Glib & Superficial

We're shocked! SHOCKED!

2012-01-31T10:36:00.000-05:00

Because, really: what kind of asshole pokes their finger in the face of the President of the United States?

Everything Old is New Again: MIlton Friedman, 1979

2012-01-31T04:53:00.000-05:00

"I am Daenerys Stormborn, and I will take what is mine with fire and blood."

2012-01-30T09:19:00.000-05:00

Stuff Catholic Girls Say

2012-01-30T07:50:00.000-05:00

We think we'd have organized this a bit differently, and saved the best for last: "I can totally see myself marrying him if he doesn't become a priest" and "I don't know if I should date right now, I'm discerning being a nun."

Brilliant

2012-01-26T09:34:00.002-05:00

Caturday Morning

2012-01-21T01:02:00.002-05:00

When Parody Fails

2012-01-19T13:41:00.000-05:00

From our "this is a joke, right?" department:

Six House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), want to set up a "Reasonable Profits Board" to control gas profits.

The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a "windfall profit tax" as high as 100 percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation. The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit.

The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would apply a windfall tax on the sale of oil and gas that ranges from 50 percent to 100 percent on all surplus earnings exceeding "a reasonable profit." It would set up a Reasonable Profits Board made up of three presidential nominees that will serve three-year terms.

More HERE.

Ha!

2012-01-19T11:58:00.000-05:00

Is there a problem?

2012-01-14T02:35:00.003-05:00

"Lasers are not a cost-effective method of bacon preparation."

2012-01-09T13:27:00.000-05:00

Just one of the very practical conclusions reached along the way to answering the question, "Why can't we use lasers as ray guns?"

Resolutions

2012-01-08T22:10:00.001-05:00

We know we've been lax around here respecting end-of-year reviews, lists of the 10 best cat videos of 2011 and suchlike. But we'd not like it thought that we were without resolutions for the New Year.

Living in a fantasy world

2012-01-07T14:55:00.001-05:00

Here's a clip of Representative Ron Paul from 1984. He's railing about computer surveillance by the Government. At the time, of course, it was just one more example of what a kook he is. Unless, of course, you happened to have read William Gibson's debut novel, also published that year.

Relationship Advice

2012-01-06T12:16:00.000-05:00

From the Washington Post.

Sounds to us like performance art

2012-01-06T10:17:00.000-05:00

We're keen students of the "alcohol may have been involved" genre, and so certainly didn't miss this:

A Colorado woman dropped her pants at a museum and rubbed her rear end all over a painting valued at $30 million, according to police.

Carmen Tisch, 36, was arrested after scratching, punching and, well, rubbing her butt against Clyfford Still's "1957-J no.2" and causing an estimated $10,000 damage to the artwork at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver. Police believe she was drunk during the late December incident.

[snip]

The oil-on-canvas abstract expressionist painting was spared additional damage when the woman tried to urinate on it but apparently missed.

"It doesn't appear she urinated on the painting or that the urine damaged it, so she's not being charged with that," Kimbrough said according to the Denver Post.

We expect at any moment the announcement that Ms. Tisch is herself a noted performance artist, and was actually acting pursuant to a substantial Government grant. In fact, we think that the posterior polishing of abstract art makes a profound artistic statement.

If you're wondering, here's the painting in question, although we have no idea whether this image is before or after the "damage." Without a side-by-side comparison of before-and-after, it's unclear how one could tell.

Rick Santorum?

2012-01-06T09:51:00.000-05:00

We saw this at Ace of Spades and, as he notes, the source of the clips is not entirely clear. But it certainly doesn't conflict with anything we're read about Santorum:

Santorum is the Anti-Mitt du jour, and the rap on him is that he's a "Big Government Conservative." Jennifer Rubin thinks that's nonsense:

First, Santorum is to the right of Perry in some important ways. Santorum opposed the Troubled Assets Relief Program; Perry wrote a letter on the day of the Senate vote urging Congress to pass legislation to avert a meltdown. Santorum, as we saw in the debates, is likewise to the right of Perry (and Newt Gingrich, for that matter) on immigration.

Indeed, Santorum’s supposed deviations from conservative orthodoxy are similar those of his rivals. He voted for earmarks and highway funds. Gov. Perry took the money. Santorum voted for Medicare Part D; Gingrich lobbied for it, and Perry said in a debate that he wouldn’t repeal it.

[snip]

And finally, Santorum has put together an aggressive spending reduction plan. He’s for the balanced-budget amendment. He’s embraced Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare reform plan. He’s in favor of Social Security reform, against energy subsidies, for privatizing Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and in favor of repealing Obamacare. The guy is no liberal when it comes to spending taxpayer money. Is he to the right of Gingrich? Yes. To the left of Ron Paul? Yes. But so are most GOP voters.

What Santorum “lacks” is the bomb-throwing rhetoric and contempt for government that oozes from Perry. He doesn’t suggest that the Fed chairman is a traitor. He’s not planning to arrest judges like Newt Gingrich. He’s not advocated a goofy scheme to devolve Social Security to the states. He didn’t urge Congress to refuse to raise the debt limit. In a word, he doesn’t disdain governing.

Happy Perihelion

2012-01-05T13:36:00.000-05:00

Wait, wait! I almost forgot! It's 2012!

2012-01-03T10:35:00.000-05:00

I guess this is the "Change" part

2012-01-02T14:29:00.000-05:00

Guys who work are tacky

2012-01-02T12:46:00.000-05:00

It's difficult to have any other take-away from this piece in last week's New York Times:

HORSEHEADS, N.Y. — At the Glamour and Glow boutique in the local mall here, crystal necklaces and fake fur vests have been hot-ticket items the last year.

When the drilling workers head home between long stretches of work in this gas-rich region, explained Christy Spreng, the shop’s owner, they need gifts for their wives and girlfriends. “They know what they want,” she said. “They’ll say: ‘Looks good. Wrap it up.’ ”

Sales are up 60 percent at the boutique this year. At the two Holiday Inns here in Chemung County, occupancy has been at or near capacity for months at a time. And in the nearby town of Big Flats, the regional airport has added flights, parking spaces and restrooms, and is extending a runway to accommodate larger jets.

Hoping its sophisticated readers won't miss the point, the Times thoughtfully provides a link to Glamour and Glow's website, permitting a titillating frolic for virtual slummers.

While even the Times can't miss the economic boomlet, the article mostly tut-tuts about pollution, rising home prices, and dirty hands. Thus this:

Mr. Santulli, the Chemung County executive, attributes at least half of its tax revenue growth to the increased activity of the extracting industry on both sides of the border.

He said 28 gas-related companies employing more than 1,000 had leased or bought more than one million square feet of commercial space in the county as a staging area for current and future drilling operations in the region.

Many businesses provide support and technological services for gas fields. One of the biggest, Schlumberger Technologies, is completing a 400,000-square-foot plant in Horseheads that will employ 400 people by next year.

is dizzyingly juxtaposed with this:

Ann Crook, the manager of Elmira Corning Regional Airport in Big Flats, estimates one of five passengers flying in or out has some tie to the gas industry. Some are workers who head straight to the airport after working their final shift, which has prompted her to invest in some degreasing soap for the restrooms. “They do some serious cleanup here,” Ms. Crook said.

This is nothing new, and it's all about class. People with advanced degrees and clean hands who churn out incoherent dreck have never been comfortable with guys who work for a living, get dirty, and are concerned about momma bein' happy.

We'll be on the lookout for the next thoughty Times piece about the economics of food stamps, where the lede is a similarly condescending critique of the fashion sense of welfare queens.

If There'd Always Been an Internet

2012-01-02T06:50:00.006-05:00

From Retronaut.

Everything you need to know

2012-01-01T10:25:00.000-05:00

It is customary to commence a new year either with resolutions to amend one's life, or a review and evaluation of the year just past. We are in no position to do either, as we've resolved to make no resolutions, and judge 2011 to have been an average year: worse than 2010, likely to be better than 2013. Average.

Instead, we provide something for you to ponder. Perhaps it's a metaphor. Perhaps it's a sign.

Last evening, someone tossed the following question into cyberspace: "I baked a potato (skin rubbed with olive oil and kosher salt before cooking), and stupidly left it in a cold oven for a few days. Looks ok (kind of shriveled, but not bad). Is it safe to reheat and eat?"

As we write, this query has stimulated 22 responses.

We don't pretend to have fully considered this, but offer the following observations upon which you may think it profitable to meditate:

Someone contemplated this matter for an unknown period of time without coming to any conclusion or taking any definitive action;
Someone believed the question to be of sufficient importance and complexity so as to warrant the solicitation of advice;
Counsel was sought from unknown, unidentifiable third parties;
Nearly two dozen individuals found the question to be of sufficient interest, and judged their own knowledge to be adequately authoritative, that they responded;
The responses conflict and reach no conclusion or consensus.

Welcome to 2012. We've been waiting for you. We are doomed.

When New Years Eve falls on Caturday

2011-12-31T16:46:00.000-05:00

I'm not exactly a Ron Paul supporter . . . .

2011-12-29T13:32:00.000-05:00

. . . . although I do admire his fundamental political and philosophical outlook. (Letting Murray Rothbard and his crew write newsletters in his name? Not so much.)

But there's a lot about him that makes me point and yell, "Yes! Yes! THAT's the kind of guy I want as president."

Which brings us to this story from the National Journal:

DES MOINES -- So I am eating the free breakfast buffet at the downtown Embassy Suites and who should stroll in but Ron Paul. By himself.

This may not seem strange to the average voter, but anyone who writes about politics or makes their living off it knows that a presidential candidate -- especially one who could win the nation's first nominating contest in five days -- never ever goes anywhere without an entourage of some sort. One of the main reasons for the entourage is to keep pesky reporters away and fetch things so that said candidate can eat breakfast before another long day on the campaign trail.

But Paul doesn't need a sidekick to fill his plate at the breakfast buffet, fetch his coffee, whisper talking points into his ear, or get rid of pesky reporters -- he does that all himself, thank you very much. Asked if he's concerned that if he doesn't win his followers will not rally behind the GOP nominee, he looks up from his plate of cantaloupe, honeydew, eggs, sausage and biscuit and says brusquely, "Right now, the only thing that bothers me is people who don't respect my privacy enough to leave me alone for five minutes when I'm eating breakfast." And then he goes back to reading his USA Today.

Charming. (By the way, if this were to happen to Romney, which it wouldn't, a SWAT team would immediately surround the reporter to oversee damage control.)

Exactly. No entourage. No staffer whispering in his ear that, since this is Iowa, piling on pork products is a good idea.

Just a guy. Just a cranky old man who thinks it's sort of basic that you ought to stay the Hell off his lawn.

Old Video of Debbie Wasserman Schultz

2011-12-27T13:49:00.000-05:00

Our intrepid researchers have unearthed this previously unseen video of Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D - Fla.), Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, railing about the patriarchy.

Newsweek Gets Page Number Wrong

2011-12-27T09:29:00.000-05:00

When something can't go on forever . . .

2011-12-27T08:01:00.000-05:00

. . . it won't.

Robert Samuelson writes:

We are shifting from "give away politics" to "take away politics." Since World War II, presidents and Congresses have been in the enviable position of distributing more benefits to more people without requiring ever-steeper taxes. Now, this governing formula no longer works, and politicians face the opposite: taking away -- reducing benefits or raising taxes significantly -- to prevent government deficits from destabilizing the economy. It is not clear that either Democrats or Republicans can navigate the change.

[snip]

For years, there has been a "something for nothing" aspect to our politics. More people became dependent on government. From 1960 to 2010, the share of federal spending going for "payments to individuals" (Social Security, food stamps, Medicare and the like) climbed from 26 percent to 66 percent. Meanwhile, the tax burden barely budged. In 1960, federal taxes were 17.8 percent of national income (gross domestic product). In 2007, they were 18.5 percent of GDP.

This good fortune reflected falling military spending -- from 52 percent of federal outlays in 1960 to 20 percent today -- and solid economic growth that produced ample tax revenues. Generally modest budget deficits bridged any gap. But now this favorable arithmetic has collapsed under the weight of slower economic growth (even after a recovery from the recession), an aging population (increasing the number of recipients) and high health costs (already 26 percent of federal spending). Present and prospective deficits are gargantuan.

The trouble is that, while the economics of give away policies have changed, the politics haven't. Liberals still want more spending, conservatives more tax cuts.

Samuelson's theme is that the political class, and the political structure, may not be capable of resolving the crisis. He cites three three historical instances of similar impasse:

Our political system has failed before. Conflicts that could not be resolved through debate, compromise and legislation were settled in more primitive and violent ways. The Civil War was the greatest and most tragic failure; leaders couldn't end slavery peacefully. In our time, the social protests and disorders of the 1960s -- the civil rights and anti-war movements and urban riots -- almost overwhelmed the political process. So did double-digit inflation, peaking at 13 percent in 1979 and 1980, which for years defied efforts to control it.

These examples strike us as uncomfortably inapt. While the national political system was unable to resolve the conflict over slavery, regional political majorities existed to support coherent action. It was these irreconcilably regional majorities that resulted in the Civil War. The upheavals of the 1960s were resolved by the emergence of a political majority broadly in favor of ending the Viet Nam War. And the double-digit inflation of 1979-80 was seen as destructive and intolerable to wage-earners, pensioners, and businesses alike, leading to Ronald Reagan's landslide election in 1980, with a broad mandate to fix it by any means necessary.

The conceptual problem is simple: revenues must be increased, or expenditures cut. But the gap is so great that any increase in revenue sufficient to solve the problem would require tax increases to levels that are unprecedented, punitive, and destructive, imposed on a narrowing base. And substantial political majorities either already depend on Government support, or anticipate relying on both Social Security and other benefits, principally assistance with medical care. Thus no substantial reduction in expenditure is politically feasible.

When investors begin to balk at purchasing ever-increasing volumes of federal debt, the Government's only recourse will be monetization of further debt, by sale of Treasury securities to the Federal Reserve Bank (a process that has already begun), in return for Federal Reserve Notes, that is, cash created by the Fed. The substantial and accelerating increase in the supply of money will result in uncontrolled inflation.

Basic Instinct, Blade Runner

2011-12-26T18:30:00.000-05:00

Silent Christmas

2011-12-25T12:43:00.002-05:00

Cryin' Christmas Tears

2011-12-24T12:24:00.000-05:00

Zeno's Advent Calendar

2011-12-23T14:01:00.000-05:00

From xkcd.

Christmas or Politics? Politics or Christmas?

2011-12-23T13:55:00.000-05:00

Oh, screw it: politics.

A largely unexplored aspect of the President's Troika-of-Greatness is his inclusion of Johnson. To speak plainly, Johnson pops into his head because of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This comes naturally to Mr. Obama, whose deck is stacked with 52 Race Cards.

But it ignores the fact that Johnson's out-sized ego dragged the United States into its most disastrous military adventure, while at the same time he was unable to formulate or articulate achievable military goals, or provide competent management of that war.

Mr. Obama thus suggests that he's not quite yet scaled the heights occupied by America's most megamaniacally incompetent one-term president. But he's giving it a go.

The Reason for the Season

2011-12-23T07:16:00.001-05:00

"Undaunted by Tuesday's dreary skies, a Druid at the United Kingdom's ancient Stonehenge monument prayerfully greets the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice. This first day of summer and longest day of the year has long been observed by cultures worldwide."

"At Stonehenge, celebrants in the center of the standing stones can still watch the summer solstice sun rise over the Heel Stone, just outside the stone circles."

"This year British Druids celebrated the solstice for the first time as members of an officially recognized religion, following a controversial vote by the national Charity Commission for England and Wales last fall."

From National Geographic.

More than a millenium separates the ancient Druids (so loathed by Caesar) and this modern jumped-up bunch, which can trace its origins only to the Eighteenth Century, and that badly. Stonehenge long antedates the Celtic Druids, having been erected around 2200 B.C.

I am reckless, incorrigible and lazy, most likely male, and

2011-12-22T21:52:00.001-05:00

Noomi Rapace; Charlize Theron; Ridley Scott

2011-12-22T14:24:00.000-05:00

The bar was walked into by the passive voice.

2011-12-20T06:57:00.001-05:00

Seven Bar Jokes Involving Grammar and Punctuation:

1. A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.

2. A dangling modifier walks into a bar. After finishing a drink, the bartender asks it to leave.

3. A question mark walks into a bar?

4. Two quotation marks “walk into” a bar.

5. A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to drink.

6. The bar was walked into by the passive voice.

7. Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They drink. They leave.

Chicks really dig . . .

2011-12-19T10:04:00.000-05:00

. . . toilets. Yup. They'll bargain for 'em.

HERE'S the science.

It's a Wonder

2011-12-18T08:45:00.001-05:00

"I’m very lucky I didn’t hurt myself considering how clueless I was when I started."

Some time after his 60th year -- about the time the chaotic 19th century gave way to what was to be the murderous 20th -- Henry Adams sat down to reflect on his life. The result, The Education of Henry Adams, ostensibly asks what he has learned in the course of his life, and purports to conclude: not much.

The getting of education, the acquisition of knowledge, the accomplishment of competence, is a young person's task. Ignorance and lack of perspective is not the fault of youth, but instead the natural condition of youth. Had a young person a modicum of actual wisdom, and the wit or leisure for true reflection and rumination, withdrawal from the race that is the world would be the likely conclusion.

"I’m very lucky I didn’t hurt myself considering how clueless I was when I started."

David Lottes lives, as near as we can tell, somewhere in Illinois:

I live on about four acres of wooded land that had not been maintained for many decades. Very little effort had been made to manage the forest. Long dead trees were scattered around the property. It was dangerous to walk in parts of the woods and the dead trees were damaging the live ones.

At first the goal was to clean up the woods and make it safer. After a quick survey it became clear that I had a huge job ahead of me.

We do have a fire pit we use for the occasional cookout but there was no way we would burn anywhere near this amount of wood before it turned to mud. I have always been interested in frontier and pioneer life so without a clue of what I was getting myself into I decided to try building a cabin.

I honestly didn’t believe I would end up with anything but a woodpile in the end so I didn’t want to spend much money on it. I scavenged most of the materials I couldn’t make myself.

The young man sets out to survey his world, that is the tiny corner of the world over which he might reasonably expect to exercise some control: "It was dangerous to walk in parts of the woods . . . ." Oh my, yes. In truth, it's dangerous to walk most anywhere in the woods. But for youth danger is dismissed, and for fear is substituted the illusion of understanding, ". . . it became clear that I had a huge job ahead of me."

"I’m very lucky I didn’t hurt myself considering how clueless I was when I started."

How fortunate for us all that the young dismiss the gloomy counsel of the wise: ". . . so without a clue of what I was getting myself into I decided to try building a cabin." How foolish is youth to charge into the business of life so unprepared and ill-equipped.

And in the end, is this success? This tiny, rude imperfect thing? Ahead is rain, snow, wind, freeze, termites, implacable vines, rot, destruction, chaos. Give the world a bit of time, and your life will be erased.

But by then the young, ambitious, ignorant, foolish tree-feller and cabin builder will be gone, lost in the wisdom and reflection of age. "Perhaps it's best if I don't try to explain it to the youngsters," he might conclude, "not that they'd listen to me anyway."

"I’m very lucky I didn’t hurt myself considering how clueless I was when I started."

Pork & Beans

2011-12-17T12:09:00.001-05:00

In the entire history of the world since the Creation, no one has ever bought a can of pork and beans and been surprised to find that it was mostly beans. No one has ever opened the can and stared in disbelief, or complained, "What the heck? What are all these beans doing in here? I was looking for a nice can of pork, and instead this is a whole can of beans, and one little tiny chunk of pork!"

Is there any question that, if pork & beans were a new product -- if it hadn't been thought up a hundred years ago -- there's just no way it would be "Pork & Beans." It would have to be "Beans (with a little piece of pork)." It's misleading. It's downright fraudulent. But today, unlike our unlucky great-grandparents, we're protected from such chicanery by the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Transportation Safety Board, and heaven alone knows how many other Government watchdogs, working tirelessly to protect us from . . . what, exactly?

Which brings us to the automobile. Frank Fleming imagines a world without the automobile, and the proposal -- here in the 21st century -- that people should be allowed to drive around in big chunks of metal, powered by internal-combustion engines:

Is there any way they’d be approved for individual use? It’s an era of bans on incandescent bulbs; if you suggested putting millions of internal-combustion engines out there, you’d get looks like you were Hitler proposing the Final Solution.

Even aside from pollution, the government wouldn’t allow the risks to safety.

“So you’re proposing that people speed around in tons of metal? You must mean only really smart, well-trained people?”

“No. Everyone. Even stupid people.”

“Won’t millions be killed?”

“Oh, no. Not that many. Just a little more than 40,000 a year.”

“And injuries?”

“Oh . . . millions.”

There’s no way that would get approved today.

Fleming suggests that this is because we've become a nation of sissies, and he's certainly right. Mothers have always screeched, "You could shoot your eye out!" But never before in human history has a society decided that a cadre of anxious, over-protective mommies should be given the power to enforce their terror-filled nightmares on the rest of us.

This enervating trend dovetails nicely with the fundamental nature of Government. Government will always expand, and will always seek more power and influence. This is not because the individuals who make up "the Government" are evil power-seekers. The shopkeeper strives for more customers, the manufacturer looks to sell more of whatever he makes, and the Government eternally looks for more things to do. Once you've decided that the Government should be able to prevent my neighbor from installing crappy electrical wiring -- because when his house burns to the ground mine will too -- it doesn't sound quite so silly for my neighbor to suggest that I shouldn't be able to paint my house pink.

What people don't seem to understand is that the more often they encourage the Government to do something they think is a good idea, or prevent something that they think is a bad idea, the more likely it is that next week that same Government will be telling them that they can't do something they think is a good idea, or that they must do something that they think is a bad idea. That's the way it works.

We're seeing this play out now with respect to the "Stop Online Piracy Act," a bill that would enormously expand the Government's power to shut down Internet sites on suspicion of copyright violations or sale of counterfeit products. If you own movie copyrights, or sell Chanel No. 5, you think this is a great idea. If, on the other hand, you know anything at all about the Internet, you know that it won't work. But, while it's not working, what it will do is create a mechanism for the Government to close down -- censor -- Internet sites that do things the Government has decided are bad things: illegal things; hateful things; things that shock me; things that offend me; things that I don't like; fraudulent things like Pork & Beans.

The irony of this has not been lost on the crazed libertarians over at Armed and Dangerous:

A government that is big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything away from you – including your Internet freedom.

That’s the thought that keeps running through my head as I contemplate the full-scale panic going on right now about SOPA, the “Stop Internet Piracy Act”.

It’s a bad bill, all right. It’s a terrible bill – awful from start to finish, idiotic to the core, corruptly pandering to a powerful special-interest group at the cost of everyone else’s liberty.

But I can’t help noticing that a lot of the righteous panic about it is being ginned up by people who were cheerfully on board for the last seventeen or so government power grabs – cap and trade, campaign finance “reform”, the incandescent lightbulb ban, Obamacare, you name it – and I have to wonder…

Don’t these people ever learn? Anything? Do they even listen to themselves?

It’s bizarre and entertaining to hear people who yesterday were all about allegedly benign and intelligent government interventions suddenly discovering that in practice, what they get is stupid and vicious legislation that has been captured by a venal and evil interest group.

Yeah, no shit? How…how do they avoid noticing that in reality it’s like this all the time?

Tuna! There's Tuna in the Fridge!!

2011-12-17T10:34:00.002-05:00

"One of the most terrifying rhetoricians that the world has yet seen."

2011-12-16T13:05:00.000-05:00

Christopher Hitchens has died.

51 Things You Can't See on Google Maps

2011-12-16T11:00:00.000-05:00

No, really. While you CAN see my old car parked in the driveway of my old house in Northwest Washington, D.C., you can't see (or can't see a clear picture of): the White House, Ramstein Air Base, or the home of Aaron and Christine Boring of Franklin Park, Pennsylvania.

Since some of you complain about cat videos . . . .

2011-12-14T15:42:00.002-05:00

. . . here's a bearded dragon video.

The Second Amendment

2011-12-14T00:17:00.000-05:00

Via Reddit

OMG!

2011-12-12T15:04:00.002-05:00

That's it, just OMG!

First, just watch . . . .

2011-12-12T12:55:00.000-05:00

Then, read more.

Quote of the Day: Blind Pig, Acorns Department

2011-12-10T07:33:00.000-05:00

That’s pretty much what the schools are like, I think: they reward discipline and obedience, and they punish independence of mind. If you happen to be a little innovative, or maybe you forgot to come to school one day because you were reading a book or something, that’s a tragedy, that’s a crime - because you’re not supposed to think, you’re supposed to obey, and just proceed through the material in whatever way they require.

- Noam Chomsky

Public Service: How to Wrap Your Cat for Christmas

2011-12-10T00:23:00.000-05:00

Occupy Harvard!

2011-12-09T00:14:00.005-05:00

Unless, you know, like it's cold or you have something else to do or something. You know.

More HERE.

Alien Life Form Documented

2011-12-08T17:18:00.000-05:00

Dare to Dream

2011-12-08T14:34:00.000-05:00

"When he was very young, Tommy's parents had drilled into him the belief that if he just put his mind to it, there was NOTHING he couldn't do."

Chris Christie: Always Good

2011-12-07T13:18:00.000-05:00

December 7

2011-12-07T13:08:00.000-05:00

Rats. Sinking Ship.

2011-11-28T12:35:00.002-05:00

Barney Frank won't run for reelection.

Research Bears Out Personal Experience

2011-11-21T20:18:00.000-05:00

According to an article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology:

The less people know about important complex issues such as the economy, energy consumption and the environment, the more they want to avoid becoming well-informed, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

And the more urgent the issue, the more people want to remain unaware, according to a paper published online in APA's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Our personal experience is that the more we know about the economy, energy consumption, and the environment, the more we're inclined to hole up in our bunker along with a pile of gold ingots.

EU Study: Water Not Wet

2011-11-19T18:22:00.000-05:00

Dehydration -- i.e., excessive loss of water from the human body -- is neither treated nor prevented by water.

Related ongoing studies expected to conclude that the sky is not up, and that there really aren't all that many fish in the sea.

Prime Minister Defends Larry

2011-11-19T13:54:00.000-05:00

The Government of British Prime Minister David Cameron has been rocked by allegations of incompetence on the part of a key appointee, Larry, the Downing Street Cat. The Daily Mail reported:

Larry the Downing Street cat may have been brought in to catch rats but it appears the ministerial moggy may have to face a disciplinary.

The tabby, adopted from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home earlier this year, was expected to go chasing after rodents who have been seen scuttling in and around Number 10.

But David Cameron has resorted to throwing cutlery at mice because Larry has not been fulfilling his duties.

The Prime Minister was apparently witnessed throwing a silver fork at a mouse seen running across the floor during a dinner with Cabinet ministers last week, the Daily Telegraph said.

Downing Street aides have been growing increasingly concerned over Larry's apparent lack of interest in keeping on top of the now growing rodent problem.

Downing Street has rebuffed calls for Larry's resignation. Throughout the controversy, Larry himself has remained aloof, refusing all interview requests.

Larry's supporters blame the controversy on media bias, noting that ITV reporter Lucy Manning required mild correction on a recent Downing Street visit:

Christmas is Coming

2011-11-18T16:45:00.000-05:00

Dog Bites Man!

2011-11-18T16:34:00.000-05:00

"US Deficit-Cutting Talks Appear to Be Near Collapse"

Just the facts, Ma'm

2011-11-17T03:25:00.000-05:00

The House of Representatives has passed the Concealed-Carry Reciprocity bill. If the bill becomes law, it would mean that the concealed-carry permit the Fauquier County Circuit Court Clerk was kind enough to issue to me would also be good in, say, Pennsylvania.

But enough about me. Here's the way the story was reported by the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON — A state permit to carry a concealed firearm would be valid in almost every other state in the country under legislation the House passed Wednesday.

The first pro-gun bill the House has taken up this year and the first since Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was severely injured in a gun attack in January,it had the National Rifle Association's backing and passed by a comfortable margin.

This is legislation dealing with enforcement of a Constitutional right. I'm wondering if the AP described the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as "a pro-Black bill"?

And wherever does Gabby Giffords come into this? Does she carry? Did she vote for the bill? Maybe the AP is thinking that if Congresswoman Giffords' staff had been carrying, things might have turned out differently. Yeah. That must be it.

Catching Up With Old Friends

2011-11-15T13:29:00.002-05:00

See all the CollegeHumor Original Videos here.

Outrage!

2011-11-14T12:32:00.000-05:00

The New York Times has uncovered an outrage that threatens the very existence of the Republic: "Banks Quietly Ramping Up Costs to Consumers." Which is to say, banks charge their customers to do stuff, like replacing a lost debit card, or wiring money to your account. Underlying this huffing and puffing seems to be the notion that a business should price its goods or services based on what it costs that business to produce or deliver them.

We're pretty sure that the New York Times doesn't set its advertising charges based on what it costs them to hit a few computer keys and roll the presses.

If you don't like your bank nickel-and-diming you to death -- or if you lose your debit card regularly -- your remedy is to find a bank that makes its money some other way, and take your business there. But that's becoming more and more difficult to do. If you don't much like JPMorgan-Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, or Citigroup, you may be out of luck.

Of course, that's a story you're not going to read in the New York Times: "Obama Administration Encourages, Finances, Historic Bank Consolidation, Campaign Receives Big Bucks From Bankers."

Persuasive. Unignorable. Relevant. Rememberable.

2011-11-14T01:43:00.001-05:00

Occupy Washington

2011-11-13T14:03:00.002-05:00

Occupy Prague

2011-11-13T14:01:00.002-05:00

Occupy Paris

2011-11-13T13:52:00.000-05:00

Can't we all just get along?

2011-11-03T17:42:00.000-04:00

"Jasha Lottin says she can't understand why people are so interested in why she bought a horse, killed it, gutted it, then posed naked for photos inside the carcass and posted them on the Internet."

Caution: LGT story that includes NSFW pics (particularly if you work with a lot of people who've never seen a naked girl). More important, they're WAY over the "Not Safe For Lunch" line.

Relationships: His & Her Diary

2011-11-03T13:01:00.000-04:00

A solution to student debt, and the higher education bubble

2011-11-01T13:43:00.000-04:00

Life Just Isn't That Complicated

2011-10-31T20:20:00.000-04:00

New Book at Amazon!

2011-10-29T19:34:00.001-04:00

Frank J. Fleming's "Obama: The Greatest President in the History of Everything."

Amazon describes it thusly:

It's hard to remember the dark days before 2008. It was a time of hatred, racism, violence, obese children, war, untaxed rich people, and incandescent light bulbs -- perhaps the worst days we had ever seen. And at the heart of it all was a thuggish, thoughtless man, George W. Bush, who lashed out angrily at whatever he didn't understand -- and he understood so very little. Then there was that laugh of his -- that horrible snicker that mocked everything intelligent and nuanced. Also, he looked like a chimp.

It seemed like the end for the United States of America. We would crumble in the hands of vicious, superstitious dimwits determined to hunt "ter'ists" or other figments of Bush's rotten mind. There was nothing left to do but head to Whole Foods to prepare our organic, sustainable, fair-trade last meal as the country ended around us. Despair had overtaken us, and we wondered aloud whether we could ever feel hope again.

And then a man emerged who firmly answered, "Yes we can!"

Oh, but Barack Obama was no mere man. He was a paragon of intelligence and civilized society. A savior to the world's depressed. A lightbringer. A genius thinking thoughts the common man could never hope to comprehend. And his words -- his beautiful words read from crystal panes -- reached down to our souls and told us all would be well. With the simple act of casting a ballot for Barack Obama, we could make the world an immeasurably better place -- a world of peace, of love, of understanding, of unicorns, of rainbows, of expanded entitlements. This was his promise. And now, having had him as president for more than two years, we can say without reservation that he has delivered all his promises and more and is the best president this country -- or any country -- has ever had or could even imagine to have.

I am the 99%

2011-10-27T11:48:00.000-04:00

"I have a pair of handcuffs, and I know how to use them."

2011-10-27T05:01:00.007-04:00

Plainly this fellow has never actually met any Oakland cops. And he ought to tell his mom that one of the bulbs in the ceiling fixture needs replacement.

90% of "Occupy London" Tents are Empty at Night

2011-10-26T22:49:00.002-04:00

Oh, snap!

You know those crime-scene photos? Yeah, well, about those . . . .

2011-10-26T13:47:00.000-04:00

Remember when one demonstration of intelligence involved the ability to understand and manipulate analogies? Ok. Try this one:

Using a crayon to draw a mustache on Uncle Fred in an old picture is to Photoshop, is as Photoshop is to . . . this:

Rendering Synthetic Objects into Legacy Photographs from Kevin Karsch on Vimeo.

More HERE.

Canary. Coal mine. Anderson Cooper. Courtney Stodden. That is all.

2011-10-26T13:30:00.000-04:00

Inside Journalism

2011-10-26T13:14:00.000-04:00

Overpaying for Civilization

2011-10-26T10:33:00.001-04:00

When Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes delivered himself of his famous bon mot, "taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society," the price tag for civilization stood at something like 4% of gross domestic product.

Today that bill is more like 24%.

We may want to consider the possibility that we're overpaying for civilization.

Johnny Depp meets Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

2011-10-25T14:35:00.000-04:00

My first encounter with Hunter S. Thompson was when I was invited to the Woody Creek Tavern in Colorado in December 1994. Someone said, "Why don’t you come down, and you and Hunter will have a drink." So I went down to Woody Creek Tavern, and I’m sitting way in the back of the place against the wall, looking at the front door about 50 yards away. Suddenly I see the door spring open, and I see sparks! I realized there was a large-ish, three-foot cattle prod and a Taser gun, and the sea began to part—people were leaping and hurling themselves out of the path of the mayhem that was approaching—and I heard the voice first say, "Out of my way, you bastards!" He was using them as "just-in-case weapons," but it was a very economical way for him to clear the path. He made the Red Sea part, arrived at my table, and said, "How are you? My name is Hunter."

From The Daily Beast.

In a nutshell

2011-10-22T16:11:00.000-04:00

Branford Marsalis is the real deal. Here -- seemingly off the top of his head -- he succinctly explains the nature of the swamp we've wandered into.

Not dead!

2011-10-21T21:52:00.001-04:00

Out here in beautiful Fauquier County, we've been having some connectivity issues. We're not connected to the inter-tubes by anything so ordinary and mundane as a wire or fiber-optic cable. Noooooo! Instead, there's a cable from Ashburn, microwave to an undisclosed location, and last-mile transmission over radio frequencies usable only because the FCC is run by idiots. We're not making this up.

So let's return to basics. Via xkcd.

Oh no! Wolves!

2011-10-17T01:39:00.001-04:00

Wherein we learn that Government regulations create jobs, because SOMEBODY has to do the paperwork

2011-10-14T14:32:00.000-04:00

No, really. I'm not making this up. Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison thinks new regulations create new jobs, because businesses need to hire people to do the work necessary to comply with the new regulations. It's not a bug, it's a feature!

So here's our Jobs Plan: According to Democrats, the Federal Government can order you to buy something you don't want -- that's what the "individual mandate" in Obamacare is all about. So let's just pass a law requiring all employers to hire somebody who's unemployed. How simple is that? For every 10 people a business now employs, it's required to hire one new person tomorrow. Unemployment solved.

I think we're done here.

It's never a good sign . . .

2011-10-11T10:16:00.000-04:00

. . . when they start making fun of you. Try to imagine a similar parody in the Spring of 2008, poking fun at the Sun King's narcissistic, over-the-top, null-content rhetoric. Not funny. Then, our media was literally enthralled, atwitter with leg tingles. Now the image of the President wandering the White House in a bathrobe is funny.

All these things I have kept. What am I still lacking?

2011-10-09T19:28:00.000-04:00

Occupy Atlanta: Creepy, Tovarisch, Creepy

2011-10-08T21:35:00.002-04:00

How long do you suppose it takes these guys to order pizza?

"Off the stove, furball." "Stove? What stove?"

2011-10-08T12:48:00.000-04:00

This is a little confusing, what with the human speaking Russian while the cat responds in English.

We're mad as Hell, but have no idea why

2011-10-07T22:01:00.000-04:00

And, for good measure, we don't want any damn media attention!

Doesn't inappropriate response to external stimuli constitute a diagnosable mental illness?

Ross Capicchioni

2011-10-07T13:59:00.000-04:00

Join us afterwards at Starbucks

2011-10-07T13:34:00.000-04:00

"Mommy! He hit me!"

2011-10-07T10:20:00.000-04:00

A quarter-century ago, while a student at Tufts, Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown posed for a centerfold in Cosmopolitan Magazine to help pay the rent. At Tuesday's candidates' debate, his Democratic challenger, Elizabeth Warren, was asked about this (presumably because there's nothing more important to talk about in Massachusetts), and responded, "I didn't take my clothes off" to pay for school.

I guess that's good to know, but we'd have been more impressed if her response had been along the lines of, "Really? That's what you want to talk about?" But I digress.

Yesterday morning, appearing on a radio show, Senator Brown was asked if he had a response. He did: "Thank God!"

Those of you who grew up with a little sister know what happened next:

"Sen. Brown’s comments are the kind of thing you would expect to hear in a frat house, not a race for US Senate,” Clare Kelly, executive director of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said in a statement. “Scott Brown’s comments send a terrible message that even accomplished women who are held in the highest esteem can be laughingly dismissed based on their looks."

Get it? It's serious political discourse to sneer at the fact that your opponent was buff enough to get paid for a cheesecake photo back when we were all young, but if he flicks your nose in response he's a brute, and should be sent to his room.

We're waiting for some intrepid reporter for the Boston Globe to ask Ms. Warren if, back in the day, she looked.

Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T02:01:00.000-04:00

There are few individuals about whom it can be said, without fear of contradiction, "he changed your life."

We're Shocked

2011-10-03T15:23:00.000-04:00

So we see today in the Washington Post that its editors have their panties twisted up into a truly uncomfortable bunch over the fact that Governor Rick Perry has some connection to a hunting camp that, sometime or other, was known by a "racially insensitive" name.

Meanwhile, the front page of their sports section includes the headline, "Torain and the Defense Come Through as Redskins Improve to 3-1."

But, then again, I guess black folks constitute a more important OAG ("Official Aggrieved Group") than do Native Americans.

Just sayin'.

Attempted Murder

2011-10-03T11:24:00.000-04:00

Via that girl who reads all them books.

When cats go undercover

2011-10-01T03:39:00.002-04:00

The Science is Settled

2011-09-30T15:10:00.000-04:00

I think it's time to move on.

Diagnosis?

2011-09-30T01:06:00.000-04:00

To a gifted diagnostician, the patient's symptoms speak. But seldom do they do so with such eloquence.

As Jonah Goldberg observes:

Seriously, in 2008 we elected a community organizer, state senator, college instructor first term senator over a guy who spent five years in a Vietnamese prison. And now he’s lecturing us about how America’s gone “soft”? Really?

I think we're done here . . .

2011-09-29T14:17:00.002-04:00

. . . I'd appreciate it if the last one to leave would turn off the lights.

What is THIS about?

2011-09-29T13:47:00.000-04:00

THIS is very strange.

So police and DEA agents in New Mexico plan and execute a massive drug raid, targeting "dozens" of suspects. In one particular instance, "multiple officers in raid gear with guns drawn" bang on the door of a citizen's home, demanding entry.

So far, so good.

But when the homeowner stands his ground, and demands to see a search warrant, the agents confess they don't have one, and leave.

Is this just some embarrassing administrative screw-up? If there's some actual reason to think a wanted fugitive is holing up at a particular place, then getting a warrant should take about 15 minutes. And this was not some spur-of-the-moment action, but a coordinated, city-wide operation.

Or are we instead to think that sometimes the police don't have a legally sufficient reason to bust down your door, but they send a goon squad anyway, counting on the likelihood that you'll be intimidated and let them in?

More Physics

2011-09-27T13:43:00.000-04:00

Researchers at the University of California-Santa Barbara say they’ve built the first working quantum computer chip.

Researchers at the University of California-Santa Barbara say they’ve failed to build the first working quantum computer chip.

Or it's possible that they did both.

More HERE.

"He was a hero with women's reproductive rights."

2011-09-27T09:57:00.001-04:00

A compassionate progressive, making the hard choices necessary to improve the race.

The Charlotte [N.C.] Observer reports:

Compassionate. Visionary. A champion of women and the poor.

That's the reputation that Wallace Kuralt built as Mecklenburg County's welfare director from 1945 to 1972. Today, the building where Charlotte's poor come for help bears his name - a name made even more prominent when his newscaster son, Charles Kuralt, rose to fame.

But as architect of Mecklenburg's program of eugenic sterilization - state-ordered surgery to stop the poor and disabled from bearing children - Kuralt helped write one of the most shameful chapters of North Carolina history.

The Charlotte Observer has obtained records sealed by the state that tell the stories of 403 Mecklenburg residents ordered sterilized by the N.C. Eugenics Board at the behest of Kuralt's welfare department.

It's a number that dwarfs the total from any other county, in a state that ran one of the nation's most active efforts to sterilize the mentally ill, mentally retarded and epileptic.