Nudist Trailer Park

Right to not be offended - Smeared!

2010-04-01T18:37:00.003-06:00

Now this has to be the most succinct expression of why there is no such thing as "offensive" material. Phillip Pullman wrote a book entitled The Good Man Jesus and Scoundrel Christ. When asked if, for example, Christians might be offended by the title, here is Pullmans' reply, in totality:

Yes.

It was a shocking thing to say, and I knew it was a shocking thing to say. But no one has the right to live without being shocked. No one has the right to spend their life without being offended.

Nobody has to read this book. Nobody has to pick it up. Nobody has to open it. And if they open it and read it, they don’t have to like it. And if you read it and dislike it, you don’t have to remain silent about it. You can write to me — You can complain about it. You can write to the publisher. You can write to the paper. You can write your own book.

You can do all those things, but there your rights stop.

No one has the right to stop me from writing this book. No one has the right to stop it being published, or sold, or bought, or read.

And that’s all I have to say on that subject.

The video is here:

The Progressives tendency to shoot themselves in the head.

2009-12-03T18:00:00.005-06:00

This is a great essay that speaks to the great danger that the Left's lack of cohesion can lead to its downfall, just as the Left's abandonment of Carter in the 70s led to Ronald Reagan (and you thought Bush was bad).

We on the left have bad cohesion, a horrible media presence dictated by the Republicans, and a general lack of genuine passion. Its amazing that we won anything in the last election cycles! But we can lose just as quickly, namely in the upcoming House elections.

Do I sound angry?

2009-11-25T21:42:00.005-06:00

I am really angry. And it is things like this that really get me going.

Mark Thoma is an economist and one of the best out there. And the article linked to above pisses me off. Really, Obama, this is your Waterloo. It's not the stupid fucking republican assholes. Really, all of them are irrelevant in their crapulence. After 8 years of "GW", Obama turns out to not be the Democrat that was needed for the job. In fact, I cannot think of any that would be the Democrat for the job. Bunch of spineless ignorami.

And Tim Geithner, where the fuck are you? You are bought and sold, that's where. Fuck you and the golden parachute you will get when your ass is canned or Obama is run out on the rails. As Thoma remarks, this is your baby now. I hope you choke on it.

Damn. Now I am depressed. Pikers.

*DEEP SIGH* Obama, you have nary a year to wake up and smell reality. Clear the mushy, middle of the road bullshit out from between your ears and DO something.

Please?

Geek review of Palin's book

2009-11-18T10:05:00.001-06:00

Is here. An excerpt:

To my chagrin it didn't start out well. I thought well at some point this has to get better. But guess what it doesn't! There's nothing at all about dex rolls, dps builds, searching for traps, sneak attacks, assassins, +4 daggers or anything!

Heh.

What Gin and Tacos said

2009-11-16T10:52:00.004-06:00

The Intertubes are filled with sites that have not had my eyeballs grace its home page. So I love it when I come across a site (a blog no less) that is interesting and funny while also being thoughtful.

Gin and Tacos is my new favorite friend. I am especially enamored with his posts on Ayn Rand whose banality and utter horseshit shoveling deserves all the epitaphs one can muster. Rand's writing makes me want to rip my cerebral cortex out and embrace the bliss of only having autonomic nervous system function. So I put Atlas Shrugged down, into a fire, after having two German Shepherds eat it and then burning the offal. And yes, its offal.

Did I mention that I do not like Ayn Rand?

A quote from a post:

Two new biographies of [Ayn] Rand have been released, Goddess of the Market by Jennifer Burns and Ayn Rand and the World She Made by Anne Heller. Both are ably parsed in this outstanding review by Johann Hari. I cannot recommend it strongly enough. In short, the biographers provide all of the evidence I’d ever need to support the hypothesis that Rand was Ted Bundy with a bigger vocabulary and enough self control to avoid crossing the line into serial killer territory herself.

I ain't paying for your boner any longer!

2009-11-13T16:01:00.004-06:00

Digby makes exactly the right analogous argument against the Stupak coat hanger amendment to the House health care bill: if you won't pay for my partner's abortion, I ain't paying for your boner! So there.

My new Fave Band: Katsen

2009-11-12T16:30:00.002-06:00

A new semi-regular feature where I link to new bands and the singles that move me.

The maiden voyage band is Katsen. 80s synth pop with heavy percussion and lots of melodic synths.

Here is a single off of their latest called Let's Build A City
And here is a cover of the Pixie's Cactus (my favorite off of Surfer Rosa, in my estimation the BEST album from Alternative music in its scope and influence). Of course, Katsen's version falls well short of The Pixies but you gotta give them an E for effort.

You can stream the album from Lala.

Obama and Veteran's Day - why I voted for him

2009-11-12T15:49:00.003-06:00

Those more cynical then myself (and if you know me, I am pretty damn cynical), might think that Obama's campaign rhetoric of hope and change was merely trifling, false promises. But after reading this, I remember now why I voted for the man.

Obama has been criticized by Republicans for taking too long on Afghanistan and for not being duly hawkish on Iraq. But they forget that only someone who knows that the only way to honor the dead is to minimize how many soldiers die should make the decision to send others to die. And soldiers should only be sacrificed while reaching lofty goals worthy of the sacrifice in the first. Obama understands this: he bears the burden of all those soldier's death, no matter how "noble" one may thing the death is.

I myself might add: death knows no nobility. Even when done as a sacrifice, someone is still gone from the living. I am reminded of a quote from Full Metal Jacket in one of the voice overs from Joker: "The dead only know one thing. It is better to be alive." I do not think this diminishes the sacrifice. I just wonder if, even given the sacrifice, we would be better off that the author's friend, and veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, might have not died as they did at all...

Thanks to TPM.

Comments

2009-11-12T14:08:00.003-06:00

I have seen the first spamming of the comments so I am going to try measures to stop it, including captcha and moderating them. So everyone can be assured that the next time they do not comment on one of my posts, they can.

Long time, no see.

2009-11-12T13:59:00.003-06:00

Yeah, I am still alive. Obama is still president (though not for lack of threatening). And other clever things I might say.

I am going to start an experiment of pushing people to my blog from Facebook. Heh, Ben A Ricker, super-genius.

It is a new day

2008-12-07T21:59:00.001-06:00

Change has come:

When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right. What's happening to them is reflective of what's happening across this economy.

Thanks to TPM.

Pie.

2008-11-13T15:41:00.001-06:00

I like Pie. It has come.

One reason I voted for Obama

2008-11-10T15:44:00.002-06:00

Very early in the campaign (I think the primary, but cannot be sure), I heard that some talking head asked Obama what he would do if he became president. His answer? The first thing he would do would be to reverse every Bush change he could by Executive Order. And as Hilzoy notes, that is the first thing that Obama will do.

Wow, Obama's victory was a landmark election.

Taxonomy of Philosophy

2008-11-06T11:43:00.003-06:00

Here is an attempt at creating a taxonomy for academic philosophy (VERY analytic). David Chalmers explains some of the thought behind it. It has (obvious) areas that are stronger then others (Chalmers is heavy into philosophy of mind, so that area is much more detailed).

Fox goes to Deal before election ended?

2008-11-05T07:28:00.004-06:00

I was in a bar with friends being appalled by the Rethuglican crowds booing over McCain who a day late, dollar short decides to be the man he once was...anyway, the channel jockey went to channel 30 here in STL (the Fox affiliate) around 10pm and lo and behold: it was Deal or No Deal! I about died laughing at the jackassery: did Fox "News" really just end for Deal or No Deal right about when the race was called for Obama?! Hah!

We need a better press corp.

Yes We Can!

2008-11-05T07:20:00.002-06:00

Wow.

RSS This Site

2008-10-30T21:17:00.002-06:00

If you really want to watch the polling landscape like I do, this is the place to fire up in the RSS reader every day. It shows Obama with 346.5 Electoral votes, well over the 270 mark needed for election. On the one hand, I really want that vote to come out that way. But on the other, no matter how the elections ends, I am fascinated to watch how the polls move compared to the final vote tally on 11/4. How good are we are polling?

Change is Coming

2008-10-29T15:54:00.003-06:00

You can say what you want about who is the best candidate for president, but one thing, to me, is certain: Obama is the candidate of change. No one can reasonably hold, due to a plethora of empirical evidence, that McCain will not closely follow Bush's policies. This is, I think, central question: do you think that we need a change of leadership in the US from GW. I think the answer will come out as voters will want change and that this is the central reason Obama will win this election.

Here is some evidence that it is a slam dunk.

David Sedaris on The Undecideds

2008-10-29T12:13:00.003-06:00

David Sedaris: the funniest long-form humorist alive (the funniest short-form humorist is the genius behind Fafblog). And here is his take on undecided voters:

I don’t know that it was always this way, but, for as long as I can remember, just as we move into the final weeks of the Presidential campaign the focus shifts to the undecided voters. “Who are they?” the news anchors ask. “And how might they determine the outcome of this election?”
Then you’ll see this man or woman— someone, I always think, who looks very happy to be on TV. “Well, Charlie,” they say, “I’ve gone back and forth on the issues and whatnot, but I just can’t seem to make up my mind!” Some insist that there’s very little difference between candidate A and candidate B. Others claim that they’re with A on defense and health care but are leaning toward B when it comes to the economy.
I look at these people and can’t quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention?
To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”
To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

Thanks to Jender for the link.

Whaaasup!

2008-10-25T10:42:00.000-06:00

A really funny return by the "Whaaaasup?" guys.

Its Good Work If You Can Get It

2008-09-26T09:35:00.001-06:00

$18million for 3 weeks a the helm of Washington Mutual. Now THAT'S a payday.

I call it - Obama

2008-09-25T18:28:00.002-06:00

Another reason to call it for Obama: the subtlety of a swift kick in the crotch when you least expect it. He never mentions McCain, but the allusion is unmistakable. Gotta hand it to him: he is one damn fine campaigner. If he pulls it off, its because he played the cards perfectly.

The stupid, it burns!

2008-09-25T15:00:00.002-06:00

Wow. I am sorry, but Palin is just plain incoherent and well, dumb. I mean, who the hell vetted her? Oh right, no one really, as they only vetted her with one interview within 48 hours of their announcement of her being picked for the VP slot.

Jurrasic Beer

2008-09-25T06:53:00.001-06:00

Modern genetics is a marvel: 45 million year old yeast extracted from amber to brew beer. Yum!

It tastes like burning!

2008-09-24T20:04:00.002-06:00

Barney Frank gets off a good one about McCain's desperate attempt to get the VP debate off the radar by "postponing" Friday's debate so he can work oh so diligently at saving Wall Street from themselves:

It's the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either football or Marys.

Heh.

I call it - Obama

2008-09-24T18:56:00.002-06:00

I know people do not like to prognosticate about the presidential election and all that but this clinches it for me: I call the election for Obama. It will definitely be an Electoral College win (obviously) but I think he may pull off 5+% of the popular vote. 10% is a long shot, but I think I would take the over on 5.

McCain is running scared and Palin will go double digits in negatives after the "debate".

You heard it here first.

Oh, I like this idea

2008-09-22T13:21:00.002-06:00

Here. The idea is to donate to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin's name, she who thinks the victims of rape should pay for their own rape kits and that enforcing domestic violence in the state that leads in per-capita forcible rape is something to fire someone for.

A little progressive Jujitsu.

Oil Markets 101

2008-09-18T20:32:00.003-06:00

Anyone that touts "independence from oil by drilling" is bullshitting you, straight up. Oil is a commodity which is sold on a market, not something we can just pump into the frickin' gas tanks of only good, patriotic Americans who kill moose and are for abortions for our daughters but no abortions for anybody. Any country can buy the stuff to fulfill their demand. Jeebus....

Is the Straight Talk Express coming off the Rails?

2008-09-18T19:51:00.005-06:00

I am not a political science guy (beyond the 1/3 of a poli sci major I started in college) but the way politics is run has been something I have quietly observed from afar for a while. Anyway, my meandering point is that McCain seems to be quietly imploding, one cell at a time. I mentioned here and here how it may be that the press has stopped is fluffing The Maverick. Now, it seems that Palin is all he's got.

That has gotta hurt.

Preemptive lying

2008-09-18T19:40:00.003-06:00

Wow. This is just. Wow. McCain, truly, is outrunning George Bush, no small slouch when it come to prevarication. I give you: preemptive lying. About something Obama MIGHT say about another McCain cock up, but HASN'T YET. Wow.

The Roadmap to Obama's Presidency

2008-09-18T19:28:00.003-06:00

If Obama is going to win, the chipping away at McCain as to be incessant. Part of the chance of Obama winning is the press coverage when a candidate flubs one. Obama gets free negatives against McCain and does not spend a dime. Think this is unseemly? Email presidentbush@whitehouse.gov.

One story that is breaking Obama's way is the interview in Spain where an addled McCain seemingly misunderstands that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (in the interview named as 'Zapatero') is the democratically elected Prime Minister of Spain. He is asked, repeatedly what he thinks of Zapatero and McCain will not commit to diplomatic relations with his government. Given Zapatero's liberalism, maybe this is understandable. Except, if you watch it, it seems nothing like that:

Someone is reading my thoughts

2008-08-17T15:36:00.000-06:00

Looks like scientist read my blog. Or not.

David Broder on Obama's plan to win

2008-08-16T17:11:00.002-06:00

I was hoping this is what is happening on Obama's part: let McCain go negative all he wants with quick but restrained response and work on the grassroots. Obama just may have found the way to make this work. I have heard rumors of Obama's campaign being confident in Obama's chances, even given the poll numbers shifting in McCain's direction recently (but not in some meta-poll polls which aggregate data which is interesting).

Oh This is Telling

2008-07-28T08:49:00.004-06:00

German Chancellor Merckle rescinds the don't touch me rule:

I heart Photoshop Disasters

2008-07-25T21:05:00.002-06:00

I love this one.

Vista Magazine (i.e., windows vi$ta) puts a photo:

On an old Mac Powerbook
With a weird, trapezoidal screen
And caught by Commenters, a screen shot of an old Open Office site, an Open Source replacement for Micro$oft Office

More on China "Greening up" the Olympics

2008-07-21T12:28:00.003-06:00

Visited this here. More on Slashdot here:

"With the Olympics due to start in less than three weeks, Beijing is cranking up antipollution measures by yanking cars off the roads, expanding mass transit and staggering work hours in a bid to meet its pledge of a "green" Olympics. Beijing has gone on a spending spree, relocating factories, seeding clouds, retiring old vehicles, planting millions of trees and halting building construction amid concerns that athletes and visitors could suffer breathing problems. For the next two months, owners of 3.3 million private cars can drive only on alternate days in China's capital, based on whether the last digit of their license plates is even or odd."

Steve Jobs not long for this world?

2008-07-21T10:53:00.002-06:00

There have been rumors that Steve Jobs, who had a bout with a treatable form of pancreatic cancer - usually terminal but in Job's case not - may have relapsed and had the pancreatic cancer come out of remission. A good article about Apple is here. Those who know me know I love Apple products though I have had bad luck with their later lines of hardware (my Mac Pro had an out-of-warranty issue recently).

Template Change

2008-07-21T10:43:00.001-06:00

Thought I would change up the template. Too lazy to customize one of the default templates that Blogger provides. Let me know if there are issues, either technical or aesthetic.

The surge is working? NOT!

2008-07-21T10:41:00.001-06:00

Is this so surprising:

Despite all the talk about Iraq being "calm," I'd like to point out that the month just before the last visit Barack Obama made to Iraq (he went in January, 2006), there were 537 civilian and ISF Iraqi casualties. In June of this year, 2008, there were 554 according to AP. These are official statistics gathered passively that probably only capture about 10 percent of the true toll.

This needs to be shouted from the rooftops

2008-07-17T08:43:00.001-06:00

As usual, Juan Cole tells the story that no one reports on anymore:

By now, summer of 2008, excess deaths from violence in Iraq since March of 2003 must be at least a million. This conclusion can be reached more than one way. There is not much controversy about it in the scientific community.

Really, how do we sleep at night?

Obama's Baby Mama

2008-06-29T20:38:00.003-06:00

Holy hell in a hand basket, how low CAN they go?

Communism works!

2008-06-24T11:05:00.002-06:00

Somewhere I remember reading that one advantage a command-and-control economy has is rapid development. China is the paradigm example: they are going through an Industrial Revolution that took the US more then 100 years to do, and they are doing it in 50 odd years. Here is another example: for the Olympics, to clean up the air, the government is removing all of their cars from the road and think they can drop emissions 63% within 3 months.

Here we go again

2008-06-23T19:04:00.001-06:00

In this article in the Atlantic, it talks about a new wave of crime that seems to be centered around Section 8 housing. Kevin Drum has a nice synopsis here.

When will Obama Learn?

2008-06-19T12:03:00.002-06:00

One criticism I have Obama is his seeming unwillingness to react strongly and quickly to negative (non)stories leveled against him. One further example is James Johnson who is leading Obama's Veep search. He also had long-standing and lucrative dealings with Countrywide Financial, one of the worst offenders in the mortgage crisis. I know he wants to run a "different campaign" but he cannot respond a whole news cycle late to these sorts of things.

Refutation reached

2008-06-18T13:00:00.002-06:00

But then again, McCain can do this: if a tree lies is a forest and no one is there, do they win a Pulitzer?

McCain's dilemma

2008-06-18T11:27:00.002-06:00

All things are uncertain when it comes to politics but I agree with Kevin Drum here that McCain really has no chance of pulling off a George Bush-style win in November:

Given all this, it's hard for me to see how he wins Ohio — the subject of Wallsten's piece. George Bush only won it by a whisker in 2004, and Obama is a much more formidable candidate than John Kerry was. Add to that GOP fatigue, fundraising woes, and the economic downturn, and then add to that lukewarm support from evangelicals for a candidate who's obviously not one of them, and it's hard to see how McCain doesn't run half a million votes or more behind Bush's numbers. Even if you cut that in half because there are some voters who just won't punch the button for the black guy, McCain is doomed. And if he doesn't win Ohio, there's no way he picks up enough votes elsewhere to make up for it.

I pretty much see it this way as well. What Drum did not mention is a few of the wild cards: the African-American and the young voter as well as overall turnout (the Democratic primary blew all attendance records away). I have to imagine there are 1 Million voters in there pulling the handle for Obama in key states (Ohio being one of them). And there are a few red states that trended Blue and were almost won for Kerry.

But we shall see.

2008-06-15T11:21:00.001-06:00

A good question for creationists: is there a purpose to life? No.

Buy one HOUSE, get one free

2008-06-08T11:27:00.002-06:00

Wow. How bad has the housing market gotten?

Its a big job at the top

2008-06-08T09:41:00.003-06:00

Pharyngula, a site run by an evo-devo scientist P.Z. Meyers, is probably the largest science site on the web. He gets mucho hits. Here he goes over all the people who are in his killfile, blocking them from posting to his comments (there are usually 100s per post). He is also a rabid atheist (I mean rabid in the good sense), so he gets lots of "God's Children" clogging up the stupid meters.

Its hard work at the top.

The Japanese come 5000 miles to beat it

2008-06-03T10:01:00.003-06:00

Strange story here. A public masturbation thingie is San Francisco. Two Japanese guys went at it for approx. 20 hours and took the World's Record for longest self-flagellation.

It is with great honor...

2008-06-02T19:06:00.001-06:00

...that I link to fellow Blogspot-ter Fafblog. How can Hilary win this election? Fafblog tells the tales:

So Barack Obama's all "I will defeat you Hillary Clinton and steal the nomination forever ha ha ha" but Hillary Clinton knocks im down with her kung-fu action punch like KA-SMMEESSSSHH! but Obama's all "now I shall reveal my TRUE IDENTITY" an he turns into this evil cyborg dude here an fires his auto-launching arm missiles like KA-PEWW, KA-PEWW an then Godzilla an the Decepticons show up but Hillary Clinton fights em off with her laser breath an her robot pony friends an it's totally awesome an that's when the dinosaurs attack.

Its so crazy, it just might work.....

Learn Japanese over the Internet

2008-06-02T15:09:00.001-06:00

I have not actually checked out all the links here, but if one is interested in learning Japanese, it has several links to Internet resources.

Bury me now in a lone Pringle's can

2008-06-02T15:03:00.001-06:00

Wow. This guy really likes his design achievement of the Pringle's can.

Japanese: not religious, but believers in supernatural

2008-06-02T13:50:00.002-06:00

Interesting article on a survey related to religion and belief in the supernatural. Although 26% of Japanese consider themselves as part of a religion, 56% say they have had a supernatural experience. That number may be as high as the US number, but I cannot find a good citation. Trust me! :)

You frog punchers get off my property!

2008-06-01T18:38:00.005-06:00

"You can't tell how far a frog will jump until you punch him." - a quote from a recent interview Hillary Clinton gave about the state of her campaign; I think she is losing it.

Please Hillary, drop out and endorse Barack. The writing is on the wall. Do read it.

Rock!

2008-06-01T14:30:00.004-06:00

I like music. I found this store in San Francisco that has a web front. I found a couple of CDs from a local Chicago band called Angel Eye I happen to catch after a Naked Raygun Christmas show last year (I met Jeff Pizzati and watched him get hit on by my hot friends. He is the coolest, punkiest nerd I have ever seen. Pictured above). Anyway, I found a cool French band named Soggy that sounds remarkably like old Iggy and the Stooges; the lead has Iggy down! Check out the video here.

Holy Long Absences, Batman!

2008-06-01T14:19:00.004-06:00

Look whose back. I will start posting again, for the heck of it. Looks like my last post was September 2007.

From the "We are doomed" files, here are two stories that pre-date our soon-to-come obsolescence: monkey are using electrodes in their brains to remotely control robotic arms and computers are being taught to read our minds. Soon, the monkeys will control the computers that will know what novel words we are thinking about as they beat us mercilessly with robotic, ass-kicking arms. God save us.

Wow, the base is frightening!

2007-09-19T17:43:00.000-06:00

Check this out for more gems. A Ultra-Conservative group setup a "debate" so that whomever thought it politically feasible, could answer questions like this one which would be presented to Rudolph Guliani (had he not refused to appear):

Question for Giuliani, asked by a teenage girl with an apparent speech impediment:

"Eighteen years ago, an abortionist was hired to kill me, but he failed. Nuns came and rescued me and took me to the hospital, where I stayed for two months. My heroic parents then adopted me. Mayor Giuliani, your position on abortion would have left me dead. Now that you see me, Mayor Giuliani, do you honestly believe that an abortionist had a right to kill me?"

You killed me, Rudolph Guliani!!!

Republican Black Friday

2007-08-31T14:11:00.000-06:00

Salon points out that there were some gloomy headlines for Republicans on the day that Rove will be leaving his post.

Evolution must be wrong

2007-08-31T07:41:00.000-06:00

Here is an interesting Slashdot post. They found that somehow a parasitic bacteria had injected its DNA into the host species. Most DNA injection happens because of sexual/asexual transfer. But if this is borne out, there is a third way that DNA can be passed on. Also interesting is the notion that in the past, scientists that found "foreign" DNA sequences in fruit flys tended to reject that as contamination when, in actuality, they actually may be a part of the fly's genome.

Fascinating. Evolution must be wrong.

Obama's Theology

2007-08-31T07:35:00.000-06:00

I am an atheist. However, I do have a fondness for some of what I would call enlightened theology. Here is an interesting post about how Obama's faith affects his views on human nature and the its state. I have gained some respect for Obama given this, although I am still leaning towards Edwards, mainly because of Obama's stance on Iran gives me the creeps.

Wow. Printing a bone?

2007-08-16T14:44:00.001-06:00

This post talks about a printing process that actually creates formed pieces of polymer that can be used to replace missing bone in any part of the body. Just ingenious.

Timothy Williamson on vagueness

2007-08-16T12:38:00.000-06:00

Interesting Philosophy Bites on vagueness or the Sorites paradox. The notion is simple: when does a man become bald? Is there a point where the man having one hair means he is not bald and when he loses that one extra hair, he then can be classified as 'bald'? Well, of course, the concept "baldness" is vague: there is no quantifiable amount of hair or a sharp line between being bald and not being bald. We just apply it to cases where it seems to fit.

This can put some philosophers in fits because one stated goal of semantics is to find the exact, specified conditions that make up the truth conditions of the application of a concept. "is a firefighter" is an easy one. "is bald." or "is a heap of sand.", not so much.

62nd Anniversary of Hiroshima

2007-08-09T13:05:00.000-06:00

More then you ever wanted to know about Hiroshima.

A good question

2007-08-09T12:39:00.001-06:00

"Where is everybody?" was a question famously asked by Enrico Fermi. A post here outlines the Fermi paradox, the notion that in a universe the size (trillions and trillions of galaxies) and age (billions of years) as well as our increasingly better science, it is improbably that we would not have had some evidence of extra-terrestrial life.

Nietzsche Blog starting up

2007-08-09T12:25:00.000-06:00

Brian Lieter, a philosopher who is at UT-Austin, I believe, has a Nietzsche blog that he will be posting to, "starting soon". He is an analytically-inclined philosopher with one foot in the "Continental" world (if only to use it to kick Continental philosophy's more confusing aspects in the ass).

Anyway, might be a good way to access Nietzsche's very complex thinking.

Success smells sweet

2007-08-09T12:20:00.000-06:00

Or how not to win a war.

How long have we been winning this war again?

Art in a rice paddy

2007-08-06T08:27:00.000-06:00

Check this out:

Wind and beauty

2007-08-06T08:20:00.000-06:00

The Japanese have a strange superstition streak. From not having a fourth floor on some buildings (one of the Japanese word for '4' is 'shi' which also means 'death') to strange explanations which seem to have no bearing on what is being explained.

A recent example is a Gunma Prefecture official who tried to explain why a Japan survey ranked Gunma last for beautiful women:

“Gunma is famous for its really strong winds, so when people are outside, they have to talk in very loud voices or nobody can hear what they’re saying. The big, booming voices needed just to talk are probably the complete opposite of aspects generally regarded as ladylike,” [a] government official tells Shukan Shincho.

Now that is just strange.

Note I am not suggesting that other countries are more or less superstitious then Japan. My impression is that the Japanese are more superstitious then people in the US, but then again, a majority of people in the US do not "believe in evolution".

Hello Kitty for the horsey set

2007-08-06T08:16:00.000-06:00

For those who make too much and love them some Hello Kitty.

Via Japundit.

Women and assertiveness in the workplace

2007-08-06T08:06:00.000-06:00

This is an interesting post. Researchers have believed that women are less likely to be aggressive when demanding higher wages, etc. And this has been part of the accepted explanation for why women do not get equal pay.

However, new research suggests that women who are more aggressive in leadership style, or when negotiating salary, benefits, etc., are also less likely to be rated highly. Part of a rather nasty Catch-22. But as the poster points out: if more women were more aggressive about pay, this might mitigate the penalty aggressive women receive now.

There is a lot more good stuff in the post. The bit about philosophy is interesting as well. Being a male in grad. school for philosophy, I cannot tell what might happen to aggressive woman. My adviser is female and is quite the superstar. I would not call her style as aggressive. But I do not know how much or how little she has had to be agressive to get where she is now.

Drinking from the toilet

2007-08-06T08:02:00.000-06:00

And you thought only dogs do it. In Hiroshima, they have routed water from the waste system into the drinking water system. Yum.

Via Japundit.

Wireless competition

2007-08-06T07:55:00.000-06:00

Wow, a good bill coming from Congress related to telecom. This one would overturn any impedance to creating municipal wireless networks and ensure competition.

Bets on whether Bush is loading up the ink on his veto pen?

So you think you are Buddha?

2007-08-06T07:52:00.000-06:00

This is a strange one. Seems the Chinese government must approve all who claim to be living reincarnations of Buddha. Seeing that Tibet is closely aligned with the requirement, this is not so much a surprise. If you are a Buddha AND a political dissident, I wonder what your chances are of getting the approval?

WWJD?

2007-07-30T08:06:00.000-06:00

Example # 84,948 that George Bush is a really crappy Christian. Talks to God my ass.

It been a while - Impeaching cabinet members

2007-07-30T07:57:00.000-06:00

First off, I know its been a while since I posted. Let's just say that real life can be a bitch. But things are clearing up and one of my "things to do" is to do regular postings.

On that note, here is an interesting post on TPM about the history of impeachment and its use against wayward cabinet members. Turns out it has only been used once in the last 220 years. I am beginning to come to the realization that we need some other check on executive power in the place of impeachment. It is too prone to political machinations (see Clinton impeachment) or has such a high bar that it is almost impossible to accomplish. The fact that Bush, Gonzales, and Cheney have not been ridden off on the rails is a sad aspect of our current government.

Greatest/Worst Military in the World

2007-04-24T07:45:00.000-06:00

This post makes a great point: if the US, allegedly, has the "greatest military in the world", why have we lost THREE (count 'em 1.2.3.) wars in a row? Here, I am thinking Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq 2. Really, can you honestly answer the question? The point is, I think, you either have to be in for amoral, wholesale slaughter or you are in for a loss.

A determined, insurgent force can fuck you up.

And our troops are paying the price for the stupidity of the ruling elite.

Unleash the Dogs of War - Bush is a dog catcher

2007-04-03T13:29:00.000-06:00

If this is true, it is another example of the non-declared war that Bush is so fiendishly good at. Will his depravity and amorality know no bounds?

Death Toll by Katrina, err, Malfeasance

2007-04-02T14:09:00.000-06:00

Interesting estimate of the death toll related to Katrina; that is, excess deaths, not deaths directly caused by the Hurricane. The number: 4000+ excess deaths estimated by a doctor in Now Orleans.

Some horrendous quotes:

The number of doctors has been reduced by 70% and the number of hospital beds in Orleans Parish has been reduced by 75%.

What makes this figure all the more shocking is that the population of New Orleans is about 1/2 of what it was before the storm - from 450,000 pre-Katrina to 230,000 post-Katrina. That over 2,000 excess deaths should be reported in a population that has already been reduced by 50% is amazing. Thanks to Ezra Boyd of Louisiana State University for sending me this information.

Lord help us - and everything else alive

2007-04-02T12:59:00.000-06:00

Scandal-a-rama # 456: head of Fish and Wildlife a partisan hack who leaks private agency documents and combines specie populations to keep them off the Endangered List.

Go here for a good job at "fake news" a la Daily Show.

John McCain - Unfit to Lead

2007-04-02T12:46:00.000-06:00

This is just disgusting. There is a special place in Dante's Inferno for John McCain (that is, other then the Republican party).

The "Jif" objection to evolution

2007-04-01T12:03:00.000-06:00

Oh man, is this the biggest crock of nonsensical bullshit you have ever heard? No? Then you need to find a new circle of friends.

Really, because matter + energy = life and peanut butter is matter and energy (well, potential energy, but we can gloss over the obvious ambiguity), then why isn't new life springing forth from the peanut butter? And since it doesn't, evolution must be false.

As Kos says: THE STUPID! IT BURNS!

Can of whoop ass....with fish jaws

2007-03-30T14:34:00.000-06:00

Oh man, this is disgusting.

Via the hilariously named Majikthise.

Therein lies the rub

2007-03-30T14:26:00.000-06:00

This post by Josh Marshall asks the $64k question: why is it that all of the US Attorneys ignominiously fired for "performance reasons" (or whatever the "reason du jour" is) are in swing voting states (plus California...oh wait, that US Attorney was prosecuting the Cunningham bribery case against...wait for it: Republicans)?

Usually one wants to give someone the benefit of the doubt; there must be some other explanation that does not posit ridiculous, corrupt behavior, that is, does not assume that the USAs were fired because they were not prosecuting "voter fraud" cases?

I can post background info on anything above if anyone wants it, but since I am the only one who READS this blog, I do not have the motivation.:-)

With a heavy heart

2007-03-29T13:28:00.000-06:00

Ralph Nader and I go way back. Well, anyway, my one-sided relationship with him does. Like long-term relationships generally, they can fall apart hideously. When that happens, I at least try to be the one who took the high ground.

The year was 1990. I was an idealistic youth who was two-fisting progressivism: in one had was "Animal Liberation" by Peter Singer. In the other was seeing Ralph Nader speak at a local community college I was attending. The subject was factory farming; it was disgusting and funny and persuasive. And it was that day that led me to become a vegetarian. Ralph will always have a special place in my heart, as does Peter Singer (though I have grown wary of his ethical reasoning).

That was then. This is now. I have repressed the memory of Ralph Nader making a ridiculous spectacle of himself during the 2000/2004 presidential elections. This article reminded me of it, as well as this post by Eric Alterman. I unofficially divorced myself of my infatuation with Ralph in 2000. Now the repressed anger has come back, as white-hot as ever. Oh, how the mighty have fallen so far...

I am still a vegetarian. Not a saintly one, but I never claimed to be a saint.

Buy why did you change, Ralph?

Treker

2007-03-29T10:10:00.000-06:00

Another winner Engrish:

Distilling it down

2007-03-29T09:55:00.000-06:00

I have been following the US Attorney scandal closely and have not had much to say about it, except that it is despicable. Then I came across a post from Hunter at DailyKos:

You know, I imagine somewhere it might be considered funny that the entire Department of Justice can't figure out why the hell a handful of U.S. Attorneys were fired when they themselves fired them, after spending over a year arranging for it, and that they must continually revise their statements on the matter because their past statements keep being demonstrated to be bullshit. But in that the entire premise of the Bush administration is that the entire American population is made up of morons who would actively believe that aforementioned lying bullshit, I'm not exactly sure where the joke is.

Enough said.

DMCA - someone fights back

2007-03-28T10:31:00.000-06:00

Great article here: Law Prof posts the NFL's "legal disclaimer" saying that rebroadcast of NFL games are strictly prohibited, which is actually wrong. "Fair use" provisions allow their use for such things as "educational" use. The professor posted it on YouTube and linked to it from her blog which is used for teaching purposes. Sweet.

The money quote:

This is where the saga starts to get messy. Seltzer's counter-notification—which was forwarded to the NFL from YouTube—clearly described her use of the clip as fair use: "an educational excerpt featuring the NFL's overreaching copyright warning aired during the Super Bowl." As Seltzer outlines in her blog post, the NFL's only option in response to her counter-claim would be to force her to remove the clip via court proceedings. This obviously did not happen, and instead, the NFL chose to ignore her claims completely. After receiving her counter-notification claiming fair use, sending another takedown notice over the same content is considered a knowing misrepresentation that the clip is infringing, according to DMCA section 512(f)(1). Under the DMCA, the NFL would be liable for all legal fees incurred by the alleged infringer, along with damages.

I can see....the color of cheese rinds!

2007-03-28T09:55:00.000-06:00

You may not know this, but mice are color-blind: they cannot see the red side of the spectrum, so things that are red are not seen as red (from what I have heard, they see shades of gray). In this article, scientists were able to change one gene present in humans and not it mice that enhances their ability to see the red side of the spectrum. From an evolutionary point of view, this is really an interesting point as it seems to suggest human vision of the color spectrum was a rather trivial mutation of this one gene.

A good quote:

Most mammals, including mice, are dichromats, possessing only S and M cone pigments. As a consequence, they can distinguish only a fraction of the wavelengths that can be distinguished by humans. John Mollon at the University of Cambridge has suggested that the evolution of trichromacy could have permitted primates to discriminate between unripe fruit, which is typically green, and ripe red- and orange-colored fruits. Reciprocally, the colors of ripened fruits may have coevolved with primate trichromacy, since animals that could recognize and eat the ripe fruit would have assisted plants by spreading their seeds.

Check out the link to the sidebar for a good illustration of red-green color blindness.

They are out there

2007-03-28T09:38:00.000-06:00

Check out this: a hexagonal shape on the surface of Saturn gets passed by the Cassini probe. Great pictures. Cool quote:

The hexagon is nearly 25,000 kilometers (15,000 miles) across. Nearly four Earths could fit inside it.

This is great

2007-03-28T09:30:00.000-06:00

Look: if you use someone's creative work that is offered for free but requires credit, give it. Especially if you are a candidate for the President of the United States. Like John McCain. I mean come on.

The site has been /.'d, so it may be slow.

Scandal-a-rama

2007-03-13T11:33:00.000-06:00

I had called this years ago: the Bush administration would go down in a pool of scandal. The latest one is the US Attorney purge which will most likely lead to indictments at most and at least, the resignation of that a-hole Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

See here for the latest.

Cursor transport: Japanese guys in their underwear

2007-02-12T14:03:00.000-06:00

From Japundit, a site I post on periodically:

Go here.
Allow the page to load.
Move your mouse around the circle that appears.
Be totally amazed.

Vote for John Edward's wife

2007-02-09T11:07:00.000-06:00

I know the canard: you vote for the candidate, not his/her spouse. But I like Elizabeth Edwards. When she is not facing down Chris Mathews, she is sticking up for her right to be uncensored by her hubby's campaign. She makes Hilary look like a wussy.

I like Elizabeth Edwards the more I read about her. It makes me like John as president also. Let's face it: you know John respects and utilizes Elizabeth's counsel.

Google Reader and clippings

2007-02-06T16:28:00.000-06:00

I hate baskets. I got lots of eggs. So, why not put all the eggs in one basket? I use gmail and calendar. Lately, I came across Google Reader. Nice aggregator. One tidbit that will surge the number of posts I will make is that there is a one-click publish feature that will post articles I find worthy of posting without having to login to Blogger and doing a post!

Less baskets and I can be lazy. That's a twofer.

Look at the sidebar on the right. It will be updated very often as I note articles that I think are interesting but I am too lazy to write about.

Maa!

2007-02-06T16:26:00.000-06:00

Cheney is a real cutup. As noted here, Cheney's office invented out of whole cloth a fourth branch of government completely encapsulated by the VPs office.

What a douche.

Nancy Pelosi - Breaking Barriers

2007-01-08T15:20:00.000-06:00

This post by mcjoan at Daily Kos underscores something that has flown under the radar of most people, mainly the so-called "journalists" that are allegedly on our side: Nancy Pelosi is the first woman to reach speaker of the house and is second in line for presidential succession. Wow.

Truly a first for women that seem never to happen. As she said, she has broken through a "marble ceiling"; much harder then the normal glass ceilings women must face everyday.

Thomas Jefferson - Terrorist Sympathizer

2007-01-03T18:48:00.000-06:00

Why I am a liberal, reason #245: duly elected congressperson Keith Ellison made a fatal mistake, according to Rep. Virgil Goode (VA). He is muslim. And now "they" are going to overrun Congress. Rep. Ellison's other mistake: he wants to swear in on the Koran rather the the bible. The right would not have it.

So someone from Goode's district donated a Koran for the ceremony: one owned by none other then Thomas Jefferson. Of course, the right wing had a spin on that one: Jefferson was a terrorist sympathizer. Jeebus on a freakin' pogo stick.

Oh yeah, Happy New Year!

2007-01-03T18:37:00.000-06:00

2006 blew chunks of fetid toast (at least for yours truly). Might 2007 blow slightly less?

Finally, a real Democrat!

2007-01-03T18:35:00.000-06:00

Via Daily Kos, a rundown of Eliot Spitzer's first speech laying out his very ambitious agenda, from health care for all to an publicly financed elections and pre-kindergarten for all 4-year olds. Wow.