The Argument Clinic

An article resource site...

2007-03-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

Interesting stuff on cars and computers at this site.

Check Out This News Site...

2007-03-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

It's a news site oriented around Knoxville, TN.

It...Is...Alive!

2006-11-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

I've decided to resume posting here. Further bulletins as events warrant.

Hiatus

2006-05-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

This blog is going on hiatus. One, I hosed the template, and I really don't feel like re-doing it for a site that's getting 50 visitors a day. Two, I'm blogging over at Creative Destruction and BNN, and two sites is enough.

Will it return? Probably. When? Dunno.

Oh For Heaven's Sake

2006-05-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

Don't these people have anything better to do?

Weekend Hamster Fun

2006-05-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

Here's an activity the whole family can enjoy.

Well, other than the hamsters.

Interview With The Shah's Son

2006-05-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

Reza Pahlavi, son of the late Shah of Iran, has an interesting inteview in Human Events. He seems like a sensible fellow; his dad was a sensible fellow. (A son of a bitch, but he was our son of a bitch.) We could do business with him, if he was to take the throne. I am less sanguine about the prospects for an Iranian revolution than he is, however. It would be bloody and ugly.

Dolphins Have Names

2006-05-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

Say these scientists. Fascinating stuff.

My dolphin name would be "he who sits in easy chair and types".

Genius

2006-05-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

...sheer genius. American Digest presents "The Law of the Blogger", a link-notated reworking of (I believe) a Kipling poem; I thought it was Kipling's "The Gods of the Copybook Headings", but it isn't; it's his "The Law of the Jungle". Either way, it's awesome.

Jeff Goldstein Has a Fundraiser

2006-05-05T16:12:00.000-07:00

JeffG of Protein Wisdom is having a fundraiser. I am reliably informed that he intends to spend the money on supple young Thai boys, but don't let that stop you.

But seriously; Jeff does good work and deserves some support. I sent in MY thirty-five cents; I urge you to do the same.

"There is nothing good that comes out of that"

2006-05-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

When I saw the headline, I was going to post snark about wishing I had the same problem. But I think he actually means it. Probably because of his kids. Having children is a source of infinite worry when you're very rich, because your kids are realistically and actually the target of kidnapping plots. It's hard enough to be a dad when the abduction threat facing your children is mostly hypothetical; how would it feel to know that at any moment, there really are people idly or actively thinking of ways to take your kids for ransom? Horrifying.

Pro-Choice Vandalism Strikes Another Pro-Life Display

2006-05-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

Following the vandalism last month of a pro-life display at Northern Kentucky University, pro-choice activists destroyed another pro-life display, this time at Princeton University.

Pro-life group Princeton Pro-Life had erected a display of 347 flags, with each flag representing a student who might have been in the Princeton class of 2010, had they not been aborted. The display was torn down and vandalized; pro-choice activists cut up 30 coat hangers and spread them on the ground, and added sarcastic pro-choice messages to the display's signage.

Campus police are investigating the incident, but Princeton Pro-Life expressed skepticism about the investigation, saying that they believed investigating the vandalism was low on the priority list.

Ben Affleck to Play Young Kirk?

2006-05-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

NO.

Want Citizenship? Enlist.

2006-05-02T00:35:00.000-07:00

Interesting proposal from The Futurist.

As one of the commenters notes, I think we have something like this now - but it would be fascinating to greatly widen its scope.

Licensed Torrent Model the Way to Go

2006-05-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

An idle thought about selling video and music content online.

To optimize customer choice and satisfaction, companies ought to specialize in selling either data delivery service, or content delivered through the service.

I pay Adelphia for cable TV. I have DVR software and a machine to run it. I have a home network. I have a high-speed Internet connection.

If I want to watch a pre-existing episode of South Park, I can tell my DVR to record it the next time it comes around, and then watch it either on the TV connected to the DVR PC, or on my PC's monitor. That's legal.

Alternatively, I can illegally use a free BitTorrent client to download the same episode. I can't quite download it at real-time speed yet, so I'd have to get the file first. So it would take maybe an hour or so. For a new episode, I might have to wait an hour or a day for someone to put the file out into the torrentsphere.

Doing any of this would be piracy, pure and simple.

It wouldn't feel much like piracy, emotionally. I'm paying somebody for a mechanism that allows me to watch their show; whadda they care how I get my hands on the goods? But of course it does matter to the content producers, who get unhappy.

The difficulty with their unhappiness comes from the difficulty of fighting digital piracy. Information wants to be free; its legitimate and rightful owners are having, and will continue to have, trouble keeping it owned.

IF content companies want to get their product out into the marketplace and still own it, I suggest a compromise. Issue subscriptions and provide legal torrents to subscribers on a regularly scheduled basis. Make the torrents of decent quality, and ad-free other than (say) a one-minute promo at the beginning of the file. The torrentsphere will absorb such legitimate services and genuine emotional pirates will continue to steal the goods, but people who understand and believe that you have to pay the piper if you want to hear a tune will still subscribe - and the nature of torrenting is that even pirates contribute to the network effect and make the user experience better and better.

In essence, such a scheme would cut companies like Adelphia out of the loop when it comes to content for a large and increasing base of technologically gifted viewers. If I can get my ad-free South Park directly from Matt and Trey (or even from Comedy Central), and pay 'em 50 cents a month, I'll be glad to do so. I have to think that with - say - a million viewers willing to make this deal, a direct, continuing revenue stream of $500,000 a month is worth something - particularly since the deal would be non-exclusive, and they could continue selling their product via content distribution companies for anybody who wants to buy it that way.

(If any of my legions of idle wealthy techie readers feels like being the guy who gets really rich off this idea by pumping me with funding to acquire content and make distribution deals, you know where to send the check.)

Senator McCain: "Clean Government" More Important than First Amendment Rights

2006-05-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

Arizona Senator and Presidential hopeful John McCain, appearing on the Don Imus show, said that "I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I'd rather have the clean government."

McCain's assertion reminds me, yet again, exactly why the Arizona Republican cannot be trusted with the presidency, or indeed, with any high office. I don't have any input into who the people of Arizona send to the Senate, but I have my own voice when it comes to the presidency, and I will never vote for a candidate who displays such disregard for the values of free political speech that our country is predicated upon.

Via Protein Wisdom.

"Are You a Registered Republican?"

2006-04-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

That's what the nice candidate running for state senate called out to me as I exited the Safeway. He had a little table with a chair and a sign and some literature. I didn't get a good look at him; white guy in a suit. Didn't get the name.

"Yes, I am," I called back as I strode across the parking lot, heading straight for my car. Unspoken - because I didn't want to take the time - was "and thus, I have a job and I'm very busy and I don't have time to chat with a political candidate."

Valuable lesson for people buttonholing me in public:

You only get one shot. Ask the question you need to ask, not a prefatory question. I'll answer your prefatory question, because I'm polite, and then I'll move on. If you want my vote so you can stop the invading Mongol horde, you pretty much need to say "Mister, I want your vote so I can stop the invading Mongol horde!" If I am also worried about the Mongols, maybe I'll stop and listen to you bloviate. But try and save yourself time by wasting mine ("let's prescreen for registered voters, and let's prescreen for Republicans"), and you'll get nothing. I've got stuff to do.

Although, admittedly, not so much stuff that I can't take a moment to blog about it. But that's different - it happens at my convenience, not his.

Saturday Puppy Blogging

2006-04-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

His widdle paws say "cute"...but his eyes say "I will cut you for putting me in this suit, you son of a *****".

Attack of the Ants

2006-04-29T12:48:00.000-07:00

A few days ago my wife made some really outstanding chocolate cookies. Last night I had a few (*cough*) in my office. Apparently some crumbs went "rogue" and fell, unnoticed, behind some boxes scattered on the floor.

Today I grabbed a sandwich for lunch. A green pepper fell out of it and was on the floor; when I noticed it had fallen, I leaned down to pick it up and recoiled - ants! Dozens of 'em, Mr. Rico!

I prepared to engage when I realized - one or two random ants finding my green pepper, I could see. But it had only been there a few minutes. Where had they come from? I cast my gaze farther afield - and there, swarming in their hundreds, were little ant-mountains on top of the cookie fragments. Ewww!

This is why God invented little handy battery-powered vacuum cleaners, however. A few minutes of cleaning (which the floor needed, anyway) and the little ant raiding party was no more. I'll be engaging in tactical ant-squashing over the next few hours, undoubtedly, as ants-come-lately follow the scent trail to where the cookies used to be. Wish me luck as I commit to battle.

We fight the ant infestation we have, not the ant infestation we'd like to have.

UPDATE:

Q. What does my office have in common with the Pink Panther movies?
A. "Dead ant, dead ant, dead ant dead ant dead ant dead ant dead ant...deadantdeadantdeadantant"

UPDATE 2:

A small squad of six highly-trained, stealthy ants crept onto the battlefield. Ignoring the corpses of their fallen brothers-in-arms, they ant-handled one last remaining crumb onto their collective shoulders and started maneuvering it out of the conflict zone. They didn't see the shadow looming. They didn't see the pencil descending like the hand of an angry God. All they saw was the carpet suddenly looming large as they were crushed, as though beneath the awful weight of their own crime.

Don't steal my food.

Johnny Cash Kicks A**

2006-04-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to Johnny Cash's last "real" album, American IV. If you haven't heard his version of "Hurt" (a song Trent Raznor of NIN wrote), you need to hear it. It may be the most raw and powerfully emotional song I have ever heard. Cash was the rare performer who never stopped developing, but in his case, it's emotional layers that he added, not technical virtuosity. (Well, maybe he developed more virtuosity too, but my uneducated ear is not going to pick up on it.)

Put it another way: as you know, I'm a cold-hearted cynical bastard, but I hear his lifelong pain distilled into that song and I just want to cry and cry (as the little one says when confronted with a tragedy on the order of not getting applesauce with dinner).

Members of Congress Arrested at Darfur Protest

2006-04-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

Five Democratic members of Congress were briefly arrested at a protest in front of the Sudanese Embassy. Six citizen activists, along with Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston), Jim McGovern (D-Worcester, Mass.), Jim Moran (D-Virginia) and John Olver (D-Massachusetts), were taken into custody for blocking the entrance to the embassy as part of protests against the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

Sudan is governed by a military dictatorship which has been committing an ongoing genocide against non-Arab citizens of the African nation. The sitation in Darfur appears to be deteriorating, with hundreds of thousands of people being driven from their homes by government-allied gangs of brigands. Some aid agencies have reported being forced to leave the country, and the United Nations claims that if the aid network in Sudan collapses, as many as 100,000 people per month could begin dying from starvation, in addition to those being directly killed by the Sudanese state.

Circumcision and Monogamy Most Effective Against HIV Transmission

2006-04-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

Very interesting study done in the field in Africa.

Get The Door...It's Dominoes

2006-04-27T19:55:00.001-07:00

Pennsylvania man uses car to deliver pizza AND corpses. Now there's somebody who really has to keep his two jobs straight in his mind...

Britney Fat-Bashed at Celeb Site

2006-04-27T16:42:00.000-07:00

This video shows Britney Spears practicing dance moves for a new song of hers. The video is unremarkable. It shows a pretty woman who has had a baby doing some dance exercises. Every straight man I've ever known would think "that's a nice looking baby mama there, that is".

What's remarkable (but sadly, not unusual) is the incredible fat-bashing going on in the comment thread attached to the video.

"Britney should give up on trying to look sexy and just embrace her new image of 'beached whale'"

"Big booty = more balance for spins...staple the stomach, please"

"Oh my god how much do you guys think she weighs- seriously.... I'm gonna guess 140.... that's being nice."

"Brit's doing a great job of getting as fat and foul as Anna was prior to the latest drug addictions."

"It's like watchin a WHALE chase a TicTac! "THERE SHE BLOWS""

And so on.

I hold no brief for Britney Spears or for celebrity culture in general. But it is sickening to see the contempt that these people have no compunction about pouring out in a public forum. What kind of mentality thinks it appropriate to crap on other human beings like this? Knock it off, knuckleheads; you're forcing me into agreement with moonbats, and I hate being in agreement with moonbats.

Today In History - the Sultana Disaster

2006-04-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

On this date in 1865, the steamboat Sultana, transporting formerly-captured Union soldiers being repatriated home after the end of the Civil War, exploded, killing 1700 people in the worst maritime disaster in US history.

Although at the time the disaster received only limited press attention (Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated only 12 days previously, and war-hardened Americans were accustomed to seeing gory casualty figures), over time the tragedy has been memorialized all through the Mississippi valley.

Perhaps the most compelling element of the Sultana story is the fact that after the explosion, some 500 survivors, most terribly burned, were taken in and nursed by the ordinary citizenry of Memphis - people who had been the enemies of these soldiers just weeks before. One speculates about how much goodwill must have been generated in northern homes when their wounded finally arrived, bearing tales of the kindness and charity of the people of Memphis.

Let The Iraqi People Vote

2006-04-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

When should the US get out of Iraq? When the Iraqis ask us to, of course. This proposal by Jonah Goldberg for a referendum on withdrawal is a darn good idea. It undercuts the antiwar movement here and in Europe, it legitimizes the presence of the troops, and it injects a much-needed dose of honesty and realism into the Iraqi political process.

The only modification I would make is that the referendum should be annual, from now until such time as the Iraqis vote "yes" on withdrawal. That sets up a timeline and a process, and also creates political viability for the "the Americans should go, but not quite yet" position.

Ronald Bailey on Peak Oil

2006-04-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

Good analysis and overview of the peak oil nonsense.

Stop Genocide

2006-04-26T01:35:00.000-07:00

Ampersand of Alas! and Creative Destruction lists some suggestions for stopping the ongoing atrocities in Darfur. They are all very nice suggestions and no doubt seem very effective in the parallel world inhabited by the earnest left. They are good people, the earnest left. God keep them.

Here's an idea for stopping genocide. Let's take a page from the history of the last racist imperialists to go around practicing genocide: smash their stuff and kill their thug overlords. I don't know what level of force it would take to persuade/demonstrate to the small tyrants of Africa that maybe peaceful co-existence is better for the actuarial tables. I have my suspicions that it would take a pretty high level, but a level we're capable of achieving.

"Never again" implies "whatever it takes". A strong word, "never".

One wonders if we're as strong as a word.

I Agree With Ginmar (It Burns!)

2006-04-26T01:22:00.000-07:00

...It burns!

Ginmar expresses shocked approval for something Glenn Beck said. I agree with both of them; the boys in the Duke case - regardless of what the truth of events proves to be - have proven themselve to be beyond the pale by their behavior.

You can't go around hiring escort services and then trying on various "Me? But I'm a Boy Scout!" defenses for size. It doesn't fly.

Avoiding The Charge of Rape

2006-04-25T18:20:00.000-07:00

With all the "to avoid being raped" guidelines floating around, it seems only fair to turn the tables around.

If you want to avoid false charges of rape, don't hire escorts for your parties. People whose job involves breaking the law are unlikely to have strong convictions against using the legal system against you if you tick them off.

If you want to avoid false charges of rape, avoid situations where you have 40 guys and 2 girls in the house. Juries who see that situation are inclined to give automatic credence to the view that something untoward was going on, or planned to go on.

If you want to avoid false charges of rape, but you insist on having massive all-guy parties where you hire prostitutes, hire women who you have hired before and know to be trustworthy - and then pay them what you promised to pay them.

If you want to avoid false charges of rape, don't prejudice the community and the neighborhood against you by shouting slurs at the people you've hired in the full sight and hearing of people who already are predisposed not to like you.

If you want to avoid false charges of rape, treat the women in your life as if they were actual human beings, instead of as sex dolls for your employment.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

2006-04-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

April 25 is Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorated here with a series of photographs and links. (Warning: disturbing images and text.)

All too timely a memorial, as the spectre of another Holocaust looms over the Jewish people.

400-odd Page Rough Draft Done

2006-04-24T02:06:00.000-07:00

Whew!

Tomorrow, golf and barbeque and family.

Where's My Omni?

2006-04-23T00:33:00.000-07:00

OK, so now that Macs will run Windows XP (and the horsemen of the Apocalypse start idly warming up their chargers), I have a question:

Where's my Omni-computer?

I now have the theoretical capacity to have a computer that sits on my desk that runs all three of the major operating systems: Windows, Unix, and Macintosh.

Someone please make it, put the hardware and software (so it all just works - turn it on and flip a toggle switch) together, and sell it to me.

Threatening Passenger Subdued By Others On Flight

2006-04-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

The Fox headline was "Airline Passenger Subdued After Bomb Threat".

I assume that "subdued" is a polite way to say "got three kinds of **** kicked out of him".

Via Instapundit.

Reproductive Rights Now - As Long As I'm Comfortable With It

2006-04-22T11:17:00.001-07:00

Jill at Feministe is conflicted about a reproductive right. Some of her commenters are less conflicted - "I'm opposed to surrogacy outright".

Apparently, for at least some of the gals, reproductive rights are an absolute only when they approve.

(H/T GNXP.)

Scott Crossfield, RIP

2006-04-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

One of the brave men who pioneered the way into space, dead at 84, the way he wanted to go. Godspeed.

Battle of San Jacinto Day

2006-04-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

Today is the 170th anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto, in which Texas won independence from Mexico by defeating the armies of General Santa Anna. Go Texas!

A Moment of Bipartisan Cooperation

2006-04-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

Hey, you know what left-wingers and right-wingers can both enjoy? A delicious hot roast beef and melted cheddar sandwich, served on a warm Dutch crunch roll with sauteed onions and peppers, and a cold beer.

Mmmm, good.

(Paid for by the Committe to Boost Beef Sales.)

Angry People Suck?

2006-04-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

Interesting discussion of the contagiousness of emotion, and why surrounding yourself with positive people might be better for you.

(So much for blogging!)

Tuesday Kitten Blogging

2006-04-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

As always, cheerfully stolen from Kitten Wars.

Don't Question My Patriotism - I'm Busy Doing It For You

2006-04-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

Via Instapundit, the sad tale of the cultural evils breathed out by us red-state Americans.

Appalled Beyond Measure

2006-04-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

I'm just incoherent with sorrow and anger over this one.

I don't understand how they're ever going to get a jury trial for this man. I could not be in a room with him. Who could be? I can't imagine the discipline it is taking for the police not to just finish him.

Why, Finland? Why?

2006-04-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

Finland. Fine nation. Good soldiers; brave fighters. The reindeer are also of high quality.

As a new center for pop videos? Not so much.

Via GNXP.

Happy Easter

2006-04-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

and a blessed Passover.

Why "Peak Oil" Is Hooey

2006-04-15T22:28:00.000-07:00

and other unorthodoxies.

Energy is complex, and I don't want to oversimplify, but I pretty much have to because I don't have the time to write and you don't have the patience to read the 200-page monograph that ought to answer claims "peak oil", energy shortages, and similar bugaboos.

First, some descriptions of reality.

Are petroleum reserves dwindling? Indubitably. Most likely Thomas Gold is wrong, and we're not laying down new oil beds constantly - so we will run out of oil someday if we pump it to the last drop. (We won't.)

Do we have 20, or 30, or 40 years of oil left, or whatever figure-of-the-day is being bandied about by doomsingers? Hardly.

The pace of oil discoveries is dwindling. This is because the low-hanging fruit has been found. Now it starts to get more expensive and more difficult to find each new field - but we are still finding new fields, albeit at a reduced rate.

Is China ramping up its oil consumption? Yes, tremendously so. This is actually probably a good thing in terms of the oil economy, as it means there is a new source of demand. The relatively flat level of consumption - we've all got cars, and how many miles can you drive in a year? - has meant stagnation in the development of new oil extraction technologies, because it looked like those technologies wouldn't be needed for a loooooong time. Now it looks like they'll be needed within the time frame that corporations can operate in, so I'd expect to see a big surge in oil shale tech research. (World oil shale and sand reserves are estimated at 14,000 billion barrels. The US has 2,000 billion. If the world uses 10 times the amount of oil it now uses, we run out of oil from shale around 2200 AD.)

So the sky is not falling.

But for fun, let's pretend that the sky is falling. Let's pretend that all the oil will be gone, not 34 years from now, but 10 years from now. Gas won't be $4 a gallon, it will be $12 a gallon. The moon will be red as blood, and dogs and cats will join in conjugal union. George Lucas will direct a movie that does not suck.

Big freaking deal. We find new fuels. Hydrogen vehicles are 5 years from commercially-feasible prototypes, maybe less. In 10 years - let alone 34 - they'll be economically competitive and then some. (In fact, the development of hydrogen technologies is likely to shut down oil production for fuel use long before any shortage.)

Hydrogen is an energy distribution technology, of course, not an energy source itself. So that means that development of energy production capacity will be a critical component to making a hydrogen economy work.

But energy production capacity is a solved problem. It's not a PERFECT situation, but we know perfectly well how to build the solar plants and the wind farms and the nuke plants and the coal plants and the orbital microwave stations. We just have to do it. We're not doing it now because there isn't a market for the power that those stations will produce - there won't be until we stop burning the oil and start burning the H2. Basically, whether we go hydrogen or develop oil shale is an economic question - which is cheaper, learning to extract oil shale efficiently or building a hydrogen economy. I'm betting H2, as are most oil companies, but we'll see.

The hysteria of the oily chicken littles is exactly the same as the hysteria of a teenage kid whose dad is about to retire. "The figures show your income dropping by 50 percent! We'll STARVE TO DEATH! The neighbors will take our furniture! We have no manufacturing base left!" Yeah, but there's a lot of stuff you don't know about, kid. 401(k)s, for starters.

We will adjust to changing economic circumstances as time goes on. Those adjustments may sometimes be painful, although there is literally nothing in the energy situation per se that would lead any rational observer to believe there will be pain in this transition. If anything, hydrogen cars are going to be way vrooooooooom cooler than boring gas vehicles.

Here's the sentence in oil-is-doomed propaganda that you have to watch for:

"...Within the coming few years, the era of cheap unlimited energy is expected to come to a close"

That's what this is really all about. The fact that individual people have access to cheap energy that is (practically) unlimited drives a certain species of control freak absolutely insane. People who have access to cheap energy can live out in the wilderness, far away from social control. People who have access to cheap energy aren't afraid of political change. People who have access to cheap energy aren't dependent upon a political class for the necessities of life.

Leftoid environmentalists, central planners, and other fans of undemocratic authority have been pounding the "no more cheap energy!" drum for the last fifty years, at least. It's not a prediction for them.

It's a policy platform.

I Am Glenn Reynolds' Brother

2006-04-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

And I didn't even know it!

The pictures of his bro in these snaps are me, to a T.

If you've been wondering what I look like.

I wear better colored t-shirts, though.

Stifling of Dissent at Northern Kentucky University

2006-04-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

"Any violence perpetrated against that silly display was minor compared to how I felt when I saw it."

So says the literature professor who apparently led nine female students in tearing down a university-sanctioned display put up by a campus pro-life activist group. She continued "Some of my students felt the same way, just outraged." Outraged? That other people dared to have a pro-life viewpoint? And that they further dared to actually express it?

Apparently, the free speech rights of other people don't count for anything, if they make you feel angry or outraged. (Note the contradiction, as well - the display is "silly" when its importance to other people is being deprecated to minimize the offense, but it's an "outrage" when it comes to her feelings.)

This is classic. MY feelings are so important that they trump other people's rights. YOUR feelings are so insignificant that I can ignore you. This is the moral calculus possessed by a five-year old.

The symbolism of crosses - each of which represented an aborted fetus - being thrown into the garbage can by female students speaks for itself.

(Via Michelle Malkin.)

Highway Thoughts

2006-04-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

Coming back from driving my kids to the Denver airport to send 'em back to their biodad until summer, I had two observations.

1) The stretch of I-25 between Denver and Monument is the Ronald Reagan Highway. Every time I enter that stretch of pavement, it seems like the sun shines a little brighter and food tastes a little better.

2) If you're driving 150 miles round-trip, it would be a good idea not to eat a two-pound salad as the snack the night before. Hello, rest stop my old friend; I've come to gross you out again.

Moving Forward on Immigration

2006-04-12T20:13:00.000-07:00

Let's move forward on the immigration question. I submit that we should make it an item of national policy that we want to acquire the loyalty and citizenship of the world's brightest and most successful people.

Here's how we do it.

First, we index nations on their level of Western cultural attainment. (Britain is high. Russia is medium. Zimbabwe is low.) That index value would become the base score for immigrants. These numbers should range from 0 to 100. Why this ranking? Because people from Zimbabwe are hard to integrate and people from Britain are easy. We're cherry-picking here - and we're doing it to advance our national interest, not the interests of the people who are immigrating.

To that base score, add bonus points for high educational attainment, high economic attainment, and high scientific/cultural attainment. (25 points per category.) Add bonus points for youth and for number of children (5 points total) and a ten point bonus for English fluency. Have a discretionary 10 points that Congress can use to set priorities. (If you’ll enlist when you get here, we give you 5 points. If you’re a nuclear physicist, that’s worth a bonus 10. And so on.)

So you can have anywhere from 0 to 200 points. For maximum score, be a British millionaire PhD Nobel laureate, 28 years of age with 4 kids, and possessed of whatever skill or attribute is floating Congress' boat this year. Minimum score is to be a destitute Third Worlder with no education or skills, 70 years old, infertile.

Annually, globally rank every immigration applicant in an ordinal list. Ask Congress how many people to let in this year, X. Admit the first X people on the list.

(Lest the heartlessness quotient be too high, I do support a limited number of refugee/hardship admissions as well. Say, 10% of the total, divided among the countries of the globe on the basis of each nation's existing representation in our population and administered at the discretion of the State Department.)

Under this system, once the inevitable bugs are worked out, I'd support a high level of immigration - say, 4 million people per year, maybe more. They would more than pay for themselves, with their existing wealth and their existing skills and talents. Furthermore, their availability to US companies, and their own entrepreneurial activity, would accelerate our economy tremendously.

Hippie Invasion

2006-04-12T16:07:00.000-07:00

Get a haircut and a job, punk.

(He's so cute!)

Woohoo!

2006-04-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

They'll be partying in the evidence locker tonight.

An Insight Into the Human Psyche

2006-04-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

At toddler gym the other day, Stephanie was asked by the leader/facilitator to "come on over here" for the next programmed event. At the time, Stephanie was playing on the slide by herself. She ignored the first request.

"Stephanie, can you come over here for a minute, please?" said the facilitator. Nothing.

Finally, she looked up. To the world at large she announced, "I don't think I can hear you." And then she returned to her individual play.

I suspect that Stephanie merely vocalized the implicit thought that underlies a great deal of partisan division.

"I don't think I can hear you."

Tuesday Kitten Blogging

2006-04-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

Via Kitten War.

Michele Catalano Is Back!

2006-04-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

A Small Victory has returned, stealthily.

Not a Cute Widdle Bunny

2006-04-08T21:15:00.000-07:00

This story is boring, but the photo accompanying it is one impressive lepusoid. I wouldn't want to come around a row of corn on a dark night and see that thing nibbling away.

Why Do Men Run Things?

2006-04-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

Some interesting thoughts here. (Hint: it's not because we're superior beings.) I think the element most likely to be right is the bit about male variance making male homosocial groupings larger and less internally contentious than female groupings.

Romance Novels Gone Horribly Right

2006-04-08T00:15:00.000-07:00

A blogger "reimagines" the romance novel cover.

The Essential Guide to Flame Warriors

2006-04-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

Hysterical, and true, this is.

Tip of the hat to A Day in the Life.

Look Upon My Cuteness, and Despair

2006-04-07T00:50:00.000-07:00

Early Friday kitten blogging.

Punished for Hugging

2006-04-06T23:18:00.000-07:00

Unreal.

Stephanie will hug anyone who'll have her. Damned if I'm going to stop her.

Another Nail in My PC Coffin

2006-04-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

I'm not a super gamer by any stretch (I prefer games where you stare at a spreadsheet showing the economic performance of your colonies for an hour, then click to advance the turn counter). But this innovation appears to really seal the Mac transition for me.

If it'll run Oblivion it'll run any PC software I need to run.

This Woman is Interesting

2006-04-06T19:02:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to make of her. But I like, or am interestingly outraged at, what I've seen so far. Go read!

Iraqi Air Force Sought Volunteers for Suicide Mission Against US Interests

2006-04-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

An Iraqi document captured in the fall of Baghdad appears to indicate that the Iraqi Air Force sought volunteers for suicide missions to "liberate Palestine and to strike American interests". The document is a memo, written by Abdel Magid Hammot Ali, the commander of Ali Bin Abi Taleb Air Force Base.

An approximate translation of the document reads as follows:

In the Name of God the Merciful The Compassionate

Top Secret

The Command of Ali Bin Abi Taleb Air Force Base

No 3/6/104

Date 11 March 2001

To all the Units

Subject: Volunteer for Suicide Mission

The top secret letter 2205 of the Military Branch of Al Qadisya on 4/3/2001 announced by the top secret letter 246 from the Command of the military sector of Zi Kar on 8/3/2001 announced to us by the top secret letter 154 from the Command of Ali Military Division on 10/3/2001 we ask to provide that Division with the names of those who desire to volunteer for Suicide Mission to liberate Palestine and to strike American Interests and according what is shown below to please review and inform us.

Air Brigadier General

Abdel Magid Hammod Ali

Commander of Ali Bin Abi Taleb Air Force Base

Air Colonel

Mohamad Majid Mahdi

This document section was translated by jveritas of FreeRepublic.

Lasik at Home?

2006-04-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

For $100? It's hard to see how this could be real. But it sure looks real.

Well, That Tears It...

2006-04-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

My next desktop computer will be a Mac.

"I won't let this woman get away"

2006-04-05T01:28:00.000-07:00

Tom Cruise, stalker.

Boil Him In Oil

2006-04-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

That's my suggestion anyway.

Katie Who?

2006-04-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

Why in the name of God's green apples am I expected to care about this?

Katie Couric's location, activities and intentions are material in two scenarios:

1) She is in my presence, interacting with me, and I need to be civilly interested in her life in order to be a decent human being.

2) She is being held hostage by terrorists on top of the Empire State Building and Nicholas Cage and Harrison Ford and Bruce Willis are all crawling through the ductwork to rescue her.

Otherwise, I don't care where you work, lady. Just get a job and do it, already.

Pedophilia Hysteria May Have Contributed to Child's Death

2006-04-04T18:31:00.000-07:00

Four years ago, a two-year old English toddler drowned in a pond near her home after wandering away from a day-care center. A passerby saw her walking along the road but did not stop, fearing that he would be thought an abductor. A tragic story, ably explored by Wendy McElroy.

Web Singer Gets Contract

2006-04-04T16:15:00.000-07:00

A woman who sang via the Web from her London flat has signed with a major record label. Sandi Thom, 24, signed with conglomerate RCA/SonyBMG on April 3, 2006, after building a respectable audience of 100,000 daily listeners.

I suspect that agile record companies have found their new low-cost method for finding talent: wait for the audience to find it for you.

Self-Parking Cars

2006-04-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

As one of the world's truly incompetent parallel parkers, I would buy this technology.

Let Them Starve

2006-04-04T13:05:00.000-07:00

Withdraw the law and let the idiots starve to death.

UPDATE: Well, except for the lavish social welfare programs that will keep them alive.

Why Poor Countries Are Poor

2006-04-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

Interesting Reason article on Cameroon, and why despite an entrepreneurial spirit and hard work, the country is so desperately poor.

(Hint: it isn't because you drive a nice car.)

Humans Are Viruses

2006-04-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder where the trope comes from that leftists slash feminists think the human species is worthless and want us to die out?

It comes from people's accurate observations of what they say in unguarded moments.

Sexy TV Leads to Sexy Behavior

2006-04-03T18:07:00.000-07:00

...at least, according to this study.

Although the study bolsters my preconceptions - actually, because the study bolsters my preconceptions - I have to wonder about the direction of the causal arrow. If I am starting to get interested in sex, then I'm going to seek out cultural material that has sexual content, to get information. That has to be accounting for some of the connection.

(Which on closer reading I see the story mentions. So never mind.)

The Joys of Textual Literalism

2006-04-02T20:49:00.000-07:00

Stephanie was picking her nose.

"Stephanie, are you digging for gold?"

"No. I'm digging for snot."

Well, OK then.

"Die, Puny Humans"

2006-04-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

So says this scientist. You first, doc.

Google Romance Just a Joke

2006-04-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry, lonelyhearts, this is just an April Fool's joke.

Although I don't see why they wouldn't implement such a service. The first line of the joke is empirically true; finding true love really is mostly a search problem. Hooray for the Internets!

Presenting...The Plan!

2006-03-31T21:58:00.000-08:00

I was going to fisk the Democrat's national security plan when things calmed down, but why bother now? Stupid Iowahawk, taking all the good jokes!

Ready for the Deep Fryer Hugs and Cuddles

2006-03-31T15:27:00.000-08:00

Stolen, as always, from Kitten War.

UPDATED: Title modification to please one of my hotter readers.

OK, One More

2006-03-30T21:18:00.000-08:00

Two economists are walking along the street. One of them spies a $100 bill lying on the pavement, and leans down to retrieve it. The second one restrains him. "Don't be ridiculous, John! If that were really a $100 bill, someone would already have picked it up."

Via Asymmetrical Information.

OK, I Lied

2006-03-30T21:08:00.000-08:00

One post.

But it has thousands of must-see images of rock-n-roll idiots. Go. Click. Now.

Buried

2006-03-30T13:29:00.000-08:00

No blogging today, and probably not much tomorrow, either.

I'd get a guest blogger, if I had any readers.

The Death Spiral

2006-03-29T21:53:00.001-08:00

When does a movement start to die?

There are a number of indicators.

One of the easy ones: when it loses the ability to tolerate internal criticism.

The principal actor here, Tlaloc, is a bit of a jerk. He's also an apparently bona-fide feminist, or at least feminist-friendly, male, with plenty of left-wing chops. In the course of a couple of long threads (you can dig around and find them if you want) he ends up getting into a pissing match with Feministe's new management and eventually is banned.

The main reason seems from here to be that Tlaloc believes the leadership of the feminist movement to be more interested in acquiring power for women than in restructuring society to be more equal. This is a problem that all ideology-based movements have - the desire to use organizational resources to accumulate wealth and/or power, rather than to move forward the agenda of the group. It can be forestalled, in my experience, only by being aware of the possibility, and frankly suspicious of movement leaders and prominent spokespeople. Which, in a movement as dispersed and decentralized as feminism is, means pretty much anyone who gets up on the soapbox and starts talking.

Tlaloc's case could certainly have been made with more diplomacy. But it's somewhat revelatory that the eventual reaction to his criticism isn't "you're wrong, and we've been discussing this for long enough, so we're finished" - but is instead "you're wrong, go away and never come back."

Ouch

2006-03-29T19:52:00.000-08:00

Kevin Phillips' latest screed gets a thumping from Slate. Via NRO.

Why Does PayPal Punish Me?

2006-03-29T18:41:00.000-08:00

If you have an existing balance with PayPal, and want to send someone money, the only options available are to use the existing balance (which I don't want to do for an arcane and boring reason) or use an "e-Check" which takes 3-4 extra days. You can't do an instant transfer.

So if I had NO money with them, I could get my new Sonicare 7800e toothbrush immediately. But since they're holding on to a stack of my cash, it will take extra time.

That makes sense.

Save Nazanin

2006-03-29T12:56:00.000-08:00

Via NRO, a petition to pressure the Iranian government to release Nazanin, the 18-year old Iranian woman facing a death sentence for killing the man who tried to rape her.

Can't hurt. Might help.

Let's Hear it for the Reconquista

2006-03-29T07:37:00.000-08:00

The flagpole at a California high school after immigration protests. Via Michelle Malkin.

The Next Muslim Nation To Get Nuclear Weapons...

2006-03-28T21:45:00.000-08:00

will be France.

(Shamelessly stolen from this commenter at PW.)

What's The Biggest Economic Fallacy?

2006-03-28T19:05:00.000-08:00

An interesting discussion at Catallarchy.

RIP Instagrandmother

2006-03-28T17:39:00.000-08:00

Glenn Reynolds' grandmother passed away today at the age of 91. Condolences, thoughts and prayers to the Reynolds family.

Online Dating

2006-03-28T15:57:00.000-08:00

My own experiences went a little better than hers, I think.

Sky Wolf to Consume Sun; End of Times Expected

2006-03-28T15:09:00.000-08:00

Kiss it all goodbye - the sun is extinguished tomorrow.

More on Yalie Taliban

2006-03-28T14:26:00.000-08:00

There's a blog devoted to covering the issue over at Nail Yale.

(H/T Protein Wisdom.)

Immigration Protesters Step It Up A Notch

2006-03-27T23:47:00.000-08:00

Uh oh. They've deployed a Protest Babe.

(H/T that Drudge fellow.)

(Also available at Creative Destruction.)

Scotty: The Next Generation

2006-03-27T19:14:00.000-08:00

My three-year old is running around upstairs, going from room to room, shouting "I need more power! We're not going to make it in time!"

That's my girl.

The Taliban Yalie and John Fund

2006-03-27T19:04:00.000-08:00

John Fund is really starting to get pissed off. No intemperate rhetoric, just a quietly building anger.

Can't blame him; I feel pretty much the same way myself.

Sean Penn Has Ann Coulter Torture Doll

2006-03-27T17:02:00.000-08:00

Charming.

Not a big fan of Ms. Coulter myself, but that isn't material.

People like this have real psychological problems.

Another Step Forward for Airborne Volcano Laser Lancing

2006-03-27T10:54:00.000-08:00

Boeing's aerial laser gets another at-bat.

I'm not particularly committed to any specific implementation (I have no idea if this is a good weapon program, for example) but the general concept is sound and we should definitely build some of these.

Zap!

Banned at Feministe

2006-03-27T09:56:00.000-08:00

Apparently I don't fit in with the new order. I think this thread, where Zuzu thinks a bilateral treaty modification is TEH APOCALYPSE and gets mocked, is what did it.

Ah well. The site isn't worth [as] much without Lauren.