Some Analysts Warn Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

President Barack Obama speaks about winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, Friday, Oct. 9, 2009, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington.

(AP)

This story I read at Fox News.


It remains to be seen what impact President Obama's stunning capture of the Nobel Peace Prize, with a citation praising him for promoting diplomacy, will have on foreign policy matters, though some of Obama's critics are warning that it presents a new challenge to his war deliberations and other issues.
In particular, some foreign policy analysts say the prize announced Friday may complicate his efforts to wind down the war in Iraq and his decision on whether to ramp up the war in Afghanistan.
John Bolton, a U.N. ambassador in the Bush administration, told FOX News that the award will give leverage to Obama advisers opposed to sending more troops Afghanistan at the request of commanders.
"I think those who don't want a massive increase in troops will now be saying, 'But Mr. President, you just won the Nobel Peace Prize, how can you agree to 40,000 more troops on the ground,'" he said.
For others, the award reinforces conservative criticism that Obama's hesitation to wield the threat of greater military force in Afghanistan demonstrates weakness, said John Wobenstein, a senior fellow for international diplomacy at the American Foreign Policy Council and a national security official in the Reagan and first Bush administrations.
"I think that when there is weakness, that encourages war and encourages operations that the Iranians are doing," he said, referring to Iran's nuclear program and perceived meddling in Iraq. "I think it will embolden them to do more. It's going to embolden lots of other terrorists."
The Taliban, which is waging a fierce battle with U.S. troops in Afghanistan as part of its mission to regain power,immediately condemned the selection of Obama, saying the president had only escalated the war by sending more troops.
"Why are they giving this prize to Obama, who has sent more troops to Afghanistan, who is bombing and killing innocent people?" Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said from an undisclosed location in a telephone interview Friday with the Associated Press.
He accused Obama "of having the blood of the Afghan people on his hands."
Others say Obama simply has yet to produce a record worthy of the prize.
"Barack Obama's campaign may have changed the tone in international diplomacy, and that might have been a good thing," said John Tate, president of the Campaign for Liberty, a conservative group. "However, his actions fail to match his campaign rhetoric."
"He is ramping up Afghanistan, expanding the war in Pakistan and his administration is making plans to bomb Iran," he said in a written statement. "At the same time, he has failed to make major troop withdrawals in Iraq, or anywhere else in the world."
But some analysts don't believe the award will make much difference.
"I don't expect that we'll see any major changes in the negotiations over how to deal with the Afghanistan war," said Kristin Lord, an expert on international diplomacy at the Center for a New American Security, a left-leaning think tank.
She added that difficulties on the ground, not America's reputation, are preventing the U.S. from achieving its solution.
"Domestically, it's not going to help him because people are beginning to form strong opinions about him," she said. "Internationally, it's hard to see how the president could have a higher profile."
The award, she added, is a "validation of his approach" by the Nobel committee, "but I'm not sure we'll see any tangible changes" in his ability to carry out foreign policy.
Aaron David Miller, a former Clinton administration official involved in U.S. peacemaking efforts, told FOXNews.com that the award shows "the international community is in love with this man" and is a "collective sigh of relief that George Bush is gone."
But he added that the award, like Obama's failure last week to get the Olympics sent to Chicago, "will have absolutely no impact" on U.S. foreign policy.


It is interesting how some people win the Nobel Peace Prize....Should a president actually
have a chance to win this...shouldn't all leaders strive to make the whole earth more peaceful
something to think about.....hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Yours Truly
"mediamerlin"

 

Another Love Boat

Story about another type of love boat.
Found Here.

Meet the man who is really running the ship!

Mitchell Smyth, North Shore News

Published: Sunday, September 20, 2009

It's 10 minutes to midnight in the Crow's Nest lounge of the MV Ryndam, somewhere between Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan on Mexico's Pacific coast.

Michael Rowland takes the microphone and announces that Chuck and Eloise, on their third Holland America cruise, are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary that day.

He calls them forward, hands them a gift and tells them that they're being treated to lunch next day in the Pinnacle Grill, the ship's upscale restaurant, which passengers usually pay a premium to eat in.


Then Rowland moves around the room, greeting people here and there, often remembering names and hometowns. He's such a bundle of energy it's hard to believe that he has been on the job since 7:30 this morning, without a break.

Rowland is the cruise director, the person who, probably more than any other, is the public face of a cruise ship. Before the end of the voyage pretty well everyone aboard -- in this case more than 1,200 passengers -- will recognize him.

Many of them "know" the job from the TV series The Love Boat (1977-86), in which actress Lauren Tewes played perky Julie McCoy, cruise director on the fictional Pacific Princess. Julie always greeted guests, and before the cruise was over you could be sure she'd have kindled at least one romance and maybe solved some minor mystery or family drama along the way.

"That's not what it's really like," says Rowland. "No, I don't get involved in people's lives and loves."

For one thing, he doesn't have time to. On a typical day he'll be in his office before 8 a.m., going through the day's activities with his staff. By 8:30 he'll be on the PA, telling the early risers what to expect.

After grabbing a coffee and chatting to breakfast patrons in the Lido Restaurant it's off to the atrium to introduce, and putt the first ball, in an indoor golf contest.

At this time he's wearing a sports shirt and chinos. Before the day's out he'll probably have half-a-dozen costume changes.

"I have three full suitcases," he says. "I need tuxes, sportswear, chinos, pumps, ducks. The right clothes for every occasion."

On an average day Rowland will probably be supervising or moderating such diverse events as wine tasting, bingo, basketball, pool games, bocce and cake decorating, plus a dozen more.

Sea days -- that is, days on which the ship doesn't make a port call -- are busiest, for everyone is aboard all day, meaning more activities are expected.

"Stamina. That's what's needed," he says, glancing at his watch before bounding upstairs to host the afternoon trivia competition, one event he looks after personally. "It's my favourite of the day."

Rowland, a native Californian, began his career as a writer and animator for the Hanna-Barbera studios. When animation work began to be sent overseas, he joined Holland America, working his way up to head the cruise-activities team. He works a seven-day week for up to two months at a time, then takes a month's break at home in Laguna Hills, Calif.

IF YOU GO:

For information on major cruise lines visit the Cruise Lines International Association website, www.cruising.org.

For more information on Holland America visit  www.hollandamerica.com.


© North Shore News 2009


I always loved the show when it first came out....I was a hopeless romantic and wanted
to see Lauren Tewes in person...but I loved all of the characters of the show....Doc, captain stubing,
Isaac the bartender, and all of the wacky guest stars...
It was a great series.

Yours Truly,

"mediamerlin"

Make your own barcode, just like Google

Story found on Christian Science Monitor.

Google devoted its home page to the humble barcode today – and now you can too.
By Andrew Heining | 10.07.09

What’s black and white and read all over? Barcodes. And boy do you people like them.

The Web was buzzing about barcodes today because Google decided to commemorate the 57th anniversary of the first ever patent on them with one of their popular doodles.

Many commenters on Amy Farnsworth’s post talked of trying to scan the Google logo rendered in “Code 128″ with limited degrees of success – using everything from commercial barcode scanners to cellphone cameras. Others jumped in with conspiracy theories – that barcodes are somehow related to the devil, or would in some future time be used to catalog a society overrun by machines. It’s all pretty fantastic.

That got us thinking – how do you make your own barcode? A quick search (it doesn’t even have to be done on Google) brought us to this free online barcode generator. It’s running a bit slow after today’s miniature barcode renaissance, but visitors can use it to create barcodes in any of five formats to share with friends, post on a cubicle wall, or just generally geek-out with.

Told of the barcode’s humble origin – and that the original design was composed of concentric circles – many have asked about the more complex versions of barcodes now in use. You may have seen them on mail, retail packaging, or, more recently, in the pages of Golf Digest magazine.

UPS uses a two-dimensional barcode called MaxiCode. They include “offset rows of hexagonal modules arranged around a unique finder pattern,” and are capable of storing not only shipping class information, but the package’s intended address as well. The square codes even include error-detection technologies, so they may be read even when the bumps of a long journey obscure the image.

Those who pick up the November issue of Golf Digest magazine will see similar two-dimensional barcodes accompanying certain articles. These, when scanned with a smartphone equipped with the Microsoft Tag app, take readers to video tutorials related to the article they accompany. Some might say it’s surprising to see such innovation from a golf magazine, but the move makes sense – golf is one sport dominated by ever-changing technology. Why wouldn’t a publication committed to following it be the same?

–

What are your thoughts on barcodes? What other oft-overlooked technology are you fascinated by? Leave a comment or drop us a line on Twitter – we’re @CSMHorizonsBlog.

Oh, and for those readers with access to a scanner (some mobile phones work, too) take a crack at decoding the image above!
<< Google bar code logo latest in ‘doodle’ line | Main


This is just one more way for us to really make us like machines....
Now we just have to have that barcode on our necks like that tv show
Jessica Alba was in years ago....maybe with a GPS locator in it too.

Yours Truly,
Brian
"mediamerlin"
Woodbridge

People unsure if H1N1 vaccine risk worth it to prevent Swine Flu symptoms

As More and More Come Down with H1N1 Symptoms, People are
Still Unsure About the Swine Flu Vaccine

Story brought to you from the examiner.

With only days left before the arrival of the first shipments of H1N1 Swine Flu vaccine, Americans are divided about whether or not they will receive the vaccinations, not to mention whether they will allow their children to receive it.  But how many will or won't seems to vary widely depending on who's asking.
Different H1N1 Vaccine Surveys Receiving Vastly Different Results
There have been at least four major surveys conducted on the matter in the last few days, and each of them found widely different results.  One, released on October 2nd, conducted by Harvard School of Public Health, indicated that as many as half of adults intend to get the vaccine, and nearly three quarters of parents will get it for their children.
This is a sharp contrast to a survey released earlier in the week, which showed only about a third of people intending to get the vaccine themselves, and about the same number intending to have their children have it.  Yet a third survey's results fell squarely between the two.  Another said that some 87 percent of people thought healthcare workers should be required to take the vaccine, while among those same healthcare workers, only a little over a third intend to do so.
Why do So Many Intend to Avoid the H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccinations?
The top reason people intend to not get the vaccine themselves appears to be worries about side effects from the vaccine itself.  This is most likely due to how quickly the vaccines have been rushed through development and testing.  Close behind that worry, is the belief they would be unlikely to come down with a serious illness from swine flu, and finally because they feel they would be able to treat the H1N1 virus with medication if they did become ill.
Among parents, worries were slightly different.  Although the top concern – side effects of the H1N1 vaccine – is the same, it is followed instead by a fear their children might get some other illness because of it, and then by a distrust of health officials to provide accurate information about the risks involved.
Should People be Getting the Vaccine?
Although only a doctor can say for sure how high each individuals' risk is of catching the Swine Flu, or how severe the illness might be if they do catch it, statements from the CDC have indicated that "it is expected that most people will recover without needing medical care."  Each person must decide for themselves; but, save for those who are at high risk for complications, there is little, despite urgings to the contrary, that gives any really compelling reason to get it — or, for that matter, not to get it.


For more on the possible risks and side effects of the swine flu vaccine, be sure to read What are the possible side effects of the H1N1 Swine Flu vaccinations?

Life has enough problems as it is. They don't need to be complicated because
of the treatment of disease. Optimal health can be reached I think through
the proper diet and exercise.

Yours Truly,
Brian
"mediamerlin"
Woodbridge

P.S.
The natural ways to prevent swine flu:HERE.

Upstart Wireless Charger Breaks Big With $15 Million Push

News from ADAGE.



NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- If you're sick of all those messy cords to your electronic devices and having to remember your cellphone charger everywhere you go, there's a new marketer in town who's after your heart: Powermat, a self-proclaimed pioneer in wireless charging.
 

Tech geeks have been buzzing about the wireless charging concept for a few years, but it's been largely foreign to mainstream consumers.
That's likely to change next month when Powermat,

OPENING THE DOORS: Device is the first wireless charger to market to mainstream.

 
 a privately held marketer in the Detroit suburbs, unveils a global campaign -- just in time for the holiday season


-- to promote its namesake product, a sleek black mat that works via a technology called magnetic induction.

Powermat was created via a joint venture with Homedics (a company known for foot spas, pillows and massagers) and received a lot of attention when it showed off its mats at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Soon after, Beth Harrison Meyer, Powermat's director of product development and the lead on all marketing efforts, set about finding agencies to handle a broad launch for the device, choosing WPP's Maxus to handle media duties after a review and New York indie shop Woods Witt Dealy & Sons for creative.
Broad push
The push breaks in the U.S., U.K. and Italy on Oct. 5, with an integrated campaign that includes everything from airport signage and installations to a four-page insert in Wired magazine and full-page print ads in other publications, and a series of humorous 15- and 30-second commercials intended to show people's reactions to the new technology.
Ms. Meyer declined to discuss spending for the launch, but industry executives estimate it at $10 million to $15 million for the first phase.
The campaign will coincide with Powermat hitting shelves next month at two mega retailers, Best Buy and Target, which will also provide significant in-store marketing support. "You will not be able to walk into these retailers and miss Powermat," said Ms. Meyer, noting it bypassed specialty shops such as Brookstone, as the device aims to have broad appeal among consumers. It will also sell on Amazon.
Powermat is a two-part system made up of an ultra-thin mat and a receiver. Both a portable and folding home version are launching at the same price point, $99.99. The Powermat's "powercube" receiver charges hundreds of devices, including iPhones, iPods, BlackBerrys, e-readers and a host of other electronics. Powermat also offers custom receivers for $29.99 to $39.99, such as a built-in iPod case and specially made battery doors that let consumers drop their devices directly on the mat to begin charging. It charges up to six devices at a time.
"If you think about how much money we spend on accessories for phones and other devices, it is a small amount," Ms. Meyer said. "We expect to see it on a lot of wish lists."
Simplicity
One feature that's sure to be a hit among greenies is that Powermat is energy-efficient, halting charging once a battery is full. "So many of the smartphones are battery hogs, so you can charge them at a useable level for you, " Ms. Meyer said.
The concept behind the work, said Harry Woods of Woods Witt Dealy & Sons, is to show there's no need to fight that big bunch of cords sitting in your kitchen or crawling under your desk to plug something in. "A simple statement is key, especially with technology," said Mr. Woods.
The Powermat launch is the first global campaign for Woods Witt, a shop of only a dozen full-time staffers. Mr. Woods and his partner in the agency, Gill Witt, worked together for 12 years at BBDO, New York, before hanging their own shingle in 2005. In addition to Powermat, clients include Hickory Farms, CNBC and Butternuts Beer & Ale.
Messrs. Wood and Witt are also known in ad circles for being outspoken critics of industry award shows and are the creators of the anti-award show the "Wrath of Cannes."


Technology keeps changing we need better ways to keep things simple.
We should strive to make life more simple not more complicated.

Yours Truly,

Brian
"mediamerlin"
Woodbridge