Saturday, June 21, 2003
Too good to be true
So you saw the story about the company named PowerGen that opened an Italian subsidiary and give it the website powergenitalia.com? It's a hoax.
No gratitude
Women! You let them wear shoes, you let them vote, and next thing it's this (the link doesn't position right - page up for the "Between a Man and a Woman" post).
Medical marijuana
Over at Andrew & Sasha's place Andrew Ian Dodge is holding forth on medical marijuana.
I lean toward drug legalization because currently the cure is worse than the disease in terms of civil liberties and law enforcement priorities, and IMO self-destructive people will always find a way to do themselves in. And I understand that there are known medical benefits to the use of pot (just as there are for cocaine, PCP, heroin and others).
And I'm willing to concede that drug companies would not like competition from pot. Certainly.
I'm certain that some pot legalization proponents are disingenuous in pushing for medical pot. They want it legal, period, and this is simply their angle. That they might be on the side of the angels doesn't mean they aren't opportunistic, ultimately dishonest creeps.
What might disabuse me of this idea would be if they would show how strains of pot could be grown and blended in a quality controlled way that would work consistently such that it could be prescribed quantitively. Surely sick people shouldn't use more than is necessary - it's an unnecessary expense unless there is an ulterior motive. And they ought to be able to trust that their product will deliver as needed - surely no one wants to take advantage of sick people, whether they're glaucoma sufferers, terminal cancer patients or anything in between. And sick people ordinarily aren't medical professionals, so who are they to adjust their dosages if needed because of inconsistent quality? Would doctors dare to prescribe a drug without being sure that the dose they prescribed could be delivered when the product was used as directed?
And it *is* smoking, after all. It's not the same as tobacco for sure, but then you don't hold a toke of tobacco in your lungs as long either. The issue is that it's an uncontrolled release, i.e. that great bogeyman "second-hand smoke". If my neighbor is on Prozac, hormones, Ex-Lax, etc, I can trust that I won't get a dose of it myself just by walking down the hall - what about pot? Where are the anti-smoking goons, or the folks who drove peanuts off airplanes?
Yes, all of those would be heavy regulatory and QA burdens. And it so happens that there are business sectors uniquely qualified to carry out such burdens - the drug companies, and tobacco companies. The devil in me makes me ask "would you mind if, say, RJ Reynolds and Monsanto got together and started producing pharmaceutical-grade joints from medicinal marijuana?"
You can bet that most if not all of the medical marijuana folks will scream in horror at that. And that is what exposes them not as defenders of the weak, but mere dishonest, besuited dopers.
I lean toward drug legalization because currently the cure is worse than the disease in terms of civil liberties and law enforcement priorities, and IMO self-destructive people will always find a way to do themselves in. And I understand that there are known medical benefits to the use of pot (just as there are for cocaine, PCP, heroin and others).
And I'm willing to concede that drug companies would not like competition from pot. Certainly.
I'm certain that some pot legalization proponents are disingenuous in pushing for medical pot. They want it legal, period, and this is simply their angle. That they might be on the side of the angels doesn't mean they aren't opportunistic, ultimately dishonest creeps.
What might disabuse me of this idea would be if they would show how strains of pot could be grown and blended in a quality controlled way that would work consistently such that it could be prescribed quantitively. Surely sick people shouldn't use more than is necessary - it's an unnecessary expense unless there is an ulterior motive. And they ought to be able to trust that their product will deliver as needed - surely no one wants to take advantage of sick people, whether they're glaucoma sufferers, terminal cancer patients or anything in between. And sick people ordinarily aren't medical professionals, so who are they to adjust their dosages if needed because of inconsistent quality? Would doctors dare to prescribe a drug without being sure that the dose they prescribed could be delivered when the product was used as directed?
And it *is* smoking, after all. It's not the same as tobacco for sure, but then you don't hold a toke of tobacco in your lungs as long either. The issue is that it's an uncontrolled release, i.e. that great bogeyman "second-hand smoke". If my neighbor is on Prozac, hormones, Ex-Lax, etc, I can trust that I won't get a dose of it myself just by walking down the hall - what about pot? Where are the anti-smoking goons, or the folks who drove peanuts off airplanes?
Yes, all of those would be heavy regulatory and QA burdens. And it so happens that there are business sectors uniquely qualified to carry out such burdens - the drug companies, and tobacco companies. The devil in me makes me ask "would you mind if, say, RJ Reynolds and Monsanto got together and started producing pharmaceutical-grade joints from medicinal marijuana?"
You can bet that most if not all of the medical marijuana folks will scream in horror at that. And that is what exposes them not as defenders of the weak, but mere dishonest, besuited dopers.
So you think you have problems
A riddle: The first one is invaluable, but the second is a standard for lack of utility ('like I need another....'). What could that be?
Beth knows. Sorry honeychile, but you're gonna have to share the 'atresia ani' traffic with me now.
She also shares info on your local gonorrhea, your lingual frenulum, sex and the single rat, and she left us with a teaser about aphid incest.
Man, what do they teach at that school?
Beth knows. Sorry honeychile, but you're gonna have to share the 'atresia ani' traffic with me now.
She also shares info on your local gonorrhea, your lingual frenulum, sex and the single rat, and she left us with a teaser about aphid incest.
Man, what do they teach at that school?
Friday, June 20, 2003
Energy independence the Krauthammer way
I could have written this post, but somehow it wound up on VodkaPundit
Harry Potter and the Mad Analysts
I don't have a copy handy, but I recall the Author's Note: or whatever at the beginning of "Huckleberry Finn" containing something to the effect of "those trying to find a plot in it shall be shot". And as crotchety as Mark Twain got toward the end, he might well have done it.
I suppose Harry Potter can take care of himself, but he's being analyzed every which way:
Some people just can't help it though - they have to look for alternate messages, subliminal or otherwise. From them we've learned that Paul McCartney was dead, for instance. Or there were those who saw fit to synch Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album to the Wizard of Oz and found eerie synchronicity. We can't forget Charles Manson and the Beatles' "white album" (Helter Skelter is coming down fast...). And incidentally, to my knowledge it is *not* true that if you play Black Sabbath backwards or at 78 that you'll see God (which I think we owe to Cheech and Chong).
I guess they can have their fun. But I sure hope we're not spending any tax money on this.
I suppose Harry Potter can take care of himself, but he's being analyzed every which way:
Nimbus 2003, the first international academic symposium on Harry Potter, will take place next month in Orlando. Organizers say more than 500 people have registered so far.Alright, I like the Harry Potter books, and in a couple of days I'll be trampling innocent moppets left and right if I have to to get my own copy of the latest book. But even Freud could say that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
"For a lot of academics, it's looking at the greater themes in the books, and what she's saying about gender relations, labor and class issues in modern Britain," says Penny Linsenmayer, a Houston lawyer and Nimbus 2003 organizer.
About 70 writers and scholars will present talks on topics such as Jane Austen's influence on the Potter series and a comparative analysis of jurisprudence in the wizard world. Academic papers will come from as far away as Bombay, India.
Meanwhile, a volume on Potter and philosophy is due out soon from Open Court Publishing, the same outfit behind similar books on the Matrix movies, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Seinfeld.
Some people just can't help it though - they have to look for alternate messages, subliminal or otherwise. From them we've learned that Paul McCartney was dead, for instance. Or there were those who saw fit to synch Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album to the Wizard of Oz and found eerie synchronicity. We can't forget Charles Manson and the Beatles' "white album" (Helter Skelter is coming down fast...). And incidentally, to my knowledge it is *not* true that if you play Black Sabbath backwards or at 78 that you'll see God (which I think we owe to Cheech and Chong).
I guess they can have their fun. But I sure hope we're not spending any tax money on this.
Thursday, June 19, 2003
Profile your brain
Via Richard Gayle, we have this test to determine your Brain Usage Profile. For me it turned out to be Auditory : 35% Visual : 64% Left : 52% Right : 47%
I wind up taking one of these types of tests once in a while as part of "team-building exercise" or whatever. One gave a series of questions that wound up classifying the clients as "Lions", "Beavers", "Golden Retrievers" and some other critter (a badger?). The one woman in the group turned out to be a "Beaver". I turned out to be the only "Golden Retriever" out of about 20 of us, but I had almost identical scores for all of the classifications. What can I say, I'm just a balanced kind of guy.
There's lots more good stuff on that blog too. All of the Corante blogs are good.
I wind up taking one of these types of tests once in a while as part of "team-building exercise" or whatever. One gave a series of questions that wound up classifying the clients as "Lions", "Beavers", "Golden Retrievers" and some other critter (a badger?). The one woman in the group turned out to be a "Beaver". I turned out to be the only "Golden Retriever" out of about 20 of us, but I had almost identical scores for all of the classifications. What can I say, I'm just a balanced kind of guy.
There's lots more good stuff on that blog too. All of the Corante blogs are good.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Bloggers: the next generation
Are you a blogger? If so, Venomous Kate may be having erotic dreams about you. This, the state of her bowels and much more here as she deals with an severe case of maternity.
No wonder antismoker types have lost their minds...
According to the Scientific Partisan American, smoking can delay the onset of Alzheimer's. And not by killing you first, either.
Stolen from Medpundit, who has lots of other good stuff too.
Stolen from Medpundit, who has lots of other good stuff too.
Googlebombing Orrin Hatch
Ah, Sharon, what happened to you? I met her at a nuke plant where she worked in personnel. She had a very special job - she escorted us to that special trailer onsite where we were drug tested. Nearly everyone had a comment for her about her essential mission, but she took it well - her favorite job title proposal was "whiz kid".
I hope she has a better job now. But if she doesn't, they could use her in Washington. IMO only drug abuse could account for this idiocy from Orrin Hatch, who seems to think that it's OK to destroy your computer in the name of copyright enforcement.
Yeah, you've probably seen that link before - lots of people have posted about it, and that in itself is usually enough to keep me from blogging something. But IMO this one deserves a Googlebomb, so anybody looking up Orrin Hatch finds out about this first.
I hope she has a better job now. But if she doesn't, they could use her in Washington. IMO only drug abuse could account for this idiocy from Orrin Hatch, who seems to think that it's OK to destroy your computer in the name of copyright enforcement.
Yeah, you've probably seen that link before - lots of people have posted about it, and that in itself is usually enough to keep me from blogging something. But IMO this one deserves a Googlebomb, so anybody looking up Orrin Hatch finds out about this first.
What-iffing the universe
Arthur Silber talks about the influence of philosophy on science here. In particular, he quotes this:
The book is no longer available under the original title, but I understand that "Mr Tompkins in Paperback" contains the same material and another book too.
Prof. Hut is less sanguine about another cosmic puzzle: whether the universe has to be the way it is because the laws of nature can exist only in their current form, or if other physics are possible. Einstein called this the question of whether God had any choice in how he created the world.This reminds me of a book by physicist George Gamow called Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland. In it one Mr. Tompkins, a disgustingly ordinary man, wakes up to the world in which quantities like the speed of light or Planck's constant have been changed to grossly different values. He finds it disturbing - you might find it interesting.
Without another world to show us different laws of nature, "I think we can never know for sure if the universe had to be the way it is, or if other laws of physics would allow other kinds of universes," says Prof. Hut.
The book is no longer available under the original title, but I understand that "Mr Tompkins in Paperback" contains the same material and another book too.
Monday, June 16, 2003
Nyah nyah
Now I have broadband and Moira Breen (welcome to the corn desert!) does not.
It's a cable modem. I love it so far, but it's only the first day.
I started getting these obnoxious IM popups trying to sell me something to block such popups. Grrrrr!
Then I decided to check the firewall settings and found that the XP firewall wasn't even turned on. After all the fuss about potential for DDOS and other attacks via unprotected broadband, somehow I expected the cable guy to turn it on as a default configuration. Silly me.
It's a cable modem. I love it so far, but it's only the first day.
I started getting these obnoxious IM popups trying to sell me something to block such popups. Grrrrr!
Then I decided to check the firewall settings and found that the XP firewall wasn't even turned on. After all the fuss about potential for DDOS and other attacks via unprotected broadband, somehow I expected the cable guy to turn it on as a default configuration. Silly me.
A hummer they'll never forget
From Drudge, "Business Owner Chases, Runs Over Robbery Suspects In Hummer".
It's not clear, but it appears that the Hummer driver was an insurance agent.
There's also a poll that asks "Should a business owner who ran over a group of robbery suspects in his Hummer face charges?"
It's not clear, but it appears that the Hummer driver was an insurance agent.
There's also a poll that asks "Should a business owner who ran over a group of robbery suspects in his Hummer face charges?"
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