Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Obama's 'secret' war on terrorism


Will using drones to take out al Qaeda suspects in more than a dozen countries help keep America safe?
The stealth operations began during George W. Bush's presidency and have expanded under Obama.
Best Opinion: Outside the Beltway, TalkLeft, Right Wing News
The Obama administration is conducting a "shadow war" on al Qaeda and its allies in a dozen countries, from Yemen to Pakistan to several former Soviet republics, according to a report in The New York Times. The stealth operations, which include intelligence gathering and drone strikes, began during the presidency of George W. Bush, but it have been expanded under Obama. The program amounts to using a "scalpel" rather than a "hammer" to fight terrorism, says John O. Brennan, Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser. Is this new approach making America safer?

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Biography of Dave Barry


David "Dave" Barry (born July 3, 1947) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for the Miami Herald from 1883 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comedic novels.
Barry was born in Armonk, New York, where his father—also named David Barry—was a Presbyterian minister. He was educated at Wampus Elementary School, Harold C. Crittenden Junior High School, (both in Armonk), and Pleasantville High School where he was elected "Class Clown" in 1965. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Haverford College in 1969. In his book, Dave Barry's Greatest Hits, he stated that during college he was in a band called "The Federal Duck."
As the son of a minister and an alumnus of a Quaker-affiliated college, Barry avoided military service during the Vietnam War by registering as a religious conscientious objector.
Barry married his second wife, Beth Pyle, in 1976 and they had one child, Robert, in 1980. Barry and Beth worked together at the Daily Local News in West Chester, PA, where they both began their journalism careers on the same day in September, 1971. At the time they started seeing each other, both were married to other people. Barry was in a marriage with his first wife, Ann Shelnutt, whom he divorced to marry Pyle. Barry and Pyle divorced in 1993. In 1996, Barry married Miami Herald sportswriter Michelle Kaufman; they had a daughter, Sophie, in 2000. All are mentioned regularly in Barry's columns; his divorce was not discussed, though much speculation on the Internet assumed that the two "RayAdverb meets MsPotato" pieces in his Dave Barry in Cyberspace are autobiographical; Barry will neither confirm nor deny, but does post as @RayAdverb on Twitter.
While with the Miami Herald, he created a band with his friends from the Herald, and named it the "Urban Professionals", where he played lead guitar. At the Tupperware Headquarters in Orlando, Florida, he played his hit song, "The Tupperware Song".
He currently plays lead guitar in the band The Rock Bottom Remainders, whose other members include Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, his brother Sam Barry, his sister-in-law Kathi Kamen Goldmark, and Mitch Albom.
Barry was born in Armonk, New York, where his father—also named David Barry—was a Presbyterian minister. He was educated at Wampus Elementary School, Harold C. Crittenden Junior High School, (both in Armonk), and Pleasantville High School where he was elected "Class Clown" in 1965. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Haverford College in 1969. In his book, Dave Barry's Greatest Hits, he stated that during college he was in a band called "The Federal Duck."
As the son of a minister and an alumnus of a Quaker-affiliated college, Barry avoided military service during the Vietnam War by registering as a religious conscientious objector.
Barry married his second wife, Beth Pyle, in 1976 and they had one child, Robert, in 1980. Barry and Beth worked together at the Daily Local News in West Chester, PA, where they both began their journalism careers on the same day in September, 1971. At the time they started seeing each other, both were married to other people. Barry was in a marriage with his first wife, Ann Shelnutt, whom he divorced to marry Pyle. Barry and Pyle divorced in 1993. In 1996, Barry married Miami Herald sportswriter Michelle Kaufman; they had a daughter, Sophie, in 2000. All are mentioned regularly in Barry's columns; his divorce was not discussed, though much speculation on the Internet assumed that the two "RayAdverb meets MsPotato" pieces in his Dave Barry in Cyberspace are autobiographical; Barry will neither confirm nor deny, but does post as @RayAdverb on Twitter.
While with the Miami Herald, he created a band with his friends from the Herald, and named it the "Urban Professionals", where he played lead guitar. At the Tupperware Headquarters in Orlando, Florida, he played his hit song, "The Tupperware Song".
He currently plays lead guitar in the band The Rock Bottom Remainders, whose other members include Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, his brother Sam Barry, his sister-in-law Kathi Kamen Goldmark, and Mitch Albom.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Nonsense

This article was written by John Marr, who is an eBay addict and be proud of it. I am curious who bought some very wierd stuff from ebay such as Fake Dog Poop and Mixed Nuts Diy Necklace, etc. It doesn't cost a lot of money, ten dollars or so. My opinion is We need to judge a thing which you plan to buy. We should estimate what its price is and whether it is useful in the future. I would never buy a thing which is useless to me. Some people may against my words and tell me I must have bought some funny things. I guess so. and I believe it brings me a lot of happiess at least.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Vickrey Auction

What is the "Vickery Auction"?

A Vickery Auction is a type of sealed-bid auction, where bidders submit written bids without knowing the bid of the other people in the auction. The highest bidder wins, but the price paid is the second-highest bid. The auction was created by William Vickery. The type of auction is strategically simillar to an English auction, and give bidders an incentive to bid their true value.

Sourced from http://nn. wikepedia. org/wiki/vikery_auction

I am very interested in the bidders who win that don't need to pay the highest price they ever given, but the second highest bid which was given by his/her competitors. I am wondering whether other commerical websites like ebay, amzon, best buy, etc have followed this rules. So I will log on one of them, and check how it works in a few days. But first I should find some goods which I am interested, right?