Blog Heap of Links for the day 11 July 2012

Now, Governor Lingle falsely claimed that the October 31, 2008 statement said “that the president was, in fact, born at Kapi’olani Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii.” That is patently false. Regardless of whether Lingle is being intentionally dishonest or just clueless, it doesn’t matter… she is speaking lies, and cannot be trusted. If that weren’t bad enough, CNN is now selectively editing Governor Lingle’s words in order to conceal her lie and create their own lie… the lie that Lingle “certified Obama’s birth certificate as legitimate”.

Even if doctors do not quit their jobs over the ruling, America will face a shortage of at least 90,000 doctors by 2020. The new health care law increases demand for physicians by expanding insurance coverage. This change will exacerbate the current shortage as more Americans live past 65. By 2025 the shortage will balloon to over 130,000, Len Marquez, the director of government relations at the American Association of Medical Colleges, told The Daily Caller.

Iran is ramping up its production of mini-submarines, which are 'a huge problem' for US naval power. The US has countered by sending minesweepers to the region. [WNU editor wonders, "who will fire the first shot"?]

George Lakoff, Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at U.C. Berkeley — and highly regarded Democratic tactician — has just released his playbook for the 2012 election. Titled The Little Blue Book: The Essential Guide to Thinking and Talking Democratic, it purports to be the ultimate insiders’ guide to liberal messaging and left-wing ideology. … You know how whenever Democrats lose an election, they invariably blame their “poor messaging” and never ever the content of their policies? Lakoff came up with that. Liberals find it very reassuring: We don’t need to rethink our ideas — we just need to express ourselves more clearly.

[Graphic by Chrissy. Unbelievable ignorance.]

The Department of Homeland Security is continuing to target patriotic Americans and conservatives who “believe that one’s personal and/or national ‘way of life’ is under attack” as terrorists. They even have this listed in their latest report.

Liverpool Care Pathway, a method of looking after terminally ill patients that is used in hospitals across the country. It is designed to come into force when doctors believe it is impossible for a patient to recover and death is imminent. It can include withdrawal of treatment – including the provision of water and nourishment by tube – and on average brings a patient to death in 33 hours. … This determination in the LCP leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy. The personal views of the physician or other medical team members of perceived quality of life or low likelihood of a good outcome are probably central in putting a patient on the LCP.’

According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt's Great Pyramids… those "symbols of paganism…" Bahrain's "Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs" and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt's new president, Muhammad Morsi, to "destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what the Sahabi Amr bin al-As could not…" a reference to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad's companion, Amr bin al-As and his Arabian tribesmen, who invaded and conquered Egypt circa 641. Under al-As and subsequent Muslim rule, many Egyptian antiquities were destroyed as relics of infidelity….

“We call it ‘living design’ because the key thing that’s going to happen next…is undoubtedly the Internet of things,” Curtis said at our MobileBeat conference in San Francisco, referring to the idea that soon everything will be connected to the Internet. “The digital world is going to be louder than the real world, and it’s going to surround you, pretty tightly wrapped up,” he said. The API culture will drive the living design movement, Curtis said, which is already picking up steam. After all, once just about everything is online, companies will want to make their services easily available on a variety of devices.

The chemical was designed by dentists in Chile, and wipes out all the bacteria that cause cavities in just 60 seconds in tests. The chemical could be added to any current dental care product, turning toothpaste, mouthwash and chewing gum into 'super cleansers' that could get rid of the underlying cause of tooth decay. The chemical targets 'streptococcus mutans', the bacteria that turns the sugar in your mouth into lactic acid which erodes tooth enamel.

So when Berners-Lee and his team cooked up a new edition of their still-primitive World Wide Web system, one that could support photo files, he went a few steps from his workstation to ask de Gennaro for a Cernettes-related image. The Web had already used a few small vector image files to show off schematics, but Berners-Lee and his team needed a guinea pig for the leap into photos.

I’m going to be writing a 3-part series on battling Internet discussion trolls. Together, these make a toolkit you can use any time you come across a troll, to make your life easier. [Blog Troll image source]

equipped with a desk, a built-in LCD TV, WiFi, wall-sockets for laptops and recharging cell phones, etc, ventilation and has storage space for luggage. There’s even a drink dispenser for re-hydration. And don’t worry about dirty sheets and pillows. The room automatically changes the bed when the occupant exits. Visitors can sleep on a flexible strip of foamed polymer with a surface of pulp tissue that is rewound from one shaft to another, like hand towels in a bathroom. Proper bed linen costs you more. Clients could purchase time inside the Sleepbox from 15 minutes to several hours. [What could possibly go wrong? On the other hand, if this could be made truly automatedly mobile, you might have the camper home of the future!]

The Obama administration is moving to shut down nine Border Patrol stations across four states, triggering a backlash from local law enforcement, members of Congress and Border Patrol agents themselves. Critics of the move warn the closures will undercut efforts to intercept drug and human traffickers in well-traveled corridors north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Though the affected stations are scattered throughout northern and central Texas, and three other states, the coverage areas still see plenty of illegal immigrant activity… "It could impact us tremendously since we've only got two agents up here now for 26 counties," Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas told FoxNews.com. [Emphasis added]