TGIF Humor

Three men :

a Canadian farmer,

Osama bin Laden and a KENTUCKY GENTLEMAN

are all working together one day.

They come across a lantern and a Genie pops out of it.

'I will give each of you one wish, which is three wishes in total', says the Genie.

The Canadian says, 'I am a farmer and my son will also farm. I want the land to be forever fertile in Canada '

POOF! With the blink of the Genie's eye, the land in Canada was forever fertile for farming.

Osama was amazed, so he said, 'I want a wall around Afghanistan , Palestine , Iraq and Iran so that no infidels, Americans or Canadians can come into our precious land.'

POOF! Again, with the blink of the Genie's eye, there was a huge wall around those countries.

The Kentuckian says, 'I am very curious. Please tell me more about this wall.'

The Genie explains, 'Well, it's about 5,000 feet high, 5oo feet thick and completely surrounds the country. Nothing can get in or out; it's virtually impenetrable.'

The Kentuckian sits down on his Harley, cracks a beer, lites a cigar, smiles and says,

'Fill it with water.'

My thanks to George M!

APS says global warming should be looked at

When Pope Algore reads this he will faint.

With this issue of Physics & Society, we kick off a debate concerning one of the main conclusions of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body which, together with Al Gore, recently won the Nobel Prize for its work concerning climate change research. There is a considerable presence within the scientific community of people who do not agree with the IPCC conclusion that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are very probably likely to be primarily responsible for the global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution. Since the correctness or fallacy of that conclusion has immense implications for public policy and for the future of the biosphere, we thought it appropriate to present a debate within the pages of P&S concerning that conclusion. This editor (JJM) invited several people to contribute articles that were either pro or con. Christopher Monckton responded with this issue's article that argues against the correctness of the IPCC conclusion, and a pair from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, David Hafemeister and Peter Schwartz, responded with this issue's article in favor of the IPCC conclusion. We, the editors of P&S, invite reasoned rebuttals from the authors as well as further contributions from the physics community. Please contact me (jjmarque@sbcglobal.net) if you wish to jump into this fray with comments or articles that are scientific in nature. However, we will not publish articles that are political or polemical in nature. Stick to the science! (JJM)

Something is happeniong here dear chums. A year ago P&S said the discussion was done. Over with. Don't bother me.

Large organizations and especually technical journals don't change easily. First there are egos, and yes, careers to consider. That they reopen the door is both startling and telling.


APS

Media gets what they deserve

You know, we all know things are tough. I mean check this out:

Microsoft said today that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit jumped 42 percent, helped by strong sales of its Office and Windows software, but the company offered a soft outlook for the current quarter.

Earnings for the three months ended June 30 rose to $4.3 billion, or 46 cents a share, but that missed Wall Street's expectations by a penny a share. In the year-ago quarter, Microsoft reported earnings of $3.04 billion, or 31 cents a share.

Now what did AP have to say about this?

Microsoft's profit falls short of expectations

Now let me see. Despite hard economic conditions, this last quarter vs a year ago shows a 15 cent per share improvement... But the AP chooses to push the fact that MS missed Wall Street expectations by a penny???

If you ever needed a concise snapshot of why the major media outlets are dying, that is it. AP's bias here is just so plain that it can't be missed. And long term, that means people walk away.

Jesus wept

In contrast, John McCain spent the morning studying the problems of America and looking for solutions.

CHICAGO (AP) - Sometimes it's hard to tell if Barack Obama is running for president of the United States or Mr. Universe.

The Democratic presidential contender exercises regularly, but over a 24-hour span this week, he took it to a new extreme.

Twice on Wednesday and again Thursday morning, Obama traveled to a lakefront apartment building near his Chicago home to work out with a friend at his gym. On Wednesday night, Obama also spent an hour at the East Bank Club, a mammoth exercise facility just north of the city's famous business Loop where he is known to play basketball.

On the former occasions, reporters accompanying Obama saw him get in and out of an SUV wearing a baseball hat, white T-shirt and black sweat pants. On the visit to the East Bank Club, Obama was dressed casually as if going out to dinner, wearing slacks, a blue blazer and flip-flops.

A distinct lack of visible sweat on the Illinois senator triggered questions about whether he was actually exercising or using the gym visits as cover for conducting vice presidential vetting or interviews.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton e-mailed a succinct, two-word answer: "Working out."

That view held credence among some of the photographers who regularly accompany Obama. They said that even when he shot hoops earlier this year with members of the University of North Carolina varsity men's basketball team, they didn't see Obama sweat.

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Compiled by Glen Johnson

And they wonder why people say they are in the tank for Hussein.

The New French??

For just a moment we have thought the French had caught a clue.

Alas, no. They remain clueless.

"For France the friendship with the Arab countries is very important. Islam means progress, science, pride and modernity", the French President continued.

BrusselsJournal