Van Santos

I was shocked to see that Steve McNair was found dead today.

Former NFL quarterback Steve McNair and a woman were found shot to death Saturday inside a residence in Nashville, police said.

Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron confirmed that authorities were called to a condominium and found McNair and a woman shot to death inside. Aaron said police don’t yet know the circumstances of the shootings.

“I don’t have any answers for you now as to what’s happened, who’s responsible,” Aaron said.

While not a huge football fan, he was one hell of a QB that obviously caught my attention.  Sad to see this happen to him, let alone anyone.

Cancer breakthrough?

I find this article from The Independent to be borderline astonishing.  If true, it sounds like there was a giant leap forward in the treatment of prostate cancer…

Two patients with inoperable prostate cancer have made dramatic recoveries after receiving one dose of an experimental drug that is creating excitement among cancer specialists.

he results were so startling that researchers decided to release details of the two cases before the drug trial – in which the patients took part – was complete. Doctors said their progress had exceeded all expectations. The men were treated at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in the US, one of the top medical centres in the world.

Let’s not get our hopes up yet, however, as this drug (Ipilimumab) has not experienced the same results in previous studies.  Also, further researcher is expected this fall with larger patient groups.

One thing to note, it very well may NOT be the experimental drug Impilimumab providing the results:

The other cautionary note is that both men received hormone therapy, which in some instances causes dramatic reductions in tumour size by itself.

It will be interesting to watch.

Times Reporter Held by Taliban Escapes

Apparently David Rohde, a New York Times reporter, was captured by the Taliban roughly 7 months ago as he was researching a book outside of Kabul last November. You did hear about this?  Neither did I, apparently the Times had an information embargo concerning the capture due to safety concerns.

“From the early days of this ordeal, the prevailing view among David’s family, experts in kidnapping cases, officials of several governments and others we consulted was that going public could increase the danger to David and the other hostages. The kidnappers initially said as much,” said Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times. “We decided to respect that advice, as we have in other kidnapping cases, and a number of other news organizations that learned of David’s plight have done the same. We are enormously grateful for their support.”

I’d say this gives the concept of book research a whole new meaning.

Prototype Nokia phone recharges without wires

Now this is just… well… sexy.  A new prototype phone from Nokia is able to recharge without the need for a wired power source.

Nokia, however, has taken another baby step in that direction with the invention of a cell phone that recharges itself using a unique system: It harvests ambient radio waves from the air, and turns that energy into usable power. Enough, at least, to keep a cell phone from running out of juice.

This has the potential to be game changing.  A dead cell phone, or other small electronic device, could easily be a thing of the past.

Simply harvesting radio waves and converting the the collected waves into energy is brilliant.  The funny thing is that genius electrical engineer Nikola Tesla managed to do something very similar to this very thing over 100 years ago.  Even more impressive, Tesla managed to light bulbs over large distances, without wires, in Colorado Springs by using the Earth’s surface.

It’s too bad that the world had to wait over 100 years to put some of Tesla’s research to work.

Just hearing a few bit and pieces on the news today regarding Iran, but not too much.  Here are a number of links to keep you up to date:

War In Context - Iran’s political coup (thanks Gianna!).

Someone doesn’t want the world to see what is going on, BBC Says election broadcasts disrupted from Iran.

People are taking to the rooftops protesting Ahmadinejad.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad celebrates win with show of brutality.

US Withholds Judgment on Iran Election Results.

You may not be seeing the news of the recent Iranian election on stations such as CNN, Fox News or MSNBC.  If you have, however, chances are its coverage about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad being declared winner.  What the public is not really seeing is the anger, the demonstrations and violence over the elections due to claims of a manipulated election.

Hossein Mousavi, the opposition to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has released a letter addressed to the Iranian people.  Here is the full English text of his letter (via tehranbureau.com)

In the Name of God

Honorable people of Iran

The reported results of the 10th Iranians residential Election are appalling. The people who witnessed the mixture of votes in long lineups know who they have voted for and observe the wizardry of I.R.I.B (State run TV and Radio) and election officials. Now more than ever before they want to know how and by which officials this game plan has been designed. I object fully to the current procedures and obvious and abundant deviations from law on the day of election and alert people to not surrender to this dangerous plot. Dishonesty and corruption of officials as we have seen will only result in weakening the pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran and empowers lies and dictatorships.

I am obliged, due to my religious and national duties, to expose this dangerous plot and to explain its devastating effects on the future of Iran. I am concerned that the continuation of the current situation will transform all key members of this regime into fabulists in confrontation with the nation and seriously jeopardize them in this world and the next.

I advise all officials to halt this agenda at once before it is too late, return to the rule of law and protect the nation’s vote and know that deviation from law renders them illegitimate. They are aware better than anyone else that this country has been through a grand Islamic revolution and the least message of this revolution is that our nation is alert and will oppose anyone who aims to seize the power against the law.

I use this chance to honor the emotions of the nation of Iran and remind them that Iran, this sacred being, belongs to them and not to the fraudulent. It is you who should stay alert. The traitors to the nation’s vote have no fear if this house of Persians burns in flames. We will continue with our green wave of rationality that is inspired by our religious learnings and our love for prophet Mohammad and will confront the rampage of lies that has appeared and marked the image of our nation. However we will not allow our movement to become blind one.

I thank every citizen who took part in spreading this green message by becoming a campaigner and all official and self organized campaigns, I insist that their presence is essential until we achieve results deserving of our country.

[ verse from in Quran: Why not trust in God, who has shown us our ways. We are patient in face of what disturbs us. Our resilience is in god. ]

Mir Hossein Mousavi

Oh, and guess what?  Housavi is reportedly under house arrest for his post-election letter.

Talking things one step further, it appears communications have been cut in Tehran:

The main mobile telephone network in Iran was cut in the capital Tehran Saturday evening while popular Internet websites Facebook and YouTube also appeared to be blocked, correspondents said.

The communication cuts came after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a landslide re-election victory, sparking rioting in the streets by opposition supporters who claimed the result had been rigged.

The mobile phone network stopped working at 10:00 pm (1730 GMT), just before Ahmadinejad went on television to declare the election a “great victory” and even as baton-wielding police were clashing with protestors in the streets of Tehran, according to witnesses.

Was the election rigged?  There is no way for us to ever truly know. There is, however, very little doubt that something major is potentially underway in the country of Iran. If a false election did take place, will the population stand up en masse? I hope so.

We have a bit of news in the continuing Carradine saga. News that isn’t all that surprising to me – an independent forensic expert stated Carradine’s death was not a suicide.

Carradine’s family hired Michael Baden to conduct a second autopsy, and he determined that the 72-year-old star of Kung Fuand Kill Bill did not intentionally take his life. He added, however, that more information was needed to conclusively determine the cause of death.

“To reach a final determination as to the cause and the manner of death we must wait for further information from Thailand as to the scene findings and the completion of the crime laboratory and toxicology studies that are still being performed,” Baden said in a statement that was read to reporters.

That can leave accidental, natural causes or criminal act. Did I miss anything?

There is a lot coming out from Carradine’s ex-wives.  If the the information is true, and seeing the stories are rather consistent between the two, Carradine had some very interesting – and specific – interests when it came to his sexual desires.

My gut feeling had always been that he was not alone and something just went wrong.  Based on the consistant information coming out from others in his life I can now see, however; where Carradine was alone and something went wrong.

The push for Sonia Sotomayor to join the Supreme Court continues as the views of Sotomayor continue to be introduced to the public. However, I wonder if anyone will start to question if she is truly the right person for the job (say, like I did when the news first came out).

My original main concern was that she wasn’t the best choice for the job as there are countless other individuals with stronger legal backgrounds available to fill the role. It wasn’t a position of Democrat or Republican; it was a question of her qualifications.

Now even Sotomayor, herself, is saying that she wasn’t qualified to get into her school and that affirmative action was the reason she has had the opportunities:

“If we had gone through the traditional numbers route of those institutions, it would have been highly questionable if I would have been accepted,” she said on a panel of three female judges from New York who were discussing women in the judiciary. The video is dated “early 1990s” in Senate records.

But of course, it wasn’t that she didn’t have the ability – it was the fault of the test.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor once described herself as “a product of affirmative action” who was admitted to two Ivy League schools despite scoring lower on standardized tests than many classmates, which she attributed to “cultural biases” that are “built into testing.”

This, right here, angers me in a way that is very difficult for me to describe. Not because she was given an “opportunity” – one she apparently made the most of – but because this statement implies people cannot overcome adversity.

There are certain standards one must meet in order to function in a specific role. If I go to Germany, and I speak fluent German, but do not have the cultural background and knowledge of the local people – which is needed in order to get into my University of choice – how would I get it?

I wouldn’t.

If I built my knowledge base, understood the details of the community and country, even the obscure details, then I would have a better chance. I wouldn’t, and shouldn’t, even be considered if I do not have the minimum requirements. That said, I can place myself in a position where I can have the needed knowledge. So, to say there is cultural biases built into testing – while possible true – is no excuse. You find a way to succeed, not depend on someone to get you through simply because of your race/sex/background.

More and more it seems that society simply expects things to be given to them, we have to work for them. We have to earn them. If there is something in our way, find a new path and don’t make excuses.

Almost 30 days ago, Donald Trump stated that Carrie Prejean, the Miss California who gave a controversial answer regarding same sex marriage – as well as experienced semi-nude photos being released, is no longer Miss California.

Why? Breach of Contract.

Here is what the Miss California USA pageant has to say:

“This was a decision based solely on contract violations,” Keith Lewis, executive director of K2 Productions, said in the release. “After our press conference in New York we had hoped we would be able to forge a better working relationship. However, since that time it has become abundantly clear that Carrie has no desire to fulfill her obligations under our contract and work together.”

And Trump says:

“I told Carrie she needed to get back to work and honor her contract with the Miss California Organization and I gave her the opportunity to do so,” Trump said in the same release. “Unfortunately it just doesn’t look like it is going to happen and I offered Keith my full support in making this decision.”

Interesting that the story fails to mention why they believe she was in breach of contract.  Well, thedirty.com has a potential exclusive as to why she got cut:

1) Carrie was unavailable for the pageant organized interviews. She committed to only 1 of the 17 interviews that were scheduled. Sadly, the pageant had pitched 46 different entities for press interviews with Carrie but only 17 agreed. The others refused because of the controversy that Carrie was embroiled in.

2) The main sponsors for Miss California USA sent letters to the organization claiming that they will no longer sponsor the pageant because of the controversy that Carrie had caused. Her statements against gay marriage and rights and the lies regarding images of her had appalled the sponsors and their clients.

3) The costs for the organization to deal with the controversies caused by Carrie far outweighed the revenues they could possibly ever recoup from her representation. These costs were primarily legal fees including notifying Carrie of her multiple contract breaches as well as the public relations costs for the unremitting damage control.

When you play in the big leagues be ready for the other team to bring the heat, Carrie. Speaking your mind is one thing, but if you truly did not meet the terms of your contract what did you expect to happen?

The initial “That seems odd…” feeling about the David Carradien death really hasn’t worn off.  I just can’t shake it, not sure why.  Apparently the mystery is only getting deeper and now the FBI is getting involved in the situation:

Mark Geragos, a Los Angeles attorney who represented Carradine’s brother, Keith Carradine, said on Saturday the family has contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and filed a formal request to have the FBI contact authorities in Thailand for further information.

“They’ve done it because of the conflicting reports and the nature of those reports that have given the family great pause,” Geragos told Reuters.

In regards to the being bound:

With coroners awaiting results of toxicology tests, Thai media pointed to suicide or accidental autoerotic asphyxiation as possible causes of death. Some reports have said a cord was wrapped around Carradine’s genitals and others that his hands were bound behind his back. None could be confirmed.

Actually, there appears to be no proof that there was anyone else in the room with him:

“It is unclear whether he committed suicide or not, or he died of suffocation or heart failure,” he said.

Police continue to say there was no evidence that anyone else was in the room at the time of the actor’s death.

One question I had originally asked focused on a history of suicidal thoughts – specifically, did he have any? Back in 2004 he made a comment that could raise questions in the minds of individuals:

“Look, there was a period in my life when I had a single action Colt 45, loaded, in my desk drawer. And every night I’d take it out and think about blowing my head off, and then decide not to and go on with my life. Put it back in the drawer and open up the laptop and continue writing my autobiography or whatever. But it was just to see.”

To me, this does NOT mean he was suicidal.  He thought about it, but simply thinking about something does not make on guilty of something. At one point in life I’m sure everyone has had what others would call “odd or questionable” thoughts.

His friends and family also deny he had suicidal tendencies:

A longtime friend of actor David Carradine says it “doesn’t make sense” that the star killed himself.

Actor Michael Madsen said on The Early Show Friday depression “wasn’t really a part of Carradine’s makeup.

“I spoke to his wife this morning,” Madsen added, “and she really wants everybody to know that David was not suicidal. Certainly, I would have known about something like that. Depression wasn’t really a part of his personality. Whatever causes people to have that emotion, he seems to have — seemed to have gotten over it.”

The news of out Korea (North and South) all points to North Korea testing more of their military toys.  Today it happens to be a new type of short-ranged missile. Reports of activity around ballistic missile sites are also coming in, and U.S. officials are warning that more nuke tests should be expected in the coming months.

All of this makes me ask - What’s up with North Korea?

Originally, I thought the nuke test took place to correspond with Memorial Day as NK executed other such tests on U.S. holidays in hopes of getting our attention.  This time, however, the level of continued military testing seems rather unusual.  Rather elevated.

Sure, it could be the North simply playing with their toys, but the timing and activity level is questionable.  All of this makes me ask what is North Korea trying to get from the world community?  As the country has virtually no energy resources, could they be trying to get more oil?  Do they want increased grain shipments?  In the past, the NK leadership would hit and “we need…” in exchange for an end to the testing.  No so this time.

Something doesn’t fit.

While the useless body called the U.N. sits around debating what type of draft resolution should be presented, North Korea goes on their way testing.  Even if sanctions are past against North Korea, what is the U.N. going to sanction?  The country already has nothing.  You can’t really take away something from a person who has nothing to begin with.  The only outcome of sanctions will be increased anger (or aggressive positioning) on the part of North Korea.

So, really, what’s the deal and how is the world going to react?

As if setting off a Nuke wasn’t enough, North Korea also tested a short-range missile:

“A single ground-to-air missile with a range of 130 km (81 miles) was fired from Musudan-ri, Hwadae County,” it quoted a diplomatic source as saying.

Musudan-ri on the northeast coast is the North’s major missile launch site. The North fired a long-range Taepodong-2 rocket from there on April 5.

Again, this seems like an odd time.  The only thing I can figure is this happens to coincide with the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S.  Like their last major test, could it be they are trying to send a signal to the U.S. for some reason?