The More Power you give a date...

Vidovdan (Видовдан) is a religious holiday, St. Vitus' Day, observed on June 28 in the Serbian and Bulgarian Orthodox calendar. In Bulgaria it is called Vidovden (Видовден) or Vidov Den (Видов ден) and is particularly well-known in the western part of the country.

Vidovdan is also a date of historical importance:

• on June 28, 1389 the Ottoman Empire fought against a heroic Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo.
• on June 28, 1914 the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke triggers the First World War.
• on June 28, 1919 the Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending the First World War.
• on June 28, 1921 the Serbian King Alexander I of Yugoslavia proclaimed the new Constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, known thereafter as the Vidovdan Constitution (Vidovdanski ustav.)
• on June 28, 1948 the Cominform published, on the initiative of its Soviet delegates Shdanov, Malenkov and Suslov, in a "Resolution on the State of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia" their condemnation of the Yugoslavian communist leaders - this happening is seen as the date that marks the final split between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
• on June 28, 1989 — the 600th anniversary of the battle of Kosovo — Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević held an oft-cited speech at the site of the historic battle.
• on June 28, 1990 draft amendments to the Constitution of Croatia, which deleted references to the Serbs as a constituent nation of Croatia, were revealed by Croatian President Franjo Tuđman.
• on June 28, 2001 former Yugoslav leader Milošević was deported to The Hague to stand trial. (He died while imprisoned.)

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidovdan

June 28th is a recurring dream from which Serbia cannot awake. The full weight of history leans on June 28. It is folly to not choose it as the date for all important matters.

That's my Band. It is Settled.

A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates is a 1955 book by the RAND Corporation. The book of tables was an important 20th century work in the field of statistics and random numbers. It was produced starting in 1947 by an electronic simulation of a roulette wheel attached to a computer, the results of which were then carefully filtered and tested before being used to generate the table. The RAND table was an important breakthrough in delivering random numbers because such a large and carefully prepared table had never before been available. In addition to being available in book form, one could also order the digits on a series of punch cards as well.

The main use of the tables was in statistics and the experimental design of scientific experiments, especially those which employed the Monte Carlo method; in cryptography, they have also been used as "nothing up my sleeve numbers", for example in the design of the Khafre cipher. The book was one of the last of a series of random number tables produced from the mid-1920s through the 1950s, after which the development of high speed computers allowed faster operation through the generation of pseudorandom numbers rather than reading them from tables.

The book was reissued in 2001 with a new foreword by RAND Executive Vice President Michael D. Rich.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Million_Random_Digits_with_100%2C000_Normal_Deviates

Madam, Do not cry over the death of your son. He was only killed by kinetic energy.

In 1996 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) gave an advisory opinion on the "legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons".^[3] This made it clear, in paragraphs 54, 55 and 56, that international law on poisonous weapons, – the Second Hague Declaration of 29 July 1899, Hague Convention IV of 18 October 1907 and the Geneva Protocol of 17 June 1925 – did not cover nuclear weapons, because their prime or exclusive use was not to poison or asphyxiate. This ICJ opinion was about nuclear weapons, but the sentence "The terms have been understood, in the practice of States, in their ordinary sense as covering weapons whose prime, or even exclusive, effect is to poison or asphyxiate." also removes depleted uranium weaponry from coverage by the same treaties as their primary use is not to poison or asphyxiate, but to destroy materiel and kill soldiers through kinetic energy.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium

Confusing Confirmation with Refutation

In response to accusations that sex crimes had been committed by the Congolese military, he pointed out that 300 soldiers have been convicted of sex crimes, although he admitted that is not enough.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kabila

The world does not end with you!

The Nemi Ships were huge and exceedingly luxurious ships built by the Roman emperor Caligula in the first century CE at Lake Nemi. One of the ships was designed as a temple that was dedicated to Diana (the Roman equivalent of Artemis), the larger ship however was essentially an elaborate floating palace, which counted marble floors and plumbing among its amenities, the sole role of which was to satisfy Caligula's increasingly self-indulgent behavior. It has been stated that the emperor was influenced by the lavish lifestyles of the Hellenistic rulers of Syracuse and Ptolemaic Egypt.

Between 1927 and 1932 they had been pulled out of the temporarily drained lake. After 19 centuries the hulls were still intact. Sadly, the ships were burned by retreating German forces in 1944.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemi_ships

Neuvo Riche Trash

Andrew Stuart Luster (b. December 15, 1963) is an heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune who was convicted of a series of rapes in 2003.

Luster had spent much of his life living off a $3.1 million trust fund as he traveled and surfed at various beaches.

In 1996, 1997 and 2000, however, Luster allegedly gave three women GHB, a known date rape drug, and raped them while they were unconscious. Luster was brought to trial in 2002. Soon afterward, police officers found videotapes of Luster raping the women in question, including one tape labeled "Shauna GHBing."

On January 6, 2003, the trial court found that appellant had voluntarily absented himself from the trial and declared him a fugitive.

On January 21, 2003, Andrew Luster was convicted of 86 of the 87 counts of rape against him.

On February 18, 2003, the court sentenced Andrew Luster to 124 years in prison, in absentia while still absent from the court. Also, on February 18, 2003, the trial court found that on January 4, 2003 the appellant willfully absented himself from both the court and the state.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Luster

Note that due to the machinations of his lawyers, he got off on one of the rape counts. Damn our corrupt law system, where justic can be bought.

Why can't all of our leaders be so wise?

The modern sandwich is certainly named after Lord Sandwich, and it had been claimed, on the strength of a rumour in a travel book by Grosley, that he invented it to sustain himself while gambling. Sandwich's biographer Rodger suggests that, since at that time Sandwich is known to have been very busy, Sandwich's snacks are more likely to have been taken at his desk.

Sandwich didn't invent the idea of putting food between pieces of bread; a style of sandwich is credited to Hillel the Elder, a Jewish leader who lived before Jesus.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Earl_of_Sandwich

And they say the black man has not learned the ways of the europeans...

The Second Congo War was a conflict that took place largely in the territory of Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). The war began in 1998 and officially ended in 2003 when a Transitional Government took power. The widest interstate war in modern African history, it directly involved nine African nations, as well as about twenty armed groups, and earned the epithet of "Africa's World War" and the "Great War of Africa." An estimated 3.8 million people died, mostly from starvation and disease brought about by one of the deadliest conflicts since World War II. Millions more were displaced from their homes or sought asylum in neighboring countries. ^[1]

Despite a formal end to the war in July 2003 and an agreement by the former belligerents to create a government of national unity, the state remains weak and much of the eastern region continues to suffer from violent conflict. In 2004, an estimated one thousand people died every day from violence and disruptions to basic social services and food supply. Sporadic outbreaks of fighting continue to lead to large scale forced migration.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Congo_War
(You should really read the whole article. It's very informative.)

This is what happens when you don't have real countries. Are they invading you or just trying to fight off a rebel group that uses your country as a base? What about the third party that's funding them? What about your rebels? What about the inter-clan warfare/civil war? What race of people is being ethnically cleansed? Are you doing it to your own people, or do you think of them as outsiders? Is this an invasion or a unification? Are they marxists or western backed? Perhaps islamic? Maybe just a tribe?

Awesome. Good Call.

Mengistu formally assumed power as head of state and Derg chairman in 1977, although he had weilded behind the scenes power long before that. The transition of power resulted in the execution of two of Mengistu's predecessors as head of state. Under Mengistu, Ethiopia received aid from the Soviet Union, other members of the Warsaw Pact, and Cuba.

[edit] "Red Terror"

From 1977 through early 1978, a rebellion against the new government ensued and was suppressed, resulting in many casualties. In response to guerrilla attacks from the anti-Mengistu Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP), Mengistu declared that the EPRP had begun a campaign of "White Terror." Anti-Mengistu forces, however, accused Mengistu's Workers Party of waging a campaign of "Red Terror."

Mengistu's campaign against anti-government guerrillas was launched with a speech delivered in Revolution (formerly Maskal or "Holy Cross") Square in the heart of Addis Ababa. He included the Eritrean secessionists Shabia or Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), Jebha or the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), the monarchist Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU), the Woyane or Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLF) in this hunt along with the EPRP.

In response to guerrilla attacks from the EPRP, Mengistu gave counter-insurgency forces the authority to arrest, detain, and execute insurgents. From 1977-78, counter-insurgency forces pursued countless suspected insurgents. Military gains made by the monarchist EDU in Begemder were rolled back when that party split just as it was on the verge of capturing the old capital of Gondar. The army of the Republic of Somalia stepped in to aid the WSLF in the Ogaden region, and was on the verge of capturing Harrar and Dire Dawa, when Somalia's erstwhile allies, the Soviets and the Cubans, launched an unprecedented arms and personnel airlift to come to Ethiopia's rescue. The Derg regime turned back the Somali invasion, and made deep strides against the Eritrean secessionists and the TPLF as well. By the end of the seventies, Mengistu presided over the second largest army in all of Sub-Saharan Africa, and a formidable airforce and Navy as well.

After out-manuevering his rivals inside the Derg and his foes in the EPRP, Mengistu had a rift with the other major Marxist group that had originally supported him, the All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement (MEISON). He rightfully feared that its members had more loyalty to their party and to Marxist ideology than to the ruling Derg government and himself. By 1978, he had effectively eliminated all potential opposition from the EPRP and MEISON through three phases of bloody purges; the first targeting the EPRP, the second targeting MEISON, and the third eliminating remnants of both groups.

n May 1991, EPRDF forces advanced on Addis Ababa and Mengistu was forced to flee the ecountry with 50 family and Derg members. He was granted asylum in Zimbabwe, as an official "guest" of Robert Mugabe, the president of that country. He left behind almost the entire membership of the original Derg and the WPE leadership which was promptly arrested and put on trial upon the assumption of power by the EPRDF. Mengistu himself blames the collapse of his government on Mikhail Gorbachev for letting the Soviet Union collapse and hence cutting off its aid to Ethiopia.

Mengistu still resides in Zimbabwe, despite attempts by Ethiopia to extradite him to face trial by the current Ethiopian authorities. Several former members of the Derg have been sentenced to death in absentia by the new regime. The trial against him, started in 1994, is ongoing as of 2006.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengistu_Haile_Mariam

Could this be used in weight loss?

Failure to thrive is a medical term which denotes poor weight gain and physical growth failure over an extended period of time in infancy. Often abbreviated FTT, the term has been in medical use for over a century. As used by pediatricians, it covers poor physical growth of any cause and does not imply abnormal intellectual, social, or emotional development.

In adult medicine, failure to thrive is a descriptive, non-specific term that encompasses "not doing well": e.g. malaise, weight loss, poor self-care that can be seen in elderly individuals.

Recently the term 'faltering growth' has become a popular replacement for 'failure to thrive', which in the minds of some represents a more euphemistic term.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Failure_to_thrive

Jawohl, Fair is Fair!

n March 2006, O'Reilly dropped a caller from his live radio show, seemingly for mentioning Olbermann's name. O'Reilly accused the caller of being part of a larger group of individuals which had been calling O'Reilly with the sole purpose of mentioning Olbermann.^{[citation needed]} The caller said "I like to listen to you during the day. I think Keith Olbermann..." when O'Reilly cut in, responding to "Mike" as follows:

We have your own phone number and we're going to turn it over to Fox security and you'll be getting a little visit. [...] When you call us, ladies and gentlemen, just so you know, we do have your phone number, and if you say anything untoward, obscene or anything like that, FOX security then will contact your local authorities and you will be held accountable. Fair?[19]

While Westwood One broadcasts O'Reilly's radio show, the program does originate from FOX News Channel's New York City studios. ^[20] Olbermann noted that it would be unlawful for O'Reilly to send anyone to a listener's home for purposes of intimidation.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Olbermann

I assert that no non-homosexual has used the phrase "gilding thelily" since 1900.

Puffery as a legal term refers to promotional statements and claims that express subjective rather than objective views, such that no reasonable person would take literally. Puffery is especially featured in testimonials.

For instance, a diner advertisement promoting the “world’s best cup of coffee” would class as puffery. That claim would be almost impossible to substantiate, and no reasonable consumer would take such exaggeration at face value.

Puffery often uses the superlative form of a word, like “best”, “most”, “greatest”, etc. However, a company making a superlative claim such as “cheapest” or “safest” usually has to substantiate such competitive claims. Merchants must exercise extreme caution when making statements about the quality, condition, or facts about their products or services. A slight variation in wording may result in an express warranty.

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defined puffery as a “term frequently used to denote the exaggerations reasonably to be expected of a seller as to the degree of quality of his product, the truth or falsity of which cannot be precisely determined.” ^[1]

The FTC stated in 1984 that puffery does not warrant enforcement action by the Commission. In its FTC Policy Statement on Deception, the Commission stated: "The Commission generally will not pursue cases involving obviously exaggerated or puffing representations, i.e., those that the ordinary consumers do not take seriously."

The advertising world sometimes refers to puffery with the idiom gilding the lily.^[2]

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffery

Reflector pedals on bikes a nazi conspiracy. Really.

In 1936, the SS formed a joint company with Anton Loibl, a machinist and driving instructor. The SS had heard about reflector pedals for bicycles, that Loibl and others had been developing. Assuring that Loibl got the patent himself, Himmler then used his political weight to ensure the passing of a 1939 law requiring the use of the new reflective pedals - of which the Ahnenerbe received a share of the profits, 77,740 Reichsmark in 1938.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahnenerbe

Ah, comrade. I believe you mean "Proletarian Pseudoscience"

Bourgeois pseudoscience (Буржуазная лженаука) was a term of condemnation in the Soviet Union for certain scientific disciplines that were deemed unacceptable from an ideological point of view.

At various times pronounced "bourgeois pseudosciences" were: genetics (see Lysenkoism), cybernetics, sociology, semiotics, and comparative linguistics (see Japhetic theory). This attitude was most prevalent during the rule of Joseph Stalin.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeois_pseudoscience

Nature cannot be fooled, you fools. I feel most like dancing when science triumphs over falsehood. It is proof enough that there is a reality with rules that can be learned and exploited.

So what did you guys do this weekend?

The Aghori are a Hindu sect believed to have split off from the Kapalika order (which dates from 1000 A.D.) in the fourteenth century. Both Kapalika and Aghori sects are worshipers of Lord Shiva. Aghori means non-terrifying in Sanskrit, and may refer to how members of the sect view death. This extremely secretive community is known to live in graveyards, wear ash from the pyre, and use human bone from graveyards for rituals.

Members of the Aghori drink from human skulls and practice cannibalism in the belief that eating human flesh confers spiritual and physical benefits, such as prevention of aging. The Aghori are widely censured in India for their use of human remains. It is believed that Aghoris perform Tantric ritual involving sex with lower caste, menstruating woman during which the aghori becomes shiva and his partner shakti. Necrophagy, the eating of corpse flesh, is attested to by a sixteenth century Persian source and in nineteenth century British accounts.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aghoris

The Ancients are all dead and I am glad.

Some left-handed people consider themselves oppressed, even to the point of prejudice. Etymology often lends weight to the argument:

In many European languages, "right" stands for authority and justice: German and Dutch, "recht", French, "droit", Spanish, "diestro", (from Latin 'dexter'^[15]); in most Slavic languages the root "prav" is used in words "right", "correct", "justice" etc. Being right-handed has also historically been thought of as being skillful: the Latin word for right-handed is "dexter," as in dexterity; the Spanish "diestro" means both "skillful" and "right-handed".

On the other hand, the English word "sinister" comes from Latin and it originally meant "left" but took on meanings of 'evil, unlucky' by the Classical Latin era. "Sinister" comes from the Latin word "sinus" meaning "pocket": a traditional Roman toga had only one pocket, located on the left side for the convenience of a right-handed wearer. The modern-Italian "sinistra" has both meanings of sinister and left. The Spanish "siniestra" has both, too, although the 'left' meaning is less common and is usually expressed by 'izquierda,'^[16] a Basque word. A left-hander was supposed to be not only unlucky, but also awkward and clumsy, as shown in the French "gauche" and the German "links" and "linkisch." As these are all very old words, they support theories indicating that the predominance of right-handedness is an extremely old phenomenon. In Portuguese, the most common word for left-handed person, "canhoto", was once used to identify the devil, and "canhestro", a related word, means clumsy.

In ancient China, the left has been the "bad" side. The adjective "left" (左 Mandarin: zuo) means "improper," "out of accord." For instance, the phrase "left path" (左道 Mandarin: zuodao) stands for illegal or immoral means. In some parts of China, some adults can still remember suffering for the "crime" (with suitable traumatic punishments) of not learning to be right-handed in both primary and secondary schools, as well as in some "keeping-good-face" families.

In Norway, the expression "venstrehåndsarbeid" (left hand work) means "something that is done in a sloppy or insatisfactory way".

Even the word "ambidexterity" reflects the bias. Its intended meaning is, "skillful at both sides." However, since it keeps the Latin root "dexter," which means "right," it ends up conveying the idea of being "right-handed at both sides."

Until very recently, in Chinese societies, left-handed people were strongly encouraged to switch to being right-handed. However, this may be in part because, while Latin characters are equally easy to write with either hand, it is more difficult to write legible Chinese characters with the left hand. The prescribed direction of writing each line of a Chinese character is designed for the movements of the right hand, and some shapes tend to feel awkward to follow with the left hand's fingers. It results in a less soft writing than it would be with the right hand.

In many parts of the world, such as Indonesia, it is considered impolite to eat and accept gifts with the left hand. The reason to this is a person who uses his left hand to eat would often cause trouble with the person to the left of him. Another stated reason for this is that the left hand is used in some countries, like Indonesia, during a bathroom visit.

A profound Arabian stigma against left-handedness dates to a pre-industrial period when paper was extremely rare and (in desert regions) water was too precious to be used for hand-washing. Because it was necessary to use one hand for wiping oneself after defecation, and because it was impossible to cleanse this hand thoroughly, the hand used for this task (traditionally, the left hand) was deemed unfit to be used for any other activity, especially as most Arabs of that time lacked eating utensils, and so they ate with their fingers (of the right hand) from communal dishes, while keeping the left hand entirely concealed at mealtime. To expose the left hand during a public meal is still considered grievously offensive in some Arab cultures, particularly in desert regions.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-handed

Don't ever wonder why I don't respect your cultures, old and new. Because your phalanx and nomadic ancestors found the left hand less useful or less desirable, you'll be offended today?

Correct

The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) had a unique operational doctrine for a conventional military force. Yugoslavia based its defence doctrine upon the concept of "Total National Defence" (Opšte-narodna odbrana), which drew upon Yugoslavia's rich partisan history during World War II. Total National Defence gave the JNA the role of defending borders against aggressors with the intention of delaying an invader long enough for Territorial Defence Forces to enter the field and start wearing the invader down with partisan tactics. The entire Yugoslav population under this concept was to be engaged in armed resistance, armaments production, and civil defence. The concept of Total National Defence was believed by the Yugoslav planners to be the best method by which a smaller nation could properly defend itself against a much stronger invader.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JNA

Correct. Very correct. But it also makes for the most brutal and terrible of civil wars. Oops.

Death of a Nation

In August 1990, an unrecognised referendum was held in the Krajina region (bordering western Bosnia and Hercegovina, with a large Serb population at the time) on the question of Serb "sovereignty and autonomy" in Croatia. This was to counter the changes of constitution. The Croatian government tried to block the referendum by sending police forces to rebeling police stations in Serb populated areas to seize their weapons. Among other incidents, local Serbs blocked the roads to the tourist destinations in Dalmatia. This incident is known as the "Log revolution". The government responded by sending special police helicopters, but they were intercepted by Yugoslav Army fighter jets and forced to turn back to Zagreb.

On December 22nd, 1990, the Parliament of Croatia ratified the new constitution, changing the status of Serbs in Croatia to a 'national minority' from a 'constituent nation'. The percentage of those declaring themselves as Serbs, according to the 1991 census, was 12% (78% of the population declared themselves as Croat). This can be read as taking away some of the rights from the Serbs granted by the previous Socialist constitution, thereby fuelling nationalism among the indigenous Serbs of Croatia. Or the new constitution can be read as granting Serbs in Croatia the same status as other minorities.

Consequently, many Serbs began to lose their government jobs in Croatia, particularly after the ratification of the new constitution. This thereby further escalated tensions.

Furthermore, Slovenia was also well into its own process towards independence. On 23 December 1990 - one day after the new Croat Constitution was passed - Slovenia held a referendum on independence. This passed with 88% of the vote.

Immediately after the Slovenian referendum and the new Croat constitution, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) announced that a new defence doctrine would apply across the country. The Tito-era doctrine of "General People's Defence", in which each republic maintained a territorial defence force (Teritorijalna Obrana or TO), would henceforth be replaced by a centrally-directed system of defence. The republics would lose their role in defence matters and their TOs would be disarmed and subordinated to JNA headquarters in Belgrade.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_War_of_Independence

For The Love of The Game.

Bathroom controversy

In the aftermath of Game 4, when Topalov had missed his second chance to score a full point playing White and was behind 3-1, his manager Silvio Danailov made an unexpected protest, the ramifications of which threatened to result in the cancellation of the match.

On September 28, 2006, Danailov complained to the match organizers and the press about Kramnik's repeated visits to the bathroom. He noted that the bathrooms are the only place not under audio or video surveillance, and called the frequency of the breaks "strange, if not suspicious". Danailov suggested that Topalov would abandon the match if the concerns were not addressed.^[32]

On September 29, 2006, the Appeals Committee determined that, although the frequency of Kramnik's visits to the toilet had been exaggerated, the private bathrooms would be closed and a common toilet opened for both players.^[33].

In response, Kramnik's manager Carsten Hensel issued a public statement insisting that the original match conditions be adhered to – defending Kramnik's actions by saying, "The restroom is small and Mr. Kramnik likes to walk and therefore uses the space of the bathroom as well...It should also be mentioned that Mr. Kramnik has to drink a lot of water during the games." Otherwise, "Mr. Kramnik will stop playing this match as long as FIDE is not ready to respect Mr. Kramnik’s rights, in this case to use the toilet of his own restroom whenever he wishes to do so." Hensel also declared his lack of confidence in the Appeals Committee and demanded that its members be changed.^[34]

Awaiting a reversal of the Appeal Committee's decision, Kramnik refused to play Game 5. At 5:00 PM local time, the Chief Arbiter declared that Kramnik had forfeited.^[35]

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov told Kramnik "...I hereby inform you of my full trust in the members of the Match Appeals Committee and their latest decision taken in respect of the appeal of Topalov's team dated 28 September 2006. I am also asking you in good faith to continue your participation in this match...".^[36]

Later, it emerged that Kramnik’s team made a procedural blunder by not filing their protest before he defaulted the fifth game.^[37]

The players were invited for a meeting by Ilyumzhinov "to discuss the actual situation of the match and to solve the problems".^[38] Ilyumzhinov stated that cancelling the forfeit was possible, but that if no compromise were reached by noon on 1 October, the match would not continue.^[39]

On October 1, 2006, FIDE announced that agreement had been reached that the original bathroom arrangements would be reinstated and that the Appeals Committee had resigned and would be replaced.

Later that day, FIDE announced that Game 6 would be played on October 2, with the forfeit standing and the score Kramnik 3 - Topalov 2. ^[40] Kramnik replied that he was "ready to proceed playing the match by reserving all my rights. My further participation will be subject to the condition to clarify my rights regarding game five at later stage."^[41]

On October 3, 2006, the new Appeals Committee responded to Kramnik's appeal against the Game 5 forfeit saying that they had no powers to vary the decisions of the original Appeals Committee.^[42] Earlier, Kramnik had said that if his appeal fails, "the only thing I know for sure is that in this case I will sue FIDE."^[43]

Kramnik's manager expressed concern that a member of Topalov's team might attempt to plant an electronic device in Kramnik's bathroom to foster suspicion that Kramnik is cheating. He suggested several measures relating to the inspection of the bathroom and Kramnik's person meant to forestall this possibility.^[44]

On October 10, 2006, in a press release Team Kramnik said: "Should the decision of FIDE regarding the fifth game have any influence on the awarding of the World Championship title, with Mr. Topalov receiving the title after being granted a free point for the unplayed game, Mr Kramnik declares unequivocally: 'I will not recognize Mr. Topalov as World Champion under these conditions, and I will take legal action against FIDE at the end of the World Championship.'"^[45]

More than 30 GMs, WGMs, and IMs expressed open support for Kramnik's position^[46] – including former World Champions Anatoly Karpov and Boris Spassky^[47], whose opponent also famously disputed the match conditions.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_World_Chess_Championship_2006#Bathroom_controversy

Senseless

The China Hands were a group of American diplomats and soldiers who were known for their experience and knowledge with China before, during, and after the Second World War. The terminology "China Hand" originally referenced 19th Century merchants in the treaty ports of China, but evolved to reflect men of expert knowledge of the language, culture, and people of China.

In the modern history of the United States, the China Hands were reflectively Foreign Service Officers of the United States Department of State. During and after the Second World War, many of these men adopted the outlook that the United States should support the Chinese Communist Party over the Chinese Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War. This view was motivated not by sympathy with communism as a political or economic system, but with the reality that Chinese communists were far more popular and militarily effective than the nationalists were. The China Hands felt that nationalists were racked by corruption and incompetence. By contrast, the communists seemed to be much more competent. Many China Hands felt that America should support the communists as a practical matter, so that the U.S. could work with them if, as many China experts correctly believed, they gained power.

These "pro-communist" views views clashed with postwar anti-Communist sentiment in the United States. When the Communists declared victory in 1949, an immediate outcry occurred over "Who lost China?" Under the direction of the Anti-Communism proponents and later McCarthyism, many of the China Hands were singled as having "lost" China to the Communists. The backlash resulted in several men, notably John Paton Davies, Jr. and John S. Service, having their careers destroyed.

Not until the warming of relations between China and the United States in the 1970's did public opinion change to a more benevolent opinion towards the China Hands. Notably, was the invitation to the surviving China Hands to testify to the Senate United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1971. The Chairman, Senator J. William Fulbright, remarked to John Paton Davies, how the China Hands who had "reported honestly about conditions were so persecuted because you were honest. This is a strange thing to occur in what is called a civilized country."^[1]

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Hands

Those are our words! You can't use this... massive list of slurs.

There are many alternative ways to describe the people of the Germany, though the official designated nationality as well as the standard noun is German. (see also demonym). In practice, Germans are often referred to differently. Historically "German" has had some very different meanings. During the early renaissance "German" merely implied that the person spoke German as a native language. Until the time of the German unification most "Germans" were called after the region they lived in, examples include Bavarians, Brandenburgers and Hanoverians. Some other terms are humorous or derogatory slang, and used mainly by people from other countries, although they can be used in a self-deprecating way by German people themselves. Other terms are serious or tongue-in-cheek attempts to coin words as alternatives to the potentially ambiguous standard terms.

Kraut (offensive)

Raw sauerkraut is an excellent source of Vitamin C. Captain James Cook always took a store of sauerkraut on his sea voyages, since experience had taught him that it was an effective remedy against scurvy. Later, on British ships, sauerkraut was mostly replaced by lime juice (for the same purpose). But German sailors continued with the use of kraut, calling their British colleagues "limies" and being similarly called "krauts."

Boche (offensive)

Boche entered the English language in 1914, from the French slang. In French it meant something close to "rascal," and was applied by French soldiers to Germans in World War I. Its origins can be traced to the French word "Allemand" meaning "German" in eastern French dialects, close to the German border the variant was "Al(le)moche", altered contemptuously to Alboche by association with "caboche", a slang word for "head," which literally meant "cabbage" (compare. "tête de boche", French for "German" in an 1887 French slang dictionary).

Oosterbuur (friendly)

In the Dutch language the word "Oosterbuur" (Eastern neighbour) nearly always refers to the German people or Germany itself as Germany and the Germans are located to the East of the Netherlands and Belgium. Similarly, the Flemish refer to the Dutch as "Noorderburen" (Northern Neighbours) and the Dutch use "Zuiderburen" (Southern neighbours) for the Belgians.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boche

Ivan The Baptist

Ivan (Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian: Иван, Ukrainian: Iван) is a male given name of Slavic origin common among Bulgarians, Croats, Russians, Serbs, Slovenians, and Ukrainians, equivalent to English name John, the Gaelic name Ian, the French name Jean, the German name Johann, or the Serbian name Jovan. Since the 20th Century, it has also been used as a popular given name among Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese speaking peoples. The name ultimately derived from the Biblical Hebrew name יוחנן Yôḥānān, short for יהוחנן Yəhôḥānān, meaning "Yahweh is merciful".
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan

More of the same

• Informer on the street: "How do you feel about the political situation?" Pedestrian: "I'm thinking..." Informer: "That's enough - you're under arrest!"
• Honecker and Mielke are discussing their hobbies. Honecker: "I collect all the jokes about me that are in circulation." Mielke: "Then we have almost the same hobby. I collect those who bring the jokes into circulation."
• What's the difference between a Western necktie and a cow's tail? The cow's tail covers the whole asshole.
• Two Berliner children spoke to each other over the wall. The little girl in the west says, while eating a banana, "Look - I have a banana." The boy in the East doesn't want to be inferior to her in anything and says, full of pride: "We have socialism." The girl counters: "So, we'll have socialism soon too." The boy, triumphant: "See, then you won't have any bananas anymore either."
• Why is East German toilet paper so rough? - So that every last asshole will become Red.

Unusable but funny in abstract.

A Soviet newspaper reports: "Last night the Chernobyl Nuclear Powerstation fulfilled the Five Year Plan of heat energy generation in 4 microseconds."

In an ambulance: "Doc, where're we going?" / "To the morgue."/ "But I haven't died yet!"/ "Neither have we arrived."

In a lecture there are 3 students in the class. Suddenly, 5 students stand up and leave. The professor thinks to himself, "If another 2 people come in, then there will be nobody listening."

A Russian and an American are sentenced to Hell. The Devil summons them and says: "Guys, you have 2 options: an American or Russian hell. In American one you can do what you want, but you'll have to eat a bucket of shit every morning. The Russian one is the same, but it's 2 buckets." The Yankee quickly makes up his mind and goes to American Hell, while the Russian eventually choses the Russian one. In a week or so they meet. The Russian asks: "So, what's it like out there?"/ "Exactly what the devil said, the Hell itself is OK, but eating a bucket of shit is killing me. And you?" / "Ah, it feels like home - they're either short of shit or someone has stolen the buckets!"
A cowboy is riding across a prairie. His inner voice tells him, "Get off the horse and dig a hole!" The cowboy does this and finds a box of silver. "Dig deeper!" The cowboy digs and finds a box of gold. "Dig deeper," says the voice again. The cowboy keeps digging and finds a box of diamonds. "Now, I wonder how you'll get yourself out," says the inner voiсe.

A cowboy is riding alone across the Wild West. Suddenly he encounters a whole tribe of Indians. "God, I'm in trouble", thinks he, but then he hears his inner voice whispering: "Your situation isn't so bad... just shoot the one with the fancy feathers, the chief". So does the cowboy: he shoots at the chief, who falls from his horse. "Now you are indeed in trouble", says the inner voice.

A lecturer visits the mental hospital and gives a lecture about how great communism is. Everybody claps loudly except for one person who keeps quiet. The lecturer asks: "why aren't you clapping?" and the person replies "I'm not a psycho, I work here."

The Soviet Union has launched the first man into space. A Ukrainian shepherd, standing on top of a hill, shouts over to another Ukrainian on another hill to tell the news. "Mykola!" / "Yes!" / "Moskali have flown to the Moon!" / "All of them?" / "No, just one." / "So why are you bothering me?"

What do you call one Ukrainian? --A partisan. What do you call two Ukrainians? --A partisan cell. What do you call three Ukrainians? --A partisan cell with a traitor in their midst.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_jokes

Don't get any ideas, now.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hostage_crises

A Handy Term, to be Sure

Proscription (Latin: proscriptio) is the public identification and official condemnation of enemies of the state. It is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a "decree of condemnation to death or banishment" and is a heavily politically-charged word frequently used to refer to state-approved murder or persecution. Proscription implies the elimination en masse of political rivals or personal enemies, and the term is frequently used in connection with violent revolutions, most especially with the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proscription

Proposal for all future communications

Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one apart from the intended recipient knows of the existence of the message; this is in contrast to cryptography, where the existence of the message itself is not disguised, but the content is obscured.

The word "Steganography" is of Greek origin and means "covered, or hidden writing". Its ancient origins can be traced back to 440 BC. Herodotus mentions two examples of Steganography in The Histories of Herodotus [1]. Demeratus sent a warning about a forthcoming attack to Greece by writing it on a wooden panel and covering it in wax. Wax tablets were in common use then as re-usable writing surface, sometimes used for shorthand. Another ancient example is that of Histiaeus, who shaved the head of his most trusted slave and tattooed a message on it. After his hair had grown the message was hidden. The purpose was to instigate a revolt against the Persians. Later, Johannes Trithemius's book Steganographia is a treatise on cryptography and steganography disguised as a book on black magic.

Generally, a steganographic message will appear to be something else: a picture, an article, a shopping list, or some other message - the covertext. Classically, it may be hidden by using invisible ink between the visible lines of innocuous documents, or even written onto clothing. During World War II a message was once written in morse code along two-colored knitting yarn^{[citation needed]}. Another method is invisible ink underlining, or simply pin pricking of individual letters in a newspaper article, thus forming a message. It may even be a few words written under a postage stamp, the stamp then being the covertext.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography

Proposal for all future communications

Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one apart from the intended recipient knows of the existence of the message; this is in contrast to cryptography, where the existence of the message itself is not disguised, but the content is obscured.

The word "Steganography" is of Greek origin and means "covered, or hidden writing". Its ancient origins can be traced back to 440 BC. Herodotus mentions two examples of Steganography in The Histories of Herodotus [1]. Demeratus sent a warning about a forthcoming attack to Greece by writing it on a wooden panel and covering it in wax. Wax tablets were in common use then as re-usable writing surface, sometimes used for shorthand. Another ancient example is that of Histiaeus, who shaved the head of his most trusted slave and tattooed a message on it. After his hair had grown the message was hidden. The purpose was to instigate a revolt against the Persians. Later, Johannes Trithemius's book Steganographia is a treatise on cryptography and steganography disguised as a book on black magic.

Generally, a steganographic message will appear to be something else: a picture, an article, a shopping list, or some other message - the covertext. Classically, it may be hidden by using invisible ink between the visible lines of innocuous documents, or even written onto clothing. During World War II a message was once written in morse code along two-colored knitting yarn^{[citation needed]}. Another method is invisible ink underlining, or simply pin pricking of individual letters in a newspaper article, thus forming a message. It may even be a few words written under a postage stamp, the stamp then being the covertext.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography

There are times when I am proud to be an american.

Pueblo was taken into port at Wonsan and the crew was moved twice to POW camps, with some of the crew reporting on release they were starved and regularly tortured while in North Korean custody. This treatment was allegedly worsened when the North Koreans realized that crewmen were secretly giving them "the finger" in staged propaganda photos.[1] In fact, one of these photographs — which at a glance shows the crew relaxed and smiling — covertly used sign language to convey the message "SNOWJOB" (an American colloquialism for a lie or cover-up). The photograph was presented to the West as an example that the crew had supposedly decided to defect. The message was subsequently detected, however, and stands as an excellent, if unconventional, example of steganography.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_%28AGER-2%29

The Sharpest Legal Minds Money Can Buy

In other versions of English, and in many European languages, a biscuit is a hard baked product like a small flat cake which in North America may be called a "cookie" or "cracker". The term biscuit also applies to sandwich type biscuits, where a layer of 'cream' or icing is sandwiched between two biscuits. It should be noted, however, that it has become increasingly more common within the UK and Australia for "cookie" to be used to differentiate between the softer, more chewy "cookie" and the harder, more brittle "biscuit."^{[citation needed]} In this respect the British usage of the word biscuit was defined in the defense of a tax judgement found in favor of McVitie's and their product Jaffa cakes which the Inland Revenue claimed was a biscuit and was therefore liable to value added tax. The successful defense rested on the fact that 'biscuits go soft when stale, whereas cakes go hard when stale.'
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit

Under UK law, no VAT is charged on biscuits and cakes — they are "zero rated". Chocolate covered biscuits, however, are classed as luxury items and are subject to VAT at 17.5%. McVitie's classed its Jaffa Cakes as cakes, but in 1991, this was challenged by HM Customs and Excise in court.^[1] This may have been because Jaffa Cakes are about the same size and shape as some types of biscuit. The question which had to be answered was what criteria should be used to class something as a cake or biscuit. McVitie's defended the classification of Jaffa Cakes as a cake by producing a giant Jaffa Cake to illustrate that their Jaffa Cakes were simply mini cakes.

They also argued that the distinction between cakes and biscuits is simply that cakes go hard when stale, whereas biscuits go soft. It was demonstrated that Jaffa Cakes become hard when stale and McVitie's won the case.^[2]

The issue was revisited in an article entitled 'Are Jaffa Cakes really biscuits?' published in the Journal of Unlikely Science (Volume 1, issue 7, 2005). ^[3] The article attempted to classify biscuits via a scientific analysis of various features (size, shape, filling etc.) and determined that the Jaffa Cake should be regarded as a biscuit, or 'pseudobiscuit'.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_cake

Why not just save us all some time and consolidate it?

Soggy biscuit

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"Limp biscuit" redirects here. For the band, see Limp Bizkit.

Soggy biscuit or limp biscuit is a male masturbation game reportedly played in British public schools (especially all-boys schools) and other male-dominated environments. Stories of the game circulate as urban legends; in the most popular account of the game, players stand around a biscuit masturbating until ejaculating onto it. The last person to do so "loses", and must eat the biscuit. Another account of the game involves the players masturbating one at a time - the first to not ejaculate within two minutes is deemed the loser and has to eat the biscuit.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soggy_biscuit

History will not vindicate us. We shall be called frivolous and destroyed on the day of judgement.

Dildonics are electronic sex toys that can be controlled by a computer. Promoters of these devices have claimed since the 1980s they are the "next big thing" in cybersex technology. Teledildonics (also known as Cyberdildonics) is the integration of telepresence with sex and was coined in the 1980s by Ted Nelson. The term is considered somewhat humorous and speculative, but not so much so that it is not used in serious contexts: indeed, it is the only commonly-used word to express the precise concept. In its original conception, this technology was to have been used for "remote" sex (or, at least, remote mutual masturbation), where the physical sensations of touch could be transmitted over a data link between the participants.

Recent innovations such as the 'cyber glove', which projects the wearer's hand into virtual space, and experiments in haptic technology such as the glove produced by the University of Buffalo, which enables wearers to experience tactile stimuli corresponding to this virtual space, suggest that this fantasy may prove to be not so fantastical after all. There are no verifiable reports of haptic technology being used for sex (stimulation of sex organs), however.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teledildonics

The life cycle of a balloon has four phases: inflation (blowing it up by some means), admiration (looking at it), interaction (touching, moving, watching), and destruction (deflation, popping, releasing). Any or all of these phases can constitute the primary interest of the balloon fetishist, while the remainder are simply complimentary. The practices of the fetishist falls into two distinct camps, poppers and non-poppers, and their foci are seen as drastically different.

The popper is primarily excited by the bursting of a balloon, both by the anticipation and the sensory experience of the explosion itself. The method by which the balloon is popped, however, can vary dramatically. Some persons enjoy blow-to-pop, in which the balloon is continually inflated until it ultimately bursts, and is commonly most fully enjoyed when executed by a partner or member of the sex to which the popper is attracted. Some persons enjoy viewing various forms of erotic popping by means of objects such as cigarettes and pins, in addition to more physically involved and sexually stimulating methods such as sitting, hugging, squeezing, stomping, clawing, etc. In all these cases the popper's primary interest is in building anticipation and the sexual tension of bursting at any time.

The non-popper, on the other hand, dislikes (often vehemently) destroying the balloon but instead chooses to admire and interact with it. This type of looner is far more varied and individualistic in their preferred interaction. Practices can range from simply blowing up and holding balloons for pleasure, to watching other persons interact with balloons, to placing the balloon underneath the genitals and bouncing on it, known as boinking or riding. A popular sub-group of non-poppers includes persons who enjoy stuffing, an act in which baggy clothing is worn and balloons are blown up inside the clothing as a way to maximize the tactile sensation of contact with the object in addition to the sense of being overcome by the object.

In the German scene a semipopper is known, too. It is an unsharb category of looners that change between non-popper and popper by mood, that like to see how balloons become popped, mostly by women, but they don't like to pop balloons by themselves. Or people that like to inflate balloons to the maximum without want to pop them.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_fetishism

...Why you don't have nothin but new ringtones.

At the time of the strike, Gould owned all the elevated rail lines in New York City, the Western Union telegraph service and the Union Pacific, Missouri Pacific, Missouri Kansas & Texas (M-K-T) railroads. In total, Gould owned almost 12 percent of all railroad track in the U.S.

The strike began when a member of the Knights of Labor in Marshall, Texas was fired for attending a union meeting on company time. The local chapter of the Knights called a strike.

Soon, more than 200,000 workers were on strike in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Texas. Although the dismissal of the leadman in Texas had sparked the initial strike, wages, hours and unsafe working conditions motivated most of the strikers.

From the start there were problems. The Brotherhood of Engineers refused to honor the strike, and its members kept working.

Meanwhile, Gould immediately hired strikebreakers to work the railroad, famously declaring, 'I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.'

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Southwest_Railroad_Strike_of_1886

Praise jesus, he's turned air into wine!

On September 7, 2006 Hilton was arrested for investigation of driving under the influence, even though she claimed that she had just one margarita, and the high alcohol content in her blood was a result of having no time to eat during a long day while making a music video. Hilton was arrested shortly before 12:30 a.m. in Hollywood. "The officers observed that Hilton exhibited the symptoms of intoxication. A field sobriety test was conducted at scene, and the officers determined she was driving under the influence," Officer Isabella. Hilton's blood alcohol content was .08, California's limit. Hilton was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor DUI and released almost immediately due to the flood of photographers outside. She stated she was speeding to get food at the In-N-Out Burger restaurant.[6] Video of the arrest and subsequent departure from police custody available at [7].
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Hilton

It starts with a profound misunderstanding of how the human body works and ends with your drunk ass being arrested.

Government Intervention has never aided economic recovery!

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gdp29-41.jpg

Yes, the image is small. Yes, you'll have to get close. That's good. Get close. Get real close.
BAM!
I hope you felt that. Because stupidity should hurt.

Suggested that this article be merged with 'inane and boring'. Or: Why I hated the movie 2001: A Space Oddessy

In one scene, a flight attendant grabs the pen of a sleeping Heywood Floyd as it floats in zero gravity inside a spaceship cabin. The pen is rotating, but it is not rotating about its own center of mass; instead, it is rotating about a center that is significantly external to the pen. This happens because, in reality, the pen was mounted on a large, transparent, rotating disk from which the actress playing the flight attendant plucked it, and it was not mounted at the center of the disk. In an actual zero-gravity environment, some force would have to be acting upon the pen in order to compel it to rotate around anything other than its own center of mass.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_%28film%29

My....GOD!

Under United States Code Title 16, Chapter 7, Subchapter II, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 is the United States legislation implementing the convention between the U.S. and Great Britain (for Canada). The United States subsequently entered into similar agreements with three other nations (Canada, Mexico, Japan and Russia) to protect migratory birds. The statute makes it unlawful to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill or sell birds listed therein ("migratory birds"). The statute does not discriminate between live or dead birds and also grants full protection to any bird parts including feathers, eggs and nests. Over 800 species are currently on the list.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migratory_Bird_Treaty_Act_of_1918

In Missouri v. Holland, 252 U.S. 416 (1920), the United States Supreme Court held that the federal government's ability to make treaties is supreme over any state concerns about such treaties having abrogated any states' rights arising under the Tenth Amendment. The case revolved around the constitutionality of the implementing legislation, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

Previously, Congress had passed laws regulating the hunting of migratory waterfowl on the basis that such birds naturally migrated across state and international borders freely and hence the regulation of the harvest of such birds could not realistically be considered to be province solely of individual states or groups of states. However, several states objected to this theory and successfully sued to have the law declared unconstitutional, on the basis that the United States Constitution gave Congress no enumerated power to regulate migratory bird hunting, and hence the regulation of such hunting, if there were to be any, was the province of the states according to the Tenth Amendment.

Congress, dissatisfied with this ruling, then empowered the State Department to negotiate with the United Kingdom, which at the time still largely handled the foreign relations of Canada, a treaty pertaining to this issue. The treaty, was subsequently ratified and came into force, and required the Federal Government to enact laws regulating the capturing, killing, or selling of the protected migratory birds,[1] an obligation that it fulfilled in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

The State of Missouri then sued on the basis that the federal government had no authority to negotiate a treaty on this topic. In an opinion by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., the Supreme Court held that the law was in fact constitutional, noting that the treaties clause of the Constitution (Article VI, clause 2), sometimes known as the "supremacy clause," makes treaties the "supreme law of the land", co-equal in status to the Constitution itself, a finding that trumps any state concern with regard to the provisions of any treaty, and further implying that treaty provisions were not subject to questioning by the States under the process of judicial review.

Many persons saw this ruling as a dangerous implication that Congress or the President could essentially amend the Constitution by the means of treaties with other countries that would abrogate the rights of the people or the States otherwise protected by American law. These concerns came to a head in the 1950s, when the Old Right Conservatives supported the so-called Bricker Amendments, which nearly passed Congress with the required two-thirds majority.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_v._Holland

Re: Free Time.

Criticism and Controversy

Although most serious reviews of Barney & Friends have been positive, the show has been the target of a certain degree of controversy. This criticism generally stems from some disagreement in the messages that the show sends children through the situations that it portrays.

For instance, one particular episode made use of the phrase, "A stranger is a friend you have not met yet", which some parents may view as sending a dangerous message to their children. Another episode was criticized because a situation in the episode could be interpreted as teaching children that cheating is good. In the episode, the children are involved in a contest where they have to carry a spoon with a peanut on it without dropping it. One child wins by putting Peanut butter on his spoon to make the peanut stick, and then he is rewarded for "creative thinking." Another episode was also criticized because one situation could be interpreted as teaching children that it is okay to steal. In the episode, one child steals cookies from another child, but the other doesn`t care because he didn`t want them in the first place.

Critics have alleged that the show condones peer pressure and "group think", saying it encourages children to suppress outward signs of unhappiness rather than deal openly with their feelings, which has been shown to have dangerous effects on their development. This has also led critics to believe Barney is an attack on Individualism. The most popular claim is that many believe the children all act alike, and never express unique traits, likes, dislikes, or feelings.

The show has also been criticized for its lack of educational value. However, studies conducted by Yale researchers Dorothy and Jerome Singer have confirmed that episodes actually contain a great deal of age-appropriate educational material, calling the program a "model of what preschool television should be." [3] An additional criticism has been made that the characters often use magic to solve real problems, something that is very controversial among Christian fundamentalists who regard "magic" as equivalent to witchcraft.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_You_%28Barney_song%29