Harangutan Action Hour

...

2007-01-22T13:01:00.000-05:00

...

YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW

2005-09-22T14:05:00.000-05:00

Phil Donahue rips warmongerer Bill O'Reilly a new one.

"I DIDN'T SAY THE GOVERNMENT COULDN'T HURT YOU. I SAID IT COULDN'T HELP YOU." --CHIEF WIGGUM

2005-09-12T14:04:00.000-05:00

The most hellish image in New Orleans was not the battering waves of Lake Pontchartrain or even the homeless children wandering on raised highways. It was the forgotten thousands crammed into the fetid depths of the Superdome. And what most news outlets failed to report was that those infernos were not designed by the people within, nor did they represent the spontaneous eruption of nature red in tooth and claw. They were created by the authorities. The people within were not allowed to leave. The Convention Center and the Superdome became open prisons. "They won't let them walk out," reported Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, in a radical departure from the script. "They got locked in there. And anyone who walks up out of that city now is turned around. You are not allowed to go to Gretna, Louisiana, from New Orleans, Louisiana. Over there, there's hope. Over there, there's electricity. Over there, there is food and water. But you cannot go from here to there. The government will not allow you to do it. It's a fact." Jesse Jackson compared the Superdome to the hull of a slave ship. People were turned back at the Gretna bridge by armed authorities, men who fired warning shots over the growing crowd. Men in control. Lorrie Beth Slonsky and Larry Bradshaw, paramedics in New Orleans for a conference, wrote in an email report (now posted at CounterPunch) that they saw hundreds of stranded tourists thus turned back. "All day long, we saw other families, individuals and groups make the same trip up the incline in an attempt to cross the bridge, only to be turned away. Some chased away with gunfire, others simply told no, others to be verbally berated and humiliated. Thousands of New Orleaners were prevented and prohibited from self-evacuating the city on foot." That was not anarchy, nor was it civil society.

And if you click on this bit of text, you can take in Salon's compilation of footage of TV reporters ripping into government hacks. I especially like the expression on Senator Landrieu's face. (Click on the free day pass, and you'll be granted access.)

DO YOU REALLY WANT TO SUPPORT OUR TROOPS?

2005-08-23T13:20:00.000-05:00

Did the Army murder Specialist Juan Torres, Jr.?

THE WAR TO KEEP SICK PEOPLE IN PAIN

2005-08-15T11:15:00.000-05:00

Do you have really, really bad cancer? Or maybe an auto-immune disease? Perhaps you suffer from cluster headaches. Maybe you just had a few limbs amputated.

If so, you have my sympathy.

Frankly, however, I'm surprised that you're spending time on the Action Hour. Most people find the length of time between posts to be too painful to bear, and they aren't suffering from horrific diseases. (Thank you; I'll be on all week.)

If you are here, though, welcome.

But if you don't suffer from any terribly painful disease, take a minute to think about the intense chronic pain these people endure. Then imagine that some of them can't get any relief unless they take mind-boggling high doses of narcotics. Sucks to be them.

Yes, they pop pills to a degree that would put most druggies to shame. And they have to go from doctor to doctor to doctor just to get enough prescriptions to get what they need in order to reduce their pain to levels that let them pretend to function normally, because most doctors are--rightfully--scared that the Man's going to put them away from supplying prescription drug abusers.

Sounds pretty bad, doesn't it?

Well, after you've thought about that, think about this: the government considers these people little better than dope-fiends and crack-heads. Sure, some people are hooked on pain pills because they enjoy the relaxed high that narcotics give them. But so what? Is it worth condemning sufferers of chronic pain to a lifetime of debilitating pain? Or imprisonment? And stripping their compassionate doctors of their medical licenses?

I say that no, it is not worth that.

I'm sure you're all familiar with the medical marijuana issue. Pain management through narcotics is similar, except without the images of stoners and bongs and black lights and crazy music, man. And now, we get to enjoy the fruits of a new law that creates "electronic monitoring programs to prevent the abuse of prescription drugs in all 50 states. The new law creates a grant program for states to create databases and enhance existing ones in hopes of ending the practice of 'doctor shopping' by drug abusers seeking multiple prescriptions."

What kind of person could vote for a bill such as that, which would assist the self-proclaimed drug warriors in clamping down on people who shop for prescription drugs because they really, really actually need them?

Either very shallow, very stupid, or very evil kind of person.

Maybe they're worried of looking soft on drugs. But do people care more about pot and narcotics or the violence that the war on drugs engenders? Take away the war on drugs and you take away all the violence. Instead of wasting money on guns and dogs and agents and helicopters, spend it on prevention and treatment programs.

Or, even better, give it right back to the taxpayers from whom it was stolen in the first place.

For shame, I say. For shame!

THE REAL ART OF POLITICS

2005-08-15T11:14:00.000-05:00

Oh Andy Dick, your comedic stylings are so stupid that they're occasionally funny. And what a foil you seem to have found.

"WE EAT AND DRINK WHILE TOMORROW THEY DIE"

2005-07-01T08:38:00.000-05:00

"We were out of breath when we got to the gun-truck nearest to the black civilian truck. There were four Iraqis walking towards us from the black truck. They were carrying a body, a small boy no more than 3 years old. His head was cocked at the wrong angle and there was blood. So much blood. The Iraqi men were crying and asking me WHY?

...

President Bush's televised address to the nation produced no noticeable bounce in his approval numbers, with his job approval rating slipping a point from a week ago, to 43%, in the latest Zogby International poll. And, in a sign of continuing polarization, more than two-in-five voters (42%) say they would favor impeachment proceedings if it is found the President misled the nation about his reasons for going to war with Iraq.

WHEN HEADLINES ACTUALLY AREN'T SENSATIONALIST ENOUGH

2005-06-08T07:48:00.000-05:00

"A bloody chainsaw merits border welcome."

What a strange government we have: it's okay to be a psychotic chainsaw murderer and come into the U.S., but it's not okay to be a tasty piece of cheese, a wormwood-infused liquor, or a Nazi-era Jew, and come into the U.S.?

OH, TO BE A POLYGLOT

2005-06-03T08:47:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while, though, linguists encounter a language that doesn't seem to fit into any of the families. That is, when you analyze its vocabulary, sentence structure, and other characteristics, there's no clear proof that it's historically related to any other living language. It's as though the language simply appeared out of nowhere thousands of years ago. Such languages are called language isolates, and about 100 of them are known to exist. Although some of these (including Japanese and Korean) have a huge number of speakers, most are spoken by much smaller groups of people--sometimes, but not always, geographically isolated groups. But what's really surprising is when you find a language isolate in a geographical area where all the other surrounding languages are part of a single family. Such is the case with Euskara, the language of the Basque people in northern Spain and southwestern France.

If you found that interesting, you should read the article (duh), and then read Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct.

"I'M DARTH SAD-FACE, HEAR ME PONDER"

2005-05-25T14:30:00.000-05:00

Darth Vader: Confidential!

(You should start with the first post, which is here.)

WOULDN'T IT BE FUN IF MORE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDANTS WERE MASKED PENGUINS?

2005-05-25T13:57:00.000-05:00

The last word on the Newsweek shenanigans.

THE FORCE WAS STRONG, WITH THAT ONE

2005-05-25T11:06:00.000-05:00

Here's a vintage 1977 review of Star Wars.

It always makes me a little sad when I think of how much more fun Episodes IV, V, and VI were than I, II, and III, and this review conjured feelings of nostalgia within me. I think I'll have to do a screening of the original trilogy pretty soon. Episode III was decent, yes, and certainly better than I and II, but just didn't wrap things up in a way as to make the whole saga a solid, coherent whole. I won't say anything more, because I know that some of you haven't seen Episode III yet and would resent it being spoiled.

Maybe I will, now that my compatriots and I have a copy of the leaked Episode III screener, have to do a screening of all six in a single day. Heh. Nerd-alert!

INDIANA GOVERNOR MITCH DANIELS: "I AM GOD, FEEL MY WRATH"

2005-05-25T07:59:00.000-05:00

Gov. Mitch Daniels rejected the request of a convicted murderer [Gregory Scott
Johnson] for a reprieve of his execution so he could donate part of his liver to an ailing sister.

Doesn't that give you a warm and cuddly feeling? Mr. Johnson may be a horrible person who has done some terrible things. But the man's trying to save his sister's life. Let no good deed go unpunished, I suppose, even when the stakes are literally life and death.

Daniels said he accepted the sincerity of Johnson's motivation in trying to donate part of his liver, but said medical experts had advised against it, saying Johnson's sister would be better served by accepting a new organ through the conventional process. [emphasis added]

What does that mean? If it means that his sister would have a better chance at survival because Mr. Johnson's organ type wasn't a close match, they would have said that. As best as I can figure, Governor Daniels is just a cold-hearted S.O.B. who figures that being tough on crime means spitting on people before he kills them. May God have mercy on the evil governor's soul, because he certainly doesn't deserve any.

Partly related to this, I'm sure: why is there such a legal stigma against letting people do what the want with their bodies? If you want to give an organ to a friend or relative, that's your business. If you want to sell a kidney to the highest bidder, that's your business. It's not mine, it's not some cabal of doctor's, and it certainly isn't the State's business.

Why is there such a "shortage" of organs when there are so many tens of thousands in the U.S. alone desperate for a chance at life? It's because the State keeps the supply tightly regulated and constrained by refusing to allow people to do what they want to do with their bodies. Land of liberty indeed: Iraqis are more free than Americans in important ways when it comes to their bodies.

***

Update: It turns out that, in part, the Indiana Governor's office is just really stupid. According to a letter sent to the governor from the doctor's reviewing the case, Mr. Johnson would have been an unsuitable donor. They should have said that in the first place. When you're about to kill someone, it helps to be specific as to exactly why you're doing what you're doing.

Nevertheless, the original statement from Governor Daniels reflects a callous attitude toward human life for which he'll someday have to account.

RIIIIIIIIIIIGHT....

2005-05-06T10:08:00.000-05:00

Posted on the website of Peachtree Corners Baptist Church, where John Mason and Jennifer Wilbanks attend (she's the bride-to-be who faked her kidnapping):

Many have inquired about the well-being of Jennifer Wilbanks and John Mason. Our church is attempting to support the couple as much as possible. We do want to state that we believe in the sanctity of marriage and that purity should be maintained until after the wedding.

It is our understanding that John and Jennifer have maintained purity in their relationship with each other and that their relationship is platonic. While we do not condone living together before marriage and we were not aware of this temporary housing arrangement, we are grateful for the above explanation of purity.

Please join our church family in prayer for this family. Our heartfelt thanks goes to all who have sacrificed time, prayed and sent encouragement to these families in their time of need.

Hahahaha. Gotta love cognitive dissonance. Hey, I've got a bridge I'm selling...

Found this over at LRC.

***

Update: I'm glad I copied the entire statement, because, as a sharp-eyed reader informed me, the church has replaced the statement with more benign one:

"Peachtree Corners Baptist Church continues to support John Mason and Jennifer Wilbanks. We want to be an encouragement to them in any way possible. We look forward to their returning to worship with us."

I'M NOT SURE THAT POPECY'S A WORD

2005-05-06T09:58:00.000-05:00

I can't find from where this originated, so I'm posting it whole with no attributions other than a shout out to the friend who emailed it to me.

Bush Wins Papal Vote (Reuters)
6 May 2005 0953 GMT
VATICAN CITY

In a turn of events that stunned Vatican officials, U.S. President George W. Bush has been named to succeed John Paul II as the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church. For the first time in history -- and unknown to the fawning media-- the College of Cardinals employed electronic voting machines to select the next Supreme Pontiff. Bush won by a margin of 2,528 votes, despite the fact that only 115 Cardinals took part in the process. The machines, which were last used in Ohio for the 2004 presidential election, also registered 27 votes for Democratic candidate John Kerry.

"It's a miracle!" cried Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's Secretary of State, gubernatorial candidate and unofficial spokesperson for voting machine manufacturer Diebold Corporation. "This result vindicates our use of Diebold machines last November. They work just as they are supposed to every time. They delivered the desired vote in Ohio and now they've done so at the Vatican. God has spoken." Supporters of Panzerkardinal Joseph Ratzinger, whom initial reports had leading by a comfortable margin in the voting, demanded a recount. But Blackwell said the voting machines, which had been modified to emit a plume of white smoke when a plurality was reached, are unable to produce a paper audit trail, rendering a recount impossible. "Herr Ratzinger should return the ring. Mr. Bush is the duly elected pope!"

When informed of his victory, President Bush expressed surprise. "I was not aware I was running for the popecy," he said. "I wish people would tell me these things." However, he added "I am impregnated with humblidity, and would be honored and privileged to serve as Supreme Pontoon for the rest of my natural life, or until I die, whichever comes first."

This dual role for Mr. Bush can only help the GOP, intoned House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. "Having a president who is infallible will make it impossible for our Democratic opponents to deny that God approves of our antediluvian agenda."

The president/pope is expected to adopt an appropriate name for his reign on the throne of St. Peter. Unnamed sources close to Bush say even money in White House circles is on the name, Pope Clement VX, in honor of Clement V, the 14th century pope who gave away the Church\'s wealth to his relatives, leaving a bare treasury.

WHY ICONOCLASM IS A DAMNABLE MISTAKE (not the point of the article, really, but my take on the issue)

2005-05-04T08:40:00.000-05:00

Pope Benedict (as Cardinal Ratzinger) on beauty, suffering, and Truth.

[I'm not sure if the archives of Zenit.org are screwy or what, but if you're not seeing an article by Ratzinger, note that it was posted on 2005-05-02 and is entitled Cardinal Ratzinger on the Contemplation of Beauty.]

DUTCH ELIMINATE MP3 PLAYER MARKET

2005-04-29T08:52:00.000-05:00

How awesome is this: a Dutch proposal about to become law would slap a tax of several Euros per gigabyte on every mp3 player sold. As the example in the article tells us, that means that a 60-gig iPod would cost an extra $235.

I mean, usually politicians and special interest groups at least pander to the idea that they're doing some sort of good. You have to hand it to those Dutch. There's no pandering here.

"GOD CANNOT ALTER THE PAST, BUT HISTORIANS CAN" --SAMUEL BUTLER

2005-04-15T09:22:00.000-05:00

Steve Sailer on history and mass murderers:

Let's be frank: history is not written by the victors. The truth about who writes history isn't well understood, even though it's tautological:

History is written by the writers of history.

What that means, in practical terms, is that if the Ukrainians want their Holocaust to stop being ignored, well, they'll just have to become executive editors and professors of journalism and columnists and historians and movie producers and documentarians and all the rest. The Ukrainians will have to do it themselves. People care about avenging their relatives' victimizations a lot more than they care about fair historical balance.

STOMPING OUT THOSE REDS

2005-04-08T09:30:00.000-05:00

"China Won't Send Envoy to Pope's Funeral," reads the Yahoo! headline above the A.P. article.

Of course they won't. After all, the Catholic Church is illegal in China. They'll do all sorts of nasty stuff to you if you're a member of it. Like imprison you, burn your church to the ground, and knock off a few of your parishioners just for kicks.

Heard of the late Cardinal Kung? "Long live Christ the King! Long live the Pope!" He's dead. Well, yes, he died in Connecticut just a few years ago, but that was after being imprisoned for three decades because he wouldn't submit to the false authority of the Communist version of the Catholic Church.

Read John Paul II's spiritual last testament?

In some Countries[...], the Church is undergoing a period of such persecution as to be in no way lesser than that of early centuries, indeed it surpasses them in its degree of cruelty and hatred.

(I haven't been able to find a link to the testament yet, sorry.)

But you wouldn't find any inkling of that in the Yahoo! article. Oh no. The real reason China won't be sending an envoy to the Pope's funeral is because the Vatican has diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Sure...

Maybe it's the other way ‘round, and the Church doesn't want those Communists stinking up the throne of Peter.

And the A.P. photo Yahoo! attaches to article is no better. It shows a Chinese man praying during morning mass at a church in Beijing. While I appreciate the man's devotion to God, I'm saddened by his capitulation to the Communists. We're not all called to martyrdom...

But it is a shame that neither Yahoo! nor the A.P. are called at least to the truth.

Long live Christ the King, indeed.

REQUIEM AETERNAM DONA EI, DOMINE, ET LUX PERPETUA LUCEAT EI

2005-04-04T09:40:00.000-05:00

Remember, friends, that "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God."

***

And Raimondo writes a thoughtful piece castigating the rightists hypocrites that's well worth reading.

JOSEPH SOBRAN ON ENGLISH USAGE

2005-03-25T11:21:00.000-05:00

Shakespeare uses the English language with great subtlety, but also with idiomatic ease. He’s never haunted by rules. In some respects the English of his day was more emphatic than ours. I like him not, where the crucial adverb is climactic, has more power than the modern I do not like him, where the adverb gets buried in the middle of the sentence. Why have English-speakers abandoned this fine old form? Well, these things happen.

Yeah, in my opinion, if your* in doubt on a question of grammar, go with what Shakespeare did.

***

*Irony, friends. Of course one should use an apostrophe and an e in such a contraction. But I wanted to rile you up. [Um, yeah...heh.]

A MAN OF PRINCIPLE

2005-03-14T19:04:00.000-05:00

Via the LRC blog comes this interview with Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, a life-tenured New Jersey Superior Court Judge and regular guest on Fox News. It amazes me that there are any judges this principled out there. He's only half-right on a lot of things, but that's half as much more than most people, especially those who buy into the system by making a serious study of the law (why I don't want to go to law school...). After all, while less government intrusion into our lives is better than what we have now, and to be sought, no governement intrusion at all would be best of all.

And that he hasn't been blackballed by the Fox War channel is probably the most amazing thing of all.

Napolitano: I am walking out of Mass one day in Washington Square Park in lower Manhattan, and a scruffy guy with some others like him comes up to me and offers me marijuana. I tell him to take a hike. He turns over the collar of his jacket and shows me his New York Police Department detective badge and says, "Have a nice day, Your Honor," so obviously he [and his fellow undercover cops knew who I was]. What were they doing? Selling drugs. Now, there's no exception in the statute. They wanted me to buy drugs (which don't tempt me at all, even though I believe that they should be legal). Their chances of hitting on me were none and none. They just recognized me coming out of Mass, but they were committing a crime in an effort to enforce the law. Selling drugs and attempting to sell drugs in the presence of children, mind you. When the government breaks the law in order to enforce the law, it perverts the process. It becomes a law unto itself. It encourages others to become a law unto themselves, and it becomes a precedent for the government to do that again and again and again.
The government routinely bribes witnesses by giving them something of value in order to influence the witness’s testimony. It could be paying the witness's bills--alimony, rent, or mortgage. It could be a direct cash payment to the witness. It could be, and this is the most typical way, forgiving the witness a crime he has committed. When the government does that, it perverts the intellectual integrity of the trial process. It no longer becomes a search for truth. This tactic is of a post-World War II vintage. It is now taught in law schools as well as specialized schools for prosecutors that the government runs.

The government does that for two reasons. One, I think it honestly believes, and there's a lot of data to support this, that if you cut the head off [of a criminal enterprise], you're going to destroy the organization. The second is that a lot of prosecutors are interested in victory, not truth, and they're interested in a high-profile victory because it enhances their own careers and their own standing in the law enforcement community.

[...]

Reason: Is there any reason to believe the PATRIOT Act has helped keep us safe from terrorism?
Napolitano: We have not been attacked since 9/11. Who knows why? We wiped them out of Afghanistan. We inflicted enormous setbacks on them in Iraq. The government can take all the credit that it wants on the basis of the PATRIOT Act, but the government cannot point to a single successful prosecution for terrorist activity where the evidence obtained was under the PATRIOT Act--at least a successful prosecution that wasn’t overturned eventually. The PATRIOT Act creates one new independent crime, the crime of speaking. The rest of the PATRIOT Act does not create substantive crimes. It gives tools, unconstitutional tools, to law enforcers. They have used those tools, but they haven't gotten a single prosecution for terrorist acts on the basis of it. They've gotten five prosecutions having to do with political corruption and drugs. One of the things that John Ashcroft gave to Congress in return for no debate was the sunset clause. The other was that the PATRIOT Act would only be used in the war on terror.
Both of those promises have been violated. We know from newspaper accounts that the PATRIOT Act was used to gather information on political corruption in Las Vegas and against drug dealers elsewhere. The Intelligence Reform Act of '04 gets rid of one of the sunset clauses.

[...]

Reason: You said abortion is murder. Should it be regulated by the state or should it be prohibited by the state?
Napolitano: Absolutely it should be prohibited, just the way all unjust killings are prohibited.
Reason: Should doctors go to prison as murderers?
Napolitano: Yes.
Reason: First-degree murder?
Napolitano: Yes.
Reason: Should they get the death penalty--
Napolitano: I don't believe that the state has the moral authority to execute, so I don't believe in the death penalty.
Reason: But you do think that doctors who perform abortions should be put in jail as murderers? Every bit as much as Scott Peterson?
Napolitano: Yes. By a state government, not by the federal government, because the Constitution doesn't authorize the federal government to prosecute murderers. Roe v. Wade is wrong because there's isn't a scintilla in the Constitution or its history to justify federal legislation on abortion. It would then be up to the state of Kansas to allow it and Pennsylvania not to allow it.

[...]

Reason: What's the connection between your Catholicism and your politics? The church contributed hugely to the development of natural law theory. But historically, the church has also often been an extremely repressive, anti-democratic, anti-individualistic organization.
Napolitano: The Catholic Church teaches that every human life is of potentially infinite value, that it can be saved up to the moment of death, and that each soul could present everlasting and eternal glory to God, no matter how evil the person appears. That's about as strong a statement of the primacy of the individual over the state as you could imagine.

ARCHBISHOP DAGGER JOHN

2005-02-25T15:24:00.000-05:00

How one Catholic saved the Irish (of New York).

And it only took one man one generation. Curious.

Makes you think, eh? Perhaps you don't need the government as much as you might have thought. After all: Government legislation and enforcement of morality? False and counterproductive. Faith-based organizations beholden to government money and government rules? Will undo any good they might have otherwise done. The U.S. military as a force for freedom? Damnable lies, all.

The poor don't need handouts. The sick don't need socialized medicine. The immoral don't need prisons. The Iraqis don't need to be killed. What they need is some good Churching, as Archbishop Hughes showed, and a healthy dose of liberty (it's hard to give to the Church when most of your wealth is taxed away).

ESCAPISM

2005-02-24T15:49:00.000-05:00

Life got you down? Sick of the never-ending cold and snow*?

Maybe you should go live on an tiny island in the Pacific. By yourself. For years and years. Or maybe just read about it.

(Be sure to click on the link at the bottom of each section of text: the story spans three pages.)

***

*If you're not sick of the snow, take a gander at this crazy ice tower in Alaska, land of the manly men.

THE PAST WEEK IN BOOZE

2005-02-24T15:46:00.000-05:00

Drink till you lower your chances of food poisoning.

Or, for those times when you're broke: a pill that slows your body's metabolization of alcohol (resulting in you staying intoxicated longer).

THE UK'S RON PAUL?

2005-02-24T14:47:00.000-05:00

Here's a fabulous speech from Brian Sedgemore, a British Labour MP, from a debate on a prevention of terrorism bill:

Liberty, without which democracy has no meaning, and the rule of law, without which state power cannot be contained, look to Parliament for their protection, but this Parliament, sad to say, is failing the nation badly...It seems that in situations such as this, politics become incompatible with conscience, principle, decency and self-respect. Regrettably, in such situations, the desire for power and position predominates.

...

Have we all, individually and collectively, no shame? I suppose that once one has shown contempt for liberty by voting against it in the Lobby, it becomes easier to do it a second time and after that, a third time. Thus even Members of Parliament who claim to believe in human rights vote to destroy them.

Many Members have gone nap on the matter. They voted: first, to abolish trial by jury in less serious cases; secondly, to abolish trial by jury in more serious cases; thirdly, to approve an unlawful war; fourthly, to create a gulag at Belmarsh; and fifthly, to lock up innocent people in their homes. It is truly terrifying to imagine what those Members of Parliament will vote for next. I can describe all that only as new Labour's descent into hell, which is not a place where I want to be.

I hope that--but doubt whether--ethical principles and liberal thought will triumph tonight over the lazy minds and disengaged consciences that make Labour's Whips Office look so ridiculous and our Parliament so unprincipled.

It is a foul calumny that we do today.

BUCKLEY PRAYS FOR THE DEATH OF THE POPE

2005-02-11T14:18:00.000-05:00

How horrifyingly callous.

And on Ash Wednesday, the start of the Easter season--a celebration of life. Such taste. What a small man.

TODAY (AND THE PAST FEW DAYS), ON ANANOVA.COM (AND A FEW OTHER SITES)

2005-01-28T18:26:00.000-05:00

Highbrow.
(Lawyer really sticks it to der Mann)

Lowbrow.
(Why is it that the best alcohol stories come from Eastern Europe? Probably because they don't have MADD. When Americans get drunk and fall off of balconies, or cut down Christmas trees, they tend to die. Not the Russians, oh no.)

Coolbrow.
(Why I was late to work: "Yeah, well, someone replaced my car with a chunk of ice. The strangest thing...")

Stupidbrow.
("We were so shocked that we just kept watching and watching, all the way to the end. And then watched it a few dozen more times. Shocked, I tell you.")

Reallystupidbrow.
("Well, we were so shocked that we broke out the telescope. And then the video camera. I mean, think of the children!")

Um, yoghurtbrow.

I GUESS THIS IS WHY MOST PEOPLE HAVE SUCH A ROMANTIC ATTRACTION TO THE WORD PIRATE AND SUCH A NEGATIVE RESPONSE TO THE WORD COP

2005-01-13T20:15:00.000-05:00

My goodness, apparently file trading is a deadly serious issue.

A 20-year-old pirated VCD seller was admitted to the Penang Hospital in critical condition after he was shot in the chest during a struggle with seven Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs enforcement officers in Gottlieb Road here last night.

"Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs enforcement officers?" And seven of them? I bet their jobs make them feel like really big men. Maybe they couldn't get into real cop-land, but gosh darnit, they can still kill people (or at least try to).

"An assortment of items such as the iron stand of the VCD stall, which could have been used as a weapon, were recovered at the scene. We will need to determine if any of these items were used to attack the officers," he said at the scene.

Hmm...they wouldn't be setting him up retroactively, would they? You might think they'd smart enough to plant the evidence before going public? "Look out, he's gotta CD-burner!"

IT'S JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS YOU SIMPLY DON'T KNOW HOW YOU LIVED BEFORE GETTING

2005-01-10T13:36:00.000-05:00

Mmm...I love my free iPod.

Yeah, freeipods.com rocks. But if you want to get a free iPod--and you should--let me know, and I'll send you an even cooler freeipods link.

WORK WORK WORK

2005-01-10T13:34:00.000-05:00

If I might draw your attention to the post from December 17th entitled "Beer: It's What's for Dinner," you might notice how I talk a little about this book we're writing. Well, we finally finished the first draft. So you can expect regular postings to resume now.

Cheers.

COMING ATTRACTIONS: THE MAN VS. YOU

2004-12-20T16:19:00.000-05:00

In a just published book, Thinking About Crime, Michael Tonry, a distinguished American law professor and director of Cambridge University's Institute of Criminology, reports that the US has the highest percentage of its population in prison of any country on earth. The US incarceration rate is as much as 12 times higher than that of European countries.

Unless you believe that Americans are more criminally inclined than other humans, what can explain the US incarceration rate being so far outside the international mainstream? I can think of the following reasons:

1. In order to prove that they are "tough on crime," politicians have criminalized behavior that is legal elsewhere.
2. Many innocent Americans are in jail.
There is enormous evidence backing up both reasons.

Professor Tonry notes that during the past three decades the number of Americans in prison has increased 700%. Imprisonment has far outstripped the growth in the population. Subtracting children and the elderly, one in eighty Americans of prison eligible age is locked up.

...

Diane Lori Kleiman is an attorney who has worked in a district attorney's office and for the Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. She says prosecutors have little concern with real crimes, preferring to target high-profile individuals in order to garner headlines and create a political career for themselves. Martha Stewart is a victim of prosecutorial ambition as was Michael Milken, whose false imprisonment created a political career for Rudy Giuliani.

Kleiman says that prosecutors look for high-profile targets. "It isn't necessarily an issue of right and wrong. It's an issue of taking the case to trial and getting the publicity. That makes your career."

The Martha Stewart case, Kleiman says, "is the first time in history where they charged an individual with false statements, without her signing the statement or without a tape recording that she even made the statement. And not under oath." Kleiman is referring to US history, not Soviet or Nazi history, histories that our criminal injustice system now mimics.

Well, what do you expect when you have a socialized court system feeding into a privatized prison system? That's corporatism at its absolute, literal worst.

Shame on you, dear reader, for sitting by whilst this happens. And to think that my legal counsel has actually advised me that, when charged by Federal prosecutors, it would be in my best interest to cop a plea. Screw that!

Would that we were all made of stuff as stern as is John Barlow (of The Grateful Dead fame), who's taking on DHS, TSA, and the whole airline security scam. And here's the meat, for all my little attorney friends.

MENTAL ILLNESS AS A CHOICE?

2004-12-17T11:57:00.000-05:00

As highlighted in Boing Boing:

We've all seen A Beautiful Mind. Here's an interview with the inspiration behind the movie, John Nash.

I was a long way into mental illness before I heard any voices. Ultimately I realised I am generating these voices in my own mind: this is dreaming, this is not communication. This is coming from an internal source, not from the cosmos. And simply to understand that is to escape from the thing in principle. After understanding that, the voices died out. My son hears voices, but I haven't heard any for a long time.

So was there an element of rational decision-making involved in dealing with your symptoms? There's a lot of choice in this, I think. I know this is not the standard point of view. The standard doctrine is that we are supposed to be non-stigmatic in terms of these people: they are constitutionally, necessarily, schizophrenic. But I think there is an element of choice. A person doesn't pass into insanity when their situations are good. If their personal life is successful, people don't become insane. When they're not so happy, when things aren't so good, then they may become clinically depressed, and then maybe schizophrenic. Wealthy people are less likely to become schizophrenic than people who are not wealthy.

BEER: IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER

2004-12-17T11:45:00.000-05:00

The Christmas season can be rather trying at times: my boss is having us write a book (which we're just starting), to be finished by December 31st. Fun.

So things have been a little busy around here. Consequently, I haven't had much time for proper meals. But I always have time for Christmas parties and the booze they make available. Good thing beer and wine are laden with calories, since they are, quite literally, what's for dinner.

On that note, here's a bit from the New York Times on the terroir of beer.

IS IT MERRY KWANZAA OR HAPPY KWANZAA?

2004-12-17T11:31:00.000-05:00

Just in case you hadn't already heard: Kwanzaa's a 38 year-old communist holiday created by a violently racist pinko. Screw multiculturalism.

It is a fact that Kwanzaa was invented in 1966 by a black radical FBI stooge, Ron Karenga, aka Dr. Maulana Karenga. Karenga was a founder of United Slaves, a violent nationalist rival to the Black Panthers and a dupe of the FBI.

...

When Karenga was asked to distinguish Kawaida, the philosophy underlying Kwanzaa, from "classical Marxism," he essentially explained that under Kawaida, we also hate whites. While taking the "best of" -- I'm not making this up -- "early Chinese and Cuban socialism," Kawaida practitioners believe one's racial identity "determines life conditions, life chances and self-understanding." There's an inclusive philosophy for you.

Yeah, that's by Ann Coulter, but I found the link on Steve Sailer. And it's not untrue.

CAP'N SQUEAKY

2004-12-13T17:25:00.000-05:00

The Navy was experimenting with sending divers to deeper and deeper depths for longer and longer periods of time. One of these divers-the former astronaut Scott Carpenter-has just set a world record: he's spent thirty days in the ocean at a depth of 200 feet.

A pre-arranged phone call to the White House is planned. The idea is to have President Lyndon Johnson offer Commander Carpenter a formal congratulation. This is a purely ceremonial call. It should be cut-and-dried. But there's a bizarre problem. Commander Carpenter is no longer underwater; he's in a decompression chamber. He's breathing air in which nitrogen-the gas which can give people the bends-has been replaced by helium. Helium is harmless, but it distorts the voice. When he speaks, Commander Carpenter sounds like Mickey Mouse.

It's a shame that more military men don't sound like that. Then maybe fewer people would take the military as seriously as they do. Imagine someone who sounded like Mickey Mouse ordering the firebombing of a city or the execution of some non-combatants.

Hmm. No. On second thought, that's even scarier.

HAS IT BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE YOU'VE ROCK AND ROLLED?

2004-12-13T16:53:00.000-05:00

If yesterday's rock was the music of abandon, today's is that of abandonment. The odd truth about contemporary teenage music -- the characteristic that most separates it from what has gone before -- is its compulsive insistence on the damage wrought by broken homes, family dysfunction, checked-out parents, and (especially) absent fathers.

Well, yes and no. Certainly, whiney bands fill the market demand created by whiney kids. But that's just one flavor of what's available. There's a large amount of music in stores, clubs, and online being written and performed by bands that aren't whiney.

If you're tired of the pap on the radio, fed up with people who can't suck it up and move on, and just want to rock, chill, groove, or whatever, check out groups like stellastarr*, the Stills, The Shins, Snow Patrol, Muse, Minus the Bear, Planeside, or The Thievery Corporation. And if you don't mind bands that have sold out, whatever that means*, but are good nevertheless, download some Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse, Interpol, Scissor Sisters, or Keane. The Killers are great too, but a bit whiney.

*That means, for purposes of this post, that you actually may have already heard of them, and not just from me.

Article via the Libertarian Jackass.

KERIK: MORE SKELETONS THAN JUST A SKETCHY NANNY

2004-12-13T16:17:00.000-05:00

But you can't slap the U.S. Senate around the way you can a crackhead

It's almost a shame that Kerik folded like a cheap deck of cards. Muckracking's always fun when there's actual trash to be plastered across the headlines.

REQUIESCAT IN PACE

2004-12-06T18:43:00.000-05:00

My guinea pig's gone; no earthly ships will bring him home again.

BON SOIR

2004-11-19T16:10:00.000-05:00

Harangutan will be jet-setting for a few weeks. Regular posts will resume December 7.

THREE SENTENCE MOVIE RECOMMENDATION

2004-11-15T18:55:00.000-05:00

Heed not the nay sayers. The Incredibles is, well, an incredible movie. You should go see it.

A WEE BIT MORE ON THE ELECTION

2004-11-10T17:24:00.000-05:00

As we pointed out yesterday, most election-return maps are worse than useless: they distort reality and cause people to think of silly pseudo-concepts like "fly-over country."

But here's a page that's slightly better than the rest.

AH, HOW ENLIGHTENED EUROPE IS

2004-11-10T17:17:00.000-05:00

Exactly one week after the political assassination of Dutch journalist Theo Van Gogh in Holland last Tuesday, the Supreme Court in neighbouring Belgium has banned the Vlaams Blok, an anti-immigration party that happens to be the largest party in the
country.
Is there a connection between the Van Gogh assassination and the judicial execution of the Vlaams Blok?
There sure is.

JUST ANOTHER PROPERTY RIGHTS ISSUE; NOTHING NEW TO SEE HERE

2004-11-10T11:26:00.000-05:00

Pharmacists refuse to fulfill chemical birth control prescriptions.

While we sympathize with the pharmacists who refuse to dispense drugs that can bring about abortions, such as RU-486, the pill, the patch, the ring, etc., there are several caveats with this situation.

The moral issue:
It is conceivable that there are legitimate medical reasons for taking some forms of birth control, such as blood disorders, that are neither related to preventing pregnancy nor causing abortions. Just as gun store owners are not responsible for murders committed with products they sold, pharmacists are not responsible for abortions procurred with products they dispensed.

Note that pharmacists are not absolved of selling RU-486, which is used only to bring about abortions.

The practical issue:
What was in the employment contract the pharmacist signed with the drug store? The State shouldn't be involved in this at all: if a company wants to allow its pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraceptives or whatever else, fine. If not, the pharmacists should find another job or another line of work. If you, the consumer, have a problem with one way or the other, don't patronize drug stores that offend you.

"BEWARE THE JABBERWOCK, MY SON!"

2004-11-09T13:13:00.000-05:00

Is translating Lewis Carroll's "Jaberwock" an exercise an anything more than extremely difficult absurdity?

Probably not, but it's still interesting to read it in other languages. It's not as though they're any harder to understand than the English original.

Suggestion: check out the Welsh translation. Ouch.

"I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND!"

2004-11-09T10:05:00.000-05:00

We've never been to Disneyland, only Disneyworld. Nevertheless, this high-res aerial picture of Disneyland conjured fond pseudo-memories.

via Boing Boing

WHILE THE REST OF YOU GET BACK TO YOUR LIVES, SOME OF US CONTINUE TO OBSESS OVER POLITICS

2004-11-08T17:46:00.000-05:00

People seem to be realizing that while they are amusing to look at, those election result maps really don't tell us much of anything.

Maybe they'll eventually come around to the more profound truth of not voting red or blue or Green or Constitution or whatever, but simply not voting at all (the article's not the best set of arguments, but it gets the job done. Incidentally, on election night the author of said piece was well turned out in a stylish black ensemble with a prominent "I Voted" sticker attached to her lapel. Alas.).

If you must vote, though, at least subvert the system by selling to the highest bidder (scroll down to the 1:31 A.M. post on October 20 - LJ's archives are almost as screwed up as ours). A little profiteering never hurt anyone.

But we think that the Wayward Moot sums it all up better than most. For some reason, that marmite comment just strikes us as funny.

MUSIC FOR THE AGES...?

2004-11-08T17:42:00.000-05:00

Ben Folds and William Shatner. Was there ever a more winning--and natural--combination?

Word is their musical collaboration is worth picking up, though. Huh.

IN CASE ANY OF YOU OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY ACTUALLY CARE

2004-11-08T01:48:00.000-05:00

UPDATE:

Luckily, the Harangutan Action Hour has readers who are as gracious as they are sharp-eyed: when we posted election results graded by state, we meant to post this link.

Our apologies for what must have seemed like a meaningless post.

***

Presidential election results by county and graded by state.

Let me know if you find a map that shows results graded by county.

BETA BLOCKERS: NOT JUST FOR BUM TICKERS ANY MORE

2004-11-05T13:42:00.000-05:00

Beta blockers - which are cardiac medications, not tranquilizers or sedatives - were first marketed in 1967 in the United States for disorders like angina and abnormal heart rhythms. One of the commonest is propranolol, made here by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and sold under the brand name Inderal. By blocking the action of adrenaline and other substances, these drugs mute the sympathetic nervous system, which produces fear in response to any perceived danger, be it a sabre-toothed tiger or a Lincoln Center audience.
...
Musicians quietly began to embrace beta blockers after their application to stage fright was first recognized in The Lancet, a British medical journal, in 1976. By 1987, a survey conducted by the International Conference of Symphony Orchestra Musicians, which represents the 51 largest orchestras in the United States, revealed that 27 percent of its musicians had used the drugs. Psychiatrists estimate that the number is now much higher.
"Before propranolol, I saw a lot of musicians using alcohol or Valium," said Mitchell
Kahn, director of the Miller Health Care Institute for the Performing Arts, describing 25 years of work with the Metropolitan Opera orchestra and other groups. "I believe beta blockers are far more beneficial than deleterious and have no qualms about prescribing them."
But use of drugs is still largely secretive. "Inderal is like Viagra," a woodwind player at a major orchestra said. "No one admits to using it because of the implication of weakness." Robin McKee, the acting principal flutist of the San Francisco Symphony, agrees, saying, "It's too bad we're reluctant to talk about using such a great tool."
Indeed, the effect of the drugs does seem magical. Beta blockers don't merely calm musicians; they actually seem to improve their performances on a technical level.

TODAY ON LEW ROCKWELL

2004-11-05T13:37:00.000-05:00

A pair of LRC articles:

"For Whom Would Jesus Vote?"

and

a praxeological look at the war in Iraq: "An Offer You Would Have Refused."

NOW IF THEY COULD JUST FINISH GETTING RID OF THAT PESKY TOTALTARIANISM

2004-11-04T11:00:00.000-05:00

Ah, those clever Chinese. First they invent gunpowder and a few other essentials of modern civilization. Now they're gunning their economic engines. Yet who would have thought that, after a millennium of poverty, they'd already do so many things better than we?
In fact, compiling a Top 10 list of what China does better than Canada isn't easy. There are so many items. To whittle it down, let's assume it's unfair to count anything related to cheap labour.
So we won't include the wonderfully thorough mop-ups of supermarket spills: The staff don't plunk down those yellow you-can't-sue-us caution signs. They actually fan the floor with a broken sheet of Styrofoam until it is dry.
Nor will we mention the exquisite, free head-and-shoulder massages that come with every shampoo and haircut.
And we will only sigh with envy over bicycle couriers speeding theatre tickets to you the same day -- free.

Insert random Canadian joke here.

via BoingBoing

HARANGUTAN'S BACK, BABY

2004-11-04T10:04:00.000-05:00

Tell your friends, tell your neighbors: once again, it's going to be business as it should be.

We appologize for the slow couple of months. We know we're entitled the Action Hour and not the Inaction Hour, but--alas!--making rent and paying our baby mama takes precedence over metaphorically dancing like a performing monkey for you.

Peace.

AND LIFE IS GOOD

2004-10-31T22:31:00.000-05:00

The Harangutan is happy.

THIS IS LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF A COMIC BOOK, WHERE YOUR WORST ENEMY IS ALSO THE ONE WHO KNOWS YOU BEST

2004-10-29T22:33:00.000-05:00

I should be sleeping, since I'm getting up four hours from now, but I wanted to toss this up, since it seems like the only thing worth blogging about during this bland election season:

Why is Osama Bin Laden the only one telling it like it is?

Seriously.

GAH

2004-10-27T15:44:00.000-05:00

I'm coming down with something and will be traveling for business later this week. Needless to say, it's not a good time for blogging.

***

UPDATE: I'm doing more traveling this week. Next update will almost definitely be Monday, although don't hesitate to check Sunday evening. I might surprise you.

***

UPDATE 2: I'm back on the road through Wendesday. No updates at least through then, sorry.

***

UPDATE 3: Just kidding, no updates through at least November 3rd. I just keep traveling and traveling. Oy.

CLEARING OUT MY TO-POST BOX

2004-10-18T07:46:00.000-05:00

In no particular order:

The Catholic Senator Kerry may be flaky on life issues, but the Messianic President Bush has proven himself damnable on war issues. Who should Catholics vote for when they ought be both pro-peace and pro-life? Well, they shouldn't vote at all: if you vote for the lesser of two evils, don't be surprised when evil's what you end up with.

***

Inflatable space stations? They're so crazy, they just might work. And by crazy I mean privately-funded. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the wealthy visionary Robert T. Bigelow.

***

Jack Daniel's is watering down their whiskey even more than they have been. They're claiming that the one-time cost of changing labels is going to offset the permanent cost reduction of using more water and less whiskey. Ppfah.

I'd say something like the death of the West is upon us, but I'm much more of a Scotch drinker anyway. Still, I do have fond memories of drinking lots of Jack back in college, so I suppose I'll stop purchasing it.

The coolest part of this whole story? Modern Drunkard magazine is being cited as a legit source. Yes, yes, you and I know that it's a well-written, thoughtfully researched, and delightfuly stand-up source of news, commentary, and fiction. But it's great to see the rest of the world start to realize that too. Jack Daniel's just doesn't get it, though: "'We don't think it's appropriate to have a magazine called Modern Drunkard dictate how we make our whiskey,' [Spokesman] Lynch said."

***

Why do you force* people to suffer? Why do you force* people to eat, drink, and smoke only what you say is acceptable. What gives you that right? Why do you put up with the self-declared supremacy of the State in all things? If you support evil acts, either by voting for people who perpetuate them or even just by remaining silent and refusing to condemn Statists, than you're evil too. But there is a single good man in Congress: Ron Paul (he's at the end of the article).

*It's fine, and depending on the particular situation, morally necessary to say "smoking marijuana (or whatever) is always bad and you shouldn't do it." But it's not fine to say "smoking marijuana is always bad, so I'm going to threaten or use violence to keep you from smoking it." Moral suasion can be a force for good. Aggression and force, however, are always wrong. That is a critical distinction.

***

Art, Catholicism, and the Passion of the Christ.

***

What few people knew, at the time and since, was just how accurate ["Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb"] was. Its premise, plotline, some of the dialogue, even its wildest characters eerily resembled the policies, debates and military leaders of the day. The audience had almost no way of detecting these similiarities:Nearly everything about the bomb was shrouded in secrecy back then. There was no Freedom of Information Act and little investigative reporting on the subject. It was easy to laugh off "Dr. Strangelove" as a comic book.

We survived the Cold War in spite of our governments, rulers, and militaries. Not because of them. And we're far from being out of the woods.

ONE STEP CLOSER TO MY INFERNAL DEATH LASER

2004-10-06T15:40:00.000-05:00

Nuclear-powered batteries. Cool.

The nuclear microbatteries we are developing won't require refueling or recharging and will last as long as the half-life of the radioactive source, at which point the power output will decrease by a factor of two. And even though their efficiency in converting nuclear to electrical energy isn't high--about 4 percent for one of our prototypes—the extremely high energy density of the radioactive materials makes it possible for these microbatteries to produce relatively significant amounts of power.
For example, with 10 milligrams of polonium-210 (contained in about 1 cubic millimeter), a nuclear microbattery could produce 50 milliwatts of electric power for more than four months (the half-life of polonium-210 is 138 days). With that level of power, it would be possible to run a simple microprocessor and a handful of sensors for all those months.

ON THE HISTORY OF PUNCTUATION

2004-10-06T14:58:00.000-05:00

Timothy Dexter (1747-1806), a prominent citizen of eighteenth century New England, wrote his best-known book, "A Pickle for the Knowing Ones", remarkably without a single punctuation mark. After the first printing sold out, Dexter, in deference to demanding readers, amended the second edition by adding periods, commas, semicolons and other punctuation. There was one small catch, however: rather than disperse punctuation throughout the text, Dexter added a page of "stops" containing nothing but punctuation marks, along with a short message for readers to "pepper and salt it as they please."

SCHWARZENEGGER TRAMPLES PROPERTY, CULINARY RIGHTS

2004-10-06T14:34:00.000-05:00

If you've ever tasted foie gras, you'd realize that the only thing cruel about it would be stopping people from eating it.

THAR BE MONSTERS

2004-10-06T14:24:00.000-05:00

Fantastically wonderful piece of zoomable art.

MERCURY...THE SILENT KILLER?

2004-09-30T07:45:00.000-05:00

Although they afflict widely different age groups, autism and Alzheimer's disease share a common cause: mercury. Dr. Boyd Haley, professor and chair of the chemistry department at the University of Kentucky, and Dr. Bernard Rimland, founder of the Autism Research Institute, presented evidence at this year's Doctors for Disaster Preparedness meeting that connects mercury with these diseases.

WONDER IF THE COP WAS WHITE?

2004-09-28T07:32:00.000-05:00

Cop brutalizes loud pregnant woman; says she was just "too darn rude."

They say that cell phones have become just another instrument of loutish behavior in the public space and that they are fighting a dramatic deterioration of manners in the transit system.

So they're arresting people for being tacky now, eh?

WATER VERSUS SYRUP: DOESN'T MATTER TO SWIMMERS

2004-09-22T16:02:00.000-05:00

Wow, this is some fascinating stuff. Definitely the coolest thing I've read all day.

It's a question that has taxed generations of the finest minds in physics: do humans swim slower in syrup than in water? And since you ask, the answer's no. Scientists have filled a swimming pool with a syrupy mixture and proved it.
"What appealed was the bizarreness of the idea," says Edward Cussler of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, who led the experiment. It's a question that also fascinated his student Brian Gettelfinger, a competitive swimmer who narrowly missed out on a place at this summer's Olympic Games in Athens.
Cussler and Gettelfinger took more than 300 kilograms of guar gum, an edible thickening agent found in salad dressings, ice cream and shampoo, and dumped it into a 25-metre swimming pool, creating a gloopy liquid twice as thick as water. "It looked like snot," says Cussler.
The pair then asked 16 volunteers, a mix of both competitive and recreational swimmers, to swim in a regular pool and in the guar syrup. Whatever strokes they used, the swimmers' times differed by no more than 4%, with neither water nor syrup producing consistently faster times, the researchers report in the American Institute of Chemistry and Engineering Journal.

And another article on the experiment that's a little more technical:

After securing the necessary permissions, the researchers grappled with the problem of transforming a swimming pool into the working equivalent of a giant bowl of maple syrup. Normally found in products like ice cream and shampoo, guar gum in its natural state is a gritty off-white powder; however, when added to liquid, it tends to clump into telltale globs unless blended vigorously.
According to chemical engineering junior Jonathan DeRocher, the researchers discarded their initial plan for mixing the guar with water. "We were standing around when we saw a garbage can. Our first idea was to mix it in batches and dump them over the side into the swimming pool. Then [chemical engineering adjunct professor] Jeff Schott said we could do it continuously with a pump mechanism."
The team devised a Rube Goldberg-like contraption using a large green plastic garbage can, a drill with a mixing head, and a length of PVC piping. The device permitted them to pump the guar gum solution directly into the pool, an operation that took about four hours on a Saturday afternoon.

"SHNICKS AND GIGGLES"

2004-09-22T12:07:00.000-05:00

Transcript of Bill O'Reilly interviewing John Stewart:

STEWART: I don't mean in terms of -- we're not competitors in terms of content. You're a news show, and we are a comedy show.
O'REILLY: That's true. But what do you want the audience to get out of your discussion with Kerry? Just yucks, or anything else?
STEWART: First of all, I shall rarely refer to it as yucks, and I think you should reconsider.
O'REILLY: OK, I'm sorry about that arcane term.
STEWART: "Shnicks," we call it shnicks -- shnicks and giggles.

Funny stuff.

Well, funny if you're interested in politics, watch the Daily Show, and have ever watched the statist warmongering O'Reilly.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

2004-09-21T14:35:00.000-05:00

"There's no clear definition of why we came here," says Army Spc. Nathan Swink, of Quincy, Ill. "First they said they have WMD and nuclear weapons, then it was to get Saddam Hussein out of office, and then to rebuild Iraq. I want to fight for my nation and for my family, to protect the United States against enemies foreign and domestic, not to protect Iraqi civilians or deal with Sadr's militia," he said.

my regards to A. G. R.

ON KERRY

2004-09-21T14:21:00.000-05:00

Shaking babies and kissing hands.

***

And on Kerry's tax policy:

The middle classes have always been the only dependable source for taxes. If a government really wants revenue, that is where they have to go. Tax historians have noted this for centuries.
[...]
Others, with smart accountants, using many forms of sophisticated tax planning, easily avoid the impact of high tax brackets. If Kerry is elected and is able to get Congress to go along with this latest Democratic plan to greatly increase taxes on earnings above $200,000, we can expect a flood of deferred compensation plans covering earnings above that figure, using what the Treasury recognizes and calls the "Rabbi Trust," since it was first formulated for a rabbi, and later became a Treasury approved tax deferral device for everyone. However, the Rabbi Trust and Reagan’s golf habits are, as any competent tax practitioner knows, just two of many routine ways to avoid Kerry’s soak the rich tax strategy. The possibilities are legion.
History is full of amazing examples, like the first income tax in the United States, in 1916, when the top bracket was 7%; a few years later the top bracket was raised to 77%, or eleven times higher, yet the 77% rate did not produce eleven times as much revenue, in fact it shocked the Treasury by producing almost the same revenue as the 7% rate did. At the 7% top bracket, about 1300 returns were filed; with the 77% top bracket, only about 250 returns were filed. Where did all the top bracket taxpayers go? The rich simply rearranged their affairs to avoid the 77% tax rate.

30 MINUTE 1-STAR MEALS

2004-09-17T17:28:00.000-05:00

Screw leaving work so that I can dodge the tornados and huddle in my basement. This article on "fast" food from the New York Times is fabulous.

Heh. I'm getting Chipotle for dinner, though.

EVOLUTIONARY ONESIES

2004-09-16T17:18:00.000-05:00

It is a conceit of hindsight to see evolution as aimed towards some particular end point, such as ourselves.

via Arts & Letters Daily

GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE: ABORTION KILLS PEOPLE

2004-09-15T17:46:00.000-05:00

I can understand the more sensible pro-abortion arguments when the child is in its earliest stages of development. The whole my-body-is-my-property bit. (That's actually a good sentiment.) But it's wrong to say that the individual's right to property trumps the individual's right to life. It's wrong to kill someone for trespassing. It's even more wrong to kill someone when you invited them to "invade" your property in the first place (seriously, just close your legs).

If you're basing your arguments on the idea that pregnancies don't involve a unique person growing inside the woman, than, well, you're just stupid.

But I really don't understand how any rational person could possibly argue, much less believe that it's ever acceptable to kill a person who could live outside of the womb. How cold are you?

***

Two bits on abortion:

I saw a lot of babies born alive.... Dr. X said that was a side effect of a medication. They always said to leave the baby alone, and they would stop breathing.... Two hours was the longest I saw a baby live.... One girl was 26-27 weeks....
They put the babies in red biohazard bags when they were still moving... tied the bag up... put them in a biohazard box. The biohazard medical service would pick boxes up Monday and Thursday.
Dr. X would insert the medication and send the women home. They were told to come back the next day.
There was one incident where the woman had the baby while she was waiting at the door for the clinic to open. She got there at 7a. The clinic opened at 8a. She said the baby was born alive. The baby was now dead, and she was holding the baby in a bag. She was bleeding.
I was in the room when Dr. X gave the digoxin to stop that baby's heartbeat beforehand. [Digoxin is a medication inserted by needle through a mother's abdomen into a baby's heart to cause instant cardiac arrest.]
Well, he didn't have an ultrasound machine that day. He inserted the needle blindly. He said he'd been doing it so many years, he knew the location. But he didn't actually know if he hit the heart.
I know this nurse Bridget. She was working there when the new doctor held a baby under water in a bucket when she told him the baby was alive. That baby was between 25-26 weeks. Bridget left two months ago because of that.
I left because I got tired of everything going on and the fact Dr. X would coach women into saying they were going to kill themselves if they didn't abort. Then he said he had a legal right to do it past viability. He did them all the way to 40 weeks.

***

The Church is perfect, but all humans are so woefully imperfect:

Catholic hospitals commit -- and U.S. bishops condone -- live-birth abortion

WARNING: POOR TASTE AHEAD

2004-09-15T17:40:00.000-05:00

High school's only four years. But very strange pictures last a lifetime.

Oh yes, I can't wait for my upcoming high school reunion...

via The Decadent West

TODAY'S BIT OF STUPID REPORTING

2004-09-13T18:09:00.000-05:00

Here's a false alarm for you:

A critical shortage of poll workers will develop around the nation unless younger people step in to take over for senior citizens who staff polling places now, elections officials said Monday. In Baltimore, "If they're breathing and they can walk we have to take them," said the city's election director, Barbara Jackson.

Seriously, this is basic econ. Supply always meets demand. If a company needs polls, they'll pay to get them. If they don't, won't, or can't pay, than they didn't need them as badly as they thought.

I know this isn't nearly as an exciting post as you've grown accustomed to, but it's just so stupid that I wanted to point it out.

AL GORE

2004-09-09T12:08:00.000-05:00

Poor Al Gore. He's a foolish man who, in buying into the tyranny of the majority (democracy), got screwed by a minority. That's just funny.

Here's an interesting, if fluffy, article on what Al Gore's been up to. Almost makes you pine for the pre-bizarro-war days and what we debated back then.

And yet the Bush ideology is tinged with religious belief, [...] Not everything comes with a price tag attached.
Gore's mouth tightened. A Southern Baptist, he, too, had declared himself born again, but he clearly had disdain for Bush's public kind of faith. "It's a particular kind of religiosity," he said. "It's the American version of the same fundamentalist impulse that we see in Saudi Arabia, in Kashmir, in religions around the world: Hindu, Jewish, Christian, Muslim. They all have certain features in common. In a world of disconcerting change, when large and complex forces threaten familiar and comfortable guideposts, the natural impulse is to grab hold of the tree trunk that seems to have the deepest roots and hold on for dear life and never question the possibility that it's not going to be the source of your salvation. And the deepest roots are in philosophical and religious traditions that go way back. You don't hear very much from them about the Sermon on the Mount, you don't hear very much about the teachings of Jesus on giving to the poor, or the beatitudes. It's the vengeance, the brimstone."
[...]
The real reason was that, above all, Dean was the one candidate who, like Gore imself, was speaking out in unalloyed opposition to the war in Iraq.
"I think Bush put forward a counterfeit large vision," Gore said. "The war in Iraq was postured as a big idea. Well, it was a big dumb idea. And, again, I don't think he's dumb, but I think that idea is dumb."

POLITICIANS PUSH DEATH...(HOW IS THIS NEWS?)

2004-09-09T07:31:00.000-05:00

Belgian lawmakers belonging to Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's ruling Flemish Liberal party have introduced a bill seeking to expand the country's controversial euthanasia legislation to include minors.
[...]
Patients wishing to end their lives must be conscious when the application is made and repeat their request for euthanasia.

Oh come on. How often do kids decide that life isn't worth living any more? Just about every time one of them becomes a teenager. Seriously. And now the State's saying that that's just peachy keen.

Sure, they say that it's all about compassion, but the line between being compassionate and just embracing death is so very fine. Or non-existent, rather. That's why sensible, rational people realize that suicide's never the answer and that it's never right.

That being said, individuals must have autonomy over themselves. If the State, with it's self-given monopoly on violence, says that people cannot do certain things to or with themselves, than the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and property are being usurped and thus denied.

So why am I against legalizing euthanasia? Why do I find it reprehensible and disgusting that the State's encouraging children to kill themselves if life just isn't worth living anymore?

Individuals shouldn't kill themselves. And neither the State, nor anyone else, should forcibly prevent them from doing so.

Instead, society should strongly urge them to choose life. The Church should counsel families on why they should choose life. Friends should show true compassion for one another by helping each other realize the value of all life. Parents should love their children.

When the State steps in and says that it doesn't matter if people choose life, well, then that's a problem.

THE PROBLEM WITH AMERICA

2004-09-02T10:35:00.000-05:00

The rights of the people come from God. The powers of government come from the people. The American people delegated the specific powers they wanted the federal government to have through the Constitution. And any additional powers they wanted to grant were supposed to be added by amendment.
It's largely because we've forgotten these simple principles that the country is in so much trouble. The powers of the federal government have multiplied madly, with only the vaguest justifications and on the most slippery pretexts. Its chief business now is not defending our rights but taking and redistributing our wealth. It has even created its own economy, the tax economy, which is parasitical on the basic and productive voluntary economy.

That's all well and good, and Sobran's essay is worth reading, but our problems aren't just because of the perversion of the courts' understanding of the Constitution. Rather, they're because of the naïvety of the 19th century American patriots. They're because we have a Constitution - and a Federal government - at all.

I love my country, but I love the original concept of my country more: keep your hands and your laws off of my life, liberty, and property.

SO INCOMPETENT, IT'S ALMOST FUNNY (THEN I REMEMBER THAT WE'RE FORCED TO PAY FOR IT)

2004-08-30T16:16:00.000-05:00

Government: efficient and effective:

Early in the year 1903 the U.S. government awarded a grant of $70,000 to Samuel Langley to develop a heavier-than-air flying machine. Dr. Langley, director of the Smithsonian Institute, was amply qualified for the undertaking, being one of the most respected scientists of his time.
[...]
In stark contrast to the Langley project, the Wright Brothers were limited to a budget of $2000 of their own money, earned from their bicycle shop business. They worked on their flying machine in their spare time.
[...]
Why did Langley's $70,000 tax-funded boondoggle fail, where the Wright Brothers succeeded with only $2000 of their own money?
The answer lies in the motivations behind each experimenter. While Langley was pursuing the development of aircraft for the "public welfare" at public expense, the Wright Brothers were seeking profits at their own expense.

via the LRC blog

This reminds me, did you know that if you use a telephone, you're forced to pay a tax for the Spanish-American War?

"Huh?" you ask.

Yes, you read me correctly.

MODERN "ART"

2004-08-30T08:55:00.000-05:00

This should make you smile on this Monday morning:

A bag of rubbish being exhibited at Tate Britain as part of the "recreation of the first public demonstration of auto-destructive art" was chucked in a skip by a cleaner.

Although maybe this irony is what the artist was really going for.

BUT BLOGGING, LIKE EMAILING, IS SOMETHING YOU SHOULD ONLY DO DEAD SOBER

2004-08-25T12:33:00.000-05:00

Modern Drunkard Magazine does it again. This issue's article most worthy of your time is called "Hooching With Hemingway," by Frank Rich, and it details the life and times of the boozing literary giant Hemingway.

Alcohol also served as the glue that bonded together the legion of expatriate talent that had gathered along Paris' Left Bank. The cafes, bars and bal musets became rallying points, look around the table and you might see the brightest minds of the Lost Generation--F. Scott Fitzgerald insanely drunk on champagne, Ezra Pound sipping absinthe, Gertrude Stein enjoying a fine red, James Joyce savoring scotch and Ford Maddox Ford sending back a brandy for the fourth time. They drank up liquor, they drank up life, they drank up each other. Decades later critics would try to explain away the excessive drinking as an unnecessary evil that plagued the era, but, Fitzgerald begged to differ.
"Sometimes I wish I'd went through those good times stone cold sober so I could remember everything," he said, "but then again, if I had been sober the times probably wouldn't have been worth remembering."

Sage words. Although far too often, it takes a few months, at least, before you can recall those times without shuddering, and a fair bit longer before you can write about them with relish.

Frank Rich continues:

"One of the best things about being a writer," Hemingway wrote to Ezra Pound, "is when you're having the wildest time, when you're completely on the bum, you're still working, or you at least you should be." The young lion was living out the adventures he would later shape and blend into his first, and possibly best, novel, The Sun Also Rises.

It's times like these when I'm glad that my boss reads my blog. He may raise an eyebrow when I point out the importance of a three-martini lunch, and question how much my writing would be improved by booze, but I think that all us writers could do well to emulate Hemingway in every possible way. If one wants to be a good writer, one must first adopt the habits of a good writer.

COULD WE PRETEND THAT SOME ARTS AREN'T POP CULTURE?

2004-08-24T11:42:00.000-05:00

In a somewhat unorthodox addition to its autumn television schedules, the BBC has announced that next month it will surprise commuters by staging an opera at an unnamed London rail station, without any warning.
The 65-strong orchestra and three opera singers will swoop in unannounced, with selected members of the public joining in as a chorus after being contacted at the last minute by mobile phone text message.

Fun idea, and it'd be great to watch. Imagine the poor percussionist, trying to keep up with the orchestra as he lugs a couple of kettle drums.

But seriously, flash mobs were passé four months ago.

PLEASE, JUST STOP THE PAIN

2004-08-23T16:08:00.000-05:00

Star Wars creator George Lucas could be poised to make three sequels to the original space opera trilogy, according to insiders at Lucasfilm.

In an alternate universe where bad things don't happen to good societies, Lucas would pass off control of Star Wars to another director to let them take a crack at it. Imagine what kind of Star Wars movie Peter Jackson could direct. Pull in some crack manga-writers to produce a decent script. You'd get some pure mmm-goodness.

"BEER IS PROOF THAT GOD LOVES US AND WANTS US TO BE HAPPY"

2004-08-19T16:42:00.000-05:00

God must love bears, too.

via the Chronicles of the Wayward Moot

GOOD PHYSICS GONE STUPID

2004-08-18T16:44:00.000-05:00

It's a good thing I decide against majoring in physics. I probably would have done something just like this:

Then, I continued...I mentioned that the same principle makes it possible to dip a wet hand into molten lead, or to drink liquid nitrogen without injury.
I had done the latter several years earlier in a cryogenics lab, and remembered the physics behind how it worked. Naturally, people around me were skeptical. "You can't drink the stuff...it'll freeze your whole body...Remember 'Terminator 2?'" But I was sure of myself. I had done it before, and I believed in the physics behind it. So, naturally, I poured myself a glass and took a shot.
Simple. Swallow. Blow smoke out nose and mouth and impress everyone at the party. Within about two seconds, I had collapsed to the floor, unable to breathe or feel anything other than intense pain.

MODERN ART CRITICS ARE SILLY, AND WE'RE SILLY FOR NOT DEFENESTRATING THE LOT OF THEM

2004-08-17T08:16:00.000-05:00

Supporters of the N.E.A. love to make this tired "for the mere price of a cup of coffee" argument when pointing out the relative cost of arts funding to the average taxpayer......while blithely ignoring the fact that no one ever went to jail for refusing to buy a cup of coffee!
[...]
Rather than try to "teach" people to appreciate art that has no meaning or relevance to their lives, we should instead be marveling at the countless inspired man-made objects that literally surround us, both inside and outside our homes. So who needs modern art museums?!?

THERE ONCE WAS A GIRL FROM HIROSHIMA...

2004-08-13T11:26:00.000-05:00

...and then we dropped a very large bomb on her.

The journal of 13-year-old Moriwaki Yoko. Kept as homework from her entrance to the prestigious Hiroshima Prefectural Girls' HS #1 on April 6, 1945, it now stands asa school-age record of "domestic history", that is, home life under national conflict. The excerpts [...] show the term "home front" [as being] particularly apt

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH

2004-08-13T11:25:00.000-05:00

Boo!

LIFE IN ISRAEL

2004-08-11T10:37:00.000-05:00

The doctor slid the ultrasound scanner in circular motions over N.'s stomach. He chatted breezily as he described the fetus in her womb, she recalls. "Here are the eyes. And, you see? Here's the heart - good, good." And then he suddenly went silent. "Hmmm, there's a problem," he finally murmured quietly. N., a 27-year-old Tel Aviv woman who was looking forward to becoming a mother for the first time, felt paralyzed. "Up to that point, in all the weeks of my pregnancy, I'd convinced myself that all my fears were just stemming from personal anxiety - and now they were suddenly coming true," she says. And then the doctor explained what the problem was that he'd seen: "It's a boy, but his penis is very small."

After a second examination, the doctor was unable to make an unequivocal diagnosis. N.: "Afterward he said that maybe it was a girl, but in the end he concluded that it was a boy. He said [the problem] didn't appear to be related to any illness, but to be on the safe side, he recommended terminating the pregnancy. He basically told me that I should abort the baby just because he had a small penis."

[...]

Germany and Israel turned out to be mirror images of each other. Israeli society appears to have little tolerance for disability and encourages abortion when there is the smallest risk of a genetic defect; German society seems to go the other way in its insistence on accepting people with disabilities. While in Israel, a woman who opts not to go for all the prenatal tests is considered "primitive," and a woman who doesn't want to abort a defective fetus is "crazy," most of the tests that are routinely performed here are not even done in Germany. The very use of such tests poses serious ethical issues, and German doctors appear to appreciate women who go ahead and give birth to babies with the most serious defects.

via After abortion

QUID EST ROCK & ROLL?

2004-08-11T08:18:00.000-05:00

Very enjoyable variations on some classic Zepplin, as "done" by Schubert, Holst, Miller, Mahler, Bizet, and Beethoven. It's a shame that Joe Wolfe only posted short clips of them, but they're all definitely worth listening to.

The Led Zepplin song "Stairway to Heaven" is a rock classic for some critics. Whether or not you agree, its notoriety is assured by the thousands of would-be guitarists who can play the first dozen bars badly: it is to the guitar what Chopsticks" is to the piano. But what if Jimmy Page & Robert Plant hadn't written it? What if it had been written for orchestra in the 19th or 20th centuries? For a publicity stunt, "The Stairway Suite" was commisioned by the University of New South Wales Orchestra and written by Joe Wolfe. The clips [...] are from the original performance by UNSWO, with Colin Piper conducting. Recording engineer: Emery Schubert.

Via Boing Boing

AND WHAT DREAMS MAY COME WHEN WE HAVE SHUFFLED OFF THIS MORTAL COIL?

2004-08-10T09:31:00.000-05:00

On the art - and the importance of - idleness:

Dreams and idleness go together and are dismissed as "the children of an idle brain", as the sensible and grounded Mercutio says to the starry-eyed Romeo in Romeo And Juliet. Dreamers are "away with the fairies". They are told to start living in the "the real world". The trick, indeed the duty, of every serious idler is to harmonise dreamworld and dayworld.

A SWIMMER PAR EXCELLENCE

2004-08-09T12:36:00.000-05:00

The man to watch in Athens:

Beginning on Aug. 14 in Athens, [Michael] Phelps, who turned 19 in June, will try to match or surpass Mark Spitz's hallowed record of seven Olympic gold medals in swimming, won at the 1972 Summer Games in Munich. Phelps is entered in five individual events, one more than even Spitz contested, and could swim on three relays. Specialists predominate at swimming's Olympic level, swimmers calibrated to one stroke at only one distance, but Phelps is almost ridiculously versatile, dominant if not untouchable in three events and a potential threat to reigning world-record holders in as many as half a dozen others. There are swimmers, including some of Phelps's U.S. teammates, who seem to believe he wants to take their world records away, deny them medals, hoard all of what little glory the sport has to offer -- which is true. But what he wants most is their competition, the challenge he cannot find in events he already owns. If he limited himself to just his best events, he might be crushed by boredom.

I AM BECOME DEATH, THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS

2004-08-06T08:28:00.000-05:00

Rethinking the bomb, from Lew Rockwell.com:

The most spectacular episode of Truman's presidency will never be forgotten, but will be forever linked to his name: the atomic bombings of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and of Nagasaki three days later. Probably around two hundred thousand persons were killed in the attacks and through radiation poisoning; the vast majority were civilians, including several thousand Korean workers. Twelve U.S. Navy fliers incarcerated in a Hiroshima jail were also among the dead.

[...]

On other occasions, Truman claimed that Hiroshima was bombed because it was an industrial center. But, as noted in the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, "all major factories in Hiroshima were on the periphery of the city - and escaped serious damage." The target was the center of the city. That Truman realized the kind of victims the bombs consumed is evident from his comment to his cabinet on August 10, explaining his reluctance to drop a third bomb: "The thought of wiping out another 100,000 people was too horrible," he said; he didn't like the idea of killing "all those kids." Wiping out another one hundred thousand people . . . all those kids.

[...]

Leo Szilard was the world-renowned physicist who drafted the original letter to Roosevelt that Einstein signed, instigating the Manhattan Project. In 1960, shortly before his death, Szilard stated another obvious truth:
If the Germans had dropped atomic bombs on cities instead of us, we would have defined the dropping of atomic bombs on cities as a war crime, and we would have sentenced the Germans who were guilty of this crime to death at Nuremberg and hanged them.
The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a war crime worse than any that Japanese generals were executed for in Tokyo and Manila. If Harry Truman was not a war criminal, then no one ever was.

I DON'T BELONG HERE

2004-08-05T19:34:00.000-05:00

Your boring office job getting you down? Don't watch this, then (even though it's most excellent): a melancholic flash adaptation of the acoustic version of Radiohead's "Creep."

via Boing Boing

IS THERE ANYTHING ALCOHOL CAN'T DO?

2004-08-02T12:47:00.000-05:00

It's official: booze, and plenty of it, makes you smarter.

Well, wine at least. But I'm sure they're hard at work testing the effects of all the other ones.

FREEDOM...

2004-08-01T09:32:00.000-05:00

FORGET eBay. If you want to buy a dysfunctional boiler house, an international airport, a tea plantation, an oil terminal, a proctology clinic, a vineyard, a telephone company, a film studio, a lost-property office or a beekeepers' regulatory board, then call Kakha Bendukidze, Georgia's new economy minister. His privatisation drive has made him a keen seller of all the above. And for the right price he will throw in the Tbilisi State Concert Hall and the Georgian National Mint as well.

...

Next year--if not sooner--he will cut the rate of income tax from 20% to 12%, payroll taxes from 33% to 20%, value-added tax from 20% to 18%, and abolish 12 kinds of tax altogether. He wants to let leading foreign banks and insurers open branches freely. He wants to abolish laws on legal tender, so that investors can use whatever currency they want. He hates foreign aid--it "destroys your ability to do things for yourself," he says--though he concedes that political realities will oblige him to accept it for at least the next three years or so.

As to where investors should put their money, "I don't know and I don't care," he says, and continues: "I have shut down the department of industrial policy. I am shutting down the national investment agency. I don't want the national innovation agency." Oh yes, and he plans to shut down the country's anti-monopoly agency too. "If somebody thinks his rights are being infringed he can go to the courts, not to the ministry." He plans, as his crowning achievement, to abolish his own ministry in 2007. "In a normal country, you don't need a ministry of the economy," he says. "And in three years we can make the backbone of a normal country."
(from the LRC blog)

I watched King Arthur a few days ago, and, had the theater not been empty other than myself and a few friends, would have started ranting and gesticulating wildly.

Oh, you want to know why? Piff. As if I need a reason to act the loon (or write about things seemingly unrelated to each other). Well, throughout King Arthur, and at the end of the movie in particular, Arthur prattles on about freedom and whatnot. And it feels just like how most Americans prattle on about how free we are and how great our country is. But how great is our country when the government of a little Russian offshoot oppresses its people less than the U.S. government oppresses Americans?

Prediction: In ten years Georgia will be a freer, more productive country than the United States.
At least when William Wallace howls for freedom at the end of Braveheart, you know that the clans just want to live under peaceful self-rule. But even as Arthur does the same (minus the disembowelling), he asserts his right to rule the Britains. Pity the Pict who wanted to live under peaceful self-rule (and no Saxons allowed, either).

But the movie did do something very well: Keira Knightley.

I'M NOT DEAD, I'M JUST NOT GOING TO BE SITTING AT A COMPUTER ALL DAY FOR A SHORT WHILE

2004-07-22T11:03:00.000-05:00

Hi ho, everybody.

I'm going to be blogging sporadically for the next week. Email me if you're wondering why (it's amazing how of many readers follow my blog just to keep tabs on me - and none of them are my parents). Especially since I don't write about anything personal here.

In the meantime, don't go away, my faithful readers! Maybe keep yourself occupied by checking out some the webcomics that are linked over on the right.

My favorites are:

Schlock Mercenary - sci-fi military humor. Like Douglas Adams? Spider Robinson? Isaac Asimov? Harry Harrison? Robert Asprin? You'll love Schlock Mercenary!

Sluggy Freelance - crazy adventures. Hard to describe, but worth reading in its entirety. If you're a fan of viciously homicidal mini-lops (itty bitty rabbits), you'll dig Sluggy Freelance. No, I don't have a clue what the name means.

Kid Radd - did you play video games as a kid? Do you play roms on emulators? Do you like 8-bit graphics? Do you have a clue what I'm talking about? Read Kid Radd anyway. It's great, with surprisingly good and innovative art.

TASTY!

2004-07-21T15:42:00.000-05:00

You can now drink your Krispy Kreme doughnuts!

FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS

2004-07-21T14:41:00.000-05:00

As I'm busy at work and don't have the time to write up something original, I'm just going to direct you to this Slasdot post:

"The Register has an article about the UK's High Court ruling PlayStation 2 modchips to be illegal. This means all homebrew and hobbyist coders in the UK can no longer modify their consoles to run games they have written. Gamers who like to mod their consoles to play games on import early are also out of luck. It's like saying you can't modify your car or your house or your clothes! Would Ford sue you for removing the rev limiter from your Focus?"

THAR BE TREASURE IN THEM WATERS!

2004-07-19T14:27:00.000-05:00

Even better than mana from heaven?

A SECRET stash of bubbly kept 'on ice' for nearly 50 years inside a shipwreck on the bed of the English Channel has been creating some fizz around the dining tables of the divers who recovered it.

FUN WITH MATTER - YOU OUGHT WATCH THIS VIDEO

2004-07-19T14:23:00.000-05:00

A steel ball dropped onto loose, very fine sand creates a jet exceeding the release height of the ball. Upon impact, sand is blown away in all directions forming a splash. The ball creates a cylindrical void in the sand; the jet is formed when this void collapses. The focused sand pressure pushes the jet straight up into the air. When the jet comes down again, it breaks up into fragments: these are granular clusters.

For sufficiently high impact velocity, air is entrained by the collapsing void, forming an air bubble in the sand. This bubble slowly rises to the surface, and upon reaching it causes a granular eruption. This looks like a boiling liquid, or even a volcano!

A movie of the experiment (at 1000 frames per second) can be downloaded here (1.5 MB).

GREATNESS - ARTISTIC OR OTHERWISE - NEED NEVER BE INEFFABLE

2004-07-19T14:17:00.000-05:00

Fascinating, especially the bit on the likely use of optics in realism.

In recent years, it has become clear that the study of art need not be the exclusive domain of humanists. Economists, sociologists, and anthropologists have applied the methods of their respective disciplines to determine how market, social, and cultural forces have affected the productivity of artists; psychologists have examined the effects of mental illness on the creative process, analyzed drafts of paintings as windows into that process, and documented the influences of the visual system on the perception and production of art. As a psychologist previously trained in the humanities and in studio art, I have spent my career applying the science of cognitive psychology (and recently cognitive neuroscience) to studying the creation of and response to art.

(BAD) ARCHITECTURE: THE FASHION THAT - UNFORTUNATELY - NEVER GOES AWAY WITH THE CHANGING OF THE SEASONS

2004-07-19T14:12:00.000-05:00

Architecture has always had its icons. For centuries they took the form of churches and temples. In our secular age we still need familiar and reassuring reference points - but in the rush to fill this void, designers have been falling over themselves to apply the iconic treatment to every conceivable building. These new designs have names like Spiral, Cocoon, Cloud or Vortex, inspiring a sense of poetic wonder. Often, though, they are just ordinary buildings distorted into unnecessarily complicated shapes. Their main purpose is to attract our attention.

The true architectural icon is a building that is unmistakable, often provocative, and carries cultural signals far beyond its purpose. Obvious iconic landmarks include the Sydney opera house, the Pompidou centre, even the new Scottish parliament building - all of which initially met with disapproval. These modern icons simultaneously signal their function and their public importance. They convey the spirit of their age; they are both useful and memorable.

But there are also less significant buildings that aspire to iconic status but do not always deserve the profile their sponsors demand.

Interesting little article, although I disagree with the author on the merits of the Pompidou centre, as an architectural icon or even just something pleasing to look upon.