Xavier Cromartie

Yeah, it's time to predict the order of finish. 13. Jasmine Murray (Actual: 13th.) 12. Megan Joy 11. Anoop Desai 10. Matt Giraud 9. Kris Allen 8. Michael Sarver 7. Alexis Grace 6. Jorge Nuñez (Actual: 12th.) 5. Scott MacIntyre 4. Lil Rounds 3. Adam Lambert-Jonas 2. Danny Gokey 1. Allison Iraheta

Last night, I got an idea for a theoretical companion thread to my Somali Privateer thread. This one would be a daily account of foreign entities' disruption of Somalia. For example: Somalia: AU Troops Wound Fisherman This space would be used for a paragraph in which I berate the non-Somali country. Eventually, I'd hold a 'Foreign Countries That Have Fucked Somalia the Most' draft, and the United States would probably be the #1 pick, but I'd have to consider about five other countries for the #1 spot, too. I could probably go 4 rounds of 12 picks. Anyway, I won't actually execute this idea.

My Yahoo! trophy case needs some '09 booty.

Here's how I have the odds of signing TO at the moment: 1. Oakland 25%. Desperate for WR; unconcerned with personality. 2. Jacksonville 12%. Need a WR; Del Rio needs to win. 3. Detroit 12%. Desperate for talent. 4. Denver 10%. Would work in the McDaniels offense. 5. St. Louis 10%. Dumping Holt; can't get much worse. 6. Tampa Bay 7%. Plenty of cap room. 7. Chicago 6%. Need WR but seem content with Hester, Bennett, and a draft pick. 8. Indianapolis 3%. Looking for a WR but will get him in the draft. 9. Buffalo 2%. They don't go for big free agents. 10. Cincinnati 2%. Have plenty of young and veteran WRs. 11. Seattle 2%. Signed Housh to a big deal. 12. New England 2%. Would briefly think about Moss & TO and then say no. 13. Houston 1%. Happy with Johnson and Walter. 14. Green Bay 1%. Set at WR. 15. New Orleans 1%. Have Colston, Shockey, Moore, Meachem, and Henderson. 16. Pittsburgh 1%. Won Super Bowl without him. 17. Carolina 1%. No cap space; already have to tolerate Steve Smith. 18. Arizona 1%. Have 3 WRs; need to sign their own players. 19. Kansas City 1%. Mr. Haley feuded with TO. 20. San Diego 0%. Denied interest. 21. Tennessee 0%. Denied interest. 22. Cleveland 0%. Denied interest. 23. Atlanta 0%. Denied interest. 24. New York Jets 0%. Denied interest. 25. San Francisco 0%. Denied interest. 26. Washington 0%. Denied interest. 27. Baltimore 0%. Denied interest. 28. Minnesota 0%. Denied interest. 29. New York Giants 0%. Denied interest. 30. Miami 0%. Mr. Parcells doesn't want him. 31. Philadelphia 0%. Already dealt with him. 32. Dallas 0%. Cut him. Updates: St. Louis 0%. New Orleans 0%. Jacksonville 0%. Houston 0%. Oakland 0%. Tennessee >0%? Tennessee 0%. Tampa Bay 0%. Chicago 0%. Pittsburgh 0%. Carolina 0%.

Your view of seafaring Somalis is understandable, I just favor the privateer interpretation. I've previously posted a sufficient amount of my thoughts about them. Somalia has been, both figuratively and literally, raped and murdered by foreign invasions into their marvelous land. Italian troops systematically raped Somali women, Belgian troops burned Somali civilians on open fires, Canadian troops tortured and killed a Somali teenager, American troops killed ~1,500 Somalis in a span of 16 hours, Ugandan 'peacekeepers' killed Somali civilians, and Ethiopian troops raped and killed thousands of Somali civilians. The food & medicine humanitarian intentions were good, but surely the Americans wanted to create a US-friendly government in Somalia, and Mohamed Farrah Aidid wasn't US-friendly. When I included America in the group of self-interested entities, I was thinking more of America's supplying weapons to Somalis when Somalia was a Soviet puppet, supplying warlords with funding to fight against the ICU, and, obviously, George W. Bush's usage of Ethiopian troops as his tools to remove the ICU.

I disagree with your method here, but I praise you for having the intentions of ending violence in Somalia. The noble and honorable people of Somalia will never have "an indifferent to positive view" of yet another foreign military intervention. Foreign intervention is not the solution to Somali problems; it is the major cause of them. The British, the Italians, the Belgians, the Americans, the Canadians, the Kenyans, the Ethiopians, and the Ugandans have all been self-interested entities who had no respect for the Somali people nor the interests of Somalia. The Somali people will never accept the great injustice of having their destiny imposed on them by a foreign power. Somalia has been, both figuratively and literally, raped and murdered by foreign invasions into their marvelous land. Additionally, there is the issue of the foreign naval vessels in Somali waters. European countries illegally dump their nuclear waste on the Somali shoreline—killing thousands of fish, destroying the Somali environment, and causing sickness and death in Somali people. Myriad countries around the world—France, Japan, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Honduras, and Thailand, to name just a few—illegally yet brazenly trawl in Somali waters, costing the Somali fishermen US$300 million per year in lost potential earnings. What does the UN do about these crimes? Nothing. What does the UN do when the courageous fishermen decide to fight back and defend the culture, resources, and dignity of Somalia? The UN quickly authorizes international military action against these privateers. Somalia needs to choose its own leaders, not have a horrible and weak entity like the TFG chosen for them. They need visionary and peaceful leaders who are not corrupted by greed and who reject clan-based politics. And so, no more warlords and no more 4.5 formula. And especially no more dishonorable traitors like former President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. More than anything, the Somali people need a government that can provide them with security, both domestically and from foreign forces. If that government rules in accordance with Sharia law, so be it, as long as it supports the culture (e.g., the xeer) and the legitimate interests of a united and peaceful Somali nation.

You don't think they'll add to their O-Line? Seems like that's been their problem since their inception in the league. I think that there's a 0% chance that the Texans take an OT in round one. They drafted LT Duane Brown in round one last year, and RT Eric Winston is a very good young player who got a five-year contract extension last season. The big four OT prospects will likely be gone by 15, anyway. They'll go heavy defense early in the draft, looking at OLB, another DE, FS, CB, and DT. They'll probably get a RB and OL depth in the middle rounds.

I think that they will look for an OLB in round one. Probably Brian Cushing or Clay Matthews III. I still believe that swapping picks with the Bucs is possible. I think that it's more likely than not that either Sanchez or Stafford (or both) will be available at 15, and the Bucs could jump ahead of the Jets and Bears. The Texans would still get an OLB at 19.

Czech, I think that invoking the name of Rush Limbaugh is a strategic move by Mr. Obama. He's presenting the American people with a false dilemma: are you with Mr. Obama or are you with the highly partisan Limbaugh (and the politicians of his ilk)? Independents have a much more unfavorable view of Limbaugh than favorable,[1] because Limbaugh is someone who 'clings' to his far-right conservative ideology so uncompromisingly that he attacks even moderate conservatives. And so, Mr. Obama gains favor with many Independents and some moderate conservatives (like Ms. Snowe and Ms. Collins) who reject the Limbaughesque divisiveness of the far-right.

Let me tell you about my blog, The Sourced Mock. There are hundreds of NFL mock drafts out there. Most of them are one uninformed fan's guess at what will happen in the draft, or, even worse, what "should" happen. Instead of creating just another mock draft, I cite reliable journalists/bloggers who have direct access to NFL sources. I take what they write, combine it with what I know about the teams and the draft prospects, and output my mock. For example:

One's view on physical vs. electronic books depends on one's personality, I'd say. I can understand that some people might like to have a pleasant atmosphere where they can immerse themselves in an entertaining book because it's relaxing and makes them happy, or whatever. I read because I'm looking for things that are useful to me. I extract what's useful—ideas, facts, techniques, etc.—and cast aside what isn't. I swapped my copy of St. Augustine's The City of God because the full text is available online. If I want to recall, e.g., his writings about the nature of time, I can just look up the passages that I'm looking for, and so the physical book is useless to me.

I agree with the overall sentiment of that passage. But, I think that the quoted section in particular sounds distinctly left-wing, and the left and right will generally have differing views about it. At a physiological level, left-wing individuals are in greater harmony with the desire for 'freedom from want,' whereas right-wing individuals are in greater harmony with the desire for 'freedom from fear.' The ideas of change, complexity, novelty, creativity, and rebelliousness are a fundamental part of a left-wing individual's worldview, just as the ideas of stability, order, familiarity, conformity, and loyalty are a fundamental part of a right-wing individual's worldview.

No, not at all, but I understand that other people would prefer a variety. I could fulfill my nutritional needs with even less variety by cutting out things like raisins and bananas, but I like them enough and they're cheap. Dates could go too, but I love them so much that I'd never give them up. Everything that I eat tastes good, and so there's no desire to 'cheat.' I like not having to deal with figuring out what to eat, not having to waste time cooking/preparing, not succumbing to addictions, having a consistent food budget, and making only one trip per week for food. This way, there's no stress. I eat this way for both my current self and my future self. I've lost 15 lb and noticeably improved my energy levels and mental sharpness. But, I also have the confidence of knowing that I won't be fat and dying of heart disease when I'm 70. I should feel about as good as I do now. My goal is to live to see the year 2100. (I'll be 117 that year.)

It looks like 4hartthreat got 18 of the 24, beating my 17. I demand edit logs. Anyway, I lose because of the Penn BS.

Non-crimes: Wow! signal Only a little more than a year ago, the astronomer who noticed the signal wrote, "since all of the possibilities of a terrestrial origin have been either ruled out or seem improbable, and since the possibility of an extraterrestrial origin has not been able to be ruled out, I must conclude that an ETI (ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) might have sent the signal that we received as the Wow! source."[1] Bloop Voynich manuscript

Yeah, referring a new member is worth 1 credit. My nickname there is Cromartie. You can mention me as the referrer when you register, or you can contact them afterward, if you already registered. Thanks.

I don't know what any of these things area. Care to explain a little? Sure. Wikisource and Project Gutenberg provide works that are in the public domain. Basically, anything published in the US before 1923 is in the public domain. It can be ancient (e.g., Plato's Theaetetus) or more recent (e.g., Anna Karenina). Google Books is a book-scanning project. In addition to usually having full views of public domain works (e.g. Don Quixote), it has some difficult-to-find books (e.g., Mr. Blackburne's Games at Chess) and very generous, fair-use previews of copyrighted works (e.g., Obama's Dreams from My Father). PaperBackSwap is a book-swapping service. You get 2 free credits just for signing up and listing a few books that you want to get rid of. From there, you get 1 credit whenever someone requests one of your books, and you, in turn, use that credit to request a book that you want. I've used PBS to get copyrighted books, like One Hundred Years of Solitude and Watership Down.

I currently have 36 subscriptions in my Google Reader, although a lot of them are rarely updated or are not worth checking every day. Talking Points Memo (political news) and FiveThirtyEight (political analysis) are the two frequently updated ones on which I have a 100% read rate. NewScientist and Discovery Channel have the most starred items. Somali Musings has, by far, the highest ratio of blog entries to starred items. I star almost every post.

I'm a supporter of the idea that everything that can be paperless should be paperless, and Kindle is a technologically great product. But, there's no way that I'm going to pay US$359.00 for it and then more money for the books, especially when my current system of using Wikisource, Project Gutenberg, Google Books, and PaperBackSwap costs very little and provides most of the books that I want.

Intellectual elites are familiar with famous passages such as "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" (Julius Caesar) and "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" (Macbeth). What are some lesser-known quotations that deserve greater recognition? Or, what works that aren't exactly on the "world classic" level nonetheless have moments of greatness? I read The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury when I was 19. It was an ok sci-fi collection, but —And the Moon Be Still as Bright (© 1948) had some interesting passages, particularly the following one: Much like the moment when the current President of the United States went to Trinity United Church of Christ and "imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones" (Dreams from My Father, p. 294), this passage opened me up to the idea that instead of rejecting spirituality in favor of science, I could develop my own spiritual/philosophical system that would be in harmony with science and nature.

Best Picture Slumdog Millionaire - Christian Colson Best Director Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire Best Actor Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler Best Actress Kate Winslet – The Reader Best Supporting Actor Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight Best Supporting Actress Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Best Original Screenplay Milk - Dustin Lance Black Best Adapted Screenplay Slumdog Millionaire - Simon Beaufoy Best Animated Feature WALL-E – Andrew Stanton Best Foreign Language Film Waltz with Bashir (Israel) in Hebrew - Ari Folman Best Animated Short Presto - Doug Sweetland Best Art Direction The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo Best Cinematography Slumdog Millionaire – Anthony Dod Mantle Best Costume Design The Duchess – Michael O'Connor Best Documentary Feature Man on Wire Best Documentary Short The Conscience of Nhem En – Steven Okazaki Best Film Editing Slumdog Millionaire – Chris Dickens Best Live Action Short New Boy (Ireland) Best Makeup The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Greg Cannom Best Original Score Slumdog Millionaire – A. R. Rahman Best Original Song "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire – A. R. Rahman (music), Gulzar (lyrics) Best Sound Editing The Dark Knight – Richard King Best Sound Mixing The Dark Knight – Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, Ed Novick Best Visual Effects The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron

In addition to my previous point about the diversity of literature, I wish to add that it would be good to see more in-depth, analytical discussion instead of the current 'I like/don't like Book X' formula that we see in the thread 'Book recommendations.' As an example of what I envision, imagine the following comment in the hypothetical thread 'Barack Obama's books' in the prospective Literature folder: "I read an interesting article in The Daily Telegraph today that wrote that Mr. Obama is sending back a bronze bust of Winston Churchill that London had loaned to former President G. W. Bush—despite that London didn't ask for it back. Evidently, Mr. Obama's reasoning relates to what he mentions about his grandfather Onyango on pages 417–418 of Dreams from My Father. Churchill was PM during the Mau Mau Uprising, and Onyango was put on a list of KANU supporters—leading the British to mistreat him in a detention camp for six months until he finally received a hearing and was declared innocent. I would guess that that incident had some influence on Mr. Obama's seriousness about closing the Guantanamo prison and restoring habeas corpus."

Even Czech, huh?

For more changes, see The Obameter and Timeline of the Presidency of Barack Obama * Added 17,000 troops to Afghanistan. * Orchestrated and signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. * Returned a loaned bronze bust of Winston Churchill to the Brits. * Signed the DTV Delay Act, allowing for a delay of the digital transition until 12 June 2009. * Established President's Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. * Signed the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act. * Imposed a cap of $500,000 for top executives at companies that receive large amounts of bailout money. * Created the White House Task Force on Middle Class Working Families. * Signed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. * Wrote a letter to Iran, encouraging direct talks. * Pressured Citi to abandon plans for a new $50m corporate jet. * Allowed states to set strict automobile emissions and fuel efficiency standards. * Announced Recovery.gov to show how the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is used. * Lifted the ban on funding abortion services abroad. * Ordered closure of Guantanamo Bay prison and CIA secret prisons and the usage of the U.S. Army Field Manual for interrogation techniques. * Emphasized the importance of government transparency. * Revoked GWB's Executive Order 13233 (which limited access to records of former Presidents). * Limited lobbyists' access. * Enacted a pay freeze on aids who make US$100,000+. * Expanded and emphasized the Office of Public Liaison. * Created the White House blog. * Created the Citizen's Briefing Book for the people to submit ideas to President Obama. * Created 'Open for Questions.' * Created USAService.org for finding local volunteer opportunities. * Gave weekly addresses on YouTube. * Offered transparency on transitional documents and meetings. * Created a presidential transition blog.

This statement is generally true, particularly in regard to wheat-based products. But, healthy food is not necessarily all that expensive. Every day, I consume the same healthy, nutritionally balanced, delicious, 3440-Calorie diet that includes 'expensive' sashimi. I'm going to calculate the (approximate) cost per week right now. * 5 gallons of orange juice @ $6.49 per gallon = $32.45 * .25 liters of olive oil @ $39.22 per 3 liters = $3.27 * 98 cubes of sugar @ $1.39 per 126 cubes = $1.08 * 14 oz of organic Medjool dates @ $5.99 per 12 oz = $6.99 * 1.5 cups of organic raisins @ $5.09 per 3 cups = $2.55 * 4 lb of Roma tomatoes @ $1.49 per lb = $5.96 * 14 oz of salmon sashimi @ $75.58 per 64 oz = $16.53 * 7.5 lb of bananas @ $0.69 per lb = $5.18 * 7 oz of organic coconut oil @ $11.29 per 14 oz = $5.65 * 7 yolks of cage-free, ω−3 eggs @ $3.27 per dozen = $1.91 Total cost for one week = $81.57. It's totally worth it for the improved physical fitness, disappearance of physical ailments, improved mental clarity, and happier mood.