الوسم: steelers

My old friend, Professor Richard Dawkins, is guest editor of the Christmas double issue of the New Statesman. And he makes a very decent fist of it.

His is a light touch to the magazine; a column on Islamism here, a piece by Rabbi Jonathan Romain on faith schools there. Prof. Dawkins himself pens a leader column as an open letter to David Cameron. It’s rather rambling and seems to forget from time [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] to time that it’s addressing the Prime Minister, as the good Professor describes, I [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] think, how he loves carols and secularism equally.

It’s unlikely to cause the political stir that Dr Rowan Williams’ contribution to the New Statesman generated last June. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s edition was the biggest seller since the one that directly followed 9/11. I know, because I organised it. Still, Prof. Dawkins has [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] a whole fortnight over Christmas to make up ground.

Coup: Professor Richard Dawkins is guest editor [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] of the New Statesman’s Christmas edition

But the centrepiece of this Christmas edition [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] is the main coup for the New Statesman an interview by Prof. Dawkins with Christopher Hitchens, the great polymath who today lost his fight against cancer. It’s a fascinating read over three double page spreads. Not least because Prof. Dawkins reveals a charming humility, allowing Hitchens to show his intellectual superiority at his own expense. Hitchens is thoughtful about CS Lewis and Christianity and rather leaves Prof. Dawkins floundering in his wake, occasionally interjecting little assents to show that he’s still there, as he struggles to keep up.

But one of these interjections is most revealing. About half way through, the Prof gets this in edgeways: ‘Do you ever worry that if we win and, so to speak, destroy Christianity, that vacuum would be filled by Islam?’

For all his claims that Christianity has been a brutal force throughout history, I’m sure Prof Dawkins’ attitude, revealed here, isn’t reciprocated. I don’t recall Rowan Williams talking about ‘destroying atheism’.

So it’s good to know, at last, where Prof Dawkins really stands and, incidentally, it’s not where the gracious, generous spirited and libertarian Hitchens stands. Hitchens hates totalitarianism. And it’s totalitarians who have tried and failed throughout history to ‘destroy Christianity’. Dawkins now sees that as a measure of winning. Good luck with that, Richard. And happy Christmas.

[عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا]

Others still will have welcomed the opportunity to do a bit of glad handing and networking with other world [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] leaders. We should not be too censorious. Funerals and memorial services have long provided a forum for a little covert self advancement.

Whatever happens, though, such occasions shouldn’t become jamborees. Of course, honouring the dead need not be entirely solemn.

Larking about may scarcely cover the behaviour of President Barack Obama, Helle Thorning Schmidt, Prime Minister of Denmark, and our own David Cameron during the memorial service. There was much joshing and laughter, especially on the part of Mr Obama, who seemed to be attracted to [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] the blonde Miss Thorning Schmidt to the apparent displeasure of his wife, Michelle.

Some people are saying that there was nothing about this episode over which we should get het up.

The memorial service had already dragged for a couple of hours, and was going to drag on for another two. The ‘selfie’ cannot have occupied more than a few moments.

Moreover, it didn’t take place in Westminster Abbey or an ancient cathedral, but in a football stadium in Soweto. As might be expected of South Africa, there was dancing and a general air of carnival, and little sense of mourning. The crowd belted out some songs.

I’d say the entire occasion was misconceived in a number of ways. I expect the South African President, Jacob Zuma, may agree with this sentiment, having been constantly booed by the crowd. Whatever one thinks of Zuma, such antics are hardly appropriate at an event dedicated to celebrating a great leader.

So we shouldn’t judge Messrs Obama and Cameron and Miss Thorning Schmidt as we might if they had misbehaved in our own country. I don’t suppose President Obama would have fooled about with a ‘selfie’ at Lady Thatcher’s funeral last April that is, if he had bothered to turn up.

All the same, what happened in Soweto was a memorial service of sorts. When things seemed to be getting [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] out of hand, Archbishop Desmond Tutu who did behave respectfully demanded complete silence. He seemed like a figure from another, more dignified age.

The leaders of America, Britain and Denmark should have known better. Mr Obama, whose characteristically windy and vacuous speech has been overpraised, appears to have been chewing gum during part of the proceedings, as he did during his inauguration in January. Was this seemly?

At Prime Minister’s Question Time yesterday, Mr Cameron [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] tried to make light of what had happened by saying that ‘of course, when a member of the Kinnock family asked for a photograph, I thought it was only polite to say "yes".’ He won a few easy laughs from MPs.

But it is not a laughing matter. The issue is the behaviour of our leaders in public when representing our country. Even accepting the changes in manners over the past quarter of a century, we don’t [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] expect them to fool around like bored teenagers at a bus stop.

The odd thing is that Mr Cameron is naturally a well mannered person. But he can forget himself. At the wedding of Rebekah and Charlie Brooks in the summer of 2024 she was still chief executive of News International he greeted PR fixer Matthew Freud by meeting hands with a ‘high five’. Is that how a leader of the Tory Party (he was not then Prime Minister) should act?

Archbishop Desmond Tutu demanded complete silence when things seemed to be getting out of hand. He seemed like a figure from another, more dignified age

To be fair, he wasn’t the only British politician who did not cover himself with glory at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. Nick Clegg seized hold of Bill Clinton’s right hand while holding his left arm with his other hand so that the former President could not make a quick escape.

A few feet away stood Ed Miliband glaring at Mr Clegg for having the impertinence to hog Mr Clinton in this way. I couldn’t help wondering what both Mr Miliband and Mr Clegg were doing there. They were hardly personal friends of Mr [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] Mandela. Shouldn’t the Deputy Prime Minister have been manning the fort at home?

Looking at many of them in Soweto, not least the ‘selfie’ trio, served for me as a kind of confirmation that we live in frivolous age with leaders to match.

I thought of how Nelson Mandela would have behaved on such an occasion.

Master of informality though he was in both dress and action, he was incapable of being undignified.

Even Ronald Reagan, that most genial and relaxed of presidents, would not have dreamt of larking about with a smartphone, had such a contraption existed.

[عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا]

The most versatile word in [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] the English ********, or in fact any ********!

Can mean whatever you want it to mean, but the most popular uses are:

An exclamation akin to or oh. it can express happiness, excitement, sadness, confusion, anger, etc. I use it everyday. There just not enough fun words already outside of "Defenestration" and "Flibbertigibbet".

Meep is the best word ever! Meep!

1. "HEY GET BACK HERE!!!" "Meep!" 0.0Mine would be MANDAGE. It in a similar vein to man bag, guy liner and [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] bromance. A MANDAGE is a temporary dressing for a wound. It made from absorbent material such as kitchen or toilet roll and an adhesive tape to keep this in place such as duct, gaffer or selotape. It is a replacement for a plaster (or band aid if you live on the other side of the Atlantic to the people who invented the ********) It is regularly used by a man performing (poorly) at DIY. Where his ineptness causes a minor wound. I so glad you know how to use ctrl V ctrl P!!The opposite of Expert. I came across this word in an old Reader Digest in 1952 when I had to memorize short piece of prose to recite for the English Inspector of Schools to help prove that my teacher could teach English as a second ********. It was in a short end of story space filler piece.

It was used in the con**** of John Dunlop and the invention of pneumatic tyres against [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] the advice of experts who thought it impossible. The one being the formal cultural life when he or she wears their Sunday go to Meeting best to attend Cultural Events such as Drama, [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] Opera, Church etc. watches their ******** carefully and applauds politely.

in turn is the way people live their daily lives when they respond instinctively to inputs from their surroundings.

Our two year old daughter described her mother as her "nuchi". We latched onto it because it seems like a word for a treasured love it has an Italian sort of sound.

I love this word because it so versatile. It combines elements of the three words: oblivious, naive and inherent. It can be used in a good way to say alluring, or a bad way to say neglect. It expresses so many things, in just a word.

Alex didn know that the phone call would come to a beherent early end. Kelsey gazed at Dakota evoking such beherence, and he looked away because he felt guilty badmouthing her earlier. Ashley didn like his narcissistic tendencies, as it made her question whether he actually cared about her. He was good for most of the time, but the little things that he said, that could easily be ignored or disregarded, left her doubts. She wanted to know what was so beherent about her to deserve it."I wish I could stop doing beherent things. Look at her staring smiling at me while I getting [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] work done in the office. What do I say to her? She approach me when we go to our break soon."

You can easily make up so many con****s for that word, and have just that one word alone, mean so many things!

[عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا]

You know that scene in *** and the City where Carrie walks in the room with those fabulous Manolo Blahnik shoes that you would sell your right [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] arm for? Yeah. Pretty much every scene, right? It seems that *** and the City reruns are everywhere right now, and with them come the incredible urge to go shopping. Especially shoe shopping. But unfortunately most people can’t afford to buy six pairs of Manolo’s in one trip, so that’s why I wanted to share a few online shopping tips to help you find the perfect pair of knockoff shoes every girls dreams of.

There are two shoe stores that are my go to’s to find the highly coveted knockoff shoe, and no, you don’t have to put on your elbow pads for some ferocious outlet shopping. All your shoe shopping dreams can come true by shopping online. What might these two awesome money saving stores be? Meet your shoe knockoff comrades: Payless Shoes and Zappos. Yup, you heard me correctly. Payless and Zappos. Don let your preconceived notions fool you. Believe it or not, you can really find excellent high quality knockoff shoes at these two fine establishments. Allow me [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] to count the ways.

I personally fell deeply in love with a gorgeous pair of Badgley Mischka shoes that [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] I wanted to wear for my wedding, but unfortunately they were discontinued and thier price sky rocketed. I found the exact knockoff at Zappos for just $80 bucks! A great online shopping tip, especially when shopping for your wedding, is never give up. Zappos updates their new shoe looks daily, and you can shop by color, shoe size, and [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] even by shoe type. Need office shoes? Check. Need ***y heels? Done. Zappos is like the Costco of shoes; they have everything. So if you see a pair of [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] Christian Louboutin shoes you can’t live without, don’t get depressed, go find the exact knockoff at Zappos.

Let’s venture over to Payless Shoes, shall we? Payless Shoes has been around forever, and there’s something to be said for businesses that last. They know their customers, and their customers want fabulous designer shoes, but lack the proper funds. Sound familiar? Well, Payless Shoes definitely pays attention every time winter rolls around and which seasonal boot is in high demand. Of course, I am talking about Ugg boots. Payless happens to have one of best versions of faux Ugg boots I’ve seen. If it’s the tall sand Uggs your looking for, and you don’t have $140 readily available, visit Payless Shoes and pick up the Airwalk imitation Ugg for just $39.99. Seriously, it doesn’t get much easier than that.

I could write a book comparing the different knockoff shoes I’ve found on both Zappos and Payless Shoes, but I’ll let you see if you can find a few little gems yourself. After all, the best feeling is finding those gorgeous shoes you’ve always wanted at a fraction of the cost. Good luck, and happy hunting. Make Carrie proud.

[عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا]

This project is my dad’s $10 solution to a $500 solution to a $25,000 problem. As I have previously mentioned around the site, my Dad owns an electric 1979 Ford Courier pickup, and is [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] cool enough to let me drive it around. We absolutely love it, and wouldn’t trade it for a Tesla Roadster, but one of the few problems with electric cars is heating and cooling. In a gas car, heat is provided by the 80% of the gas that is wasted as heat, and air conditioning is provided by a crankshaft driven compressor system. Many EVs use hair dryer elements and fans for heat, and some, ours included, feature a powerful gasoline burning heater.

(Update from 4 22 08: I’d forgotten that I mentioned the gas heater on here. Last fall the gas tank and heater were removed, and a ceramic heater was built in. It works great, although not quite as fast, and doesn’t use gas.)

However, air conditioning is trickier because the shaft [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] of an electric motor doesn’t always spin. Some have used a compressor driven by the motor shaft anyway, while others have turned a compressor using a separate motor. Finally, my dad came up with part of the concept for this system. It pumps ice water through an evaporator core, which has fans that blow air through it. It is very simple, but we found what we were looking for at Sporty’s Pilot Shop. However, we like our $10 version better. I saw the ArcticAir display at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh this summer, and our unit is more compact and puts out cooler air. All you need is materials, basic construction/assembly and wiring skills, and a bag of ice. Let’s go!

Update, 5 12 08: 100,003 views! Yay! I’m no Kipkay, but I’m still proud.

This project is very similar to the ArcticAir Package Unit. In fact, I attached two pictures of it I took at AirVenture this past summer. It looks almost identical to ours, and we built this without ever seeing a picture of the inside! The basic concept is to use a boating bilge pump to circulate iced water through a heater core, then use 12V fans to blow air through that core, which cools the air and pulls out water through condensation.

Advantages: Very compact and portable, lightweight without the ice, no environmentally not so friendly chlorofluorocarbons, hydrogenated chlorofluorocarbons, or hydrofluorocarbons, very quiet, and operates off 12VDC, AKA a cigarette lighter. The only disadvantage is that it the ice will melt after 30 60 minutes of operation, depending on the size of your cooler. However, it was built for an EV, so we are only ever out for an hour or two maximum, and the ice lasts longer when it’s not running. The third image on this step shows the operation. Have I convinced you to build one yet?

Ice Chest free, had it on hand If at all possible, get one with a hinged lid. Free from a storage shed or a dumpster. Or, the Igloo Ice Cube 14 looks like it would work,well, as do the Cool 16 and the MaxCold 24. We used an old 12 quart cooler, and it fit a 7 pound bag of ice.

Heater Core free, salvaged from a ’77 VW Rabbit we’re parting out You can find these on Also, I haven’t tried it, but Ufixitautoparts sells heater cores for under 5 bucks apiece.

Box Fans and Blade Guards free, from stock in basement They’re sold out of $5 [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] boots sale uk 120mm 12VDC fans at All Electronics, but too. Under $10 on eBay.

Bilge Pump $10.44 for a 500GPH unit at Wal Mart The Attwood V500 was at our Wal Mart for $10.44 you can get a similar pump for under $10 on eBay.

Hose free, had it in stock Ours came from an auto parts store, but it can be found at hardware and auto parts stores for a dollar or so for a few feet.

12V plug free, chopped off a car accessory Cut one off an old phone charger or other device, or , or $3.75 at All Electronics.

Caulking free, from the stock in the shop Can be found near the bilge pump, or from a hardware store. A couple bucks.

Piano hinge (depending on cooler) free, in stock Only necessary if your cooler isn’t hinged. A couple bucks at the hardware store.

Inner tube piece (optional) free, blown tube You may or may not need this see step 7. If you do, use a blown one, or another piece of rubber, or come up with a substitute. You did save the last blown tube for future projects, didn’t you? A couple bucks, tops.

Assorted wire, wire nuts, and screws free, in stock Depends on what you have in stock and where you get it. It’s all at the hardware store, too.

Ice free, freezer’s ice maker If you need me to tell you where to get ice, you shouldn’t be doing this project.

An ice chest/cooler has a double lid with a cavity. This is convenient because we can cut separate holes for the fan and heater core.

On the underside of the lid, mark the outline of the heater core, then go in about a quarter inch and cut out a rectangular hole through ONLY the first layer. This will allow airflow through the core, but still make it easy to attach.

Next, you will need to mark the inside of the fans and cut out two circular holes. We originally planned to use a hole saw to cut the holes, but found that we didn’t have a bit that big, so we chucked a saw blade into the Dremel Rotary tool and zipped it out, of course wearing safety glasses (hint hint).

Tada! You now have a rectangle on the inside and two circles on the outside. Now that you cut out these lovely holes, lets fill them in.

The next step is to attach the fans. This is fairly straightforward simply drill a small pilot hole at each corner of each fan, and put a small screw through the bottom hole into the plastic lid. A bead all the way around seals the lid and provides plenty of bonding force to hold the heater core in place. Make sure to get the core centered, straight, and with the nozzles pointing in. If your lid is hinged, you will want to do a test fit before attaching the core to ensure that the nozzles clear the edges. If your lid is not hinged, it may be easier to attach it first. We ended up cutting the output off to make it fit better.

The ArcticAir unit just leaves their bilge pump just dangling from the hose, but we wanted it to be more secure. The pump has a twist off base, so we twisted it off and Gorilla Glued it to the bottom of the cooler. Make sure that it is angled so that you can easily run a hose from the pump output to the heater core input. We attached the base directly to the bottom of the cooler, which works fine, but we probably should have put some spacers in to increase water flow underneath. Also, the picture just shows where it goes. We haven’t attached that hose yet, so ignore it.

If you used a cooler with a hinged lid, skip this step. Otherwise, read on.

By hinging the lid, it makes it easier to open for loading ice and letting air flow in during operation. It also prevents the lid from sliding off and dribbling water out of the heater core while driving. You can use whatever you want for a hinge a rubber strip glued on, a couple of cabinet hinges, whatever. We used a piano type hinge that we found in our stockpile of random stuff. It goes all the way across the back, and allows the lid to [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] flip all the way back, but still close completely.

This is fairly straightforward. Connect a hose from the output of the bilge pump to the input of the heater core. In most cases, it doesn’t matter which nozzle is used as the input. We just let the output dribble back in, but if the noise bothers you, you could attach a hose to the output. This would also be used as a drain hose.

We also attached a piece of bicycle inner tube rubber to catch water that drips from the output and that condensates on the core. It was cut to fit around the back edge and a couple inches up he sides, and secured with a mega rubber band we found. This may be unnecessary if [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] you attach a hose to the output, or if your heater core is configured differently.

This would also be a good time to attach wire fan guards to the fans. Just put some screws through the guards into the top holes.

It would be difficult to make the make the wiring for a project easier than this. There should be a red and a black wire coming from each fan, the bilge pump, and the 12V plug. Use wire nuts to attach them all together, and make sure the pump and fans are going the right directions. The fans should be blowing out, and the pump should be pumping through the hose. After everything is moving correctly, you can solder the wires together, or put a switch in the power cord. We also used small zip ties to hold the wires together and to the fan.

[عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا] [عزيزي الزائر يتوجب عليك التسجيل لمشاهدة الرابط للتسجيل اضغط هنا]