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"Arise and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time." Winston Churchill
"Proclaim Liberty throughout All the land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof." Inscription on the Liberty Bell
And Now for Something Completely Different. . .
I gather there's some kind of science fiction moving coming out Friday that a few people may wish to see. Okay, kidding. But after all this hype and the ridiculous TV commercials, how can The Force Awakens possibly live up to expectations? Meanwhile, the geniuses at BadLipReading have done these brilliant treatments of the first two Star Wars films (I say "first two" because I refuse to acknowledge that the »
The Best Apology for Politics Ever
While we're on the subject of British politics, Power Line reader Jack Pitney points me to the following Monty Python apology about political figures that is much better than the one I included in the Week in Pictures this morning. Only one minute long, and right on the mark: »
Today's Rim Shots
So, these quips emerged in the course of yesterday's afternoon class that ranged from logical positivism in law to federalism and Justice Louis Brandeis's famously wrongheaded sentence in New State Ice v. Liebmann about the states being "laboratories of democracy." So I hear there's a new movie coming out from Hollywood about logical positivism: "Straight Outta Comte." Ba-da-dish! States are the "laboratories of democracy"? These days more like the "meth »
NR Video on Politically Correct Comedy
Our pals at National Review are branching out into video production, and I especially like this one out just this morning about the perils of politically incorrect comedy (just under two minutes long): »
"Genderflect" With Pep Boys!
I'm too old to stay up for Saturday Night Live any more, but I wish I had been able to monitor the outrage on social media among the Social Justice Warrior set this last weekend, when SNL took down both Starbucks and the whole swollen transgenderism fetish in one fell swoop. If you missed it too, it is definitely worth two minutes of your time for this: »
So Who Can You Still Joke About?
I've been trying to come up with a list of nationalities or ethnic groups—even subgroups—about whom it is still safe to make a joke publicly, since political correctness is shrinking the domain down to the vanishing point. Before long you won't be able to make jokes about "little green men" from Mars, for fear of offending illegal aliens "undocumented" immigrants. I'm not even sure you can joke about white people any »
Today's Silly News
Looks like someone has finally decided to strike back against the obnoxious French knights of Monty Python and the Holy Grail: British Inventor Builds Giant 'Fart Machine' to Fire at France Colin Furze, a plumber and inventor from Stamford, Lincolnshire, has begun building the biggest fart machine ever, which he plans to place on top of the cliffs of Dover and aim across the Channel towards France. His hope is »
That Rabbit Is Nuclear!
I don't think I ever shared this story when it crossed the wires a few years back, but it came back up on my screen yesterday, and it's just too good not to share with Power Line World. From the Associated Press in 2010: Radioactive Rabbit Trapped, Killed A radioactive rabbit was trapped on the Hanford nuclear reservation, and Washington state health workers have been searching for contaminated rabbit droppings. »
Best. Supreme Court. Brief. Ever.
Make sure you've swallowed any and all liquids, especially hot ones like coffee, before you read further. P.J. O'Rourke has filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court, related to the upcoming case Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus. The only possible thing that could top this would be an amicus brief from Dave Barry. Steven Driehaus is the sore-loser Democrat who is suing Susan B. Anthony List for independent »
Ripe for Mocking: The NGO Community
Fans of This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and similar "mockumentaries" will be delighted to learn that someone has trained their cinematic sarcasm on the NGO community. Long overdue: the entire universe of self-appointed, do-gooder NGOs are among the most insidious forces in modern political life. The Samaritans comes out of Kenya, and takes aim at an NGO plausibly named "Aid for Aid." (That name itself »
Liberals Still Aren't Funny: Seinfeld Feeds Buzzfeed to the Buzzsaw
No sooner than SNL's Lorne Michaels ratifies the common sense perception that most liberals are humorless scolds, than Jerry Seinfeld shows up on Buzzfeed and remarks that complaints about the lack of gender and racial diversity in his comedy web series "really pisses me off." "I have no interest in gender or race or anything like that. But everyone else is kind of, with their little calculating – is this »
If Jerry Bruckheimer Took Over Monty Python
You'd get a film trailer like the one below (full story here). Or perhaps we should say, "And now for something completely different." »
If Assad isn't careful Obama will go lawyerly
To follow up on Steve's hilarious post describing security levels in various European countries in light of the Syria crisis, I'd like to add include the Obama administration. Reportedly, it has raised the magnitude of its planned response to Assad's chemical attack from "nuanced" to "tailored." Soon, though, it may raise the level to "calibrated." For now, Obama intends to hold his highest level of response, "lawyerly," in reserve. »
(Not) John Cleese on Threats to Europe (Updated)
UPDATE: Turns out this is not from John Cleese, though it has an Aristotelian authenticity that causes me to leave it up anyway. This is making the rounds, and should not be missed: ALERTS TO THREATS IN 2013 EUROPE From JOHN CLEESE The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Syria and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels »
How Bad Is the Ammo Shortage? This Bad
One of my law partners sent me this joke in an email: Ammo is getting scarce! But this morning I lucked out and was able to buy two boxes of ammo. I placed the boxes on the front seat and headed back home, but stopped at a gas station where a drop-dead gorgeous blonde in a short skirt was filling up her car at the next pump. She glanced at »
"Nobody Hates Me More than Myself"
And speaking of Woody Allen, it's worth 2:25 of your life to take in this marvelous parody of the X-Men films as re-imagined by Woody Allen: »
Breaking News: Barack Obama Is NOT the World's Worst Pitcher!
Barack Obama has thrown out several first pitches, all of which have been more or less embarrassing. Like this one: Despite Obama's lame efforts, it is now clear that he is NOT the worst pitcher in the world. That honor goes to Carly Rae Jepsen, a singer who made it big with "Call Me Maybe." Here she is throwing out the first pitch at Tropicana Field prior to the Astros-Rays »


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Building Wealth - Keep More Money In Your Pocket
UAC develops collaborative approaches to increasing economic opportunity and financial stability in the Tri-State area. We foster opportunities for economic success by uniting businesses, government, and communities, and by providing financial education.
Learn How You Can:
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Community & Economic Development (CED)
CED brings capital to communities by building bridges between low- and moderate- income areas and mainstream financial institutions. CED identifies and develops strategies to solve community and economic development concerns in the region. Activities include affordable home improvement and debt consolidation loans, employer-assisted housing programs, and financial literacy. Learn More >>
Economic Development Projects (EDP)
EDP works in partnership with project developers, owners, construction firms, and universities to help them award contracts to Minority, Women's, and Disabled Business Enterprises, and to successfully employ women and minorities. EDP also prepares community residents for construction jobs in their own neighborhoods and throughout the region. Read More >>

subset: commoncrawl


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People that want to preserve amateur athletics often say that student-athletes are compensated, contrary to appearances, because just about everyone on a top tier sports team is getting an education on an athletic scholarship (even the kids at Harvard, these days). If they get a free ride, isn't that enough? Not quite.
On the Freakonomics blog, Dave Berri writes that he's been working on a valuation for a basketball win for a given program. He isn't there yet, but $100,000 strikes him as a conservative estimate. (It seems safe to assume that there are diminishing returns, where a lone win isn't significantly more valuable than zero wins, but we aren't talking about teams at risk of winning zero games.) If that's at least close, and we break down teams into wins added by individuals as Berri did in a handy chart, the average Indiana University Hoosier was worth $186,537.75 to the school this year. An IU scholarship is valued at $30,000. At 7.37 wins added, Victor Oladipo was worth $737,129 by himself. That doesn't include the postseason.
Berri has an idea:
What I would propose is stop with the rule writing. Simply allow each team to compensate its players in whatever fashion necessary to get the athlete to come to campus. I would suspect that for most athletes, the current system would continue. In other words, most athletes (across most sports) would simply receive a scholarship to play sports and attend school.
For a few players, though, the situation would be different. A player like Oladipo generates far more revenue for a college program than his scholarship is worth. Consequently, in a free market some school would be willing to pay more for Oladipo's services.
This system would be something of a shock to player's like IU's freshman center Peter Jurkin, who, by wins added, played himself $2,879 into debt this season. (Not really, he'd still get a scholarship, he's 7 feet tall). But it's tough to imagine why it wouldn't work, were it not for the NCAA's vested interest in holding down salaries.
It wouldn't be too tough for these schools to find the money; Berri notes that the defense that they aren't profitable is misleading when their not-for-profit status incentivizes spending any money that comes in, and he points to the (hugely inflated) salaries of college coaches as an example of where that money could come from. For those worried about competitive balance, it would be tough to tip that balance any further, especially in recruiting, where a few schools reign supreme. It's also not obvious that allowing players to be paid would change that situation for the worse; players choose Kentucky because John Callipari is an expert at ensuring pay days when the draft rolls around, and as Berri writes, one highly-rated recruit often follows another, because exposure is the best way to guarantee some sort of future payoff.
So it all seems logical, and therefore definitely won't happen with the NCAA involved. There would have to be a lot more of—and more militant versions—this, and in 2013, that still qualifies as outspokenly subversive.
How About A Free Market For College Basketball? [Dave Berri]


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Let $R$ be the hyperfinite $II_1$-factor. It is well-known that it is the smallest $II_1$-factor, in the sense that every $II_1$-factor contains a copy of $R$.
Now, let $\omega$ be a free ultrafilter on the natural numbers and construct the tracial ultrapower $R^\omega$. It is well-known, that this is a quite big factor. Indeed
1) Its predual is not separable. Even, just to make a bit of self-advertisement, its unitary group contains an orthogonal copy of the free group on uncountable many generators (see Capraro V. and Paunescu L. Product of ultrafilters and applications to Connes Embedding Problem, to appear in J. Oper. Theory)
2) A well-known conjecture, Connes' Embedding Conjecture, states that every $II_1$-factor with separable predual should be embeddable into $R^\omega$. Namely, all known $II_1$-factors with separable predual are known to embed into $R^\omega$ (or we do not know if they embed)
On the other hand, $R^\omega$ is constructed starting from the smallest $II_1$-factor using a quite natural construction that should not increase to much. So my question is:
** Question: ** Is it true that any $II_1$-factor with non-separable predual contains a copy of (some) $R^\omega$?
Actually I don't think this is true, since for instance it is not clear how $R^\omega$ could be contained in the group factor of the free group on uncountable many generators. In some sense, the latter has very few relations and $R^\omega$ has lots of relations, but I don't understand quite well how this difference can be reflected in the group factors.
My interest in this problem comes from the following result by Taka Ozawa. He showed that there is indeed no way to find such a universal factor among the ones with separable predual. See N.Ozawa,* There is no separable universal $ II_1$-factor*, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc., vol. 132, iss. 2, pp. 487-490, 2004.
So, a way to reformulate my question is: Is Connes' embedding conjecture the best conjecture one can formulate?
Maybe, it's not the best conjecture, but it's the best one can hope for.
Thanks in advance for any comment.


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Russia's Cabinet approved the Kyoto Protocol on global warming Thursday, clearing the way for parliamentary ratificaion of the document, the Interfax news agency reported.
Russia's Cabinet approved the Kyoto Protocol on global warming Thursday, clearing the way for parliamentary ratificaion of the document, the Interfax news agency reported.
Russia's suppport of the protocol means it would be put into effect worldwide. It must be ratified by no fewer than 55 countries that accounted for at least 55 percent of global emissions in 1990, and Russia's participation would tip the scale.
The United States, China and some other big industrial nations have rejected the treaty. It seeks to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which are widely seen as a key factor behind global warming.
A government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the ratification bill would be submitted soon to the lower house of parliament, or State Duma, so it can be ratified before the year's end.
The Duma is dominated by the Kremlin-directed United Russia party and approval is almost certain.
In May, President Vladimir Putin pledged to speed up approval in return for European Union support of Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization. Many of his advisers have opposed, arguing that joining would stymie Russia's economic growth and make Putin's goal of doubling gross domestic product in a decade out of reach.
"It's a political decision, it's a forced decision," Putin economic adviser Andrei Illarionov said at the Cabinet session, according to Interfax. "It's not the decision we are making with pleasure."
Some observers have speculated that Russia is jockeying for more favorable terms when rules are worked out for a mechanism under which countries that come in with emissions levels below the targets can sell pollution credits.


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LRP recently organized the 2011 LRP-HPI Challenge Nationals for Germany near Dresden, with 200 entries spread over 6 different classes of racing! Rookie racers raced with kits such as the Maverick Strada TC, a 'Classic' class included vintage/retro cars such as the HPI Camaro bodyshell on club-level cars like the Sprint 2 and HB Cyclone S, Stock 13.5 and 17.5 brushless racers using HB or HPI bodyshells, the 'Formel 1 Challenge' drivers all used the Formula Ten, and the Champions Challenge featured top-level racers such as Ronald Volker and Steven Weiss!
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Los Angeles
What you need to know before you go
Los Angeles beats to its own pulse. You may spot a celebrity while shopping on Rodeo Drive or sipping cocktails at The Ivy. Eclectic restaurants, hip nightclubs, and unexpected boutiques fill the city that's known for the eponymous Hollywood Sign. Here you can experience live music any night of the week, or catch a glimpse of the imposing spire atop the Capitol Records Building.
You'll find serenity at beaches in Malibu and Santa Monica, where you'll share sun-drenched boardwalk space with cyclists, street vendors, and inline skaters. Stargazing at the Griffith Observatory offers a chance to take in the city's magnificence.
Start planning your trip
More information about Los Angeles
A Los Angeles vacation is a chance to get away from it all. Book a Los Angeles hotel and explore miles of beaches, rub elbows with celebrities, and sample global cuisines.
Get your bearings
Surrounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and mountains to the north and east, Los Angeles' 80-plus neighborhoods create a patchwork. Heading west from the skyscrapers of Downtown, Hollywood's shops and theaters lead to the nightclubs of West Hollywood and the famed shops of Beverly Hills. A trip over the winding Mulholland Drive leads to the San Fernando Valley. Historic Pasadena sits in the San Gabriel Valley, east of downtown. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is south of Santa Monica and Venice and north of the city of Long Beach, which marks the southwestern edge of the LA basin.
Hooray for Hollywood
The glitz and glamour of Hollywood can be found all over Los Angeles. Compare your handprints with the stars' in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater. The Universal Studios tour takes you behind the scenes of TV and movies. Book a table at Spago to eavesdrop on high-powered celebrity conversation.
Shop 'til you drop
Shopping is a way of life for Angelenos. Join the beautiful people flitting between the elegant designer stores and pavement cafés of Rodeo Drive or pick up vintage classics from the second-hand clothes shops that line busy Melrose. Head east to compact Pasadena for shady antiques shops and the costume jewelry and '50s Americana of the Rose Bowl Market.
Sun and surf
The mild weather makes alfresco living standard in Los Angeles. Angelenos grab their sunglasses and head out to hike in Griffith Park, take a leisurely bicycle ride near the Santa Monica Pier, or just walk down Venice Beach. The more adventurous take surfing lessons in Malibu, while those seeking luxury sip cocktails by the pool in a Los Angeles hotel.
Global dining
Locals swear by the fiery burritos from the stalls that line the popular alfresco Hollywood Farmers' Market. But for a sit-down Mexican feast head to Jefferson for El Cholo's famous green-corn tamales and potent margaritas. Choose spicy buns from steaming carts in Chinatown's dim sum restaurants, or eat fresh-from-the-sea sushi over sweeping LA views from Yamashiro in the Hollywood Hills.
Los Angeles wakes up when the sun goes down. Dress in your finest to groove in a Sunset Boulevard nightclub or catch a live band at the House of Blues. For jazz or good conversation, visit a bar near Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. Head to a theater downtown or enjoy a classical concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
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The support story for Microsoft products running on virtualization hardware is long and complicated. Until several years ago, Microsoft offered limited support for its flagship server products, such as SQL Server, Exchange Server, and SharePoint. Microsoft even left open the option that a support problem might need to be duplicated on physical hardware if support technicians couldn't determine the nature of the problem in a virtual environment. Adding to Microsoft's weak support story was the fact Virtual Server 2005 R2 was its virtualization product during the early days of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007. Virtual Server 2005 R2 wasn't a hypervisor-based product and couldn't virtualize 64-bit guests, which limited supported environments to those running the 32-bit versions of MOSS 2007. This greatly curtailed the performance that could be achieved, particularly for the database role, which was the most resource-intensive and could take advantage of the 64-bit architecture the most. In addition, web front ends typically required significantly more memory than a 32-bit platform.
Two significant developments changed this story. The first was Microsoft's release of a 64-bit–capable hypervisor named Hyper-V. The second was the development of a program called the Server Virtualization Validation Program, which outlined Microsoft's official support stance on running its products on third-party hypervisor virtualization platforms. This program, outlined in the Microsoft article "Support policy for Microsoft software running in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software" (support.microsoft.com/kb/897615), allowed for support of Microsoft products on third-party virtualization products that were validated by Microsoft and complied with certain criteria. These two developments opened the doors for Microsoft servers running on virtual machines (VMs) and gave peace of mind to organizations that needed to deploy supported virtualized solutions.
The 2007 wave of SharePoint products—which includes Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0) and MOSS 2007—was the first to gain broad virtualization support from Microsoft. However, in production, most organizations opt to virtualize only the web role and sometimes the query role. Other roles aren't typically implemented for various reasons. For example, the index role is often implemented only on physical hardware because of heavy processor and memory constraints and the limitation of one index server per Shared Services Provider.
Microsoft's official SharePoint 2010 support stance is that any SharePoint role or service is supported for hardware virtualization. SharePoint 2010 is positioned as a great version to virtualize because of the virtualization technology advances and reduction of disk I/O requirements for the indexing and search components. In addition, advances in hardware virtualization make it easier to virtualize I/O intensive applications such as SQL Server, allowing the SharePoint database role to be more easily virtualized. As a result, many organizations are looking at virtualizing their new SharePoint 2010 farms.