewhat audacious, Chicago's unique culture is ascendant.

Perhaps most importantly, both the Cubs and the White Sox are leading their divisions (the Cubs have the best record in the National League) and a CTA Red Line subway series this October is looking more and more likely. (This would be a real subway series where the same transit line - the Red Line -- directly connects Wrigley Field and the Sox's U.S. Cellular Field).

To read the rest of this story, go here.

The kind of person I want to be when I grow old.

Sigur Ros is an Icelandic Band who sings in a made-up language called Hopelandic. I got obsessed with them when I lived in England, and luckily, they really liked playing in Chicago... They played some of the most amazing concerts I have ever seen.

They play hauntingly beautiful music, I think, and I just love this video so much I had to share it. It gives new meaning to the phrase, "never grow old."




Here's a link to their You Tube Page: http://www.youtube.com/user/sigurros?ob=1


And now below is a live version of my favorite song of theirs of old, Starflur.

Guns for Texas school's teachers

Teachers in one part of the US state of Texas are to be allowed to carry concealed firearms when the new school term opens this month.

The school superintendent in Harrold district said the move was intended to protect staff and pupils should there be any gun attacks on its sole campus.

Teachers would have to undertake crisis management training first, the superintendent, David Thweatt, said.

In recent years the US has seen a number of fatal school shootings.

Trustees had approved the policy and parents had not objected, Mr Thweatt said.

"When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started," he wrote on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's web site.

Mr Thweatt said he believed the school's proximity to a large, busy motorway could make it a target.

"If something were to happen here, I'd much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them," Mr Thweatt said.

Texas outlaws the presence of firearms at schools unless individual institutions allow them.



Hmmmmmmmm.

Quotes of the Day

"Where would we be without the agitators of the world attaching the electrodes of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?"
---Dick, on Third Rock from the Sun

"One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen is to go about repeating the very phrases which our fathers used in the struggle for Independence."
---Historian Charles A. Beard
-
"If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for thirty days because they get infections and they don't have upper body strength. I mean, some do, but they're relatively rare."
---Newt Gingrich (aka the Republicans' Yoda)
-
"Oh, 'meltdown'---it's one of those annoying buzzwords. We prefer to call it an unrequested fission surplus."
---Mr. Burns


(Thanks to the Daily Kos)

Quote of the (last) Century

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts...and beer"

Abraham Lincoln

old jokester