From April 13, 2005’s Charlotte Observer

UNC ‘Da Vinci Code’ expert on TV tonight

Bart Ehrman, chairman of the religious studies department at UNC Chapel Hill, will be featured on “Dateline NBC” (WCNC-6) tonight at 8.

Ehrman will discuss his book “Truth and Fiction in `The Da Vinci Code.’ ” Ehrman’s book identifies 10 errors in Dan Brown’s best-selling novel alleging a Catholic church conspiracy to disguise the true nature of early Christianity.

— SAM HODGES, BOOK EDITOR

I can just imagine it. “The Da Vinci Code is filled with so many lies that I think he made most of it up.”

Uh, Mr. Ehrman, “The Da Vinci Code” IS A NOVEL!!! You should have titled your book “Truth and Fiction in A WORK OF FICTION.”

I love U2’s music . . . (read more)

This link just arrived from my friend Phil. Wonders Phil, ” I wonder who goes blind in this situation — the woman, burglar, or gnome?

In the event that CNN removes the story, or changes the headline, I did a “screen capture” which I’ve posted below.

This week’s Creative Loafing features an ombudsman-like critique of the paper titled “Where are CL’s editors.” It’s written by Phil Kent, a conservative author, media consultant, and panelist on Fox 5 talking headfest Georgia Gang.

Near the end, Kent makes some comments about a column of mine that ran in last week’s issue of CL. The subject of my column was the National Academy of Science’s recent verbal sparring match with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the nuclear power industry over safety practices.

Writes Kent:

There’s not enough space to refute the tiresome anti-nuclear industry musings of columnist Andisheh Nouraee. Why do so many “progressives” fail to see the benefits of clean, safe, cheap nuclear power for electrical reliability, and that America needs one permanent nuclear waster repository? Europe, China and Russia are building state-of-the-art nuclear plants for electricity generation – why not the U.S. again? Assuming he could pass through security, the columnist should tour Plant Vogtle near Augusta to learn something about one of the safest and most efficient nuclear plants in the country.

Very nice, but did you notice how he failed to address anything I actually wrote in the column? My column was not about whether nuclear power is a good or bad idea.

So I sent Phil Kent an e-mail:

Dear Phil:

I just finished reading your “Where Are CL’s Editors” column in this week’s CL. You implied that my column is overflowing with refutability, yet you didn’t refute, or even attempt to cast doubt on, a single point in the article. All you did was complain about how progressives fail to understand nuclear power’s great potential — a subject that the column isn’t about, even partially. (By the way, it’s a point on which we are in agreement).

If you’ve got a minute, I’d love to know some specifics. What do you think the column got wrong, or even a little off?

Thanks,
Andy

To which Phil Kent replied:

Hi Andy–

Good to hear from you & I look forward to meeting you down the road. Unfortunately, any ombudsman column is flawed– the main flaw with mine is that it was capped at 850 words and my instructions were to be brief but cover a wide range of items in the last issue with my critiques. (I didn’t even mention the cover story! Another drawback. Anyhow, you well know the pressures of space.)

So, you are correct, there was opinion but no specific refutations re your column — because there was no room. And all too often that isn’t fair. Rather than writing today a long detailed explanation re your column (and, by the way, I’ve liked some of your others in the past.

Perhaps you and I could grab a drink one day next week, get to know one another and compare notes on that particular column and nuclear power in general.

Doing anything next Thursday after work?

Phil

Phil Kent Consulting, Inc.
website: www.philkent.com

In other words, he has no actual facts on which to base a critique of my column. As the kids like to say, “All he was doin’ was sayin’.”

He has enough space to say that I was chock-full o’ wrongness, enough space to change the subject and talk about how nifty nuclear power is, enough space to imply that I’m a security risk (an attempted joke that offends me, not as an Iranian-American, but as a comedy writer), enough time to want to grab a beer with a “tiresome” potential national security threat like me, but not enough time or space to even HINT at a single fact that I got wrong or misunderstood. Not one.

In other words — local hacktacular hackery at its finest. Like so many other so-called conservative commentators, Phil Kent’s idea of political commentary/ombudsmanship is to drop the usual conservative talking head catchphrases (the rest of the article includes gems like “People’s Republic of Berkeley,” “left-wing hatred,” “tort reform,” “knee-jerk,” “crypto-Marxist,” and “High-Priest of Left-Wing Dogma”) while hardly, if at all, addressing the substance of what it is he’s supposedly critiquing . Remember that next time you read or hear his “work.”

By the way, I was gonna tell you how Phil Kent relaxes during Georgia Gang commercial breaks by tongue-kissing his fellow panelists, but darnit, I’ve run out of space.

The first story, is from today’s Associated Press:

Too Much Water May Be Deadly for Athletes
Thu Apr 14, 7:15 AM ET

By LINDA A. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

Runners, hikers, bikers, even soldiers on long maneuvers should think twice before reaching for that water bottle: A study confirms that drinking too much can be dangerous, even deadly, for endurance athletes.

Researchers who studied 488 runners in the 2002 Boston Marathon found that 62, or more than one in eight, had a serious fluid and salt imbalance from drinking too much water or sports drinks. Three of them had extreme imbalances.

One 28-year-old woman died after the race from the condition, called hyponatremia, in which the excess water dilutes the salt level in the body too much.

“More is definitely not better when it comes to fluids, but it’s a hard message to get across,” said Leslie Bonci, director of sports nutrition at Pittsburgh Medical Center. (Read the rest)

—–

The story below was written, by me, for this web site, three years ago. It was a response to a mass-forwarded e-mail from a friend-of-a-friend about the importance of drinking water.

Water Is All Wet
Colorless – Odorless – Tasteless – POINTLESS

January 31, 2001 – Faceless, greedy corporate interests have for years mounted a successful misinformation campaign that both dramatically overstates the benefits of water while at the same time completely ignores water’s overwhelmingly negative contributions to society. It’s time to stand up and say NO MORE! Remember that water rhymes with slaughter and that EVIAN spelled backwards is NAIVE!

* A recent FEMA study found that an overabundance of water in certain areas is responsible for much of the damaging flooding that occurs in the US every year.

* The Bartender’s Academy teaches young bartender-trainees to “water down” the alcoholic beverages that they serve in order to maximize profits.

* A Florida Public Safety Commission study confirmed that human beings cannot breathe properly while underwater and that spending too much time with one’s head underwater can lead to increased risk of drowning and/or death.

* Sharks, the most dangerous animal known to man, live exclusively in water.

(Paid for by Hell No, H20 and The Coca-Cola Company)

Take a look at this window display from Atlanta’s Little Five Points shopping district.

Have you spotted what’s deeply disturbing about it? If not, here’s a closer look.

That’s a prom dress? High school is clearly way more fun than it used to be.

Tom Lehrer was a great satirist . . . (read more)

Breaking news:

Man With Suitcases Captured at Capitol

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Police on Monday tackled and forcibly dragged away a man dressed in black and carrying two suitcases who had stationed himself in front of the west side of the U.S. Capitol.

The midday incident — which occurred during one of Washington’s busiest tourist times, the annual flowering of the cherry blossoms — had forced police to evacuate that side of the Capitol in fear of a possible explosion.

Police, some armed with assault rifles, moved in slowly behind the man, who faced the Capitol from a plaza below its west entrance. Crouching behind the wall, the police sprang up and ran full tilt at the man, who never moved.

He was tackled by two policemen and dragged to an ambulance. Police walked the man away from the scene without putting him in the ambulance. They left the suitcases behind.

Some spectators applauded as police dragged the man away.

Before the standoff ended, Capitol police spokesman Michael Lauer said the man had not said anything to police.

Am I missing something? Where’s the rest of this story? Did the police try to talk to him, or did they just assume he was up to no good? If so, why’d they assume? The story says nothing. All we’ve got so far is that a man with suitcases was tackled and apprehended by police while standing at one of the busiest tourist attractions during one of the busiest times of year three blocks from the Amtrak Station. So far, more signs point to “Non-English-speaking tourist who didn’t realize that the hotel will hold your bags after you check-out” than point to “Suicide mission.”

Maybe it was his Vietcong-style apparel that did him in.

UPDATE: It turns out that, when confronted by a police officer, the man started demanding to see the President, hence Capitol police treating him as a suspicious person.