DCA Rankings - Mid-July

Below are the current rankings for DCA corps as of July 15th. Once again, take these rankings with a large grain of salt. Of the twenty corps, only six marched two shows or more, and three corps didn't march at all in this time period. What shouldn't be taken lightly is the sorry state of DCA performances so far this year compared to this time last year. Only five corps are doing better this year than last and six corps have abysmal scores compared to what they did last year. Let's practice a little harder, people!

1 Reading Bucaneers (up 2)
2 Connecticut Hurricanes (down 1)
3 SF Renegades (up 2)
4 Empire Statesmen (new)
5 Minnesota Brass (down 3)
6 Hawthorne Caballeros (down 2)
7 Syracuse Brigadiers (new)
8 Bushwackers (down 1)
9 CorpsVets (down 3)
10 Governaires (down 2)
11 Rochester Crusaders (down 2)
12 Kingston Grenadiers (new)
13 SoCal Dream (down 3)
14 White Sabers (new)
15 Carolina Gold (down 4)
16 Alliance (new)
17 Anaheim Kingsmen Sr. (down 5)
18 Sun Devils (new)
19 Excelsior (new)
20 Shenandoah Sound (new)

Average High Score: 66.987 points


Improvement Rankings (1st Half of July):
1 SF Renegades (5.662)
2 Reading Buccaneers (5.175)
3 Rochester Crusaders (3.987)
4 Bushwackers (3.950)
5 SoCal Dream (3.075)
6 Connecticut Hurricanes (2.250)
7 CorpsVets (1.750)
8 Anaheim Kingsmen Sr. (0.863)
9 Hawthorne Caballeros (0.675)

Average Improvement: 1.369 points (includes the eleven corps that had no improvement this period)


Improvement Rankings (Year to Date):
1 Bushwackers (6.975)
2 SF Renegades (6.137
3 Reading Buccaneers (5.175)
4 SoCal Dream (4.825)
5 Syracuse Brigadiers (4.687)
6 Minnesota Brass (4.250)
7 Rochester Crusaders (3.987)
8 Hawthorne Caballeros (3.862)
9 Connecticut Hurricanes (2.250)
10 White Sabers (2.225)
11 CorpsVets (tie) (1.750)
11 Governaires (tie) (1.750)
13 Anaheim Kingsmen Sr. (0.863)

Average YTD Improvement: 2.437 points (includes the seven corps that had no improvement for the year-to-date)


Year-over-Year Rankings:
1 Syracuse Brigadiers (3.762)
2 SF Renegades (3.525)
3 CorpsVets (2.513)
4 Minnesota Brass (1.375)
5 Governaires (0.125)
6 White Sabers (-0.325)
7 Connecticut Hurricanes (-0.613)
8 Empire Statesmen (-1.262)
9 Reading Buccaneers (-3.362)
10 Bushwackers (-4.038)
11 Rochester Crusaders (-4.538)
12 Hawthorne Caballeros (-5.213)
13 Carolina Gold (-6.250)
14 SoCal Dream (-7.300)

Average YOY Improvement: -1.543 points


Other Notes:
* Hardest working corps the first half of July: SoCal Dream (3 shows)
* Hardest working corps this season: SoCal Dream (5 shows)

For the June Rankings, see: DCI World, DCI Open, and DCA.
For the other Mid-July rankings, see DCI World and DCI Open.

DCI Open Class Rankings - Mid-July

Below are the current rankings for DCI's Open Class corps as of July 15th. I would still take the Open Class rankings with a large grain of salt. There are a number of corps I would expect to show up at DCI Finals in August that haven't done a show in almost two weeks. Likewise, a number of corps started their seasons in the past two weeks who weren't in the June rankings; thus, there's a lot of volatility in terms of corps going up or down since the last published rankings. Caveat emptor!

1 Citations (no change)
2 Capital Regiment (up 5)
3 Teal Sound (up 2)
4 Blue Devils B (down 3)
5 Gold (up 4)
6 Raiders (new)
7 7th Regiment (down 1)
8 Vanguard Cadets (down 5)
9 Mystikal (up 2)
10 Velvet Knights (no change)
11 Revolution (down 7)
12 Colt Cadets (down 4)
13 Impulse (up 2)
14 Oregon Crusaders (new)
15 Legends (new)
16 Incognito (down 2)
17 Racine Scouts (down 5)
18 Dutch Boy (new)
19 Memphis Sound (new)
20 Spirit of Newark (down 7)
21 Blue Devils C (down 5)
22 Les Stentors (new)

Average High Score: 67.286 points


Improvement Rankings (1st Half of July):
1 Impulse (11.800)
2 Gold (10.350)
3 Capital Regiment (10.300)
4 Mystikal (9.350)
5 Teal Sound (9.250)
6 Velvet Knights (8.450)
7 Incognito (6.350)
8 Citations (5.200)
9 7th Regiment (5.000)
10 Colt Cadets (4.900)
11 Racine Scouts (4.000)
12 Revolution (2.200)
13 Blue Devils B (2.000)
14 Vanguard Cadets (1.200)

Average Improvement: 4.107 points (includes the eight corps that had no improvement this period)


Improvement Rankings (Year to Date):
1 Impulse (13.500)
2 Capital Regiment (12.800)
3 Racine Scouts (tie) (12.400)
3 Velvet Knights (tie) (12.400)
5 Colt Cadets (11.700)
6 Gold (10.950)
7 Mystikal (9.750)
8 Teal Sound (9.250)
9 Dutch Boy (8.150)
10 Les Stentors (7.400)
11 Incognito (7.350)
12 Revolution (5.400)
13 Citations (5.200)
14 7th Regiment (5.000)
15 Vanguard Cadets (4.200)
16 Blue Devils C (3.700)
17 Blue Devils B (3.300)
18 Raiders (3.200)
19 Legends (2.750)
20 Memphis Sound (0.250)
21 Oregon Crusaders (tie) (0.000)
21 Spirit of Newark (tie) (0.000)

Average YTD Improvement: 6.757 points


Year-over-Year Rankings:
1 Spirit of Newark (12.900)
2 Raiders (12.300)
3 Mystikal (10.850)
4 Gold (10.450)
5 Legends (9.900)
6 7th Regiment (9.350)
7 Colt Cadets (5.800)
8 Citations (5.200)
9 Impulse (4.100)
10 Blue Devils C (3.400)
11 Racine Scouts (2.100)
12 Velvet Knights (1.850)
13 Vanguard Cadets (1.400)
14 Incognito (tie) (0.300)
14 Teal Sound (tie) (0.300)
16 Blue Devils B (0.000)
17 Revolution (-0.700)
18 Les Stentors (-3.500)
19 Oregon Crusaders (-5.800)
20 Dutch Boy (-5.950)

Average YOY Improvement: 3.713 points


Other Notes:
* Hardest working corps the first half of July: Teal Sound (7 shows)
* Hardest working corps this season: Colt Cadets (11 shows)

For the June Rankings, see: DCI World, DCI Open, and DCA.
For the other Mid-July rankings, see DCI World and DCA.

DCI World Class Rankings - Mid-July

Below are the current rankings for DCI's World Class corps as of July 15th. I've added some new information in the regular rankings so let me walk you through it: The number on the left, of course, is the current ranking; for example, the Blue Devils are currently in 1st place. In the past two weeks (between July 1st and July 15th), the Blue Devils were ranked as low as 3rd place and as high as 1st place. (Rankings fluctuate daily, so I'm giving the range of rankings through these past two weeks.) The last number (up, down, no change, new) tells how well or poorly the corps has down since their last published ranking back as of June 30th. Once again, the Blue Devils were ranked 3rd back on June 30th, so they've jumped up two places.

1 Blue Devils (Low: 3; High: 1; up 2)
2 Carolina Crown (tie) (L: 5; H: 1; down 1)
2 The Cavaliers (tie) (L: 7; H: 2; up 3)
4 Holy Name Cadets (L: 5; H: 2; down 2)
5 Santa Clara Vanguard (L: 5; H: 3; down 1)
6 Bluecoats (L: 7; H: 5; up 1)
7 Blue Stars (L: 10; H: 7; up 2)
8 Boston Crusaders (L: 9; H: 8; no change)
9 Phantom Regiment (L: 9; H: 6; down 3)
10 Blue Knights (L: 10; H: 8; no change)
11 Glassmen (L: 14; H: 11; no change)
12 Troopers (L: 14; H: 12; no change)
13 Colts (L: 13; H: 11; down 1)
14 The Academy (L: 17; H: 13; up 2)
15 Madison Scouts (L: 17; H: 13; no change)
16 Spirit (L: 17; H: 14; down 2)
17 Crossmen (L: 17; H: 13; no change)
18 Pacific Crest (L: 20; H: 18; up 1)
19 Mandarins (L: 19; H: 18; down 1)
20 Pioneer (L: 22; H: 20; up 1)
21 Jersey Surf (L: 21; H: 18; down 1)
22 Seattle Cascades (L: 22; H: 21; new)

Average High Score: 79.664 points


Improvement Rankings (1st Half of July):
1 The Academy (10.350)
2 Blue Knights (9.650)
3 The Cavaliers (9.200)
4 Troopers (9.100)
5 Blue Stars (8.600)
6 Colts (8.550)
7 Blue Devils (8.200)
8 Pacific Crest (8.100)
9 Crossmen (7.900)
10 Glassmen (7.750)
11 Bluecoats (7.500)
12 Madison Scouts (7.350)
13 Pioneer (7.100)
14 Santa Clara Vanguard (6.950)
15 Seattle Cascades (6.650)
16 Boston Crusaders (6.500)
17 Spirit (6.350)
18 Mandarins (5.850)
19 Carolina Crown (5.200)
20 Holy Name Cadets (5.150)
21 Jersey Surf (5.100)
22 Phantom Regiment (3.950)

Average Improvement: 6.852 points


Improvement Rankings (Year to Date):
1 Blue Stars (17.100)
2 Colts (15.250)
3 Carolina Crown (15.100)
4 Blue Devils (13.750)
5 Boston Crusaders (13.600)
6 Troopers (13.300)
7 Madison Scouts (13.150)
8 The Cavaliers (13.100)
9 Glassmen (13.050)
10 Santa Clara Vanguard (12.500)
11 Holy Name Cadets (tie) (12.250)
11 Spirit (tie) (12.250)
13 The Academy (12.050)
14 Crossmen (11.700)
15 Pioneer (11.600)
16 Blue Knights (11.400)
17 Bluecoats (10.050)
18 Pacific Crest (9.700)
19 Phantom Regiment (9.650)
20 Mandarins (8.200)
21 Seattle Cascades (6.650)
22 Jersey Surf (5.100)

Average YTD Improvement: 11.841 points


Year-over-Year Rankings:
1 Pioneer (6.050)
2 Troopers (4.700)
3 Blue Stars (4.250)
4 The Academy (3.750)
5 Colts (2.400)
6 Boston Crusaders (tie) (1.350)
6 Glassmen (tie) (1.350)
8 Blue Devils (1.250)
9 Santa Clara Vanguard (0.850)
10 Blue Knights (0.650)
11 Spirit (0.600)
12 Carolina Crown (0.450)
13 Bluecoats (tie) (-0.050)
13 Madison Scouts (tie) (-0.050)
15 The Cavaliers (-0.500)
16 Crossmen (-1.050)
17 Mandarins (-1.300)
18 Holy Name Cadets (-1.650)
19 Pacific Crest (-3.350)
20 Phantom Regiment (-4.650)
21 Jersey Surf (-6.000)

Average YOY Improvement: 0.431 points


Other Notes:
* Hardest working corps the first half of July: Troopers (9 shows)
* Hardest working corps this season: Blue Stars and Boston Crusaders (16 shows)

For the June Rankings, see: DCI World, DCI Open, and DCA.
For the other Mid-July rankings, see DCI Open and DCA.

Creative Excuses 101

Just remember, kids, to always take some homework with you when you're driving like a maniac (or a cowboy) through the city streets. That way, Officer Friendly might take pity on you and not give you a ticket. Of course it helps if the homework is genuine and you're driving toward your school when school is normally in session. Don't count on Officer Friendly's help when you're plastered out of your mind at 2 in the morning. Oh, and don't ask Officer Friendly to do your homework for you. ;) From Richard Green's Real Estate and Urban Economics Blog:

I just wanted you to know that this assignment got me out of a traffic ticket this morning.

La Cienega was shutdown due to an accident and I was trapped. So, I made a u-turn which included driving over a curbed median. A motorcycle cop pulled me over and gave me a lecture about how this isn't Texas (I have Texas plates) and "cowboy driving" is not acceptable....whatever that means. So I told him that I had to get to campus for the mid-term and I had a limited amount of time to complete the homework assignment. I pulled out assignment #3 to make my story credible and he took it with him when he went back to his motorcycle.

When he came back he told me that it seemed like the assignment was going to be enough punishment and he let me go.

Islamic Architecture in Uzbekistan

This short video is a production of the Muslim Students Association of Penn State University. There's a lot of beautiful art and architectural detail in these pictures that were taken of masajid, madrasahs and tombs in the country of Uzbekistan, especially in the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. Enjoy!

Evian Skate Babies

If my daughter A'ishah is anything like her old man, she'll never be able to do a quarter - no, an eighth - of this stuff. ;)

A'ishah and the Whale

A'ishah is almost one year old; she turns one in thirteen days. (On the 18th; be sure to send your presents now! ;) ) Of course she continues to grow like a weed, and there's never a dull moment. :) This particular picture is of one of her favorite toys: an Ikea "sperm whale" doll. A few weeks ago, she pointed to this just before going to bed, and it's been in her crib ever since. Milady's been a bit anxious about it being with her: "Every other child has a teddy bear in their crib; why does my daughter have to have a whaaaaaale?" :) But my thought is, maybe she'll become an oceanographer or veterinarian? After all, she also loves dearly a mommy and baby fox dolls. :)

The following videos were taken earlier this afternoon. The first three were all taken by Milady using my handphone camera in which A'ishah has been practicing some of her first baby steps unassisted. So far she's able to do two in a row before falling down.







This last video was taken by me a few minutes after the other three were taken. Of course, the camera being within reach was too much of a temptation for A'ishah to resist. As a result, most of the video is of her reaching for the camera while I try to keep it away from her while laughing my head off. :) There was a slight pause in the filming which is why there's the odd disconnect in the middle; however, the results were the same in the second half of the video as the first. :)

On Blogging

There's an interesting blog post, entitled The Blogosphere 2.0. The author discusses nine ways in which blogging has changed over the years, and I thought I'd comment on a few of them:

1. The A-List Doesn't Matter Anymore. ... People used to read the A-list blogs because they were first on the scene to tell us what the hot articles and issues were. But now we get that information from Twitter, Facebook, and Google Reader. ...

Personally, I've never followed the so-called "A-List" bloggers that much. Looking at Technorati's top blogs (the first 30), I'm only a regular reader at one (Daily Kos, because I occasionally post there), and have only visited very rarely two others (Huffington Post and Boing Boing). Almost all of the others I've never heard of. For me, the "A-List" has never mattered.

2. It's all about niche blogs. If you have a particular expertise and unique perspective, they you can quickly gain a following. Everyone else is out of luck.

I completely agree, which is why I've created a few other niche blogs; my problem is, very few people ever read them and they're much more difficult to keep going.

3. Norms and practices. ... Bloggers do not link to each other as much as they used to. It's a lot of work to look for good posts elsewhere, and most bloggers have become burnt out. ... Many have stopped using blogrolls, which means less love spread around the blogosphere.

The first part is true; writing up my links posts can be a lot of work to do, even for a fairly short list of links. I also find myself arguing (to myself) that I should really spend more time writing my own content, as opposed to commenting on others' writings (such as I'm doing now). Doing that would mean less time to link to others.

Blogrolls have become somewhat passe' with the advent of feed readers. I occasionally maintain my blogroll, but it's really there more for people who visit my blogs sporadically (which is most people). I almost never use my own blogroll; I rely solely upon Google Reader now.

4. Blogger Burn Out. Many of the top bloggers have been absorbed into some other professional enterprise or are burnt. It's a lot of work to blog. Most bloggers, and not just the A-listers, spend 3-5 hours every day blogging. That's hard to maintain, especially since there is no money in this.

This is actually my biggest pet peeve about other bloggers (especially Muslim bloggers): there are a lot of quitters out there. While I have the long-term goal of growing my readership into a much larger group over time, I try not to overwhelm myself with a high level of output. Yeah, I do have a wife and a baby, and they are a much higher priority than blogging ever will be, so if I don't post anything for a few days that's fine by me. But I do dislike other bloggers quitting. If you're on my Google Reader feed, hey! You're someone I want to read! Pace yourself better! I realize life gets in the way of writing, but don't just out-and-out quit! Take your time if you need to but keep writing consistently (once a week) if possible.

Use your blogs to target particular audiences and have a clear mission, and you'll get a following. Blogging should be the means to another goal -- a rough draft for future articles/books, a way to network with professionals, a place to document your life for your children, a way to have fun. Those are very real and good outcomes of blogging and that's why I'm continuing to keep at.

All of this was excellent advice, and I already use some of it. I do like to experiment with blogging, trying different series, some of which have worked out and some of which hasn't. (The jury is still out with respect to the links posts, which is another experiment of mine.) What I have found about my writing is that I get a lot more attention over the long run from my more "educational" posts. Looking at my current top 20 posts, I've got two posts that date back from 2006, one from 2007 and one from 2008. (My Titanic pages, which are on my website and not on my blog, were written back in the late 90s and still generate about a third of all my daily hits.) What I've discovered is that the vast majority of my readers are college students, businesses, and government agencies, people who are searching for specific information. And that's why I frequently write about oil and the economy, because a lot of people are interested in those subjects (as am I). But, of course, I think of myself as a Muslim writer, and I like to write Islam/Muslim-related posts. My Muslim readers are my core audience, and I hope you all enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy reading yours. (But write some comments here, darn it! ;) ) So "Dunner's" remains as it's always been: a blog that covers lots of different topics, those that "amuse and abuse" my mind, resisting the lure of niche writing, and probably at the expense of a larger audience. But I do enjoy blogging so. :)

How Much is Your Deductible?

"I don't care about no diamond rings
I don't need none of those fancy things
If you really want to be my man
Let me get on to your health care plan."

Islam/Muslim Blogs (3 July 2009)

Sometimes I feel lucky just to get one of these links posts done, ya know? ;) This particular subject (Islam/Muslim Blogs) is by far the most popular of all my links posts; what was interesting was that last week's post got some serious attention: a total of 17 hits from two different computers at the US State Department.

Austrolabe: Burka Ban: Not Just Black and White

Bin Gregory Productions: Wild Honey

Dr. Maxtor's Analysis: France's Mossad midget doth protest a bit too much...

Fragments of Me: Hijab Friendly

Fragments of Me: Natural Remedies

Grande Strategy: Are Non-Muslims Infiltrating Muslims? (I'm not sure I'd call it infiltration, but it does sound like the woman hasn't quite accepted the Muslim virtue of public modesty.)

Islam and Science Fiction: A Mosque Among the Stars (This is more of a website than a blog, but I discovered it yesterday. The Muslim brother who runs this website co-edited a science fiction anthology of stories written by Muslims and positive stories about Muslims and Islam by non-Muslims.)

Islamic Art by Morty: ALLAH Caligraphy Art in Arabic and English

A setback in the struggle against the Islamification of the West

Islamophobia Watch: Antwerp protests against schools' headscarf ban (Some very good comments by the students in this article.)

Islamophobia Watch: Muslims in Europe: The Scottish Example (An interview with Osama Saeed.)

Islamophobia Watch: Veil is 'a direct and explicit criticism of our Western values' (Have you ever noticed that when non-Muslims talk about Israel/Palestine, it's always a "religious" conflict, but when they talk about the hijab it's always a "political" issue? No wonder they're @$$-backwards.)

Islamophobia Watch: More Hysteria About Sharia Courts (Dennis MacEoin returns; will someone send him back? ;) )

Islamophobia Watch: The hijab debate: 'I don't want to be judged on my looks'

Izzy Mo's Blog: انا مشغولة (Izzy Mo finally gets a life. ;) )

The Zen of South Park: Quran Read-A-Long: Al-’Imran 55-63 Insists on Jesus’ Humanity, Not His Divinity

Umar Lee: Death

News Stories of Interest:
Muslims Not Just Concerned About US Policy: Envoy (Perhaps this woman, Farah Pandith, is the reason why we got all the attention from the State Department last week.)

Pastor Rick Warren to Address American Muslims

The Snake

For some reason, Milady thinks this short video is hysterically funny. It's OK, but rolling-on-the-floor-type funny? :) And is the fainting spell real or faked?



Now this I think is funnier. :)

DCA Rankings - June 2009

The DCA Rankings are very much in the "for what it's worth" department as many of the corps haven't started their seasons yet, so, for what it's worth... :)

June 2009 Rankings:
1 Connecticut Hurricanes
2 Minnesota Brass
3 Reading Buccaneers
4 Hawthorne Caballeros
5 SF Renegades
6 CorpsVets
7 Bushwackers
8 Governaires
9 Rochester Crusaders
10 SoCal Dream
11 Carolina Gold
12 Anaheim Kingsmen Sr.

Notes:

The top six corps have all scored above 70 points already.

Every corps has scored above 56 points.

The average high score for all DCA corps was 68.379 points.

Year-to-Date Improvement Rankings:
(This measures how well the corps has done since their first show of the season.)

1 Minnesota Brass
2 Hawthorne Caballeros
3 Bushwackers
4 Governaires (tie)
4 SoCal Dream (tie)
6 SF Renegades

Notes:

The average for YTD Improvements was 1.203 points.

The high (Minnesota Brass) was 4.250 points.

All of the remaining corps, the Anaheim Kingsment Sr., Carolina Gold, Connecticut Hurricanes, Corvettes, Reading Buccaneers, and the Rochester Crusaders, have had no improvement for the year-to-date because they have only marched one show so far. (Anaheim has actually marched two shows, but their first show was an exhibition.)

Year-on-Year Improvement Rankings:
(This measures how well the corps has done since the same time last year, so we're comparing the end of June 2008 to the end of June 2009. This ranking shows who the pleasant surprises are and which corps are not doing so well compared to the previous season.)

1 Connecticut Hurricanes
2 Hawthorne Caballeros
3 CorpsVets
4 Minnesota Brass
5 Governaires
6 Bushwackers
7 Reading Buccaneers
8 Rochester Crusaders
9 SoCal Dream

Notes:

The average for YOY Improvements was a negative 0.526 points.

The high (Connecticut Hurricanes) was 4.075 points; the low (SoCal Dream) was a negative 8.000 points.

All corps in places 1-5 had positive changes since last June's high score, while corps in places 6-9 had negative changes.

Anaheim Kingsmen Sr. is not listed here because they didn't march last season; Carolina Gold and the SF Renegades aren't listed because they didn't march last June.

DCI Open Class Rankings - June 2009

The Open Class Rankings aren't quite as meaningful in June as they are for the World Class corps (as not all corps have started their season just yet), but we'll do them anyway.

June 2009 Rankings:
1 Blue Devils B (tie)
1 Citations (tie)
3 Vanguard Cadets
4 Revolution
5 Teal Sound
6 7th Regiment
7 Capital Regiment
8 Colt Cadets
9 Gold
10 Velvet Knights
11 Mystikal
12 Racine Scouts
13 Spirit of Newark
14 Incognito
15 Impulse
16 Blue Devils C

Notes:

Blue Devils B, Citations, and Vanguard Cadets have all scored above 70 points already.

Every corps has scored above 53 points.

Hardest working corps: Colt Cadets - six shows.

The average high score for all Open Class corps was 63.709.

Year-to-Date Improvement Rankings:
(This measures how well the corps has done since their first show of the season.)

1 Racine Scouts
2 Colt Cadets
3 Velvet Knights
4 Blue Devils C
5 Revolution
6 Vanguard Cadets
7 Capital Regiment
8 Impulse
9 Blue Devils B
10 Incognito
11 Gold
12 Mystikal

Notes:

The average for YTD Improvements was 2.150 points.

The high (Racine Scouts) was 8.400 points.

Citations and Spirit of Newark had no improvement for the year-to-date because they have only marched one show so far.

7th Regiment and Teal Sound have marched two shows, but have yet to register any improvement over their opening scores.

Year-on-Year Improvement Rankings:
(This measures how well the corps has done since the same time last year, so we're comparing the end of June 2008 to the end of June 2009. This ranking shows who the pleasant surprises are and which corps are not doing so well compared to the previous season.)

1 7th Regiment
2 Colt Cadets
3 Mystikal
4 Citations
5 Blue Devils C
6 Gold
7 Racine Scouts
8 Vanguard Cadets
9 Incognito
10 Revolution
11 Blue Devils B
12 Teal Sound
13 Velvet Knights
14 Impulse

Notes:

The average for YOY Improvements was 1.268 points.

The high (7th Regiment) was 7.950 points; the low (Impulse) was a negative 5.100 points.

All corps in places 1-8 had positive changes since last June's high score, while corps in places 9-14 had negative changes.

Capital Regiment is not listed here because they didn't march last season; Spirit of Newark isn't listed because they didn't march last June.

Update: I've modified the various rankings to reflect Jersey Surf's jump from Open to World Class status.

DCI World Class Rankings - June 2009

It's time for the June drum corps rankings. Hopefully, this year, we'll be able to follow up by posting the July and August rankings. :) (Work issues prevented those posts from being written in previous years; hopefully, that won't be the case this year.) On with the show, then.

June 2009 Rankings:
1 Carolina Crown
2 Holy Name Cadets
3 Blue Devils
4 Santa Clara Vanguard
5 The Cavaliers
6 Phantom Regiment
7 Bluecoats
8 Boston Crusaders
9 Blue Stars
10 Blue Knights
11 Glassmen
12 Colts (tie)
12 Troopers (tie)
14 Spirit
15 Madison Scouts
16 The Academy
17 Crossmen
18 Mandarins
19 Pacific Crest
20 Jersey Surf
21 Pioneer

Notes:

Crown, Cadets, and Blue Devils have all scored above 80 points already.

Every corps has scored above 63 points.

Hardest working corps: Blue Stars, Crusaders, Crown, Colts, Glassmen - all with eight shows.

Slowest start to the season: Jersey Surf - one show.

The average high score for all World Class corps was 72.812.

Year-to-Date Improvement Rankings:
(This measures how well the corps has done since their first show of the season; there's a definite benefit for corps to have done more shows than fewer: the more shows a corps does, usually the higher up they are in the YTD rankings.)

1 Carolina Crown
2 Blue Stars
3 Holy Name Cadets
4 Boston Crusaders
5 Colts
6 Spirit
7 Madison Scouts
8 Phantom Regiment
9 Blue Devils
10 Santa Clara Vanguard
11 Glassmen
12 Pioneer
13 Troopers
14 The Cavaliers
15 Crossmen
16 Bluecoats
17 Mandarins
18 Blue Knights
19 The Academy
20 Pacific Crest
21 Jersey Surf

Notes:

The average for YTD Improvements was 4.736 points.

The high (Carolina Crown) was 9.900 points; the low (Jersey Surf) was 0.000 points (due to having only marched one show in June).

Year-on-Year Improvement Rankings:
(This measures how well the corps has done since the same time last year, so we're comparing the end of June 2008 to the end of June 2009. This ranking shows who the pleasant surprises are and which corps are not doing so well compared to the previous season.)

1 Carolina Crown
2 Troopers
3 Holy Name Cadets
4 Blue Stars
5 Madison Scouts
6 Bluecoats
7 Boston Crusaders
8 Pioneer
9 Glassmen
10 Blue Knights
11 Phantom Regiment
12 Spirit
13 Colts
14 Crossmen
15 Santa Clara Vanguard
16 Blue Devils
17 The Cavaliers
18 The Academy
19 Mandarins
20 Pacific Crest
21 Jersey Surf

Notes:

The average for YOY Improvements was 0.224 points.

The high (Carolina Crown) was 6.000 points; the low (Jersey Surf) was a negative 9.350 points.

The Colts had no change in their score since last June's high score; every corps above them (places 1-12) had a positive change while every corps below them (14-21) had negative changes.

Update: The rankings have been modified to reflect Jersey Surf's move from Open to World Class status.

Republican Sex Scandal Flow Chart

In case you're having trouble in keeping track of who's done what to whom. ;) Actually, the flow chart could use some updating with some of the following names:

Bob Allen, Ted Haggard, Jeff Gannon, Ed Schrock, Neil Bush, Dan Burton, Dan Crane, Helen Chenoweth, Henry Hyde, Newt Gingrich, Jim Bunn, Ken Calvert, Jim Bakker, Roy Cohn, Strom Thurmond, etc.

Granted, my list goes a little further back in time; this flow chart only covers the last three years. Regardless, the list goes on and on. These are only some of the more prominent examples, mostly at the federal level of government. For every name above, there are perhaps three to five names at the state and local levels of government.

International Politics Links (29 June 2009)

Once again, sorry for the lack of Links posts last week. I was busy with other matters. This post covers June 22nd through today, June 29th. Not surprisingly, most of the links deal with the Iranian election aftermath; stories on Israel are also increasing, mostly due to renewed settlement in the West Bank. And the newest, hottest story is of the coup in Honduras.)

Americas:
Coup In Honduras

20 People Killed in Peru in Demonstrations


Europe:
Merkel Stands Besides Demonstrators - "in Iran" (In Germany, not so much.)

Russia Ready for Deep Nuclear Arms Cuts: Medvedev


Middle East:
Odierno: Iraqis Ready for Handover

Violence Erupts in Baghdad as Deadline for U.S. Troops to Withdraw From Major Cities Nears

Iraq After The U.S. Retreat

FBI Files: Saddam Hussein Faked Having WMDs (Old news, but worth linking to.)

Karim Sadjadpour Reminds Chris Wallace That U.S. Meddling in Middle East Politics is Not Productive

David Gregory Badgers Benjamin Netanyahu Over Whether Israel Will Take Unilateral Action Against Iran

Resisting Calls, Israel Insists on Building in the West Bank

Israel Deploys Troops Along Lebanese Border (Near Shebaa Farms, specifically.)

Barak Authorizes Construction of 300 New Homes in West Bank (American reaction? Nothing.)

Pakistan Navy Slated for Major Revamp


Iran:
Has There Been a Military Coup in Iran by the Revolutionary Guard in Iran?

Reza Aslan on Iran (His interview on The Daily Show.)

Neda: A Civil Rights Struggle

Obama: Neda Video 'Heartbreaking'

The Meaning of Neda

In Iran, Authorities Admit Voting Discrepancies

Rachel Maddow: Iranian Protesters Targetting the Basiji

Evidence Of Western Intelligence Meddling in Iran

Sunday's Protest March Broken Up; Rafsanjani Defers to Khamenei (Sunday referring to June 28th.)

5,000 March Silently in Iran

Washington and the Iran Protests: Would they be Allowed in the US?

Guardianship Council Rules out Annulment of Election Results; Reformists Planning Strikes, Mourning

Chatham House Study Definitively Shows Massive Ballot Fraud in Iran's Reported Results

More Details on Saturday's Demonstrations (This would have been Saturday, June 20th.)

An Interesting Detail

Iran Election Wrap Up

Has the U.S. Played a Role in Fomenting Unrest During Iran’s Election?

Iran: 'There is Very Little Logic at Work' (This was a very interesting personal essay. Must read.)

Obama Questions Legitimacy of Iranian Elections, Says It is ‘Up to the Iranian People to Decide’ Their Leadership.

Lugar: The U.S. Should Still Be Willing To ‘Sit Down’ With Iran For Nuclear Talks


Asia:
China Crosses the Rubicon

China-India Relations: An Unresolved Border and 60,000 Troops Deployed

Thousands of Anti-Govt Protesters Mass in Bangkok (Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra wants to come home.)


Miscellaneous:
Senegal: Islam, Democracy, Sexy

Indefinite Detention, Anyone? White House is Drafting New Executive Order

Obama Considering an Executive Order Allowing Indefinite Detention.

Kaguya's Last Orbit of the Moon

All good things must come to an end. Occasionally, I've blogged about the Japanese spacecraft Selene, aka Kaguya, this being my fifth post to date. However, as planned, Kaguya crashed into the Moon very recently, on June 11th. The below video is a very clear movie from Kaguya's last orbit of the Moon. Although it's difficult to gauge the distance between the Moon and Kaguya, obviously Kaguya very narrowly misses plowing into some hilly terrain on its way down.

The last photographs taken by Kaguya can be found here

2008 Oil Reserves Analysis

The Economist had a recent graph showing oil reserves as of the end of 2008, with the number of years remaining for each country's reserves at the 2008 rate of production. I posted a similar graph from The Economist back in June 2006, so we'll do a little analysis to see how things have gone in the past three years.

First, there have been some changes in the rankings for total reserves. The top four (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Kuwait) remain the same, but Venezuela has moved up one notch, replacing the UAE in fifth place. Russia remains at #7, but Libya has moved up to #8, replacing Kazakhstan. Numbers 10 (Nigeria), 11 (United States) and 12 (Canada) remain the same, but Qatar has moved ahead of China for 13th place. Angola comes in at #15 in the 2008 chart, up four places. Eight countries that were on the 2005 chart were omitted this time (in alphabetical order): Algeria, Azerbaijan, Brazil, India, Mexico, Norway, Oman, and Sudan).

The 2005 chart mentioned that if production were to continue at 2005's level of production, the world would have 41 years' worth of oil left. The good news is that, three years on, global supplies should actually last for another 42 years.

Doing a quick-and-dirty analysis, we can find out which countries have been winners over the past three years and which were losers. Winners are those countries whose reserves will survive longer today than they were expected to last in 2005's estimate, taking into account the three years of production that have passed. (This could happen either because more oil reserves have been proved in the past three years, because production slowed down, or both.)

In fact, all of the countries were winners, except for three; the winners being: Saudi Arabia (3.5 years), Iraq (3), Kuwait (2.6), Venezuela (30!), Russia (3.8), Libya (4.6), Nigeria (10.6), United States (3.4), Canada (12.1), Qatar (19.1), China (2.1), and Angola (2.7).

The three losers were Iran (-3.1), the UAE (-4.3), and Kazakhstan (-7.0).

The full Economist article:

Although the price of oil peaked at $147 a barrel in 2008, the world’s proven oil reserves—those that are known and recoverable with existing technology—fell only slightly, to 1,258 billion barrels, according to BP, a British oil company. That is 18% higher than in 1998. OPEC tightened its grip slightly in 2008, and commands slightly more than three-quarters of proven reserves. Saudi Arabia and Iran together account for almost one-third of the total. Venezuela, with nearly 8%, has the largest share of any non-Middle Eastern country. BP reckons that if the world continues to produce oil at the same rate as last year, global supplies will last another 42 years, even if no more oil reserves are found.

Foreign Policy: Sulfur Mining in Indonesia

Foreign Policy magazine has a very interesting photo essay on sulfur mining at the Indonesian volcano of Kawah Ijen, located on the eastern end of the island of Java.


The crater lake at the bottom of the caldera is so acidic that it can dissolve fingers and clothing. The sulfur is mined for use in cosmetics, gunpowder, and (surprise) anti-acne soap. The miners make a mere pittance of $0.05 for 1 kg (2.2 lbs.), which works out to about $11 per day. However, local farmers make only $1.65 per day, so the lure of "big money" is strong despite the many health problems miners suffer from. Those problems include bloodshot eyes, teeth eroded to stumps due to the acidic conditions, wheezing, allergies, sore stomachs, and damaged knees. Local people and agriculture have also suffered from the sulfuric pollution.

Be sure to view the rest of the photo essay as there are eight other pictures that are of interest.

Islam/Muslim Blogs (26 June 2009)

Sorry for the lack of Links posts this week; I've been busy with little time to get onto the computer, let alone work on a post like this. Still, here's the latest for Islam/Muslim blogs.

Aqwaal-ul-Hikmah: The Worst Thing A Human Can Consume!

Austrolabe: Sarkozy wants “Burqa” ban

Austrolabe: Burka Ban: Not Just Black and White

Dictator Princess: Why should I help you if you can’t help yourself?

Dr. M's Analysis: The "Kosher tax" scam exposed

Fragments of Me: And I miss this place so much

Fragments of Me: And this is why we keep coming back… (I'm not familiar with Tioman Island, but looking up about the place I discovered that the beach scenes in the 1958 movie South Pacific were filmed here. This is "Bali Hai!" :) )

Islam in China: Chinese Muslim Scholar on Teachings of Islam (An interesting paragraph from The Tao of Islam.)

Islamic Art by Morty: Allah Art (Zebra Stripes)

Islamophobia Watch: West must respect the Muslim veil (John Esposito speaks out, although I wish this article appeared in Western newspapers.)

Izzy Mo's Blog: Mirage (Izzy has lived in Dubai for almost a year now.

Moon of Alabama: Burqas, Law And Freedom ("b", who normally writes about international politics, becomes conflicted over the idea of whether "burqas" should be banned or not. My response to Non-Muslims is: Mind your own business.)

Mumsy Musings: The Many Holidays (DramaMama has a personal post about traveling to Vietnam, and talks (among other things) of finding a mosque and various halal restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Cool!)

Tariq Nelson: Fatherhood Involvement (Tariq returns after a brief absense.)

TBogg: The only good Muslim is a dea–. Oh. This is awkward…

The Zen of South Park: Quran Read-A-Long: Al-’Imran 42-54 Talks All About Jesus, Pre-Birth to Adulthood

Umar Lee: Rohingya Muslims, Iran Hype, and Sadaqa

Umar Lee: Sarkozy and Brown Didn’t Get the Message: Colonialism is Over

Umar Lee: Was Michael Jackson a Muslim?

Eyesight Problems?

ROTFLMAO! Don't drink the yoghurt! ;)

Jon Lee Anderson: Understanding The Basij

I don't follow Iranian culture and politics that closely, so the information in Jon Lee Anderson's essay at The New Yorker on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Basij is new to me. In the past few days, stories like this (Warning: not for the squeamish!) suggest that the Basij are thugs who are not afraid to get their hands dirty on behalf of their political patrons (and Anderson's essay says as much as well). But there is, apparently, another side to the Basij and Ahmadinejad. Two excerpts:

On a trip I made to Iran in 2006, a year after Ahmadinejad assumed the presidency, I met a Basij official, Dr. Mahdi Araby, who worked at the Tehran City Hall. In the late nineteen-nineties, Araby had been one of Ahmadinejad’s engineering students at the Iran University of Science and Technology, where Ahmadinejad was studying for his Ph.D. in traffic management. In 2003, after Ahmadinejad’s appointment as mayor of Tehran, he had asked Araby to come and work with him. Araby described Mayor Ahmadinejad as a man of pure heart and missionary zeal. “His original aim was not political,” explained Araby. “He just wanted to serve people.”

Araby pointed to a beige windbreaker that was hanging on a hook on the closed door of the room. I remarked that it appeared to be exactly like the jacket the president usually wore. He smiled proudly and said it was his. “It is the jacket of the Basij.” he said.

He then told me the following story. One night during Ahmadinejad’s time as mayor, Araby had been driving home when he saw an elderly couple standing by the side of the road and looking as though they were in distress. They were holding up a jerrican to show that they had run out of gas, but no one had stopped to assist them. Araby did. He instructed the old man how to siphon some petrol from his car, but the man had explained that he was asthmatic, so Araby did it himself. The old woman had wanted to pay him, but he had refused, telling them, “I am a Basiji. It is our duty to help.” Araby accidentally swallowed some of the petrol and had begun spitting up blood, so he ended up in hospital for three weeks. He explained that he had a lung problem from a chemical-weapon attack during the Iran-Iraq war. He smiled; his wounds, like his Basij jacket, were a badge of honor.

Next, Araby told me a story he had heard about Ahmadinejad while he was mayor. The story was that Ahmadinejad had been dressing up as a streetsweeper at night and going out with a work crew for an entire month, to understand what their life was like and decide how to pay them a fair wage. Araby had confronted Ahmadinejad about the story and asked if it was true. “He asked where I had heard it from, and he smiled,” said Araby. To him, Ahmadinejad’s reaction was a confirmation of the rumor. “Ahmadinejad is a true Basiji,” he said approvingly.

It was that same spirit that propelled Ahmadinejad into the presidential race, Araby believed. “I can tell you that, up to two months before the presidential election in 2005, he was undecided about running. But our people were fed up with the promises being made during the presidential campaign, and we realized that the middle-class people, and the people at the lower rungs of society, were not satisfied either.” Araby said, “He hadn’t planned to become president. We pushed him to do it.”

...

Gharavian, a teacher of Islamic studies, wore black and white robes and a black turban. He explained that it was he who had first brought Ahmadinejad to Yazdi’s attention, and that it had come about by a quirk of destiny. The ayatollah had been in the habit of speaking to the university professors’ Basij organization once a week, but once, when he was unable to attend, and Gharavian had stood in for him. He had met and been impressed by Ahmadinejad, who was a prominent member of the group. Afterward, he told Ayatollah Yazdi about him, and introduced them. “What was it that impressed you?” I asked Gharavian. “I saw that he had a true Basij culture,” he said approvingly. “And that, like Imam Khomeini, he was especially resistant to foreign cultural influences.”

James Petras: The Iranian ‘Stolen Elections’ Hoax

The more I read about the Iranian election, the more I agree with the counter-analysis that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did, in fact, win the recent Iranian election fairly. Most of the American press (and especially bloggers) seems to be driven largely by wishful thinking, that Ahmadinejad, being the American bogey man that he's become, needed to be booted out of office, with the accusation of electoral fraud being a sufficient-enough reason to think Hossein Mousavi should have won.

Of the voices on the American political left that I've read, only Juan Cole at Informed Comment seemed to provide a reasoned explanation for why Ahmadinejad "stole" the election. However, James Petras, in this essay at GlobalResearch.ca, discusses why Cole's argument regarding ethnic and linguistic identity is not a sound indicator of voting behavior.

What many on the left fail to grasp is that so-called reform movements like Mousavi's are made up mostly of the urban elites, people like themselves. However, the more conservative voters, like in America, tend to come from rural areas. Petras brings up several examples of elections that went strongly in favor of populist/nationalist politicians (Juan Peron of Argentina, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia, and Lula da Silva of Brazil); to which I would add Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand, whose Thai Rak Thai party ("Thai Loves Thai") was also mostly supported by the rural poor in the 2001 and 2005 general elections.

I think a lot of people on the left underestimate the electoral power of the rural poor, especially in countries that are still developing economically. While the needs and aspirations of the urban elite may be similar from country to country, even in nations as dissimilar as Iran and the US, the needs and aspirations of the rural poor are much stronger and more acute in countries like Thailand and Iran than in the prosperous US, where the red states can afford financially to vote against their economic interests in favor of social values.

I've written an additional comment below the following excerpts:

There is hardly any election, in which the White House has a significant stake, where the electoral defeat of the pro-US candidate is not denounced as illegitimate by the entire political and mass media elite. In the most recent period, the White House and its camp followers cried foul following the free (and monitored) elections in Venezuela and Gaza, while joyously fabricating an ‘electoral success’ in Lebanon despite the fact that the Hezbollah-led coalition received over 53% of the vote.

The recently concluded, June 12, 2009 elections in Iran are a classic case: The incumbent nationalist-populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (MA) received 63.3% of the vote (or 24.5 million votes), while the leading Western-backed liberal opposition candidate Hossein Mousavi (HM) received 34.2% or (13.2 million votes).

Iran’s presidential election drew a record turnout of more than 80% of the electorate, including an unprecedented overseas vote of 234,812, in which HM won 111,792 to MA’s 78,300. The opposition led by HM did not accept their defeat and organized a series of mass demonstrations that turned violent, resulting in the burning and destruction of automobiles, banks, public buildings and armed confrontations with the police and other authorities.

...

A number of newspaper pundits, including Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times, claim as evidence of electoral fraud the fact that Ahmadinejad won 63% of the vote in an Azeri-speaking province against his opponent, Mousavi, an ethnic Azeri. The simplistic assumption is that ethnic identity or belonging to a linguistic group is the only possible explanation of voting behavior rather than other social or class interests.

A closer look at the voting pattern in the East-Azerbaijan region of Iran reveals that Mousavi won only in the city of Shabestar among the upper and the middle classes (and only by a small margin), whereas he was soundly defeated in the larger rural areas, where the re-distributive policies of the Ahmadinejad government had helped the ethnic Azeris write off debt, obtain cheap credits and easy loans for the farmers. Mousavi did win in the West-Azerbaijan region, using his ethnic ties to win over the urban voters. In the highly populated Tehran province, Mousavi beat Ahmadinejad in the urban centers of Tehran and Shemiranat by gaining the vote of the middle and upper class districts, whereas he lost badly in the adjoining working class suburbs, small towns and rural areas.

The careless and distorted emphasis on ‘ethnic voting’ cited by writers from the Financial Times and New York Times to justify calling Ahmadinejad ‘s victory a ‘stolen vote’ is matched by the media’s willful and deliberate refusal to acknowledge a rigorous nationwide public opinion poll conducted by two US experts just three weeks before the vote, which showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin – even larger than his electoral victory on June 12. This poll revealed that among ethnic Azeris, Ahmadinejad was favored by a 2 to 1 margin over Mousavi, demonstrating how class interests represented by one candidate can overcome the ethnic identity of the other candidate (Washington Post June 15, 2009). The poll also demonstrated how class issues, within age groups, were more influential in shaping political preferences than ‘generational life style’. According to this poll, over two-thirds of Iranian youth were too poor to have access to a computer and the 18-24 year olds “comprised the strongest voting bloc for Ahmadinejad of all groups” (Washington Post June 15, 2009).

The only group, which consistently favored Mousavi, was the university students and graduates, business owners and the upper middle class. The ‘youth vote’, which the Western media praised as ‘pro-reformist’, was a clear minority of less than 30% but came from a highly privileged, vocal and largely English speaking group with a monopoly on the Western media. Their overwhelming presence in the Western news reports created what has been referred to as the ‘North Tehran Syndrome’, for the comfortable upper class enclave from which many of these students come. While they may be articulate, well dressed and fluent in English, they were soundly out-voted in the secrecy of the ballot box.

In general, Ahmadinejad did very well in the oil and chemical producing provinces. This may have be a reflection of the oil workers’ opposition to the ‘reformist’ program, which included proposals to ‘privatize’ public enterprises. Likewise, the incumbent did very well along the border provinces because of his emphasis on strengthening national security from US and Israeli threats in light of an escalation of US-sponsored cross-border terrorist attacks from Pakistan and Israeli-backed incursions from Iraqi Kurdistan, which have killed scores of Iranian citizens. Sponsorship and massive funding of the groups behind these attacks is an official policy of the US from the Bush Administration, which has not been repudiated by President Obama; in fact it has escalated in the lead-up to the elections.

What Western commentators and their Iranian protégés have ignored is the powerful impact which the devastating US wars and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan had on Iranian public opinion: Ahmadinejad’s strong position on defense matters contrasted with the pro-Western and weak defense posture of many of the campaign propagandists of the opposition.

The great majority of voters for the incumbent probably felt that national security interests, the integrity of the country and the social welfare system, with all of its faults and excesses, could be better defended and improved with Ahmadinejad than with upper-class technocrats supported by Western-oriented privileged youth who prize individual life styles over community values and solidarity.

...

Amhadinejad’s electoral success, seen in historical comparative perspective should not be a surprise. In similar electoral contests between nationalist-populists against pro-Western liberals, the populists have won. Past examples include Peron in Argentina and, most recently, Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia and even Lula da Silva in Brazil, all of whom have demonstrated an ability to secure close to or even greater than 60% of the vote in free elections. The voting majorities in these countries prefer social welfare over unrestrained markets, national security over alignments with military empires.

...

The wild card in the aftermath of the elections is the Israeli response: Netanyahu has signaled to his American Zionist followers that they should use the hoax of ‘electoral fraud’ to exert maximum pressure on the Obama regime to end all plans to meet with the newly re-elected Ahmadinejad regime.

Paradoxically, US commentators (left, right and center) who bought into the electoral fraud hoax are inadvertently providing Netanyahu and his American followers with the arguments and fabrications: Where they see religious wars, we see class wars; where they see electoral fraud, we see imperial destabilization.

I also wanted to say that President Obama has done the right thing by not getting involved as the Iranians settle their electoral results. The Republicans, such as John McCain, who have tried to goad Obama into interfering with Iranian politics, have shown a tremendous amount of arrogance and hypocrisy on their part. If another country were to interfere with the American electoral process, they would be rightly indignant. Why they think they can interfere with another country's election is beyond me. Shut up, John!