Majority

With Symbian's 10th Anniversary just flown by, there is one more news round the corner, according to mocoNews, Nokia has bought over the stake of Siemens AG in Symbian, which is around 8.4%, thus... Visit my blog to read more.

(H/T:  Tom Nelson):  67% of Americans support drilling for oil offshore and 64% believe it will lower oil prices, according to a new Rasmussen poll.  If any polling numbers came in like this for global warming support, the environmentalists would take it as a mandate and tax us all.   rasmussenreports.com Tags: America, environmentalists, global warming, Ice, [...]

Rep. Allen thinks it's 1964 all over again.Think he's right?UPDATE: Gerald notices the Maine Sunday Telegram's strange, sort of baffling editorial on the same topic.The writer deserves credit for organizing the piece around the (sound) assumption that on the issues, Allen is a better fit for Maine than Sen. Collins.But given the sensible premise, a number of passages are all the more perplexing. N

Good news for all the Josh’s in the world (a.k.a. almost everyone). The rate at which parents are punishing their kids by naming them Josh is declining. This could mean one of two things. Either people are getting more creative when they’re naming their kids, or Josh’s have just made a bad impression on the [...]

SCULPTURE QUADRENNIAL RIGA 2008 - DICTATORSHIP OF THE MAJORITY: "The following artists were selected by jury: Agata Erlacher, Bartlomiej Struzik, Chingiz Babayev, Christine Gold, Daan Roosegarde, Egons Persevics, Fred Martin, Kai Schiemenz, Karlis Ile, Kirils Panteļejevs, Lenka Klodova, Ludwika Ogorzelec, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Marc Schmitz, Marco Bruzzone, Maria Rebecca Ballestra, Mark Clai

Wealth-Bulletin.com Bank Hapoalim has acquired a 50.01% stake of Nuverse Advisors, a New York-based wealth manager, for an undisclosed sum. NuVerse offers personal wealth management services to high net worth individuals through offices in the US, Latin America, and Europe, according to a statement from Bank Hapoalim. 'The acquisition of 50.01% of NuVerse is another clea

~Snooper~Now what? The Ace of Spades blog has the details but the data is here at Fox News. So, watch this spot here and if you wish, the transcript of an interview with Roger Stone is here. in regards to the Michelle "Whitey" rant.The DNC is approaching their very own self-induced Abyss of Obscurity.[UPDATE]Don Surber has the popular vote run down and calls the whole DNC self-induced quagmire an

This from Eduwonkette:The National Center for Education Statistics released the 2008 Condition of Education report this morning. If you need any basic stats on education – early childhood through post-secondary – this 300+ page report is for you.In this year's report, the NCES drew attention to the changing demography of American schoolchildren. Minority students make up 43 percent of American

FRANKFURT (AFP) — German sportscar maker Porsche wants to increase its stake in Volkswagen from 31 percent to a majority in September or possibly even in August, an industry source said on Thursday.Porsche had already said that it wanted to hike its interest in Europe's biggest carmaker but had not said when the operation would take place. The company announced on Thursday it would do so "this y

Senator Barack Obama is expected to win enough delegates in today’s primaries in Kentucky and Oregon to clinch a majority of pledged delegates awarded in the primaries and caucuses. But Obama will still be short of the total number of delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination outright. On Monday, Obama spoke at a campaign rally in Billings, Montana.Sen. Barack Obama: “Everybody’s sur

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House of Representatives last night passed legislation strongly supported by Congressman Steve Rothman, D-Fairlawn, that will lower record-high gas prices by suspending oil purchases for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) until the end of the year. This move could save Americans 5 to 24 cents a gallon. Yet, President Bush has ignored repeated pleas from both Democratic

Whose House? Our House! HUMAN EVENTS EXCLUSIVE Stolen Vote Committee Hearings begin: Pence blisters Dems by Jed Babbin Posted: 05/13/2008 HUMAN EVENTS has obtained a six-minute “highlights” video prepared by Republicans from the original video of House floor proceedings on August 2, 2007 when the Democrats first reopened a completed vote to reverse a Republican win on a motion [...]

An overwhelming majority of Americans believe that the so-called economic stimulus plan - largely consisting of tax rebates - will not boost the economy. According to a poll conducted by CNN/Opinion Research Corp., a whopping 82% of Americans believe the stimulus package won’t work. This is up sharply from 70% of Americans who [...]

Mumbai, May 5 (IANS) Adlabs Films Limited, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has entered into an agreement for acquisition of majority and controlling interest in Malaysia-based Lotus Five Star Cinemas.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is set to acquire majority stake in an oil block in Peru. The company is understood to have recently inked an agreement with Pan Andean for acquiring stake in Block 141 in Peru. The company is presently seeking necessary approvals from authorities in Peru. Pan Andean Resources explores and produces oil and gas in South America and the Gulf of Mexico. Indications are that RIL is likely to acquire 90 per cent stake. Block 141 in the Lake Titicaca area of Peru is a large oil exploration play. RIL has been pursuing contracts for farm-in activities in two oil blocks in Peru. (Under Farm In practice, a company does not acquire the property directly, but rather develops the oil and natural gas properties by taking participating interest in the block)Reliance already

Business Times - 25 Apr 2008 Majority owners at Airview Towers win appeal THE Court of Appeal has overturned the ruling by the High Court and Strata Titles Board (STB) on the collective sale of Airview Towers, paving the way for mainboard-listed Bukit Sembawang Estates to acquire the property for $202 million. Located at St Thomas Walk, Airview Towers became the subject of a civil appeal after a sole resident, Ken Lee, objected to the collective sale, arguing that the minimum 80 per cent approval rate needed was not met in time. This was because during the process of the collective sale, a few owners had sold their units and their successors had apparently not signed the documents agreeing to the en bloc sale at the date of application. Although STB and the High Court had ruled in Mr Lee's

It's no secret that blogs and social networks have become the preferred sounding board for consumers fed up with poor customer service. Now, a study from Society for New Communications Research has attempted to quantify the impact on brands. Sponsored by Nuance Care Solutions, a Burlington, MA-based provider of voice-recognition solutions, the online study found that 72 percent of respondents used social media to research a company's reputation for customer care before making a purchase, and 74 percent choose to do business with companies based on the customer care experiences shared by others online. Meanwhile, 59 percent said they regularly use social media to "vent" about their customer care frustrations, suggesting that consumers looking to make a purchase decision first wade through a

Well ,to all those who aren't familiar with majority element,a majority element in an array of size N is any element which is present more than N/2 times.Now our task is given an array of size N ,we need to find the majority element if it exists ,as efficiently as possible.Here are some of the ways to do it.Naive approach:Just scan the array element wise and then make a count of the frequency of each of the distinct elements present in the array and if any element's count is more than N/2 then it is the majority element, otherwise it doesn't exist!!One needn't ponder much on the complexity of this bruteforce approach.This requires O(N) additional space and O(N) time.Recursive Approach:Here’s a divide-and-conquer algorithm: function majority (A[1 . . . N])if N = 1: return A[1]let AL

Coyote Blog has a brief discussion about the fact that 60% of people think the amount of taxes they pay is "fair." At first blush, this would seem to be a pretty strong argument that Americans don't think they are overtaxed.Except that Coyote Blog points out another little thing: 60% of Americans also receive more in government benefits than they pay in taxes. In other words: 60% of Americans believe that it is fair to take from the remaining 40%. This is the problem when you implement "majority rules" governance over taxation. It's awfully easy to advocate for more government programs when you don't actually have to pay into those government programs.

I have been doing this for a few years now and have become better at sniffing out the programs that are, at heart, scams. What amazes me is people still join and shout from the roof tops. Take a look at my post about the lawn chair millionaire for an example. Of course people are going to make money. My point is those at the top make huge amounts and those at the bottom make very little. I want everyone to succeed so...Here is an invitation to join our Private Profit Group. Even if you don’t have a cent to your name at this moment, we can help you to become a millionaire within 12 to 18 months. The Wealth Team International Association has been producing positive results both on and off line for the past 15 years. No program would stay around for 15 years if it were not producing the req

By: Ionut Arghire, Windows Editor On Monday, Hitachi announced he had bought a majority interest in the shares of M-Tech Information Technology, password management software vendor, the idea of expanding its own line of products for identity management. Hitachi has already played an important role in the management of ID market. The authenticity of goods sold by the company, based on the identification of patterns of veins in a user's finger.Hitachi said in a statement issued on Monday that Japanese financial institutions are already using finger-vein authentication system aimed at the company, massive proportion. There are about 80 per cent of agencies with the use of technology "Hitachi" of the total number of institutions that use their automated teller machines biometric log-on syst

A list of photo copy services advertised on the door of a Bulawayo post office. As a campaign tactic, Mr. Mugabe in the past few weeks tried to win support by quintupling the salaries of public employees. But the pay scales were still so paltry that they did not cover bus fare to and from work. HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP, April 3): ZANU-PF, the party of President Robert Mugabe, lost its parliamentary majority, official results showed, bolstering opposition claims that hundreds of thousands of impoverished Zimbabweans voted for change in weekend elections.With official results still unreported in the separate presidential race, which was held alongside parliamentary balloting Saturday, Mugabe, who has served 28 interrupted years in power since independence from Britain, may be focused on a runoff

Although the criticisms of this post will come ten fold, some things ought be said about the response of the Digg community to the most recent post entitled "End of the school term? Lets have an orgy!" I encourage all individuals to see the disheartening responses for themselves.

The multiculturalist-left rejoices… Olivier Servaix, sociologist at Université catholique de Louvain, said in an interview to La Libre Belgique last week that Brussels, would have a Muslim majority in 15-20 years, due to the community’s high birth-rate. According to Servaix, a third of the population of Brussels is Muslim. Since 2001, Mohammed is the most popular [...]

Here's a Gallup poll that does a pretty good job of busting stereotypes and generalizations about Muslims' attitudes toward democracy. Do Muslims Want Democracy and Theocracy?By John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed Cutting across diverse Muslim countries, social classes, and gender differences, answers to our questions reveal a complex and surprising reality. Substantial majorities in nearly all nations surveyed (95% in Burkina Faso, 94% in Egypt, 93% in Iran, and 90% in Indonesia) say that if drafting a constitution for a new country, they would guarantee freedom of speech, defined as "allowing all citizens to express their opinion on the political, social, and economic issues of the day." However, while acknowledging and admiring many aspects of Western democracy, those surveyed do not

From Malaysiakini.com:  Unofficial: BN denied two-thirds majority - 2.42am According to unofficial tally, the opposition has apparently denied the ruling Barisan Nasional its crucial two-thirds majority by winning up to 82 parliament seats so far (PKR - 29, DAP - 28, PAS - 25). To deny the government two-thirds majority, the opposition must win 75 seats. On [...]

It has been known for a long time that there are differences in prostate cancer survival rates across ethnic groups and a recent study has now come up with some supporting data. As a result, it ought to be possible to spot factors which will enable us to improve prostate cancer treatments. More: continued here [...]

In short, none. But be very careful that you are in fact teaching Biblical Truth.If what the community generally accepts had any influence on how we, as Christians, should live our lives, or what we should teach, then we have some serious considerations:Which community should that be? The eastern or the western? The catholic or the protestant?Who is right and who is wrong? Or is truth, in fact, relative, non-absolute, and ever-changing?MAJORITY OPINIONSome have suggested that we, as Christians, should abide by what is generally accepted within the Larger Religious Community. The question we are left with however, is: Which religious majority? The Catholic or the Protestant? The Church on the corner, or the big one down in Main Street?I believe that Scripture, and not Majority Opinion, is t

Small businesses need to look at developing the skills of their staff so they are better equipped to deal with pressure, it has been claimed. Mike Petrook, a spokesperson for the Chartered Management Institute, was speaking in response to the publication of a survey conducted by the Samaritans which shows that more than half of [...]

That prediction was made by Global News at 8:21 pm and not 10 minutes later, Stelmach made his victory thank you speech from his campaign headquarters. There is something fundamentally wrong with an electorate that absolutely refuses to attempt to change the political situation in this province, where we've been held hostage by these Conservatives for what seems like (and practically is) forever.Now it's just a matter of watching for the gains and losses. I'll post the final numbers when they're up.Local coverage:CTV CalgaryCBC CalgaryQR 77 RadioGlobal CalgaryCalgary HeraldCalgary SunUpdate:Wow. Political scientist Keith Brownsey just had an angry fit on CFCN asking what CTV was thinking predicting a majority Conservative government when only a few votes were in from a handful of ridings.

Ignoring the negative minorityI recently met up again with Mel Mellers, a very successful cabaret entertainer who I have known since the mid 90s. Throughout my speaking career, he has been very helpful in giving me advice but nowadays he spends much of his time working on luxury cruise liners so I don't get to see him too often. He told me that on one recent trip he had heard an excellent presentation by Jack Canfield, originator of the famous Chicken Soup for the Soul inspirational books. Canfield had mentioned how, even if we have plenty of approval from people, it's always the discouraging minority who seem to make the most impression on us, even define us, and that we need to stop associating with them!This got me thinking about how, even if a speaker's presentation is going really wel

There is a chinese saying that is relative to the views and reality of any form of gambling - 十赌九输 and translated means "For every 10 bets you place, 9 bets will be lost". It is very true in the sense that not many gamblers can making gambling profitable. Take for example for every $10 you bet on you are bound to lose $9 and for the $1 you won, the odds might only be 2 to 3 times your bet amount which means you only got back $3. If this is true for all punters then for every soccer match 90% of the people who placed bets are likely to lose the bet. Going by this theory does not really help us to pinpoint which match is going to turn out that way. But there is a way, every now and then there are bound to be lopsided matches which small clubs meet big clubs and come up with a good re

"When George Double U Bush Puts His Nuts Out There, You Kick Them, Every Time" I Found That Phrase On Bartcop Dot Com, It Was True Then, And It's True Now There's No Time To Play Political Patty Cake With The Neocons Stop Feeling Sorry Because Rove's Politics Have Divided People You Cannot Fix That By Appeasing The Right Wing And Thier Bad Ideas That Is What Has Got Us To This Point Where We Are Strong Measures Needed People Do Not Like Weak Leaders, When You Cave To Bushtard, It Sucks Ass Demoralizing Is A Good Way To Put It You Have To Stop That Stand Your Ground, Our Ground Even If You "Don't Have The Votes", You Put The Right Wingers On Record By Making Them Side With The Bushtard's Insane Deals The Majority Has Awoken And Can See The Huge Disasters Created By Bush And His Right Wing Cronies, Heck Of A Job, Brownie Heck Of A Job Dick, Condi, Rummy, Wolfowitz Feith, Gonzo, Rove And Neocon Cupcakes Like Dana Purina, All Lies All Of The Time Some One Let Dana Pur

Zach of ZachStocks.com has a bright outlook on Crocs due to their Global Expansion, New Product Line, and new contracts. International sales outpaced domestic sales to the tune of 51%. Specifically, strength was seen in Europe and Japan as the release cited $58.1m in sales from Europe and 53.9m from Asia (of which Japan is the majority). Brazil and China are expected to be the upcoming highlights as expansion into these countries has just begun. With all the expansion overseas, Crocs is benefiting from the relative weakness in the dolla

It never ceases to amaze me how Congress can quickly push crappy legislation through, but when legislation that is needed is being worked on, such as an AMT patch, it takes forever. Granted any... (Read the rest of this blog entry at www.floridamortgagedaily.com)

Apology For Racism: By Courtnee Romer - Nassau, Bahamas: FREEPORT, Grand Bahama – Director of the One Bahamas Foundation Sir Durward Knowles on Tuesday apologized for the oppression of blacks in The Bahamas, which occurred decades ago. Sir Durward spoke at a flag-raising ceremony at Independence Park where One Bahamas ceremonies were held after a five-year hiatus. "Boys and girls, you are living in a great country. I was brought up when white people were in charge of these lands and they treated the black people very badly," Sir Durward said. "I’m here to apologize on our behalf. Today, we’re living in a great society. We’ve [beaten] all the trials and temptations and now we’re here as one Bahamas," added Sir Durward, who said he was glad that he lived in the time of oppression because he came out better for it. He said he appreciates all races and it was a blessing to listen to all the performances at the celebration. The re-launch of the One Bahamas festivities could

Heads of government gathering in Bali next week for the U.N. Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC) may have to worry about matters other than global warming – and which smart Seminyak restaurant to choose for dinner.According to Bali Update (www.balidiscovery.com) included among those wishing their voice to be heard will be a "people's power" group of local residents planning a cultural parade to coincide with the conference.Dubbing themselves the "Bali Civil Society Coalition," a spokesman told Tempo Interaktif that numerous environment and community-action non-governmental organisations have joined forces to ensure the voice of the Balinese people is not lost amidst the din of the important international conference.A day-long demonstration at Denpasar's Lapangan Field is scheduled for the group including the reading of a "Declaration from the People of Bali" calling for the Balinese day of absolute silence, Nyepi, to be declared an "international moment" to provide the earth a da

Ricardo Mayorga defeats Fernando Vargas in a Majority Decision Notes from ringside... Round 1: Ricardo starts fast and unloads a flurry on Vargas. Mayorga is trying to take Vargas to the streets of Managua. Vargas responds with a borderline low blow. Vargas keeps his hands high. Mayorga lands a chopping overhand right and Vargas goes down. Mayorga, 10-8 Round 2: Mayorga continues the

Almost since the beginning of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq in late 2003, there has been an ongoing public debate about the significance and origins of foreign-born jihadists who have traveled to Iraq intent upon joining Al-Qaida and killing Americans and Muslim "apostates". Despite a veritable avalanche of evidence suggesting that these foreign fighters have had a disproportionate role in destabilizing Iraq and that a large cross-section (if not outright majority) of these fighters are coming from...(read more)

The Telegraph Herald is looking for a Copy Editor to join our Editorial Department. Responsibilities include editing content and design pages for an award-wining daily newspaper. A Bachelor's degree or equivalent and three years of ...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Canon Inc (7751.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said it aims to take a majority stake in Tokki Corp (9813.Q: Quote, Profile, Research), a supplier of flat panel-making equipment, for $69 million or more to speed development of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels.Canon has been developing OLED panels in a bid to replace liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, which it now procures from outside suppliers for digital camera, camcorder and printer displays.Canon is the world's largest digital camera maker competing with Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Olympus Corp (7733.T: Quote, Profile, Research), while Tokki is the world's No.1 maker of tools used to make OLED displays.Canon will offer 556 yen per share in a tender offer planned for 20 working days between November 14 and December 12, aiming to buy at least 3.07 million shares. The offer price is at a 22 percent premium over Tokki's closing price on Tuesday.The Tokyo-based company also plans to buy

“Stability and a decrease in violence, they’ve done that - God bless them. I’m not surprised that they did,”"I am not surprised, therefore, that when we send 20,000 additional troops and put them in an area of consequence that those 20,000 troops from the best army in the world, the best trained, best equipped army in the world brings a very heightened security,”  Those words were spoken by Steny Hoyer, the Democrat majority leader, when speaking about the SUCCESS of the surge to date. The troops are winning despite what Harry Reid WANTS to believe. These statements are sure to piss of the anti-war faction of the party so he had to tamper it down a little bit, sort of spin it as a positive for him and the rest of the Democrats. How did he do this? Simple, he just said that the president never had enough troops in the first place and he always knew it.  The thing about this is, he is right on both counts. First, the surge is a success, and it must pain hi

I always hear Democrats taking about the overwhelming majority of Americans wanting our troops to leave Iraq immediately. But what I ask is where they get those figures?RasmussenReports , the most accurate polling firm in the country, has consistently had the percentage of Americans wanting the troops home immediately between 20-30 percent. Not overwhelming at all. They also have the percentage of Americans, that want us out of Iraq within a year at 57 percent. That also is not overwhelming at all. Yet Democrats are the ones saying that the Bush administration is out of touch with reality? But that's not true, it's Democrats that are out of touch with reality and in touch with radicals like the dailykos and code pink.I think that an overwhelming majority of Americans do want us out of Iraq, after we accomplish our mission there and not prematurely. Leaving too early will give the country of Iraq to Iran (a terrorist country) and endanger America. There is only one type of p

Here's a positive development that knocks down Ehud Olmert's attempts to divide the city he once mayored: A majority of Knesset members signed a petition this week calling for Jerusalem to remain undivided in a move that could tie the hands of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in his negotiations with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of the Annapolis summit. The petition drive,

And it’s about time too! As an apparent and deliberate response to an ongoing public online campaign calling for Section 377A to be repealed, a group in Singapore calling itself “the Majority” has set up a website with an open letter to the Prime Minister urging for the retention of the law instead. Section 377A states that homosexual acts between men is a punishable crime. If apprehended and charged in a court of law, the guilty can be sentenced to a maximum of 2 years’ imprisonment. In the letter, the group notes that Section 377A is a reflection of the sentiments of the majority of society. Most Singaporeans hold conservative family values and do not accept homosexuality as the norm. Repealing Section 377A is a vehicle to force homosexuality on a conservative population that is not ready for homosexuality. No doubt there will be detractors wondering if the group has the right to call itself “the Majority” or to claim to truly represent the “

The majority of non-medical anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) users are not cheating athletes or risk-taking teenagers. The majority did not use steroids during adolescence and were not motivated by athletic competition or sports performance. For related information on adult steroids, visit: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com Steroids are not only used by sports man, but people who [...]

Barton on Sea ProbusMy last speaking engagement of September was for Barton on Sea Probus on the 26th. This was my third visit to this club and, as on previous occasions, it was a mixed meeting with members' partners present: 67 people in all.The room at Shorefield is a bit of a barn and I was asked to use a microphone. Neither of the club's own mics (a wireless hand-held and a clip-on) were suitable - both were tinny and there were also feedback problems. The venue then offered two of their own: one that clips on the ear so the speaker looks like Michael Jackson or Madonna, and another hand-held. I felt self-conscious with the clip-on so I opted for the latter!The Patrick Campbell talk seemed to go pretty well and I also added a new 'prop'; Val had bought me some copies of Lilliput magazine from the 40s and 50s, a publication Campbell wrote for, and knowing that they were of age to remember this, I invited audience members up afterwards to look at one. This was a great hit!Public

There’s a dispute going on over in India in relations to a land bridge Hindus are insisting was built by Lord Ram.  In response to the hoopla a few politicians have made smart-ass remarks regarding Lord Ram’s formal education.   And much like the Christians here in America, Hindus are claiming they are being victimized by the “micro-minority” of atheists with the author of the linked piece saying the “bullies” ought to be arrested. And why should they be arrested?  Because India has a law that forbids anyone from upsetting religious people: Meanwhile, someone should read out Section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code to Mr Karunanidhi. It says anyone who, by words or visible representation outrages the religious feelings of any class of citizens “with deliberate and malicious intention” or otherwise “insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of the class”, shall be punished with impri

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Russia's PIK Group said it has acquired a majority stake in Storm Properties, a real estate company operating in the commercial sector.PIK has acquired 50 pct stake and one share in Storm, and part of the acquisition price paid by the company will be reinvested by Storm for future project development.

Although Canadians, in general, seem to be more comfortable with the Conservatives, they hold mixed feelings when asked about Prime Minister Stephen Harper. A poll conducted by the Strategic Counsel shows the Conservatives and the Liberals deadlocked, with each being named as the first choice of 33 percent of respondents. In general though, Canadians seem satisfied with where the country is headed with its current Conservative party. When asked if the country is on the right track, 57 percent said “yes”. That’s down 4 percentage points from last year at this time, but up more than 10 points since the final days of the Liberals in early 2006. Traditional views on Canadian politics and parties also seem to be changing. Liberals who say they might vote for another party, list the Conservatives as their second option - a reversal from the period before the 2006 election. In the suburbs of Toronto, where Liberal support is known to dominate, the Conservatives have climbed

Epic Games has acquired a majority interest in Poland-based game developer People Can Fly (PCF), best known for the highly successful Painkiller PC game. PCF has most recently been collaborating with Epic on the PC version of Gears of War. Epic and PCF are also working on a brand new intellectual property which Epic will be previewing privately to publishers at Games Convention in Leipzig this week. The relationship between the two companies began last year when PFC was evaluating Unreal Engine 3 to use for a new multi-platform game project. Mark Rein from Epic Games: “PCF showed us their early prototypes within only a few weeks and we were totally blown away. The quality of their work was extremely high, and knew we had to find a way to work more closely with them in the future.” President of Epic Games, Michael Capps, even went as far as saying that the multiplayer levels PCF created for the PC version of Gears of War look as good or even better than the original.

Poll: Majority mistrustful of upcoming Iraq reportExcerpt:"A majority of Americans don't trust the upcoming report by the Army's top commander in Iraq on the progress of the war and even if they did, it wouldn't change their mind, according to a new poll.President Bush frequently has asked Congress -- and the American people -- to withhold judgment on his so-called troop surge in Iraq until Gen. David Petraeus, the commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, issue their progress report in September."http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/16/poll.iraq.report/

Via Human Events John Beohner's advice fo the Democratic Majority.The Stolen Vote by Rep. John Boehner Posted: 08/07/2007 Seven months have passed since I handed the gavel to Nancy Pelosi, formally returning control of the House to Democrats for the...

Take a long and hard look at the chart above. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words or in this case, worth half a million. Many would be housing buyers have felt the angst of never being... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday paraded 20 MLAs before President Pratiba Patil to prove that it had majority in the Goa assembly even as state Governor S.C. Jamir directed Chief Minister Digambar Kamat to go for a vote of confidence on Monday. (more…)

I've always found the Libertarian line a bit daft - I mean, I have little faith in the "free" market to regulate itself. Human greed and avarice are just too overpowering motivations to allow room for altruism. And according to a recent study, most Americans really do believe that government should be the watchdog over the common good, making sure that those left behind by get a helping hand. A great deal of the information comes from a massive Pew Research Center study of American values from 1987-2007.Some highlights of this report are:On Health Care: 69 percent of Americans think it is the responsibility of the federal government to make sure all Americans have access to health coverage; 76 percent find access to health care more important than maintaining the Bush tax cuts; three in five would be willing to have their own taxes increased to achieve universal coverage. On Energy Policy: 52 percent of Americans believe "the best way for the U.S. to reduce its reliance on foreign

Vets for Freedom, a pro-mission veterans group dedicated to communicating America's strategy in Iraq, professes both confusion and outrage over recent comments made by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). Senator Reid arrogantly declared General Petraeus "out of touch" with what is going on in Baghdad, all the while-from the safety of Washington, DC-proclaiming his defeatist opinions, which undermine the war effort and embolden America's enemies. Three important facts color Senator Reid's absurd statement: 1) Senator Reid, the man who called General Petraeus "out of touch," voted to confirm him in January of 2007; 2) Senator Reid, the man who purports to be more "in touch" with events in Baghdad, hasn't been there since March of 2005; and 3) when Senator Reid came home from Iraq in March of 2005, he said ""I came away with the feeling we cannot leave Iraq. If we do, the terrorists will have won." "It sounds to me like Senator Reid is out of touch with himself (referring to his

Just a few minutes ago I was eating a couple of slices of banana bread my ex wife had sent over to me recently and reading a Clancy novel. The novel is “Executive Orders” if anyone is interested. Anyway, I glance over at the monitor on my desk next to me and see a headline saying “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Calls Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace Incompetent”. My first thought was to wonder if Reid was now channeling Jane Fonda… Partisan politics has gotten to the point with the Democrats that any individual that is even remotely connected to the Bush administration will be harassed and belittled publicly. The quality of their work is irrelevant as soon as they are recognized as a high value target. People have become little more than stepping stones for our politicians. I am not going to blame the Democrats exclusively for this although they have developed it to a fine art form. I have read a few pieces on Gen. Pace but have no real level of expertise on his level of profic

On some obscure releases of the early '70s, Majority One wrote and recorded material in the manner of some of the more foppish late-'60s British psychedelic pop, though the style had been out of fashion for a couple of years or so. The group evolved out of the U.K. band the Majority, who issued eight singles on Decca between 1965 and 1968 without reaching the British charts. After a lot of personnel turnover and a spell backing British singer Barry Ryan, the group moved to France and issued one final single as the Majority, "Charlotte Rose," though this was only released in some European territories. In 1970, still based in France, they changed their name to Majority One, issuing a few singles in 1970 and 1971 and a self-titled album in 1971, though the latter only came out in France and Holland at the time. With some similarities to the more lightweight efforts of the late-'60s Beatles, Bee Gees, and Moody Blues, Majority One's efforts passed unnoticed in their homeland, though th

Nearly two-thirds of American adults want Congress to re-write or outright abolish the landmark No Child Left Behind Act that mandates nationwide testing of elementary students to determine if public schools are performing adequately.Opposition is especially high among people most familiar with the law, according to a survey of 1,010 adults conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University.Controversy about the law has grown in recent months as Congress begins the debate on whether to reauthorize the measure that President Bush has touted is one of the most important achievements of his administration."The No Child Left Behind Act has worked for America's children and I ask Congress to reauthorize this good law," Bush urged legislators during his last State of the Union address.But dissent against reauthorization has developed within his own party. Fifty-two Republican House members and five GOP senators are calling for a repeal of the law in favor of a more flexible system

A new poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation for CNN earlier this month find that a majority of Americans say they are pro-life when it comes to the issue of abortion. The survey also shows abortion is a key issue for the 2008 presidential campaign and that pro-life voters are more resolute than abortion advocates.When asked to self-identify as "pro-life" or "pro-choice" on the issue of abortion, 50 percent of Americans call themselves pro-life while just 45 percent say otherwise.Another two percent said they didn't know what the terms meant and two percent more felt they were a combination of the two.Asked whether certain political issues were important to their vote for president next year, a majority said abortion was important and abortion was thought to be more pertinent than stem cell research.Of the 1,028 adults conducted by telephone on May 4-6, 51 percent said abortion was important with 27 percent saying it is extremely important and 24 percent saying it's very impo

A story seemingly not covered by the MSM. What a shocker that is. Granted it come from a pretty far left perspective but it is interesting that it was not reported on a national level. ~RJH Alternet story link Majority of Iraqi Lawmakers Now Reject OccupationBy Raed Jarrar and Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted May 9, 2007.More than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected for the first time on Tuesday the continuing occupation of their country. The U.S. media ignored the story. On Tuesday, without note in the U.S. media, more than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country. 144 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal, according to Nassar Al-Rubaie, a spokesman for the Al Sadr movement, the nationalist Shia group that sponsored the petition. It's a hugely significant development. Lawmakers demanding an end to the occupation now have the upper hand in the Iraqi

All applicants must support a broad progressive agenda and be committed to using the electoral process to effect social change. Position Summary The Online Assistant is responsible for assisting in maintaining Progressive Majority’s online visibility. S/he will work with the Online Manager, the development department, and Progressive Majority state offices to prepare content for the website, online communications, online marketing, and other projects. The Online Assistant will play an active role in the expansion of Progressive Majority websites, development of online marketing campaigns, conducting Internet research, and responding to online inquiries. S/he reports directly to the Online Manager. Principal Functions Coordinate all online communications by Progressive Majority, including update emails, solicitations for online contributions, emails on Progressive Majority endorsed candidates, blog entries, website content, and other opportunities as they arise; Assist in acqu

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- If contract negotiations between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and DEI have resulted in a tentative agreement to give Junior a majority... Please visit my site for the complete story with links to data and sources. Go #12!

Steny Hoyer has had a meeting with radical Islamists according to cnsnews.com. If this report is true he has met with the founders of Hamas known as the Muslim Brotherhood. From the article: Top terrorists who have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood include 9/11 architect Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who joined the organization in Kuwait; al-Qaeda number two Ayman Zawahiri, a former top member of the Brotherhood in Egypt; and the jailed World Trade Center bombing plotter sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, also an Egyptian. This is just the type of people you would want to associate with now isn’t it? But it gets even scarier: Khaled Salam, said the meeting “clearly signals a positive shift in the attitude of both sides to explore the prospects of a more formal dialogue which hopefully will gain more supporters in the U.S. if Democrats win the White House in 2008.” Great, more talks with the people who want to destroy us. More appeasement, it worked so well for President Clinton. Just tal

In the upcoming premier issue of Parents for Parents™ magazine www.ParentsforParentsMag.com, the Parents Point of View section, based on a survey of mothers earlier this year, showed that an overwhelming majority of today’s mothers – 69% of the survey respondents - have only one or two children. The respondents were from 22 different states. Interesting! Is this true among your friends, family and neighbors?

In a 2006 Zogby poll, it was determined that 59% of voters self-identified as fiscally conservative and socially liberal. According to The World’s Smallest Political Quiz at the Advocates for Small Government website, this is the definition of a libertarian. So why do libertarians consistently fare so poorly in elections? Is a [...]

Silent MajorityThe editors of this blog rarely do editorial pieces---it has been a conscious choice to provide information and avoid addressing our personal viewpoint unless the topic compelled. i think of all our posts, we have done 3 that would fall into the category "editorial". Coming home this evening i saw something that caught my attention. A bumper sticker that proclaimed LUVYADUBYA. Now you might be thinking, big deal, a bumper sticker. It wasn't so much the what as the where. 79th Street and Broadway, NYC, Upper West Side Manhattan. In NYC most often cited statistics show there is a 5-1 percent differential between Democrats and Republicans [Sources: NY Young Republican Club, Inc and Urban Elephants]. The 64th Assembly District in the East Village and 66th Assembly District in the West Village currently has that ratio at 6-1 and 6.1-1 respectively.[Source: East Village Red Man] So you can imagine how rare it is in this town to see a show of support of the current comm

Philip Morris International (PMI) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire an additional 50.21% stake in Pakistan cigarette manufacturer, Lakson Tobacco Company Limited(Lakson Tobacco), from a number of Lakson Tobacco’s principal shareholders for PKR 666.89 (USD 10.96) per share. PMI currently holds 40% stake in Lakson Tobacco and this transaction will bring PMI’s stake in Lakson Tobacco to approximately 90%. In accordance with Pakistan securities law, PMI will proceed to make a public tender offer for all of the remaining shares at the same price per share to be paid to the principal shareholders. Based on a price per share of PKR 666.89, Lakson Tobacco is valued at PKR 41.07 billion (USD 674.9 million). Lakson Tobacco is Pakistan’s second largest tobacco company, with an estimated cigarette volume of 29.8 billion units in fiscal year, ending 30 June, 2006, generating net revenues of approximately USD 160.5 million. Its EBITDA was USD 46.1

11.15.06-11.16.06Incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) supported John Murtha (D-PA) for the position of Majority Leader, but ethical issues arising over Murtha caused the House Dem caucus to choose former minority whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) instead. Pelosi made a smart political move, getting the alliance of Murtha from gratitude, and Hoyer because she's the boss. Very clever, Pelosi. . . The Republicans chose Trent Lott (R-MS) to be their next senate minority whip. Yes, the same Trent Lott that made the racist comments at Strom Thurmond's 100th Birthday party. Yes, the same Trent Lott that was kicked out of leadership for the same. He's back with the same weird hair.EDITORIAL:YUCK!!!!!

A 4,000 sample size poll conducted by Ipsos-Reid between Nov. 7 and Nov. 29 revealed that the Conservatives would have substantial leads regardless of who became Liberal leader. Check out these fantastic numbers:- If the Liberals are led by Michael Ignatieff, the Conservatives under Harper would get the support of 38 per cent of voters, while the Liberals would stand at 25 per cent, the NDP under Jack Layton would get 18 per cent, the Bloc Quebecois led by Gilles Duceppe would have nine per cent, the Green party under Elizabeth May would have six per cent, while four per cent don't know how they'd vote.- If the Liberals are led by Bob Rae, the standings would be as follows: Conservatives (38 per cent), Liberals (27 per cent); NDP (18 per cent); Bloc (nine per cent); Greens (four per cent); Don't know (four per cent).- If the Liberals are led by Stephane Dion, the results would be: Conservatives (35 per cent); Liberals (27 per cent); NDP (19 per cent); Bloc (nine per cent); Greens (s

This is a story I'm getting to late, and I imagine most of you have already seen this CNN poll with numbers on the Democratic presidential hopefuls (I don't know why they didn't do the Republicans - maybe they did and they just want to get a second news story out of the same poll). As this graph shows, Clinton has 33 per cent of Democratic support, compared with 15 per cent for Barack Obama, 14 per cent for each of John Edwards and Al Gore, and 7 per cent for John Kerry - no one else gets more than 4 per cent. PollingReport.com has the previous numbers from the same poll. When Obama was introduced into the list of names in October, the people most affected appeared to be Hillary Clinton, who lost ten points from her September rating, and Al Gore, who went down six points. Clinton has recovered by five points since then, while Obama has slipped two and Edwards and Gore have gained one. John Kerry has lost five points, but the poll is unsettled by the (re-)introduction of Wesle

It looks like Jim Webb of the Democrats is going to win the Senate seat in Virginia, and history repeats itself again. No party in US history has ever won the House without winning the Senate as well. I'm sure if they didn't take it, the MSM would be endlessly mentioning this fact as a reason that the Democrats actually failed. (Note: sarcasm)It's amazing that it wasn't really Iraq or the economy or health care or stem-cell research that took down George Allen. It was a minority volunteer who happened to have a video camera with him. That kid must be overjoyed right now. But only time will tell if he changed history for the good or bad.

So is Majority Watch biased? If so how far do they lean? One way to judge this is to see where they see the 'generic' congressional breakdown compared to other pollsters. In other words, pollster use their own schematics to come up with a formula that they believe correctly weighs the country as a whole. If one pollster sees Democrats winning the generic total by 30 and another sees it as even... certainly they have different methodology. So how does MW fare compared to everyone else? Lets take a cumulative average of the last generic polling from the following pollsters: Pew Research, ABC/Washington Post, Gallup, CNN, Hotline, Zogby, AP-Ipsos, FOX, Newsweek, NBC/WSJ, and CBS/NY Times. That's eleven of the most familiar pollsters out there and each of them has taken a poll since 10/22. The average of these pollsters shows a Democratic edge of bit over 14 points. What does the Majority Watch Cook/RT Strategies polling suggest? The last two polls have been 22 and 23 percent. That i

More of these numbers appear reasonable than appear unreasonable, but there are still too many here where my reaction is "that can't be right!" to give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about this data. If I get a chance soon to go through this in detail I'll add a list of the ones I think are unreasonable to this post later.

Majority Watch polls in 41 contested House districts conducted October 24-26 show that Republicans have stalled for now the Democratic advances. Ah... stalled the advances, huh? That means that according to Majority Watch that the Democrats will win just 44 races ... which of course will be in part because of the the small Democratic surge that they anticipate putting 20 or so races over the edge. I get the impression that they went out looking for more districts (they mentioned 70 polls) that might be in the hunt, but those damned Republicans stalled them out. I just found out that Majority Watch/RT Cook is actually part of the Tarrance group which was once a Republican pollster... but apparently took up the six year itch deal. I found this from March of 2006: LINK As dissatisfaction with the President and Republican-led Congress grows, voters are poised to affect sweeping change. The “sixth year itch”, where voters turn out the party in power in large numbers, is b

Northern Arizona University backed up their September poll with another poll showing the Republican Incumbent Rick Renzi leading in his race in AR-01 by double digits. Majority Watch (as they have with so many races lately) had put this on on the radar with a poll showing the Democrat Ellen Simon leading. I am becoming more and more skeptical of the Majority Watch polls... especially those where they are the only pollsters interested.

Smith Street Collingwood has for many years shown great potential in becoming a groovy, appealing place to hang out in--Much like it's bigger (and better) brother Brunswick Street. Sadly, Smith Street has been forever held to ransom by the scumbag element of society who hang out there. This fact has brought the area into disrepute--one [...]

11.15.06-11.16.06Incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) supported John Murtha (D-PA) for the position of Majority Leader, but ethical issues arising over Murtha caused the House Dem caucus to choose former minority whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) instead. Pelosi made a smart political move, getting the alliance of Murtha from gratitude, and Hoyer because she's the boss. Very clever, Pelosi. . . The Republicans chose Trent Lott (R-MS) to be their next senate minority whip. Yes, the same Trent Lott that made the racist comments at Strom Thurmond's 100th Birthday party. Yes, the same Trent Lott that was kicked out of leadership for the same. He's back with the same weird hair.EDITORIAL:YUCK!!!!!

 Actuality March 14, 2008    Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works OJSC (MMK) purchased 50% stocks of Onarbay Enterprises Ltd, which owned 82,6% of Belon Group equity capital at the transaction moment. As the result, MMK became the indirect owner of 41,3% of one of the largest Russian coal and coal concentrate ...

According to Automobilwoche, FIAT signed an agreement to purchase 70 percent of Yugoslavia's Zastava in Belgrade Wednesday. This is a marriage made in Heaven -- if you're a comedian. Picture Jay Leno combining Yugo jokes with "Fix It Again, Tony" witticisms. Or Stephen Colbert commenting on a car the grandchildren of Mussolini would build in joyful cooperation with the children of Milosevic. FIAT is investing 700 million Euros in a new modernized plant which will build 200,000 subcompact cars in (you guessed it) 2010 with a new mid-class car to follow. And the punchline of the biggest joke? The Yugo car Americans loved to hate was derived from a FIAT: the 127 model.

{mosgoogle right}NAHA -- The ruling coalition lost a majority in the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly in Sunday's election.Opposition forces increased their strength by taking advantage of the growing public criticism of the new medical system which has increased the financial burden of senior citizens.The results could also have a huge impact on the government's plan to relocate the Futenma Air Stati