Lawyers: Baseball Players Cheat. Response: Lawyers are Unethical

Typical New York Times, go for the sensationalistic side of the story and completely ignore any of the broader implications.

A bunch of Lawyers associated with the Government's attempts to use the information from the drug testing done by Major League Baseball (with the assurance that the tests would be destroyed and nobody's name would be revealed) leak information in violation of a court order, and all the N.Y. Times can come up with is "Boston won the World Series by cheating!"

The Times completely ignores the fact that the Lawyers that leaked that information to the New York Times violated a Court Order to do so. Maybe that's because taking the violation of the court order in account would result in not being able to run the story.

What's a little unethical behavior compared to being able to attack the Red Sox?

(By unethical, I mean the actions of the lawyers.)

The New York Times has put there reports in the position of being forced to testify as to who leaked the sealed information. If they refuse to testify, the Judge could hold them in contempt of court until they do. There is no reporter-source confidentiality recognized by the American Court system.

As to the lawyers, they to face charges of contempt of court, possibly including Criminal Contempt. They also face the possibility of disciplinary proceeding before a Bar Association and could have their licenses revoked permanently.

BTW, those lawyers don't necessarily work for the Government. They could work for MLB. If it turns out that lawyers for MLB are the source of the leak you can expect the proverbial SH** to hit the fan with the Players' Union.


Here's a little tid-bit for those Lawyers to consider, the people hurt by your behavior have nothing to lose by filing ethics complaints with the bar association for the area you are located in. I'm sure the Bar Association would be interested in learning your names.

Latest addition to SNL? Raul Castro

I love this NPR story on Raul Castro's latest speech to the Cuban people. All it would take to change the story into a Saturday Night Live parody skit would be selecting the right actors. You wouldn't even need to come up with new dialogue.

"The land is there! The Cubans are here!" Raul shouted, pounding the podium. "Let's see if we can work better or not, if we can produce or not, if we keep our word or not! It's not a question of crying, 'Motherland or death! Down with imperialism!' The U.S. embargo pummels us and yet the land is there waiting for our efforts."

Like most of the people questioned after the speech, Jose Luis Hidalgo praised Raul Castro.

Hidalgo was selling peanuts in small white cones of paper with his wife, Daisy. He predicted that the president's effort to pump life into Cuba's stagnant farms will be a success. "When the people make the effort, any thing is possible," he said.

Daisy Hidalgo says there are always some Cubans who complain. She says they don't see the positive side of things.

"We are free," she says. "If we get sick at any time, we can go to the hospital without worrying about getting assaulted on the way there. Our kids are safe at school."

Imagine that last line delivered by an actress with a vacant stare.

Baseball Hall of Fame Induction

Three more players were inducted into Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame today, Rickey Henderson, Jim Rice and Joe Gordon. Henderson and Rice were elected by the Baseball Writers Association, Gordon by the latest version of the Veteran's Committee. (Now it's the HOF members that get to vote on players no longer eligible for BBWAA votes.)

Rickey Henderson was elected in his first year of eligibilty, and a fairly obvious pick as Baseball's all-time best lead-off hitter (arguably at least).

Jime Rice was elected in his last year of eligibility. Rice became elgible for the Hall of Fame in 1995, and received 137 votes, appearing on 29.8% of the ballots. It seems a bit odd that a player only 30% of the voters agreed on in 1995 should eventually receive 75% of the vote. New people do become eligible to vote, but I doubt that woulb be enough to explain the shift.

Personally, I'm conflicted as to whether Jim Rice should be in the Hall of Fame. His career numbers are good, but not great. He did have several years where he put up Triple Crown type numbers. But with both his career and yearly numbers he benefited from playing in Boston. His numbers away from his home park if extrapolated out to a full career certainly don't look like someone who should be in the Hall.

Joe Gordon is another marginal player, his career numbers (even granting for losing several years due to wars) just aren't that impressive.

New Sherlock Holmes Movie announced, this is the lead?

Robert Downey, Jr. released a clip from the movie starring him as Sherlock Holmes at the San Diego Convention Center during a Comic-Book Convention.

Somehow, Robert Downey Jr. is not what I envision when I hear talk about a new movie about Sherlock Holmes. Of course, I'm predisposed to think Basil Rathbone. And I have no idea why he decided to show this at a Comic Book Convention.

From the Trailer, I'd say the Hollywood has attempted to turn a classic intellectual detective into an action hero. The movie might be good, but it isn't Sherlock Holmes.

The Latest on Honduran "Coup", Any bets on when the first English-speaking press reports on this?

A Spanish Catalan newspaper has reported that computers seized when Zeleya was ousted as President of Honduras contained "results" from Zeleya's referendum on whether the Honduran Constitution should be rewritten. The results showed an overwhelming win for Zeleya.

One problem, the Government ousted Zeleya before the referendum could be held. An English translation of the story can be found here.

Reminds me a little of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. Result First! Vote, afterword.

Really? The results were determined before the vote was held? Shocking!

Well, not really. Not when you remember Zeleya is a Marxist more concerned with personal power than with the rule of law.

After all, if he had been concerned with the rule of law, he never would have taken actions that violated the Honduran Constitution in an attempt to retain power.


Don't hold your breath waiting for English-speaking news sources to cover this story. Their template is that this was a military coup and Zeleya is the innocent victim. Any evidence about wrong-doing by Zeleya will just be swept under the rug.

This says something about the honesty of our media. The story has been covered by a Nicaraguan news source. Nicaragua? Nicargua has press that is less biased, more honest and more competant than American media?

No wonder the media has lost credability since the day of Walter Cronkite.

This is how a reputable News Organization acts?

This is just plain disgusting.

No, I don't mean the accusations. I mean the so-called “news” story.

The Times repeats anonymous accusations from a pamphlet from a group calling themselves “Breaking the Silence.” Let me repeat that, anonymous accusations. That means that the so-called news organization had absolutely no way to independently verify the accuracy of the accusations leveled against the Israeli army by interviewing the people making the accusations. The accusations are also vague as to the details of the “atrocities” committed by the Israeli Army. This prevent verification by investigating the incidents, themselves. Reputable news organizations have a policy of not reporting news that can not be independently verified. Apparently, the Times does not subscribe to that philosophy.

Another problem arises in that many of the allegations in the report are second-hand in nature. The soldiers don't tell about atrocities they themselves witnessed, they relate rumors. Repeating rumors does not amount to reporting news. It's just rumor mongering.

The main-stream media wonders why it's losing credability. Maybe they shouldn't report annonymous accusations from a source that obviously has an agenda.

MIT Announces latest in Fabric that acts like Camera

What do you get when a bunch of Geeks research ways to increase survivability of Soldiers on the battlefield? You get something called multimaterial fibers.

The fibers consist of an array of metal electrodes connected to a semiconductor and are covered by an insulating sheath. The semiconductor layer detects light. Connecting it to an electrode, and then connecting the electrode to a microprocessor creates a fabric that can capture images.

In other words, you have a fabric that can act like a camera.

One of the applications proposed for the fabric consists of incorporating the fabric into the uniform of a soldier. The fabric is connected to a display in the soldier's helmet, providing the soldier with a 360 degree field of vision.

The fabric has an advantage over the use of lenses in that it collects information over its entire surface area. The fabric would still be functional even if one section was damaged, unlike lenses which can be rendered inoperative by a simple scratch on the surface.

The initial release on the creation of the fibers included some of the other potential uses, many of them non-military in nature. The fibers could be used in a computer screen, which would react to incoming light. Remember that Nintendo Duck Hunting Game? Well, with this type of screen you could use a laser pistol to shoot at the screen and the screen would detect where the laser was hitting it.

Fabric lenses could also be made much larger that the lenses that can currently be used. Conceivably, you could have a fabric lens much larger than the one currently in use in ground based telescopes. A larger lens equates to greater sensitivity. Plus, fabric lenses are constrained in the shape they have to be in. You could have a spherical fabric lens which would have a complete field of vision. Imagine security cameras with no blind spots.

Right now the technology is very rudimentary in nature, only able to take rudimentary pictures and only from very close to the source. The team working on the project expects the technology to advance fairly rapidly.

Honduras's Non-Coup Coup

When is a “coup” not a coup? When the transfer of power occurs in accordance with the methods set out by the laws of the country in question.

In this case, the country is Honduras and as Miguel Estrada points out, this is exactly what occurred in that country when the military removed President Manuel Zeleya from power.

The Honduran Constitution limits what parts of the Constitution can be amended. The Constitution can never be amended to change the countries boarders, change the rule than limits a president to one four-year term, or change the requirement that presidential administrations succeed each other in a republican form of government.

This brings us to the actions of President Zeleya. President Zelaya had almost finished his four-year term in office. He called for referendum to replace the current Honduran Constitution with an entirely new one. The only reason for doing so was to get around the Constitutional limit on his ability to run for a second term, and to get around the Constitutional prohibition on amending that section of the Honduran Constitution.

That triggered other sections of the Honduran Constitution (Article 239 and Article 4). Article 239 states that any president the even proposes the permissibility of reelection must immediately cease his duties as president. Zelaya's actions were grounds for automatic removal from office. Article 4 states that any infraction of the succession rules constitutes an ac of treason.

It is also important to note that only a referendum approved by the Honduran Congress, by two-thirds majority, can be put to a vote by the public. The Honduran Congress turned down Zeleya's referendum. Zelaya attempted to get his referendum voted on despite being voted down by the Congress, calling it an “opinion survey”. The Honduran Supreme Court ruled this illegal. Zelaya than instructed the Army to hand out his survey despite this ruling. When the head of the armed forces refused, Zelaya fired him.

When the ballots were imported from Venezuela (they were printed by Zelaya's leftist buddy, Hugo Chavez) and impounded by customs, Zelaya gathered a group of supporters and led them to gather the impounded, illegal ballots.

The Honduran Attorney General went to the Supreme Court and obtained a warrant for Zeleya's arrest for treason and abuse of power. The court also ordered the army to arrest Zelaya. Under section 272 of the Honduran Constitution, the army must enforce compliance with the Constitution, especially in regards to presidential succession.

Basically, the Honduran Constitution states that what Zelaya did in attempting to change the rules so that he could continue as Honduras's president, constituted an act to overthrow the Constitutionally constructed government of that country. Otherwise known as a coup.

Yes, there was an attempted coup, but Zelaya was the one responsible for it, not the victim.

The Honduran Congress convened after Zelaya's arrest and removal from office and named Micheletti as president until the end of Zelaya's term. (Basically, until the president elected after this November's election is sworn in.) Zelaya's Vice-President has resigned in order to run for President, leaving Micheletti as the next in line.

Zelaya was removed from office in accordance with the law. His successor was named in accordance with the law as well. This is not a coup.

There is only one event that occurred that was not in keeping with the laws of Honduras. That was Zelaya's force exile. Zelaya's exile was done to prevent any violence by him and his supporters. In exiling Zelaya instead of having him tried for his crimes, the army was actually doing him a favor. In most countries, treason is punishable by death.

First Swine Flu, Now Swine Ebola

Scientific American has an article on the latest virus found to be harbored by pigs: Ebola. (Reston ebolavirus). The virus was discovered in the Philippines being harbored by domestic pigs. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention categorizes Ebola as a bio safety level 4 pathogen. This is the level reserved for the most dangerous viruses. This includes the variety found in the domestic Philippine pigs, despite the fact that the virus has never been found to cause symptoms in humans.

The swine variety of Ebola was found when the Philippine Department of Agriculture investigated a disease in the pigs known as “blue ear disease.” The disease is a respiratory illness that causes the pig's ears to turn blue from a lack of oxygen. Tissue samples were sent to U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, where the tissue samples were found to contain the Ebola virus.

More importantly (for humans, anyway) pig-to-human transition of the swine variety of the Ebola virus has been confirmed. Six pig handlers have tested positive to having antibodies to the virus in their blood, but have shown no symptoms. Interestingly, the Reston ebolavirus was first discovered in macaque monkeys shipped from the Philippines to Reston, VA for research. (This, presumably is where the name is derived from.) Again, handlers developed an immune response to the virus but never developed sysmptoms.

Currently, the Ebola variety infecting Philippine pigs seems to be far less dangerous than other varieties and the closely related Marburg viruses. It isn't even certain at this point whether the virus even causes symptoms in the host animals.

There is a risk that the virus could mutate into something more dangerous, and the fact that it can be transmitted to humans from the pigs is a reason for concern. Another reason for concern is the fact that pigs can harbor the Ebola virus. It is possible that pigs could catch a different form of the virus, one that is far more dangerous, and transmit that variety to humans.

Live Longer, Eat Dirt

Scientists recently announced that a compound found in the soil of Easter Island has been found to extend the life of lab mice. The compound, called Rapamycin, was found in the 1970's and has also been found to have anti-fungal properties and is used to address tissue rejection in transplant patients.

Interestingly, the effect appears to be somewhat gender specific. Female lab rats jad their life expectancy extended by 14 percent after being treated by the drug. Male lab rats had their life expectancy extended by 8 percent. (Other sites report that the drug extended life expectancy by 28-38 percent, proving that reporters can give different numbers given the exact same facts.)

Before you start eating dirt you might want to consider the side-effects. Rapamycin is an immune suppressant, which is why it is used by organ donor recipients. Sure, you might address the effects of aging, but die from the common cold.

Nancy Nadon, of the National Institute on Aging, and a co-author of the study, suggested that other compounds might exist that targeted the same cellular pathway without the harmful side-effect. (Rapamycin works by targeting a cell protein called mTOR.)

Scientists studying aging have also found that restricted caloric intake helps reduce the effects of aging, as does a compound found in Red Wine (Resveratrol). Unlike Rapamycin, Resveratrol only worked to address the effects of aging on obese mice.


Sounds like the secret to immortality is to be obese while on a restricted caloric intake while drinking red wine and eating dirt from Easter island.


(Sources: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-us-sci-older-mice,1,712035.story , http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-07/fountain-youth-found-easter-island )

Scientists versus the Public

The New York Times has an article on a survey that covers the views of Scientist versus the views of the general public an certain subjects, inluding Global Warming and Evolution. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/science/10survey.html?ref=science

This paragraph jumped out at me:

And while almost all of the scientists surveyed accept that human beings evolved by natural processes and that human activity, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels, is causing global warming, members of the general public are far less sure.

Almost all the Scientists agreed that fossil fuels is causing global warming? Did they bother to survey the Scientists working for the EPA? They seem to be skeptical about man-made global warming.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124657655235589119.html

Then there's this list: http://www.businessandmedia.org/specialreports/2007/globalwarming/SkepticalScientists.asp

Were any of these scientists surveyed?

Of course, even those Scientists that believe the burning of fossil fuels is leading to global warming don't agree on the extent of the warming caused by mankind. There are Scientists in this group that don't believe that the human element is having a large impact on warming and don't believe that draconian steps are necessary to address human CO2 production.

It's ironic that the survey asked questions on Creationism and Man Made Global Warming. At this point belief in both appears to be more a matter of faith than a belief based on credible Scientific findings. My favorite recent story that illustrates the Faith like belief in Global Warming is another one from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/science/07obsheep.html?scp=1&sq=shrinking
sheep&st=cse

Really, “Global Warming Shrinks Sheep!” is a sound Science story? Sounds more like a headline from a tabloid.

Compare the New York Times story to one on Dwarf Dinosaurs:
http://www.livescience.com/animals/060607_dwarf_dino.html.%20WhichWhich concludes that the dwarfism was a result of living on an island which limited the resources the Dinosaurs had access to. Or the mention of Dwarf Mammoths in the Wikipedia article on Wrangel Island. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrangel_Island, where the dwarfism is again attributed to limited resources.

Dwarf Dinosaurs, limited resources due to being stuck on an island. Dwarf Mammoths, limited resources due to being stuck on an island. Shrinking Sheep stuck on an island with limited resources? Global Warming!

I think this can be best attributed to Scientists with a belief in Global Warming going out to find evidence to support that belief. They're able to find it wherever they look. Reminds me of Erich Von Daniken finding evidence of ancient astronauts.

Google Announces new Operating System

Google has announced it plans to introduce a new Operating System based on it's web browser (Chrome). The Operating System will be open source, like Linux, and will run on x86 and ARM processors.

That means that Google plans to compete with the 800 Ton Gorilla known as Microsoft.

This isn't the first time a company has tried to break into the operating system market. My favorite quote on this come from someone who has tried.

“I’m not saying the shareholders should take their money and run, but this is the beginning of the end of Microsoft as we knew it,” said Jean-Louis Gassée, a venture capitalist who has battled Microsoft in posts at Apple and his own computer company, Be.

-quote curtousy of the
New York Times article on this sybject:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/technology/internet/09google.html?ref=business

It's ironic that the person responsible for the creation of the BeOS predicts doom for Microsoft due to the creation of an Operating System by Google. If he was so knowledgeable when it comes to OS's shouldn't his have put Microsoft out of business? The BeOS is basically an afterthought when it comes to discussing OS's.

All this hoopla over Google's new OS forgets one important fact: that main obstacle against any new operating system is getting people to buy computers running it. People tend to avoid computers with new operating systems becasue there is a dearth of software available for the new platform. Most of the software for the new operating system will either have to be written by Google, which results in Google throwing resources into a money pit, or from open source geeks.

Frankly, the main market for the new OS will probably be computer shoppers looking to avoid a Microsoft product, and we already have two options for those people. They're called Mac OS and Linux, one of which is open source and can be used for free which is the main selling point for Google's new OS.

It looks more like Google Linux than Google Chrome to me.

File this one under "Much ado about nothing."

National League All-Star Picks

National
League All-Star Team

Starters

Catcher: Yadier Molina, Stl

First: Albert Pujols, Stl

Second: Chase Utley, Phi

Short: Hanley Ramirez, Fla

Third: David Wright, NYM

Outfield: Carlos Beltran, NYM; Ryan Braun, Mil; Raul Ibanez, Phi

Reserves

Brian McCann, C/Atl

Prince Fielder, 1B/Mil

Adrian Gonzalez, 1B/SD

Ryan Howard, 1B/Phi

Orlando Hudson, 2B/LAD

Freddy Sanchez, 2B/Pit

Miguel Tejada, SS/Hou

Ryan Zimmerman, 3B/Was

Brad Hawpe, OF/Col

Hunter Pence, OF/Hou

Justin Upton, OF/Ari

Pitching

Heath Bell, Chad Billingsly, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Cain, Francisco Cordero, Ryan Franklin, Dan Haren, Josh Johnson, Ted Lilly, Tim Lincecum, Jason Marquis, Francisco Rodriguez, John Santana

The National League Picks are very easy to understand. They're either the among the best at their position or the best player on a team that only has one representative. There are a few pitchers missing that could have made the team. Adam Wainright is 9-5 with a 3.09 ERA. Huston Street has 21 Saves and a 2.65 ERA. Trevor Hoffman has 18 Saves and a 1.93 ERA. With these players it was just a matter of too many pitchers to chose from.

Then there's the selection of Ryan Howard. The National League Roster has four First Basemen. Pujols, Howard, Fielder and Gonzalez. Why pick Howard? Fielder and Gonzalez both bat left like Howard and they're both having better years at the plate. (Howard currently has an OB% of .329) Why not pick another pitcher? Why not Adam Dunn? Why not Mark Reynolds? This certainly looks like an example of reputation trumping ability when comparing Howard's current prodeuction to some of the alternatives.

American League All-Stars

American
League All-Star Selections

First, a brief description on how the All-Star teams were picked. The starting position players were chosen by fan vote. The players then voted and selected 8 Pitchers (5 Starters, 3 Relievers) and 8 Position Players. The Managers of the teams then filled out the rosters, having to ensure that every team had at least one representative. There was one spot left unfilled which will be filled by the fans voting between certain players not yet selected.

The Starters

Catcher: Joe Mauer, Min

First: Mark Teixeira, NYY

Second: Dustin Pedroia, BOS

SS: Derek Jeter, NYY

Third: Evan Longoria, BOS

Outfield: Jason Bay, BOS; Ichiro Suzuki, SEA; Josh Hamilton, TEX

Reserves

Victor Martinez, Catcher/CLE

Justin Morneau, 1B/MIN

Kevin Youkilis, 1B/BOS

Aaron Hill, 2B/TOR

Jason Bartlett, SS/TB

Micheal Young, 3B/TEX

Carl Crawford, OF/TB

Curtis Granderson, OF/DET

Torii Hunter, OF/LAA

Adam Jones, OF/BAL

Ben Zobrist, OF/TB

Pitching

Andrew Bailey, Josh Beckett, Mark Buehrle, Brian Fuentes, Zack Grienke, Roy Hallady, Felix Hernandez, Edwin Jackson, Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, Mariano Rivera, Justin Verlander, Tim Wakefield.

Overall, the system worked fairly well when picking the American League All-Star Team, but there are a few questionable picks.

• Josh
  Hamilton: .263 BA 6 HR in 133 At Bats. This pick is hard to
  understand. There are just so many more deserving picks this year.
  Wasn't anyone paying attention to performance this year?

  
  

• Tim Wakefield: Sure he has 10 Wins. He also has an ERA over 4.00, more
  hits allowed than innings pitched, and 36 Walks compared to 53
  Strike Outs.
  

  
  

• Curtis Granderson/Jason Bay: My first response “They're hitting
  what?”

  
  

• Kevin Youkilis: Not necessarily a bad pick. There are players that could
  have been picked ahead of him, especially when you consider the
  position he plays.

  
  

• Miguel Cabrera/Paul Konerko/Russell Branyan: All would have been good picks, but were passed over. File under “Why Youkilis, instead?”

  
  

• Adam Jones vs. George Sherrill. This was Baltimore's pity pick. Jones wasn't a bad pick, but Sherrill might have been better (2.55 ERA and 19 Saves). Why not Sherrill instead of Wakefield?

  
  

• Jered Weaver: Another Pitcher passed on so Wakefield could be on the team. 9 Wins vs. Wakefield's 10, and and ERA 1 point lower (3.15 ERA).

  
  

• Shin-soo Choo: Would have loved it if he had made the team just for the tongue-twister effect on the announcers. Probably a better Outfield pick than Granderson,Jones or Zobrist.