From my inbox: Zero jail time for anti-Semitic violence in Calgary

Please, remember that Eric Brazeau got no bail and 20 months in jail for non-violent, non-threatening politically incorrect conversation on public transit.  The prosecution’s witnesses all agreed that there was no hint of violence and that they never, ever felt threatened during the conversation.

Yet, 20 months in jail:  when the prosecution was seeking 6.

And a reminder that ‘language can be a weapon’….and then the judge imposed ‘a weapon ban’ on Brazeau!

Aside:  Can anyone explain to me how one can impose ‘a language ban’ on someone?  Are we talking a lobotomy here?

So, let’s recap:  Brazeeau was not violent, did not call for the death or beating of anyone, and the most offensive thing he said was that he hated someone.  Not that anyone else should, just expressed his own emotional state.

20 months in jail.

Now, let’s look at what had happened in Calgary:

Pro-Palestinian protesters not only shouted ‘Heil Hitler’ at pro-Israel demonstrators, they actually physically attacked them and roughed them up!  Forcing them to flee to avoid more serious injury!

Here, see for yourselves:

What do you think our judicial system will do with someone who not only shouts hateful things at their political opponents, but actually physically attacks and injures them?!?!?

Well, if 20 months is the punishment for a conversation, then threats and actual physical violence would earn one at least a few years behind bars, right?

Wrong!!!

From my inbox today:

Dear Xanthippa,

The first rioter from last year’s pro-Hamas rally in Calgary was sentenced today for his assault against peaceful Calgary civilians. And his sentence is so lenient, he won’t spend even a single day in jail.

He has one year probation, and some community service. That’s it. For beating up Jews, on Calgary streets, that sent a half dozen peaceful pro-Israel protesters to the hospital. You can watch a video of the riot here.

I can’t even tell you this thug’s name — since he was 17 at the time of his violence, it’s against the law for me to identify him. So his name and face are a secret. Not only will he serve no time in jail, but he won’t suffer any social marginalization or shame from his role. No employer will know; no neighbourhood will know.

Today I spoke on the phone with Jake Birrell, one of the victims of the riot. He told me that while his sister Samantha’s victim impact statement was read out in court, the young thug actually smirked and smiled — he appeared completely remorseless.

I wanted you to know about this right away. I will have Jake and Samantha on my TV show tomorrow at 8 & 10 p.m. ET (6 & 8 p.m. Alberta time). I’ll send you an e-mail with a link to the video tomorrow night, in case you miss it on TV.

I’ll have them describe what it was like going to court — expecting justice — and watching this young anti-Semitic rioter just walk right out of the court with a smile.

We have so much more work to do on this — starting with our justice system, that has chosen to treat a violent pro-Hamas thug as if he’s just some random street urchin.

I’ll keep you posted.

Yours truly,

Ezra Levant

P.S. Jake tells me that the other rioters had their court dates rescheduled — when I confirm those details, I’ll let you know. Maybe if the judges see real citizens in the courtroom, they’ll feel moral pressure to hand out real sentences too.

And that is what passes for justice in Canada!!!

Pharrell Williams-HAPPY NAFURAHI FROM GOMA DRCongo(Swahili version)

Because every bit of happiness counts!!!

H/T:  BCF

CodeSlinger on Combinatorics

A couple of days ago, I mentioned to CodeSlinger that one of my sons was doing research in the branch of Mathematics known as ‘Combinatorics‘.  His response was not only informative, it was just as passionate as my son gets when he talks about the subject. 

So, for your pleasure and elucidation, here is CodeSlinger’s commentary on Combinatorics:

Combinatorics… the art of counting.  Hah.  Sounds trivial.  But it is slowly becoming clear that combinatorics lies at the root of everything.
Everything.
The fundamental equations of physics are symmetrical in time – if we watch a movie of two particles coming in from infinity, bouncing off each other, and proceeding back towards infinity, we have no way to determine whether or not we are watching it backwards.  Yet a movie in which a vase falls from the table and shatters on the floor is easily distinguishable from the time-reversed version, in which a myriad of shards come flying together, assemble themselves into a vase, and jump up onto the table!
The difference, of course, is that there are many ways for the shards to be distributed about the floor, but only one way for them to be assembled into a vase.  And that difference is the essence of… counting.  This leads us to the second law of thermodynamics: entropy increases with time.  Or, if you prefer, systems evolve towards states of higher probability.  But probability is nothing other than a relative count of possibilities.  Counting again.
Without counting, there is no arrow of time.
But it gets better.  The whole idea of counting presupposes the existence of things to count.  Which requires us to draw distinctions.  And indeed, we find that distinction is the fundamental act by which something comes out of nothing.  Assuming that a distinction can spontaneously arise out of the void, it will do so – because there are more ways for the void to be cloven than for it to be whole.  Counting again.
If we picture a distinction as a boundary in a space – a closed curve in the plane, a closed surface in space, and so on, then we see that the lowest number of dimensions in which a boundary can assume a configuration that cannot shrink to nothing is… three (the simplest such configuration is the trefoil knot).  Thus we see hints of how a universe of 3 spatial dimensions and one time dimension can spontaneously arise out of nothing.  All because of counting.
Similar considerations explain how this universe comes to contain fundamental particles, and why the have the properties they do.  And ultimately, why consciousness is possible.  All of human feeling can be reduced to drawing or perceiving distinctions, and all of human thought can be reduced to classifying and counting them.
Thus we have the age-old question of which is more fundamental: mathematics or logic.  For centuries men have been trying to derive one from the other.  Finally, a little-known genius by the name of George Spencer-Brown settled it by showing that you cannot derive mathematics from logic, and you cannot derive logic from mathematics.  But there is a more fundamental system, which he called the Laws of Form, from which you can derive both.
He begins with one primal element, which can be viewed as an entity (a distinction) or an action (drawing a distinction).  A boundary can be seen as a way of naming the interior (calling), or as an injunction to cross into the interior (crossing).  Having drawn a distinction, we can draw another one, either beside the first (recalling), or around the first (recrossing).  On this base he lays down two laws, as follows
The law of calling: recalling is the same as calling.
The law of crossing: recrossing is the same as not crossing.
If we denote a boundary as (), then recalling is ()() and recrossing is (()), and we can write these two laws very succinctly as
()() = ()
(()) =
where the right hand side of the second equation is literally empty, denoting the void.
And from this basis, utterly brilliant in its irreducible simplicity, he derives all of mathematics and symbolic logic:

Spencer-Brown, G, 1969: Laws of Form, London: George Allen & Unwin.

But this is only the beginning of the story.  Frederick Parker-Rhodes asked what happens when you repeatedly draw a distinction and get a multitude of identical entities.  From this, he developed a calculus of distinct but indistinguishable entities:
 

Parker-Rhodes, A F, 1981: The Theory of Indistinguishables: A search for explanatory principles below the level of physics, Synthese Library, vol. 150, Springer.

And on that, he constructed what he called the Combinatorial Hierarchy – system whereby the spontaneous emergence of distinctions from the void leads to… the standard model of particle physics.  Astounding!  Even more astounding, he never published this work!  It was finally published for him posthumously by John Amson (see linked pdf):
 

Parker-Rhodes, A F, & Amson, J C, 1998: Hierarchies of descriptive levels in physical theory.  Int’l J. Gen. Syst. 27(1-3):57-80.

The construction he outlines in this paper was implemented as a computer program by H. Pierre Noyes and David McGoveran (again, see linked pdf):
 

Noyes, H P, & McGoveran, D O, 1989: An essay on discrete foundations for physics.  SLAC-PUB-4528.

So when I say that combinatorics lies at the root of everything, I really do mean everything!
It is brilliant!

The First Music Video Recorded in Space

Had to include it here…

Make sure to check out his amazing videos from the Space Station, like the following one where he wrings water out of a wash-cloth:

Brilliant!

Ai Weiwei’s First Major U.S. Show Has Everything but the Dissident Artist Himself

Having also grown up as a child of a publicly labeled political dissident, actively persecuted by a totalitarian regime, I have much empathy for Weiwei…

Prime Number Patterns

A few comments….

Monday, 3rd of May, was the 30th ‘Freedom of the Press Day:’  with the release of the 2009 ‘freedom of the press’ ratings by FreedomHouse.  Reporters Without Borders has a slightly different – though no less grim – set of results.  And ‘they’ ask why people are going to the blogosphere to get their news.

Still, it is, in my never-humble-opinion, difficult to measure just how ‘free’ the ‘press’ in the West really is… Some shackles are self-imposed, and cannot be reflected by a measurement on ‘external’ limitation!

The ‘xkcd blag’ has an absolutely awesome post on the colourful things Aspies do for fun!

Talking about colour:  ‘Passion for Freedom’ 2010 art competition, by OneLawForAll, has opened.  It will run in September 2010 and the focus is to expose the discriminatory nature of Sharia – submissions are now being accepted.

OneLawForAll also announced a rally on June 20th 2010 in Trafalgar Square (that would make it London, England – methinks).  This will commemorate the brutal murder of Neda Agha-Soltan during Iran’ ‘women’s revolution’.

Sorry to post a list of interesting ‘stuff’ without that much commentary.  And, I still have a lot of unfinished (though most are close) posts on the Free Dominion appeal hearing – both background and my take.  It is taking me longer than I thought to understand some of the legal precedents….so, my time is spent reading.

I promise I’ll be back to ‘normal’ soon – well, whatever it is that passes for ‘normal’ with me!

What ‘Earth Day’ is about

April 22, 2010 is the 40th anniversary of the Earth Day!

And, while I think that just about everyone who lives on Earth would like it to be a nice, happy, comfortable little planet – have you paused to think what Earth Day is really about?

Oh, sure – we are being told that it is a reminder ‘not to pollute’ and ‘to be good to the Earth’ and not to forget ‘Mother Earth’….

But, things  have a way of being more than they seem.

No – this is not ‘yet another conspiracy theory’ – mostly because I think that even though conspiracies are ‘fun’, most people are simply not disciplined enough to carry them out….

What I mean is that every message has its ‘obvious’ meaning – the one we perceive easily.  In addition, it also has a deeper message:  sometimes intentional, at other times it is just ‘stuff’ that ‘piggie-backs’ on that message…the transmisssion of ideas the originators of the message ‘took for granted’ and which ‘snuck in’ without them (and/or their audience) even being aware of it.  Once these subtle and sub-conscious bits are part of the message, any message, they necessarily affect the subconscious attitudes of the people who hear and accept the message’s ‘obvious’ meaning.

And, in my never-humble-opinion, the deep, subconscious message behind Earth Day is this:

Anthropocentrism and theocentrism are mutually exclusive...

‘Anthropocentrism’ and ‘theocentrism’ are mutually exclusive…

Islamic Stars

This is one of the most beautiful patterns I have ever seen:  mousing over it and seeing how the pattern changes has kept me occupied for hours!

(Hence, no other post… but it is worth it!)

DANG!!!

Despite trying, I cannot seem to be able to embed this into my blog!!!  Disappointing!!!

OK –  here is the next best thing:  the link. And, please notice that you can go to other images, too!  Just follow the icon on the bottom right and click left or right.  Some of the other images are also WAY better than any TV show!

Hours of entertainment!

Cross posted at ‘Xanthippa on Aspergers’


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Aspie humour, music and cats

Not much needs to be said:  just watch the video!

Hat tip:  Dvorak Uncensored

UPDATE: Having visited a friend who has a cat, I attempted to follow the above instructions to the best of my skills and abilities!  Alas, I failed…

I cradled the cat, as shown.  He looked very pleased, and not even a tiny bit ‘annoyed’.

I did the ‘sniffing’ – he closed his eyes, as if with pleasure.

I did the ‘serial kissing’ – after which the cat attempted to rub his cheek on me, as if asking me to show him more affection.

And, he appeared rather immune to the ‘little drop’…

After I let him down, he jumped onto my lap, asking for more – and not a peep out of him!  (Unless purring counts.)

Therefore, I am obligated to report that I have been unable to replicate this procedure successfully…

UPDATE OF THE UPDATE: Having visited another friend, I tested the methodology on her cat.  It worked PERFECTLY!  Awesome cat-yodelling was enjoyed by all!

My personal observation:  pick a slightly finicky cat!

If the cat is ‘too agreeable’ – no sound except for purring will be heard, therefore, no yodeling will result.

If the cat is ‘too finicky’ – you’ll be torn to shreds!  Therefore, the key here is to find a cat with JUST the RIGHT amount of ‘finickiness’ to ‘tell you’ when you are being annoying, but not rip your face off!

Come to think of it, more people should have ‘just’ the ‘right’ amount of ‘finickiness’, too….

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