Just a few tweaks required for performance madness. What really surprises me is just how easy it is to overclock the Intel Core 2 Duo. Since it doesn't get too hot, an expensive cooling option is not needed.
By the way, the picture in this post is by Reuters.
Sony picked an, um, unfortunate shape for its new MP3 players.
Cricket Australia has cancelled 1300 Ashes tickets after an investigation into internet auction sales.
Yes, if one resells the ticket online, the ticket becomes useless.
"Where people purchase tickets from a scalper at a premium, they're in breach of the terms and conditions," he said. "We will, where appropriate, cancel those tickets."
What exactly is the point of this condition? Why not have the tickets go to the highest bidder?
The tickets were only made available to Australian residents but thousands of English supporters used contacts in Australia to bypass the system.
Cricket Australia is making foolish rules and then wasting its resources by trying to enforce them. It should take the initiative and auction off the tickets to begin with and make money off the whole thing. It's not like that's evil. It would simply be meeting the market demand.
Muslihoon on Islam:
The problematic statements also exist to keep Muslims separated from non-Muslims and to instill in Muslims an insufferable superiority complex over non-Muslims - all this to prevent assimilation and to promote Muslim overlording over non-Muslims.
As a Muslim woman in the US said:
"I don't think Muslims have to assimilate. We are not treated like Americans. At work, I get up from my desk and go to pray. I thought I would face opposition from my boss. Even before I realized he didn't mind, I thought, 'I have a right to be a Muslim, and I don't have to assimilate.' "
The "insufferable superiority complex" is also present within the Ummah. One finds a lot of Muslims who can't stand...other Muslims.
Update
Speaking of non-assimilation:
Ulemas (Islamic Clerics) at the Darul Uloom seminary in Deoband reasoned that since insurance is "sort of gambling" and it also involves the payment of interest money, it surely is against the wishes of Allah. Riba, or "usury", is condemned by all major Islamic sects, although disagreements exist about what exactly constitutes Riba.
Tachikoma! (Sorry, ghost not included.)
They should bring out the Major.
Bengali Fob on Loose Change:
My politics prof even showed this doc in our class! That just strengthened my opinion and belief in this video even more.
Lesson learned:
I don't know about you folks, but I certainly believe that the US government would stage an attack on its own citizens just to gain support for a war.
Hey, on the bright side, the education in Canada is "free"!
A Stratofortress in all its glory. Thanks to OPFOR.
Eric talks about high dynamic range imaging (HDRI). He also links to this gorgeous gallery at Flickr.
"The Lowest Common Denominator".
Aussie Dave is baaad (in a good way).
Gulf News via Armies of Liberation:
A campaigner and relative of one of the presidential candidates was killed on Tuesday by unknown gunmen.
It is the second election-related violence since the beginning of campaigning for the presidential and local elections, scheduled to be held on September 20.
Adel Al Majeedi, nephew of the independent presidential candidate Ahmad Al Majeedi, was shot dead in his house in Al Huta, south of the country, according to a statement issued by Al Majeed’s campaign committee.
And a few days ago:
In the first incident on August 25, three Yemenis were killed and eight others were wounded in a shootout between supporters of different candidates.
Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas:
"We're always afraid to talk about our mistakes," he added. "We're used to blaming our mistakes on others. What is the relationship between the chaos, anarchy, lawlessness, indiscriminate murders, theft of land, family rivalries, transgression on public lands and unorganized traffic and the occupation? We are still trapped by the mentality of conspiracy theories - one that has limited our capability to think."
And obliterating Israel won't fix that.
Link via Democracy Frontline.
Hizbullah representative in Iran Muhammad Abdullah Sif al-Din, said Wednesday that Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah has a new strategic plan to rearm ahead of the "next round against Israel."
For some reason, I'm reminded of Superman.
Last year, I was lucky enough to be taken on a press tour of Intel in Israel, and met some of the team responsible for Banias, Dothan and Yonah. It was clear then that all of these were leading up to the processor released today, known then only as Merom. Though it was the last to appear on the market, Merom is actually the processor on which its desktop and workstation counterparts, Conroe (Core 2 Duo) and Woodcrest (Xeon) are based.
Thank you, Jews!
The International Herald Tribune covers the depressing state of Malaysia:
In recent years, a number of high- profile court cases have highlighted the clash between Muslim and secular laws, but none so much as the lawsuit brought by Lina Joy, a computer saleswoman, who is challenging the Malaysian government over its refusal to officially acknowledge her conversion from Islam to Christianity. After two lower courts ruled for the government, Joy awaits a judgment from the country's highest court.
How the problem started:
Malaysia has a hybrid legal system that incorporates both Islamic and civil laws for personal and family matters: Muslims are governed by religious laws against drinking, eating during the daylight hours of Ramadan and having close proximity between unmarried women and men. Marriages, divorces, funerals, and inheritance are governed by Islamic laws.
Why should Islamic law be "equal" to civil law when the Muslim-majority can make it the only law in the land?
The non-Muslims who welcomed dual laws likely did so for peace and harmony. What they really did is give Sharia the chance to entrench itself. Soon, it'll be Sharia for everyone.
"You are seeing worldwide a common thing happening," said Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, a Muslim lawyer. "Muslims are defining themselves by their religion instead of their country." Malik recently asked for police protection after receiving death threats for his role in the Lina Joy case: he submitted a brief in defense of Joy's right to convert.
Muslims are defining themselves by their religion instead of their country. Even in America.
First link via Dhimmi Watch.
The Katie Couric Diet vs. The Condoleezza Rice Makeup.
The MSM works in mysterious ways.
Rudy Giuliani, a contender for the Presidency in 2008, is receiving an inordinate amount of positive attention. That's quite understandable since Rudy is charismatic, did a great job on the campaign trail for President Bush in 2004, and his phenomenal performance after 9/11 was much appreciated.
However, likeable or not, having Rudy as the GOP's candidate in 2008 would be a big mistake. Here's a short, but sweet primer on some of Rudy's many flaws.
I have a feeling that the rest of the Republican candidates will gang up on Rudy in 2008. They certainly have plenty of material.
As I have said before, I want to see a Rudy vs. Hillary election. A NY brawl would settle the leadership of the Free World!
Jew-hatred is being given academic legitimacy. Armed Liberal at Winds of Change has got the sick details.
Gender apartheid reaches its logical and comical conclusion:
Saudi clerics want to impose restrictions on women praying at Islam's holiest shrine in Mecca, one of the few places where male and female worshippers can intermingle.
[...]
Plans by the all-male committee overseeing the holy sites would place women in a distant section of the mosque while men would still be able to pray in the key space.
Basically, they want to ban women from the Kaaba:
One of the rituals during the Haj and Ummrah (non-Haj, in essence) is that people walk around the Kaaba seven times. The closer one is to the Kaaba, the shorter the distance that's covered. And of course, the farther away one is from the Kaaba, the longer it takes to make seven rounds.
Life just doesn't get any better for Muslim women.
Link via Gateway Pundit.
The detail is quite impressive.
This depressing article via Infidel Bloggers Alliance:
A new generation of American Muslims -- living in the shadow of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- is becoming more religious. They are more likely to take comfort in their own communities, and less likely to embrace the nation's fabled melting pot of shared values and common culture.
Ismahan says it quite clearly:
In elementary school, she had tried to fit in. As an adult, though, "I know I don't have to fit in," she said. "I don't think Muslims have to assimilate. We are not treated like Americans. At work, I get up from my desk and go to pray. I thought I would face opposition from my boss. Even before I realized he didn't mind, I thought, 'I have a right to be a Muslim, and I don't have to assimilate.' "
What a rotten mindset.
Here’s a documentary from BBC2, on the appalling execution by Iran of a 16-year old girl, Atefah Sahaaleh, for violating shari’a law. LGF covered this story of medieval misogyny in 2004: Justice in the Islamic Republic.
Here's the direct link to the video. Be warned, there you'll find gruesome images of hangings, lashings and public stonings.
(Atefah was very pretty like Madhuri--an Indian actress. One can see a poster of Madhuri at the three-minute point.)
LFG has the update.
Mmm, seamless display.
The Intel Core 2 Duo for laptops is out and it performs 22% better than its predecessor. AMD is under serious pressure now.
"Niall Ferguson on the 21st Century".
A lot of ground is covered in that detailed post from The Belmont Club.
Bloggers take a closer look at the alleged Israeli strike on a Reuters news van from last week: See Power Line, Snapped Shot, and Hot Air.
Either someone is lying or Israel is using firecrackers in place of missiles.
Islam as a polis understands two terms: the Tribe and the Umma. This perspective is fatally limited because it does not give individual Muslims the flexibility or political maturity to make decisions based on enlightened self-interest. When there are only two choices, and those options are at both extremes, then the real choice is simply survival. The notion of individual liberty is not merely anathema; it cannot even be conceptualized under this system.
And since modern liberty is a Western, human, concept, the Islamic community rejects it as inferior to the will of Allah--Sharia law. So, not only can't true Muslims conceptualize liberty, they refuse to adopt it from the West.
Last week I got a "Notice to Appear" from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. It stated:
TAKE NOTICE that you are requested to appear for the purpose of setting a date for your refugee claim and for the purpose of discussing the future processing of your claim, if necessary, at [...]
The meeting is set for next week. I already have goose bumps.
This is so inconvenient.
Ten Britons have been injured in three explosions at the holiday resort of Marmaris in Turkey, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said.
TURKEY OUT OF IRAQ, NOW!
Robert Spencer was on C-SPAN a week ago. He answered many questions about Islam with tremendous detail. (It was impressive to see him quote the exact chapter and verse from the Quran.)
Kabobfest has a predictable response to the show.
Abiola Lapite got a new toy.
Thomas Sowell:
For decades, one of the biggest blind spots of most civil rights "leaders" and "spokesmen" for the black community has been their utter lack of knowledge of economics.
As a purely factual matter, prices do tend to be higher — and the quality of service and products lower — in stores in low-income neighborhoods. But the knee-jerk assumption that this represents "exploitation" or "racism" ignores the economics of the situation.
What he describes can be observed in any other neighborhood. The prices of most products in a convenient store are higher than a supermarket. And usually, the prices of goods in a supermarket are higher than one finds in Costco. It's simply a matter of "bulk" and "turnover" or in other words economics.
Hezballah tactics in Lebanon:
"We begged them to leave," the girl said, declining to be named because she feared retribution from Hezbollah. "We told them, 'Get out! We have children here. We don't want anybody to get hurt.' But they ignored us."
Wassim Abdallah, a 24-year-old who was in Beirut during the fighting, said Hezbollah fighters did not hurt anyone, but that one burst into his aunt's home. "She pleaded for him to go away, but he put a gun to her head and told her to shut up," he said.
Another detail:
"Nobody knew they were using our houses to store weapons. We were surprised to find them" after the war, Wassim said. "How could they keep weapons in the middle of all these civilian houses?"
Link via The Big Pharaoh.
If an entertainer does this trick, then one can be reasonably sure that he or she is not a Muslim.
Pedestrian Infidel now at last finally has its own email, posted near the top of the right sidebar. It's pedestrianinfidel 'at' yahoo 'dot' com. We apologize to our Zionist overlords in Jerusalem, Washington, and London for taking so long to do this.
I forgive you, er, good to see you guys have your own email!
A person from England left a comment; an excerpt:
ISLAM IS THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM, MOSES, JESUS AND MUHAMMAD (PEACE BE UPON THEM ALL). WAKE UP FEAR THE GOD OF ISRAEL AND THE UNIVERSE.
I burst out laughing at that. For some reason, this image popped up in my head. See this page for details.
What's really funny is that the article goes on to mention Jonah Goldberg's calling the left's focus on this issue "Wal-Mart Derangement Syndrome"--and unintentionally proves Goldberg's point with that absurd opening.
Yup.
Catholic News via Democracy Frontline:
A Malaysian woman known only as "Lina Joy" is in hiding after threats from Islamic extremists who accuse her of apostasy after she renounced her Muslim faith and sought to marry her Christian fiance.
The New York Times reports that Lina Joy whose name is now a household word in majority Muslim Malaysia started proceedings five years ago in the civil courts to seek the right to marry her Christian fiancé and have children.
There's more:
In rulings in Joy's case, civil courts said Malays could not renounce Islam because the constitution defined Malays to be Muslims.
They also ruled that a request to change her identity card from Muslim to Christian had to be decided by the Shariah courts. There she would be considered an apostate, and if she did not repent she surely would be sentenced to several years in an Islamic rehabilitation centre.
Such compassionate comrades.
What the hell!? Pejman is blogging about cricket! That just goes to show just how serious this Inzi vs. Hair scandal has become.
The initial attention on the potential malfeasance of Inzamam-ul-Haq is entirely dissipated and focused instead on the attempted malfeasance of Darrell Hair.
Yup. That's what happens when one asks for a cool 500 Gs for "retirement." Andrew Miller put it quite well:
What on earth was he doing asking for a clandestine payment? Such non-disclosure clauses may be common practice in the corporate world, but the ICC is a body of nations, almost always in disagreement over one issue or another, and in this case, in disagreement over Hair himself. They are liable to file audited accounts; was Hair expecting the ICC executive to hide the money from the board? After the comments made by Shahrayar, did he expect Pakistan to sanction such a get-out?
That's the really odd part: Why would Hair think that his offer would remain secret from Pakistan?
My two previous posts on the matter:
"There is only one way that the Pakistani team can lift its head high: Destroy England in the ODI series." The series starts on Wednesday and something tells me it's going to be sold-out.
The Surfer links to more opinions about Hair--all negative.
Muslihoon left this illuminating link in the comments. An excerpt:
The Prophet [Muhammed] said, "Were dogs not a species of creature I should command that they all be killed; but kill every pure black one." [Muslim, Narrated AbuDharr: "...The black dog is a devil."]
[Emphasis mine.]
Ladies and gentlemen, this devil, according to Islam, should be killed.
The second photo can melt hearts of stone.
Babies. Lots and lots of babies.
David Frum:
My father-in-law Peter Worthington, who served in WWII and Korea and then went on as a foreign correspondent to witness more wars than even he can count, offers these observations on Canada's war in Afghanistan, in which some 2300 Canadian soldiers have suffered 27 killed. Excerpted from an article to run in full in Sunday's Toronto Sun [...]
The Daily Times via Dhimmi Watch:
Muslim clerics in earthquake-hit Azad Kashmir have told aid agencies to fire all local women employees or face violent protests, officials and religious leaders said on Thursday.
That's ironic given the name of the place--Azad Kashmir. Azad means free.
Update
Right after I published this post I read this:
"When you look at women in Canada and their human rights compared to international standards, we have a long way to go."
Hizballah's rising popularity as a result of Israel's failed invasion has stretched beyond Lebanon's borders. Throughout the Arab world, Hassan Nasrallah has become an icon of fearless resistance to Israel's program of land theft, expulsion, colonization, oppression, and mass murder. His heroic standing has recently brought a [...]
And that's when I vomited.
