This started as a reply to a comment made by Robert Spiers on this item. It exceeded the 2500 word YACCS limit, so here it goes.
Religion is based on faith, meaning it is based on mystical visions visible and knowable only to the one who has the visions.
You make it sound like one's religion is determined by what he smokes or what kind of mushrooms he eats.
If religious people have had such visions, so what?
Communism and Fascism are, like religions, based on fictions called "the people" or "die Volk".
You have yet to demonstrate that religions are based on fictions.
Objectivism is based on perception and reason
Look, I like Ayn Rand - anybody who writes books with titles like "The Virtue of Selfishness" can't be all bad, and "Atlas Shrugged" influenced me more than any other book I've read.
But you're leaving something out. Objectivism is based on faith in perception and reason.
It doesn't take much perception to see that you can't perceive everything. And it doesn't take much reasoning to show that reason is ultimately based on some assumptions that cannot be proven within reason's framework.
It is not faith that says free markets work. That statement is based on perception and reason.
And faith. You have to believe that human nature and economic circumstances are such that it works. Fortunately I know of no exceptions.
It is not faith that says religion and other collective delusions kill. That statement is based on history.
You haven't demonstrated that religion is a "collective delusion". This must be an article of faith.
Meanwhile, what was the faith of the Mongols? The Huns? The Cold War Russians? The Red Chinese? The Nazis? Pol Pot?
And who attacked first in the Crusades?
Religion is a problem only when it is harnessed by the state, such as in the Spanish Inquisition. Ferdinand and Isabella, the two who had just united Aragon and Castile to make modern Spain and bankrolled Columbus, wanted money. They resorted to the age-old expedient of screwing Jews out of their property. Ha! - some of the Jews converted to Catholicism. But F and I still wanted their property, so they sent for Grand Inquisitors from the Vatican to pronounce them heretics. Then the state could kill them under their heresy laws and take their property anyway.
It's the state power that's the problem. Keep churches separated from the state and then it's clear what is to blame. That's the whole problem with Islam - state leaders can't be trusted with that kind of power over people's lives.
And it is only faith that says that "God" or "the people" exist at all.
I'm with you on the God part - I haven't had one of those visions you're talking about, and furthermore nothing that I know of in the Bible promises me one. I can't speak for other religions.
This reminds me of a story I heard once. State cops came by a house to warn the resident that a flood was rising and he had to leave, but the resident said "no, the Lord will provide". Later some officials came by in a rowboat to rescue him, but he said "no, the Lord will provide". The waters kept rising, forcing the man to get on the roof of his house. A helicopter came by to rescue him and he said "no, the Lord will provide". Then he was washed away and drowned.
Outraged, he confronted St. Peter, who told him "We sent the cops, a rowboat and a helicopter - what more did you want?" If you're expecting your own personal burning bush, maybe you're just too much trouble.
Several of Kurt Vonnegut's books include improbable religions, such as the Church of Jesus Christ the Kidnapped (followers were always snapping their heads around looking for him) and the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent (I'm working from memory, so cut me some slack). Anyway, the latter group said that there was a God, but it was preposterous to think that He would care about what happened to something so trivial as a human being. Hmm.
The fictions of Heaven and angels, just to name a couple of examples, are so transparent that one can only accept them as a guide to action if one closes one's eyes, falls one's knees and inhales incense. Which is exactly why religions encourage such behavior.
But the arrogance of such a statement is here for all to see. Sheesh. I'm no expert, but I don't recall any of that stuff in Sunday school (although they might have given us some Kool-Aid). And that's the last time I was a regular churchgoer.
Until we can see a God or until our reason otherwise tells us he must exist, he does not. And that statement is NOT based on faith.
Yes it is. You are implicitly claiming that everything that exists can be perceived or deduced. We must be creating the universe as we go then, because germs have thus existed for only the last couple of centuries, and quarks for less time yet.
If I told you that germs didn't exist because I can't see them, you'd rightly think of me as deranged. Has it occurred to you that perhaps the reason why you can't perceive any deities that might exist lies not in them, but in your capacity to perceive and reason?
Saturday, September 21, 2002
Old jokes
This past week some of us were talking around the water cooler and sci-fi came up. Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" came up, especially Mike the computer.
Mike was pretty smart, but he had a hard time with jokes. This was a problem because Mike was a joker. Humans had to explain to him that some jokes were funny once, and others could be funny repeatedly. And to this day I haven't heard of any computers that were successful in generating non-formulaic funny material on demand. So work on your jokes folks - comedians may be the last people on the planet that aren't displaced by computers and robots.
Humor certainly doesn't age well. Shakespeare has some great lines, but you have to read a dozen footnotes or be familiar with ancient cultures to appreciate them. Likewise for Chaucer, Boccaccio and innumerable others. I really don't want to work that hard.
Even old joke books can be mystifying. The oldest one I've heard of is Joe Miller's Jests, published in 1739. Here's one killer from the collection:
There were idiotarians around before they were so named, and their recent "chickenhawk" slur isn't anything terribly original. It reminds me of a joke popular with Democrats around 1988 when Bush 41 and Dan Quayle were running against a nonentity named Dukakis (who desperately needed to get out of Massachusetts before the impact of his policies set in) and future Clintonoid Lloyd Bentsen. When Dem sympathizers weren't accusing Bush of strafing lifeboats in the Pacific Ocean, they were giving Dan Quayle lip about being in the National Guard during the Vietnam War. (This was before it became convenient for them to act outraged whenever anyone questioned Bill Clinton's dishonest behavior regarding military service). Anyway, the joke was "What do you get when you cross a hawk with a chicken?". "A Quayle".
(You remember Dan Quayle, don't you? He was accused of being stupid by people who later supported Al Gore, who couldn't cut it in divinity school during the Vietnam War. And he didn't have a brother with a history of substance abuse and drowned women, so he was 'no Jack Kennedy').
I don't hear so much from them nowadays, but for a long time there has been a charity called the United Negro College Fund. Anyway, back around the early 80s accidents affected black entertainers Michael Jackson and Peoria, Illinois native Richard Pryor. Jackson's hair caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial, and Pryor was badly burned while free-basing some cocaine. About then I heard a joke that the two of them were starting a charity - the "Ignited Negro College Fund".
That's all I can think of for right now. Well, I edited out two that concerned a mass murderer - I have some taste.
Mike was pretty smart, but he had a hard time with jokes. This was a problem because Mike was a joker. Humans had to explain to him that some jokes were funny once, and others could be funny repeatedly. And to this day I haven't heard of any computers that were successful in generating non-formulaic funny material on demand. So work on your jokes folks - comedians may be the last people on the planet that aren't displaced by computers and robots.
Humor certainly doesn't age well. Shakespeare has some great lines, but you have to read a dozen footnotes or be familiar with ancient cultures to appreciate them. Likewise for Chaucer, Boccaccio and innumerable others. I really don't want to work that hard.
Even old joke books can be mystifying. The oldest one I've heard of is Joe Miller's Jests, published in 1739. Here's one killer from the collection:
A Westminster Justice taking Coach in the City, and being set down at Young Man's Coffee-house, Charing-Cross, the Driver demanded Eighteen-Pence as his Fare; the Justice asked him, if he would swear that the Ground came to the Money; the Man said, he would take his Oath on't. The Justice replyed, Friend, I am a Magistrate, and pulling a Book out of his Pocket, administer'd the Oath, and then gave the Fellow Six-pence, saying, he must reserve the Shilling to himself for the Affidavit.Alright, are you composed yet?
There were idiotarians around before they were so named, and their recent "chickenhawk" slur isn't anything terribly original. It reminds me of a joke popular with Democrats around 1988 when Bush 41 and Dan Quayle were running against a nonentity named Dukakis (who desperately needed to get out of Massachusetts before the impact of his policies set in) and future Clintonoid Lloyd Bentsen. When Dem sympathizers weren't accusing Bush of strafing lifeboats in the Pacific Ocean, they were giving Dan Quayle lip about being in the National Guard during the Vietnam War. (This was before it became convenient for them to act outraged whenever anyone questioned Bill Clinton's dishonest behavior regarding military service). Anyway, the joke was "What do you get when you cross a hawk with a chicken?". "A Quayle".
(You remember Dan Quayle, don't you? He was accused of being stupid by people who later supported Al Gore, who couldn't cut it in divinity school during the Vietnam War. And he didn't have a brother with a history of substance abuse and drowned women, so he was 'no Jack Kennedy').
I don't hear so much from them nowadays, but for a long time there has been a charity called the United Negro College Fund. Anyway, back around the early 80s accidents affected black entertainers Michael Jackson and Peoria, Illinois native Richard Pryor. Jackson's hair caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial, and Pryor was badly burned while free-basing some cocaine. About then I heard a joke that the two of them were starting a charity - the "Ignited Negro College Fund".
That's all I can think of for right now. Well, I edited out two that concerned a mass murderer - I have some taste.
When the cheering stops
Bob Hayes died this past week. He's still the only athlete who had an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. What a shame he couldn't keep his hands off booze and drugs. Link via Oceanguy.
Anyway, the Hayes thing made me think of several others who were heroes for a while, but ended up in obscurity or worse.
It would have been easy to miss the tragic death of Rod Milburn in 1997. He won a gold medal in the 110m hurdles in the 1972 Olympics.
We'll never really know how good Sammy Drummer could have been with the right guidance. He was a hoops legend in Muncie, IN, a basketball-crazy town in a basketball-crazy state. He went on to play for Austin Peay and Georgia Tech, but somehow he never made the pros. Before he was done he was sweeping the gym back in Muncie when he was killed at age 38 in a crack deal gone bad.
At least Sammy got to play in college - then there's Ben Wilson of Simeon High School in Chicago:
I can't stop it here, that's too depressing. One more.
Bob Love played pro basketball with the Bulls, and was their alltime high scorer until eclipsed by a guy named Jordan. Love had always had a stutter, and after an injury ended his basketball career he went downhill to the point of being a busboy. Then a manager took interest in him, got help for his speech problems, and at last notice he was back with the Bulls as Directory of Community Relations.
Anyway, the Hayes thing made me think of several others who were heroes for a while, but ended up in obscurity or worse.
It would have been easy to miss the tragic death of Rod Milburn in 1997. He won a gold medal in the 110m hurdles in the 1972 Olympics.
We'll never really know how good Sammy Drummer could have been with the right guidance. He was a hoops legend in Muncie, IN, a basketball-crazy town in a basketball-crazy state. He went on to play for Austin Peay and Georgia Tech, but somehow he never made the pros. Before he was done he was sweeping the gym back in Muncie when he was killed at age 38 in a crack deal gone bad.
At least Sammy got to play in college - then there's Ben Wilson of Simeon High School in Chicago:
As a junior he led Chicago's Simeon High School to the Illinois State Championship. In the summer of '84, he was selected as the top player at the ABCD Camp in Princeton, NJ., (back when it was known as "Nike/ABCD," before Sonny Vacarro took the camp over to adidas). Wilson finished the summer as the highest rated player, and entered his senior year regarded by most as the top high school senior in the country. Just a few days before the first game of his senior year, Ben Wilson was shot, less than a block from his high school campus. He died in a Chicago hospital less than a day later.Wilson had committed to the University of Illinois, and so far Nick Anderson and three other Illini players from Simeon have worn #25 in his honor.
I can't stop it here, that's too depressing. One more.
Bob Love played pro basketball with the Bulls, and was their alltime high scorer until eclipsed by a guy named Jordan. Love had always had a stutter, and after an injury ended his basketball career he went downhill to the point of being a busboy. Then a manager took interest in him, got help for his speech problems, and at last notice he was back with the Bulls as Directory of Community Relations.
Friday, September 20, 2002
Anti religious nuts
I used to give religious people a hard time, generally good-naturedly. One woman in particular described the results as "vain babblings". I can't say I was charmed at the time, but she was right.
Claudia Winkler has written an excellent Weekly Standard article here. It appears that Stephen Pinker and Simon Schama have the same problem I grew out of.
You'd think that by the time someone had achieved Pinker's stature you'd be able to draw meaningful distinctions. But he apparently thinks that because some nuts from a particularly poisonous variety of Islam carry out some outrageous atrocities, so all of religion must go.
Inevitably these people talk about reason, as if this were somehow incompatible with religion. It would help if they could do a better job of reasoning themselves. Then they'd realize that reason cannot justify itself, without the use of circular reasoning.
Therefore everything always starts from some core beliefs which must be accepted on faith. Which leaves the most militant evolution uber alles ranter standing on a platform no more solid than that of the religious people he ridicules.
Personally, I'm an agnostic. I find the atheists to be at least as clueless and asinine as they claim religious people are. As for the religious, good luck picking the right door.
But IMO most of those doors lead ultimately to the same place. I'm speaking in worldly terms - mostly it's about getting along with people. It's not asking so much to say "thou shalt not commit murder", or "thou shalt not steal", and as far as I'm aware these are fairly universal.
These ideas are awfully inconvenient for those of the religion that dares not speak its name, the secularists. They want to redistribute your property, abort your children, and euthanize your aged to make their idea of heaven on earth. And we've seen what these heavens look like repeatedly by now.
If the last Wahhabist died tomorrow I wouldn't shed a tear. But given a choice between putting up with them or those who would get rid of religion altogether, I'll take my chances with the Wahhabis.
Claudia Winkler has written an excellent Weekly Standard article here. It appears that Stephen Pinker and Simon Schama have the same problem I grew out of.
You'd think that by the time someone had achieved Pinker's stature you'd be able to draw meaningful distinctions. But he apparently thinks that because some nuts from a particularly poisonous variety of Islam carry out some outrageous atrocities, so all of religion must go.
Inevitably these people talk about reason, as if this were somehow incompatible with religion. It would help if they could do a better job of reasoning themselves. Then they'd realize that reason cannot justify itself, without the use of circular reasoning.
Therefore everything always starts from some core beliefs which must be accepted on faith. Which leaves the most militant evolution uber alles ranter standing on a platform no more solid than that of the religious people he ridicules.
Personally, I'm an agnostic. I find the atheists to be at least as clueless and asinine as they claim religious people are. As for the religious, good luck picking the right door.
But IMO most of those doors lead ultimately to the same place. I'm speaking in worldly terms - mostly it's about getting along with people. It's not asking so much to say "thou shalt not commit murder", or "thou shalt not steal", and as far as I'm aware these are fairly universal.
These ideas are awfully inconvenient for those of the religion that dares not speak its name, the secularists. They want to redistribute your property, abort your children, and euthanize your aged to make their idea of heaven on earth. And we've seen what these heavens look like repeatedly by now.
If the last Wahhabist died tomorrow I wouldn't shed a tear. But given a choice between putting up with them or those who would get rid of religion altogether, I'll take my chances with the Wahhabis.
Yak Pizza to Go
While researching the item below I stumbled upon this book. I haven't read it myself, but it sounds interesting. The author calls himself a "professional vagabond", and spends his time exploring and writing about areas like Vietnam, the Galapagos, Nepal, Madagascar and the Middle East. Here's what Amazon has to say.
African pizza
Some occupations turn out to be more multicultural than others. Working in nuclear power exposed me to people from about every corner of India, and nowadays in IT I run into people from about anywhere you can name. At the moment I have a Turk in the next cube, a Hindu across the aisle, a Jordanian a few cubes down, an Iranian a row over, and by the time you make it out of the building you've run into someone from about everybody else.
Many of them know by now that I'm fairly shameless about introducing myself if necessary, asking where they're from, and maybe even debriefing them about world news. Nobody has screamed yet, but it doesn't always go well.
Today someone had ordered a bunch of pizza for a meeting and the surplus was sitting in a common area. Several people were there, including a Tanzanian woman I know with her Chinese and Filipino-Chinese buddies. Instantly, I had to know - what do they put on pizzas in Africa?
Several people heard me ask this question, and some made noises like it was the dumbest thing they've ever heard. My quarry was amused though, and allowed as to how they didn't have much pizza over there - it was still "Italian food". Ouch - if that's not cultural deprivation, what is?
As for the ones who laughed out loud at the question, well, somebody finally Googled for 'tanzania pizza', and by Jove you find a decent list back. From here we learn that "Zanzibar pizza is the local specialty. These are small dough discs cooked quickly on brazier with onions, egg and chillis added. Totally unlike an Italian pizza, it makes a delicious and different treat. " (They also tell us that local ice cream is flavored with ginger, cloves, and lemon grass. No wonder obesity isn't much of a problem there...)
So that's not a pizza to you? Well, call Debonair's Pizza in Tanzania, and also in Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Ivory Coast and in it's home in South Africa. (Limited delivery area.)
Go ahead - find that on Instapundit...
Many of them know by now that I'm fairly shameless about introducing myself if necessary, asking where they're from, and maybe even debriefing them about world news. Nobody has screamed yet, but it doesn't always go well.
Today someone had ordered a bunch of pizza for a meeting and the surplus was sitting in a common area. Several people were there, including a Tanzanian woman I know with her Chinese and Filipino-Chinese buddies. Instantly, I had to know - what do they put on pizzas in Africa?
Several people heard me ask this question, and some made noises like it was the dumbest thing they've ever heard. My quarry was amused though, and allowed as to how they didn't have much pizza over there - it was still "Italian food". Ouch - if that's not cultural deprivation, what is?
As for the ones who laughed out loud at the question, well, somebody finally Googled for 'tanzania pizza', and by Jove you find a decent list back. From here we learn that "Zanzibar pizza is the local specialty. These are small dough discs cooked quickly on brazier with onions, egg and chillis added. Totally unlike an Italian pizza, it makes a delicious and different treat. " (They also tell us that local ice cream is flavored with ginger, cloves, and lemon grass. No wonder obesity isn't much of a problem there...)
So that's not a pizza to you? Well, call Debonair's Pizza in Tanzania, and also in Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Ivory Coast and in it's home in South Africa. (Limited delivery area.)
Go ahead - find that on Instapundit...
Thursday, September 19, 2002
Busted
Did Buzz Aldrin really punch the individual who said that men never set foot on the Moon?
We'll see if Santa Claus brings him anything this year.
We'll see if Santa Claus brings him anything this year.
Sunday, September 15, 2002
Worst movie of all time?
I'm not exactly a movie buff, but I have fun with the Internet Movie DataBase (now a part of Amazon.com).
A sane person could use it to look for good movies, credits, showtimes, etc. But how can you appreciate what is good without seeing the bad? So I set out to find the worst movies ever, starting with the worst one I could think of.
And that would be "Oversexed Rug-Suckers from Mars". IMDB rates it at 4.6 out of 10 stars. A reviewer says
IMDB provides links for writers, cast and crew, so I thought maybe these would lead me to worse. Here's Rainbeaux Smith - what else has she been in? "The Swinging Cheerleaders" - that sounds promising. Yes, a 3.2! One reviewer summarizes it with "Hey! We screwed the wrong team".
Then I remembered a movie I had seen at a drive-in around 1979 or so, called "Cemetery Girls". Believe it or not, IMDB lists three distinct movies that have had that title. Yes, here's one from 1979, aka "Vampire Hookers", "Cementary Girls", "Ladies of the Night", "Night of the Bloodsuckers", "Sensuous Vampires", "Twice Bitten". It got a rating of 1.8. Maybe that's why they had to keep changing the name.
Alright, that's low enough - even Joe Bob Briggs didn't rate the last three. But I'm open for suggestions if you think you can top that one.
A sane person could use it to look for good movies, credits, showtimes, etc. But how can you appreciate what is good without seeing the bad? So I set out to find the worst movies ever, starting with the worst one I could think of.
And that would be "Oversexed Rug-Suckers from Mars". IMDB rates it at 4.6 out of 10 stars. A reviewer says
Vacuum cleaners rape women, and one falls in love with a man. They spend time together, criminals are involved and the film ends with a chase with everyone on shopping trolleys using groceries as weapons. One good scene to look out for is the sequence where the man and his vacuum lover are reunited and run into each others arms over a bridge to the tune of romeo and juliet!That seemed like an awfully high rating for such a highly awful movie, so I kept looking. How about "The Pom Pom Girls". Actually the movie had a couple of decent moments (and several indecent ones), but how good can a movie be when the leading man is Robert Carradine (who had yet to develop the acting chops we would see in "Revenge of the Nerds")?
IMDB provides links for writers, cast and crew, so I thought maybe these would lead me to worse. Here's Rainbeaux Smith - what else has she been in? "The Swinging Cheerleaders" - that sounds promising. Yes, a 3.2! One reviewer summarizes it with "Hey! We screwed the wrong team".
Then I remembered a movie I had seen at a drive-in around 1979 or so, called "Cemetery Girls". Believe it or not, IMDB lists three distinct movies that have had that title. Yes, here's one from 1979, aka "Vampire Hookers", "Cementary Girls", "Ladies of the Night", "Night of the Bloodsuckers", "Sensuous Vampires", "Twice Bitten". It got a rating of 1.8. Maybe that's why they had to keep changing the name.
Alright, that's low enough - even Joe Bob Briggs didn't rate the last three. But I'm open for suggestions if you think you can top that one.
Credits
If you should catch me at the movies, I'll be the last one to leave. I'm not interested in fighting the crowd, and I read the credits. All of them.
I don't know what most of those people do, but at least I know there are things like a key grip, best boy, etc. This is surely some of the most worthless stuff I know, but I can't help myself - I paid for it, doggone it. And sometimes you'll actually find some good jokes there.
What about TV commercials? No, we don't need to see the credits. But once in a while I get curious about who did what, and I'm not sure where to look. And we can't have that.
Right now there are two commercials in particular I'm curious about. This one is probably easy - who is the guy in the trench coat in the Sprint PCS commercials? (and after years of typecasting like this, will he ever get another job?)
The other one is more obscure. She was the checkout girl in an ad for some gum where they sent us to the "toothpaste aisle", with the short strawberry blonde hair and glasses. And she was a bank teller in an SUV ad, wanting the driver to take her with him.
Sometimes it's the song that bugs me. A few years ago Mitsubishi had a car ad with a song that stuck with me - eventually I found out it was "Ready to Go" by Republica.
Maybe I haven't tried hard enough, but it seems like there would be a systematic way to find out stuff like this. It would seem like marketers and ad agencies would have a way to collect feedback on this - certainly it means that they have caught someone's attention. Maybe they're still blushing at the uh, setback of the Cue Cat.
There goes another - now it's the theme for the trailer for "Monsters, Inc." It's a big-band song - I think it's called "Sing Sing Sing". Arggh!
I don't know what most of those people do, but at least I know there are things like a key grip, best boy, etc. This is surely some of the most worthless stuff I know, but I can't help myself - I paid for it, doggone it. And sometimes you'll actually find some good jokes there.
What about TV commercials? No, we don't need to see the credits. But once in a while I get curious about who did what, and I'm not sure where to look. And we can't have that.
Right now there are two commercials in particular I'm curious about. This one is probably easy - who is the guy in the trench coat in the Sprint PCS commercials? (and after years of typecasting like this, will he ever get another job?)
The other one is more obscure. She was the checkout girl in an ad for some gum where they sent us to the "toothpaste aisle", with the short strawberry blonde hair and glasses. And she was a bank teller in an SUV ad, wanting the driver to take her with him.
Sometimes it's the song that bugs me. A few years ago Mitsubishi had a car ad with a song that stuck with me - eventually I found out it was "Ready to Go" by Republica.
Maybe I haven't tried hard enough, but it seems like there would be a systematic way to find out stuff like this. It would seem like marketers and ad agencies would have a way to collect feedback on this - certainly it means that they have caught someone's attention. Maybe they're still blushing at the uh, setback of the Cue Cat.
There goes another - now it's the theme for the trailer for "Monsters, Inc." It's a big-band song - I think it's called "Sing Sing Sing". Arggh!
Friday, September 13, 2002
Last call for breasts
Ah yes, one of my favorite topics. I've written of them at least twice before, so it's not as if I lacked inspiration. But now it's timely, because Susanna Cornett only has a couple more days before her Race for the Cure, and she asked for contributions. So I'm contributing this, in case any of you forgot about breasts.
I probably won't anytime soon. After all, if I don't watch my weight I'll have them myself. But even though men, especially pot smokers, can have them (a condition called gynecomastia), and can even get breast cancer, for some reason women's breasts get most of the attention.
Well, I know the reason, just don't ask me to articulate it. But I've known it for a long time - at least since I was about 5 or so. At the time a relative who drove a truck had parked it nearby, and he had a big Playboy gatefold posted on the back of his sleeper. My parents were looking for me all over (imagine that) and finally found me lying there staring transfixed at the recumbent beauty and the little white dog she was holding up in the air. And you know what - I keep getting Google hits for mentioning DeDe Lind and Sherry Jackson from a 1967 issue - I'll bet somebody out there can tell me who that centerfold was just from my description. Anyway, I can't tell you why I was looking so intently or so long, and I swear that was all I was doing.
Back in those days in Playboy breasts were pretty much the whole show, and what a show it was. This of course led to some really unnatural expectations, tempered somewhat by an occasional glimpse at a National Geographic. These breasts had no veins, stretch marks, scars, sags, pores, dark hairs, blemishes or other things that happen to real women. That was true of other parts of women too, but I had daily experience seeing that to temper expectations.
(Well, I never really got a good candid look at live plumbing until my early teens, thanks to some short shorts and a lack of chairs. Somehow it didn't seem as interesting - but for a coif and some stuff that sounded gross it wasn't that much different from a little girl's, and I had seen those) (and fashion seems to be to lose the coif) (and yes, there has to be a better word than "plumbing" - suggestions?) (Phyllis Levy would have some. If you listened to talk radio in Chicago on Sunday nights in the 1980's, you probably remember Phyllis Levy) (an entire paragraph of parenthetical remarks! Take that, English teachers - you and your breasts too).
So I've looked at breasts from both sides now, from flat to sag and still somehow it's breasts' illusions I recall. I really don't know breasts at all.
Well, I've learned a little. I've learned that there are some things you really can't improve upon (although I like Al Bundy's suggestion for a third breast in the back "for dancing"). Not that people don't try - there are some real butchers out there in the business of breast modifications. And even if they get the esthetics right, other things can happen. If the size of your breasts is a real problem, maybe there's something else you ought to replace instead.
Breast reduction OTOH can be a boon. I know one woman who was carrying a positively bovine rack, but now has had some relief (about 7 lbs worth). The results don't have to leave lots of scars either, unlike the case of the one woman on the documentary Susanna mentioned - the woman mentioned above had to point hers out. Don't take it for granted that insurance will pay though.
I hear that the next best thing to breast reduction is getting a mammogram - they have to mash down pretty hard to get a good shot. But if you do it early and often enough, maybe you can avoid the kind of breast reduction at least three relatives of mine had. A little here, a whole breast there, over years, until they finally died of cancer. And two of their daughters look like their clones...
So in addition to this literary (!?) contribution, I've chipped in toward Susanna's pledges. She has surpassed her original goal and revised it up to $1000 - let's put her over the top!
UPDATE: Last Page has a few words.
I probably won't anytime soon. After all, if I don't watch my weight I'll have them myself. But even though men, especially pot smokers, can have them (a condition called gynecomastia), and can even get breast cancer, for some reason women's breasts get most of the attention.
Well, I know the reason, just don't ask me to articulate it. But I've known it for a long time - at least since I was about 5 or so. At the time a relative who drove a truck had parked it nearby, and he had a big Playboy gatefold posted on the back of his sleeper. My parents were looking for me all over (imagine that) and finally found me lying there staring transfixed at the recumbent beauty and the little white dog she was holding up in the air. And you know what - I keep getting Google hits for mentioning DeDe Lind and Sherry Jackson from a 1967 issue - I'll bet somebody out there can tell me who that centerfold was just from my description. Anyway, I can't tell you why I was looking so intently or so long, and I swear that was all I was doing.
Back in those days in Playboy breasts were pretty much the whole show, and what a show it was. This of course led to some really unnatural expectations, tempered somewhat by an occasional glimpse at a National Geographic. These breasts had no veins, stretch marks, scars, sags, pores, dark hairs, blemishes or other things that happen to real women. That was true of other parts of women too, but I had daily experience seeing that to temper expectations.
(Well, I never really got a good candid look at live plumbing until my early teens, thanks to some short shorts and a lack of chairs. Somehow it didn't seem as interesting - but for a coif and some stuff that sounded gross it wasn't that much different from a little girl's, and I had seen those) (and fashion seems to be to lose the coif) (and yes, there has to be a better word than "plumbing" - suggestions?) (Phyllis Levy would have some. If you listened to talk radio in Chicago on Sunday nights in the 1980's, you probably remember Phyllis Levy) (an entire paragraph of parenthetical remarks! Take that, English teachers - you and your breasts too).
So I've looked at breasts from both sides now, from flat to sag and still somehow it's breasts' illusions I recall. I really don't know breasts at all.
Well, I've learned a little. I've learned that there are some things you really can't improve upon (although I like Al Bundy's suggestion for a third breast in the back "for dancing"). Not that people don't try - there are some real butchers out there in the business of breast modifications. And even if they get the esthetics right, other things can happen. If the size of your breasts is a real problem, maybe there's something else you ought to replace instead.
Breast reduction OTOH can be a boon. I know one woman who was carrying a positively bovine rack, but now has had some relief (about 7 lbs worth). The results don't have to leave lots of scars either, unlike the case of the one woman on the documentary Susanna mentioned - the woman mentioned above had to point hers out. Don't take it for granted that insurance will pay though.
I hear that the next best thing to breast reduction is getting a mammogram - they have to mash down pretty hard to get a good shot. But if you do it early and often enough, maybe you can avoid the kind of breast reduction at least three relatives of mine had. A little here, a whole breast there, over years, until they finally died of cancer. And two of their daughters look like their clones...
So in addition to this literary (!?) contribution, I've chipped in toward Susanna's pledges. She has surpassed her original goal and revised it up to $1000 - let's put her over the top!
UPDATE: Last Page has a few words.
Phony issue
I don't expect people at the American Prospect to draw sound conclusions, but I didn't expect them to be this far off base. Of long-distance telephone service, Robert Kuttner writes:
Would regulation help? Sure - it would help bureaucrats and the phone companies. That's because of a well-known phenomenon known as regulatory capture. We'd still have to deal with huge companies, but the govt would be working on their interests.
The old regulated system had its problems, but it was reliable, simple, and you didn't have to resort to bargaining every time you tried to fathom your phone bill. Long-distance prices dropped at a rapid rate without competition thanks to technology and regulation.Has this guy ever paid a phone bill himself? I remember all too well how high long distance rates used to be, and how high my phone bills ran because I've rarely managed to live close to family and friends. Nowadays I spend about a third as much for my wireless phone with free long distance and many other services than I used to pay for long distance alone. Part of that is due to technological advance, but LD rates didn't start falling until companies started bidding aggressively against one another, hoping they could slip it to you on another part of the bill. As it is, for bills of less than about $20 per month, it's hard for an LD telco to make any money.
At times we railed at Ma Bell, but she looks pretty good compared with some of her children.
Would regulation help? Sure - it would help bureaucrats and the phone companies. That's because of a well-known phenomenon known as regulatory capture. We'd still have to deal with huge companies, but the govt would be working on their interests.
"Where's Osama" indeed
If you hang around biology labs long enough, all that formaldehyde might start getting to you. You might even be tempted to post something like this:
For all I know OBL has bathed and shaved and is in a bar in Connecticut hitting on Ann Coulter (wasn't she dating a Middle Eastern guy for awhile?). I don't care. The idea was to make the terrorism stop, not to put someone's head on a pike. Gosh, I guess that means that World War II was a failure because we don't have Hitler stuffed and mounted at the Smithsonian.
Or does a lefty like Paul Orwin suddenly think that a "death penalty" can actually provide a deterrent?
If the Bush administration's conduct of the war is such that his detractors can come up with no worse than this, that's about as good a compliment as he can receive.
Here is my proposal, and I hope some people will take me up on it. Everytime a member of Dubya's administration gets on TV, radio, or gives a speech about going to war in Iraq, someone should start chanting "Where's Osama", and keep it up until they get thrown out of the building. Every columnist in the country should write an op-ed every week, entitled "How close are we to capturing Osama?". NOTHING, with the exception of the very preservation of our country, should be more important than finding that bastard. To do any less is to insult the memory of everyone who died nearly a year ago.Or agree with it.
For all I know OBL has bathed and shaved and is in a bar in Connecticut hitting on Ann Coulter (wasn't she dating a Middle Eastern guy for awhile?). I don't care. The idea was to make the terrorism stop, not to put someone's head on a pike. Gosh, I guess that means that World War II was a failure because we don't have Hitler stuffed and mounted at the Smithsonian.
Or does a lefty like Paul Orwin suddenly think that a "death penalty" can actually provide a deterrent?
If the Bush administration's conduct of the war is such that his detractors can come up with no worse than this, that's about as good a compliment as he can receive.
Wednesday, September 11, 2002
I tip my hat
...to Greg Hlatky for this rant on the individual who did as much as anyone non-Muslim to make us remember this day.
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
Not that Clinton
Clinton Power Station, near Clinton, IL, is the first in the state to hand out potassium iodide (KI) pills. These pills are designed to saturate the body with iodine, to prevent uptake of radioactive iodine that could be present in case of a very severe nuclear accident.
This initiative was taken by the state of Illinois. It might just be a coincidence that the Clinton plant is the one that is closest to Springfield, the capital. In fairness that certainly simplifies the logistics - the next closest plant, LaSalle County Station, is about twice as far from Springfield.
But I'm not interested in being fair. It's more fun to suggest that it's to protect their bureaucratic hides, and that they know which site in the state has had the most regulatory trouble.
The problems came about mostly because it was a very big project taken on by a very small utility, and neither the utility (then Illinois Power) nor the constructor (an ad-hoc assemblage called Baldwin Associates) had built a nuclear power plant before. Extreme financial and time pressure, inexperience, high interest rates, regulatory instability, quality assurance program problems, regulatory intervention, asinine court decisions and management that I'll call "dippy hell" have led to a wild ride, which led what was to be a 2 unit plant costing around $400M to become a one unit plant costing over 10 times as much.
But now the plant is in the very capable hands of Exelon Corporation, which runs several sites well and has very experienced management. And they might even build that second unit.
So I'll start sucking up now - some day I might be working for these guys.
This initiative was taken by the state of Illinois. It might just be a coincidence that the Clinton plant is the one that is closest to Springfield, the capital. In fairness that certainly simplifies the logistics - the next closest plant, LaSalle County Station, is about twice as far from Springfield.
But I'm not interested in being fair. It's more fun to suggest that it's to protect their bureaucratic hides, and that they know which site in the state has had the most regulatory trouble.
The problems came about mostly because it was a very big project taken on by a very small utility, and neither the utility (then Illinois Power) nor the constructor (an ad-hoc assemblage called Baldwin Associates) had built a nuclear power plant before. Extreme financial and time pressure, inexperience, high interest rates, regulatory instability, quality assurance program problems, regulatory intervention, asinine court decisions and management that I'll call "dippy hell" have led to a wild ride, which led what was to be a 2 unit plant costing around $400M to become a one unit plant costing over 10 times as much.
But now the plant is in the very capable hands of Exelon Corporation, which runs several sites well and has very experienced management. And they might even build that second unit.
So I'll start sucking up now - some day I might be working for these guys.
"You First - No More Pearl Harbors"
Maybe you've seen this Larry Miller piece before, but I don't care - read it anyway.
Indifference in sexism in blogging.
Last Page doesn't care about this sexism in blogging issue - don't let those 9 links fool you.
And Media Minded butts in with this. Your move, Dawn.
UPDATE: Dawn made her move, with a picture more consistent with the name of her site. I like the old ones better.
And Media Minded butts in with this. Your move, Dawn.
UPDATE: Dawn made her move, with a picture more consistent with the name of her site. I like the old ones better.
Sexism in blogging II
Just for the record I'll address some things posted on Meryl Yourish's blog about my post immediately below.
You'll notice 4 things I asked if she could agree with. I didn't offer any evidence - I figured that they weren't particularly controversial, so I didn't lay everything out as if I were deriving a mathematical proof. But Ms. Yourish took issue with all 4.
I'll plead guilty to sloppiness on 1 and 2, where I should have said political blogs instead of blogs in general. With that qualification I'll stand behind 1 and 2.
An act of faith? Not really. References like this one show the results of investigations showing that men simply show more knowledge of politics than women. This I attribute to interests rather than innate abilities, and it fits most of the women I know.
As originally written 1) is questionable, but based on the reference above I'll stand by it as amended to refer to "political" blogs.
Ms. Yourish says that more women than men are online now as if this addresses 1). But that does not mean that women are reading more blogs than men are. My "sexist" guess is that if her assertion is true, those women are spending most of their time shopping, chatting or swapping email rather than reading or writing blogs. That too is consistent with the behavior of most of the women I know, who don't even suspect the existence of weblogs.
2) also needs the amendment limiting it to political blogs. Check the blogroll to the left - if Ms. Yourish will point out neglected predominantly political female bloggers to whom I'm not already linked and who are politically similar to the ones there now, I'll be happy to check them out. I'm already linked to most of the blogs she has mentioned, and in most cases I have been for months (including, more recently, Ms.Yourish herself). If I'm neglecting any group, it's men - there's just so many good ones I won't even claim to have heard of them all.
3) and 4)? Gimme a break. If statements as mild as "Each sex tends to write about things of interest to their own sex." and "Each sex tends to read about things of interest to their own sex." are found controversial, we have little if any common ground.
What was Ann Coulter doing in there? Ms. Yourish was going off on her a while back, so the devil in me couldn't be denied. I thought Ms. Yourish might admire Ms. Coulter's success in a field dominated by men.
How many of various bloggers' audiences are female? Beats me. If Ms. Yourish know of a way to sex readers via their IP addresses I know some marketers she can sell it to. My best tool for evaluating this distribution is my commenting facility, where I'd say it's at least 3 to 1 in favor of women by distinct names (assuming I know which are which). In total post count it's far more lopsidedly male. That's grossly inadequate as a measure of the sex distribution of traffic, but Ms. Yourish doesn't support even that, so I'd be interested in knowing how she knows the true composition of her audience if in fact she does.
Now, the Diane E. example, comparing her knowledge to that of Steven Den Beste on Middle Eastern issues. OK, suppose Ms. Yourish is right. Diane E. isn't as prolific as SDB. She doesn't cover as many topics. The non-Middle East topics she covers are less interesting to men than are those that SDB covers. And she hasn't been around as long to get the exposure he's had. So why would a reasonable person declare them as somehow equivalent with respect to worthiness for traffic in general?
Then there's this: "Are you trying to say that women don't care about politics? Technology? Sports? That only men are interested in reading warblogs?" No, of course not, and spare me the straw men. I wonder if Ms. Yourish really believes that all of those topics are of equal interest to both men and women - if so, the reference above might help. Again, my experience is consistent with its findings.
Lest my shortcomings as a writer should obscure it, the only emotion that ought to be showing in any of the above is disappointment.
You'll notice 4 things I asked if she could agree with. I didn't offer any evidence - I figured that they weren't particularly controversial, so I didn't lay everything out as if I were deriving a mathematical proof. But Ms. Yourish took issue with all 4.
I'll plead guilty to sloppiness on 1 and 2, where I should have said political blogs instead of blogs in general. With that qualification I'll stand behind 1 and 2.
An act of faith? Not really. References like this one show the results of investigations showing that men simply show more knowledge of politics than women. This I attribute to interests rather than innate abilities, and it fits most of the women I know.
As originally written 1) is questionable, but based on the reference above I'll stand by it as amended to refer to "political" blogs.
Ms. Yourish says that more women than men are online now as if this addresses 1). But that does not mean that women are reading more blogs than men are. My "sexist" guess is that if her assertion is true, those women are spending most of their time shopping, chatting or swapping email rather than reading or writing blogs. That too is consistent with the behavior of most of the women I know, who don't even suspect the existence of weblogs.
2) also needs the amendment limiting it to political blogs. Check the blogroll to the left - if Ms. Yourish will point out neglected predominantly political female bloggers to whom I'm not already linked and who are politically similar to the ones there now, I'll be happy to check them out. I'm already linked to most of the blogs she has mentioned, and in most cases I have been for months (including, more recently, Ms.Yourish herself). If I'm neglecting any group, it's men - there's just so many good ones I won't even claim to have heard of them all.
3) and 4)? Gimme a break. If statements as mild as "Each sex tends to write about things of interest to their own sex." and "Each sex tends to read about things of interest to their own sex." are found controversial, we have little if any common ground.
What was Ann Coulter doing in there? Ms. Yourish was going off on her a while back, so the devil in me couldn't be denied. I thought Ms. Yourish might admire Ms. Coulter's success in a field dominated by men.
How many of various bloggers' audiences are female? Beats me. If Ms. Yourish know of a way to sex readers via their IP addresses I know some marketers she can sell it to. My best tool for evaluating this distribution is my commenting facility, where I'd say it's at least 3 to 1 in favor of women by distinct names (assuming I know which are which). In total post count it's far more lopsidedly male. That's grossly inadequate as a measure of the sex distribution of traffic, but Ms. Yourish doesn't support even that, so I'd be interested in knowing how she knows the true composition of her audience if in fact she does.
Now, the Diane E. example, comparing her knowledge to that of Steven Den Beste on Middle Eastern issues. OK, suppose Ms. Yourish is right. Diane E. isn't as prolific as SDB. She doesn't cover as many topics. The non-Middle East topics she covers are less interesting to men than are those that SDB covers. And she hasn't been around as long to get the exposure he's had. So why would a reasonable person declare them as somehow equivalent with respect to worthiness for traffic in general?
Then there's this: "Are you trying to say that women don't care about politics? Technology? Sports? That only men are interested in reading warblogs?" No, of course not, and spare me the straw men. I wonder if Ms. Yourish really believes that all of those topics are of equal interest to both men and women - if so, the reference above might help. Again, my experience is consistent with its findings.
Lest my shortcomings as a writer should obscure it, the only emotion that ought to be showing in any of the above is disappointment.
Monday, September 09, 2002
Sexism in blogging?
Meryl Yourish seems to think that there is sexism in blogging. Well, let's quote her:
Before I start, let's see if we can agree on a few fundamental things. 1) More males than females read blogs 2) More males than females write blogs 3) Each sex tends to write about things of interest to their own sex. 4) Each sex tends to read about things of interest to their own sex. Anything controversial so far?
From the above it's easy to conclude that it's 100% natural that men would have most of the traffic, and might possibly be tempted to link to men more often because of their *content*. There's nothing sinister about that.
Women as a group, in my experience, tend to write more "diary-style" blogs. You need continuity to appreciate them. That makes them comparatively high-maintenance, like a soap opera - you either tune in everyday or have to be brought up-to-date each time.
Certainly all women aren't like that - among many others, Susanna Cornett and Jane Galt are two major exceptions. Not coincidentally, they are two of my most regular stops.
Meryl's isn't like that either. But I'm there less often because her politics are to the left of mine, and I usually don't go looking for trouble. Meryl has been permalinked here for a while, as has Dawn Olsen who has also written on the topic, and many others.
I could be wrong here, but Dawn seems irritated because she's not linked by Glenn Reynolds or some others. About that, well, Glenn really can't win on this one. I don't remember the particulars, but I know he's been criticized for linking to some women for reasons which supposedly were other than merit. He's interested in certain things, and he reads and links to those, that's all, and doesn't owe anybody any apologies for that.
And Dawn surely wouldn't have forgotten a bunch of crap Steven Den Beste caught for the unspeakable crime of noting a few good looking young women and posting pictures on his blog. Her hubby Eric pounced all over SDB, as did others. There's a huge double standard here, and God help us if he posted a picture of his ass on his blog, jean-clad or otherwise. There are some blogs which I assume are by men that might get by with something like that (maybe wKenshow), but they're exceptional.
With Dawn's blog being like it is with graphics and content, men who read it regularly are put in the position of men who say they read Playboy for the articles - it may be true, but it's a tough sell. Especially at work where Glenn Reynolds believes most of his hits come from.
Traffic is cool to the extent that there is a certain amount of validation, but really - having any traffic at all on something as vast as the web is exceptional. For a site that is sociable like Dawn's, more traffic would be likely to be what I have heard called "pissing in the soup" - you're more likely to pick up creeps like the one she writes of here. (Incidentally, is anyone making any assumptions about the sex of the creep?).
Meryl doesn't have any commenting facility that I can tell, so I'll ask her a few questions here: why is the sex of a blogger important? Are you saying a man can't write like a woman, or vice versa? You don't seem to like Ann Coulter - don't you like the idea that a woman can be as obnoxious as any man? Are you contending that there are no meaningful differences in the sexes that might be relevant to the choice of topics, the tone, the volume, and the overall success (whatever that is) of a blog?
UPDATE: Godless Capitalist of Gene Expression weighs in.
UPDATE 2: Meryl has responded to a number of posters. Somehow I'm portrayed as "really mad". I'll admit to asking fairly pointed questions and to having a certain lack of patience with -ism claims nowadays, but "really mad?"
Take a look at the blogrolls on Scripting News or Doc's place, or even Diane E. and Megan McArdle, and you'll find few women-written weblogs. Again, I'm not saying this is deliberate. But it is a striking fact. It's not just the men. Even women have a low female-to-male blogroll ratio.Why should anything be done about it at all? Why is this a problem?
So what's to be done about it? That, too, is a tough one. I believe that bloggers would be better off checking a few of the female pundits on a more regular basis
Before I start, let's see if we can agree on a few fundamental things. 1) More males than females read blogs 2) More males than females write blogs 3) Each sex tends to write about things of interest to their own sex. 4) Each sex tends to read about things of interest to their own sex. Anything controversial so far?
From the above it's easy to conclude that it's 100% natural that men would have most of the traffic, and might possibly be tempted to link to men more often because of their *content*. There's nothing sinister about that.
Women as a group, in my experience, tend to write more "diary-style" blogs. You need continuity to appreciate them. That makes them comparatively high-maintenance, like a soap opera - you either tune in everyday or have to be brought up-to-date each time.
Certainly all women aren't like that - among many others, Susanna Cornett and Jane Galt are two major exceptions. Not coincidentally, they are two of my most regular stops.
Meryl's isn't like that either. But I'm there less often because her politics are to the left of mine, and I usually don't go looking for trouble. Meryl has been permalinked here for a while, as has Dawn Olsen who has also written on the topic, and many others.
I could be wrong here, but Dawn seems irritated because she's not linked by Glenn Reynolds or some others. About that, well, Glenn really can't win on this one. I don't remember the particulars, but I know he's been criticized for linking to some women for reasons which supposedly were other than merit. He's interested in certain things, and he reads and links to those, that's all, and doesn't owe anybody any apologies for that.
And Dawn surely wouldn't have forgotten a bunch of crap Steven Den Beste caught for the unspeakable crime of noting a few good looking young women and posting pictures on his blog. Her hubby Eric pounced all over SDB, as did others. There's a huge double standard here, and God help us if he posted a picture of his ass on his blog, jean-clad or otherwise. There are some blogs which I assume are by men that might get by with something like that (maybe wKenshow), but they're exceptional.
With Dawn's blog being like it is with graphics and content, men who read it regularly are put in the position of men who say they read Playboy for the articles - it may be true, but it's a tough sell. Especially at work where Glenn Reynolds believes most of his hits come from.
Traffic is cool to the extent that there is a certain amount of validation, but really - having any traffic at all on something as vast as the web is exceptional. For a site that is sociable like Dawn's, more traffic would be likely to be what I have heard called "pissing in the soup" - you're more likely to pick up creeps like the one she writes of here. (Incidentally, is anyone making any assumptions about the sex of the creep?).
Meryl doesn't have any commenting facility that I can tell, so I'll ask her a few questions here: why is the sex of a blogger important? Are you saying a man can't write like a woman, or vice versa? You don't seem to like Ann Coulter - don't you like the idea that a woman can be as obnoxious as any man? Are you contending that there are no meaningful differences in the sexes that might be relevant to the choice of topics, the tone, the volume, and the overall success (whatever that is) of a blog?
UPDATE: Godless Capitalist of Gene Expression weighs in.
UPDATE 2: Meryl has responded to a number of posters. Somehow I'm portrayed as "really mad". I'll admit to asking fairly pointed questions and to having a certain lack of patience with -ism claims nowadays, but "really mad?"
Sunday, September 08, 2002
Thursday, September 05, 2002
NLP - for real?
I've had my killer SUV almost long enough to pay it off, and it shows in the way I get into it. In a fluid motion the door is open, I'm in the seat, my key is instantly in the ignition and off we go.
As long as I don't look at the ignition switch that is. It seems odd that looking at the target for my ignition key would make things worse, but it does. I rarely miss. Of all the physical skills to have, this is mine - whoopee.
Alright, I've been in and out of the thing probably a couple of thousand times now, so I have had practice. But how much practice does it take to acquire "muscle memory"? How much should it take? How can we make it faster?
Nowadays I find myself learning American style tango. Slowly. All that attitude, the picture lines, etc - I'm more of a plow horse than a show horse. Maybe my expectations are out of whack, but I seem to be learning it very slowly.
Could the answer lie in phobias?
Some years ago I read a number of books on neuro-linguistic programming. Practitioners study the way people react to external stimuli, and phobias are particularly interesting examples. They can be thought of as the result of effortless, very thorough yet instant visceral learning. Which suggests that learning about how phobias are created and overcome can teach us a lot about learning in general - why can't all learning be done so rapidly and thoroughly? The applications to training, sales, politics and other human interactions are boundless.
Phobias are just one thing that NLP practitioners study. They also study other clues that trigger behaviors, and seek ways to create these triggers and attach reactions to them. I'm not doing it justice by any measure, and its backers have high hopes for it, publishing books with titles like "Using Your Brain - For a Change".
I've never run into anyone who's heard of this, much less who had an opinion about whether it was for real or just so much overpromoted pseudoscience. Any opinions out there?
As long as I don't look at the ignition switch that is. It seems odd that looking at the target for my ignition key would make things worse, but it does. I rarely miss. Of all the physical skills to have, this is mine - whoopee.
Alright, I've been in and out of the thing probably a couple of thousand times now, so I have had practice. But how much practice does it take to acquire "muscle memory"? How much should it take? How can we make it faster?
Nowadays I find myself learning American style tango. Slowly. All that attitude, the picture lines, etc - I'm more of a plow horse than a show horse. Maybe my expectations are out of whack, but I seem to be learning it very slowly.
Could the answer lie in phobias?
Some years ago I read a number of books on neuro-linguistic programming. Practitioners study the way people react to external stimuli, and phobias are particularly interesting examples. They can be thought of as the result of effortless, very thorough yet instant visceral learning. Which suggests that learning about how phobias are created and overcome can teach us a lot about learning in general - why can't all learning be done so rapidly and thoroughly? The applications to training, sales, politics and other human interactions are boundless.
Phobias are just one thing that NLP practitioners study. They also study other clues that trigger behaviors, and seek ways to create these triggers and attach reactions to them. I'm not doing it justice by any measure, and its backers have high hopes for it, publishing books with titles like "Using Your Brain - For a Change".
I've never run into anyone who's heard of this, much less who had an opinion about whether it was for real or just so much overpromoted pseudoscience. Any opinions out there?
I'll teach her...
The price of leaving a comment on this site can be severe, as Beth knows now that I've ransacked her website. Well, it wouldn't have been so bad if she had permalinks that I could find.
Anyway, my terminally geeky favorite is the pi trainer (not to be confused with a Baseball Hall of Fame third baseman), from which I found the e-trainer. But now I also know more about "the swollen treasure of her femininity", the heretofore-unappreciated cuteness of wet rats, the aesthetics of long toes, and newt care.
Anyway, my terminally geeky favorite is the pi trainer (not to be confused with a Baseball Hall of Fame third baseman), from which I found the e-trainer. But now I also know more about "the swollen treasure of her femininity", the heretofore-unappreciated cuteness of wet rats, the aesthetics of long toes, and newt care.
Condoms urged for Male Prisoners
Are condoms a cure for cancer? It can't hurt to try them - they seem to be the answer to so many other problems. Now we should distribute them in prisons.
Yep, a bunch of guys who not only broke the law but managed to get caught and imprisoned for it will suddenly become responsible citizens when it comes to prison sex. Although the article does confide that
Prisons must not be too awfully restricted if we can't even keep the prisoners from having sex with each other consensually or otherwise. Here as always, abstinence beats condoms. Yet somehow if we took strong measures to prevent prisoner sex, I suspect that the folks who are pushing condoms for prisoners would take issue.
Yep, a bunch of guys who not only broke the law but managed to get caught and imprisoned for it will suddenly become responsible citizens when it comes to prison sex. Although the article does confide that
The survey found that many of the newly admitted inmates admitted to "high-risk behaviors," such as not using condoms and having anonymous sex with a variety of partners.Imagine that!
Prisons must not be too awfully restricted if we can't even keep the prisoners from having sex with each other consensually or otherwise. Here as always, abstinence beats condoms. Yet somehow if we took strong measures to prevent prisoner sex, I suspect that the folks who are pushing condoms for prisoners would take issue.
Pebble bed modular reactors
Alright, it's your turn to be an engineer. Suppose you created a toaster, then found out that in service the heating elements burned out. What would you do?
Back to the drawing board. Hmm, what if we put in some kind of heat sensing device and automatically turned on a powerful fan when the heat got too high?
Well, fans are expensive. We could just put in a simple thermostat and set it to short out the toaster if the heat got too high, and depend on the house wiring's fuses or breakers to protect us.
If you chose either of the above, it's back to engineering school with you - both of those ideas really stink out loud. In fact, as millions of people worldwide can tell you, it's possible to design a toaster that will be almost idiotproof day in and day out for years without burning out or otherwise failing electrically, and the whole device can be had for under $10. And if you want to design something that will burn out at a specified current level or higher, those can be had even cheaper - they're called "fuses".
We can design this way because we can calculate the heat generation rates, the rate of heat transfer out of the heating elements, and the temperature at which the heating elements will fail. In essence, the heat generated will equal the heat discharged at some temperature T, and if T is less than the temperature that will significantly impair the performance and life of the heating elements you have a workable product.
It seems pretty obvious that you'd want to design a heating device such that it couldn't destroy itself by overheating if that was at all possible. You might think that that was especially important in something like, say, a nuclear reactor.
It is. But unfortunately there was a big push to get nuclear reactors working in the early days, and the first designs they got to work didn't meet that criterion - they were capable of getting hotter than what they could physically withstand. Lots of training, auxiliaries, testing and emergency planning are used to make up for this design characteristic. And really, these reactors were designed for submarines - all the cooling water you could ask for was right there outside the hull.
But then there was a big push for land-based reactors back in the 1950's, so submarine reactors were scaled up in size to make US commercial nuclear power reactors. The inherent overheating capability problem remained.
Now there's no arguing with experience. The engineered safety features and other measures taken by US commercial nuclear power plants have been very successful and safe by any reasonable standard (don't compare them to Russian designs like the VVERs or the RBMKs - the latter made Chernobyl famous and have far worse design issues than the ones discussed here).
But they make for a more expensive and ultimately less reliable plant than what could be realized with fuel that can't destroy itself or its containment by overheating. And these plant designs exist.
This is a technical reference on the plants.
Of course there are organizations that bitch about nuclear power plants for a living, such as NIRS. This is what they have to say about the design. This post is already long, so I'll Fisk the NIRS link later.
Back to the drawing board. Hmm, what if we put in some kind of heat sensing device and automatically turned on a powerful fan when the heat got too high?
Well, fans are expensive. We could just put in a simple thermostat and set it to short out the toaster if the heat got too high, and depend on the house wiring's fuses or breakers to protect us.
If you chose either of the above, it's back to engineering school with you - both of those ideas really stink out loud. In fact, as millions of people worldwide can tell you, it's possible to design a toaster that will be almost idiotproof day in and day out for years without burning out or otherwise failing electrically, and the whole device can be had for under $10. And if you want to design something that will burn out at a specified current level or higher, those can be had even cheaper - they're called "fuses".
We can design this way because we can calculate the heat generation rates, the rate of heat transfer out of the heating elements, and the temperature at which the heating elements will fail. In essence, the heat generated will equal the heat discharged at some temperature T, and if T is less than the temperature that will significantly impair the performance and life of the heating elements you have a workable product.
It seems pretty obvious that you'd want to design a heating device such that it couldn't destroy itself by overheating if that was at all possible. You might think that that was especially important in something like, say, a nuclear reactor.
It is. But unfortunately there was a big push to get nuclear reactors working in the early days, and the first designs they got to work didn't meet that criterion - they were capable of getting hotter than what they could physically withstand. Lots of training, auxiliaries, testing and emergency planning are used to make up for this design characteristic. And really, these reactors were designed for submarines - all the cooling water you could ask for was right there outside the hull.
But then there was a big push for land-based reactors back in the 1950's, so submarine reactors were scaled up in size to make US commercial nuclear power reactors. The inherent overheating capability problem remained.
Now there's no arguing with experience. The engineered safety features and other measures taken by US commercial nuclear power plants have been very successful and safe by any reasonable standard (don't compare them to Russian designs like the VVERs or the RBMKs - the latter made Chernobyl famous and have far worse design issues than the ones discussed here).
But they make for a more expensive and ultimately less reliable plant than what could be realized with fuel that can't destroy itself or its containment by overheating. And these plant designs exist.
This is a technical reference on the plants.
Of course there are organizations that bitch about nuclear power plants for a living, such as NIRS. This is what they have to say about the design. This post is already long, so I'll Fisk the NIRS link later.
Wednesday, September 04, 2002
An answer to corruption?
Don Park writes of corruption in Korea and an innovative technological approach to combating it.
Via Scripting News.
Via Scripting News.
Tuesday, September 03, 2002
Born gay?
As I mentioned below, we managed to get some of the family together for Labor Day weekend.
If you're a relative, you'd better show up to these things or else we'll talk about you. This time it was mostly about a relative I haven't seen in years. I don't know how to contact him even if I had a mind to, and likewise he hasn't really stayed in touch with anybody to my knowledge. The last I heard was from his mother, and she's dead.
If I had been told that one of us was gay and I had to pick the one, he would have been it, and in fact he is. Apparently he's in Key West with the same partner he's had for a long time, running a tourism-based firm.
That he's gay is his business. It wasn't what his parents had in mind, but I don't know that anybody else in the family has ever given him any flak about it. But it led to a conversation in which one relative claimed that you're born gay.
Hmm. This seems to be almost totally behavioral to me. AFAIK there's no controlling what turns you on, but you can control what you do about it.
Thought experiment time. You're blindfolded and subjected to, uh, mechanical stimulation. Nature takes its course. Then the blindfold is taken off and you see that the agent was of a sex other than your preference. Do you suddenly switch teams or turn bi?
Or maybe it's something visual. Eros raises his ugly head, then you realize it's someone who's off limits like a relative or someone underaged (and I'll bet you 20 years you can't always tell). Can you keep playing by society's rules, or must we change the rules for you?
I find it interesting that many societies have such strictures regarding gays. Is it reasonable to ask people to abstain from exercising certain practices or to keep their hands off certain people? Can such rules be so integral to the success of a society that failure to enforce them will lead to that society's destruction?
If you're a relative, you'd better show up to these things or else we'll talk about you. This time it was mostly about a relative I haven't seen in years. I don't know how to contact him even if I had a mind to, and likewise he hasn't really stayed in touch with anybody to my knowledge. The last I heard was from his mother, and she's dead.
If I had been told that one of us was gay and I had to pick the one, he would have been it, and in fact he is. Apparently he's in Key West with the same partner he's had for a long time, running a tourism-based firm.
That he's gay is his business. It wasn't what his parents had in mind, but I don't know that anybody else in the family has ever given him any flak about it. But it led to a conversation in which one relative claimed that you're born gay.
Hmm. This seems to be almost totally behavioral to me. AFAIK there's no controlling what turns you on, but you can control what you do about it.
Thought experiment time. You're blindfolded and subjected to, uh, mechanical stimulation. Nature takes its course. Then the blindfold is taken off and you see that the agent was of a sex other than your preference. Do you suddenly switch teams or turn bi?
Or maybe it's something visual. Eros raises his ugly head, then you realize it's someone who's off limits like a relative or someone underaged (and I'll bet you 20 years you can't always tell). Can you keep playing by society's rules, or must we change the rules for you?
I find it interesting that many societies have such strictures regarding gays. Is it reasonable to ask people to abstain from exercising certain practices or to keep their hands off certain people? Can such rules be so integral to the success of a society that failure to enforce them will lead to that society's destruction?
Kid stuff
I managed to get together with some relatives this past weekend, including an assortment of rugrats and preteens before whom civilization cowers.
Well, the kids weren't bad, but they certainly were spirited and loud and ornery. And they're learning too fast, particularly the stuff they needn't. (If we could only convince kids that there's something illicit about math and science. Maybe we could inscribe multiplication tables on the bathroom walls or something).
For instance, the oldest was a girl of about 10. She's getting big to ride on my shoulders, but I carried her around for awhile. Then my neck got tired and I put her back down and she told me "that wasn't long enough!". I mumbled something to one of the adults about how a woman shouldn't ever tell a man that, har har. The kid made it clear that she caught the allusion and pronounced me a "perv" or something like that. Well, at least she thought it was off color.
I usually bring something for the kids in hopes that they'll learn something besides stuff like the above. There were some age-appropriate quizzes among the booty, and the little squirts wanted to play. They did better than I had hoped. Hopefully the parents can help them with some of the projects that I don't have time to do with them.
The smallest was 6 months old, and has had her picture posted here before. She just laid there cooing, kicking her feet and getting passed around to everybody. She's not too easily intimidated, even though I kept telling her in baby talk how I was going to bite off her nose and suck out her brains. Hey, if you want something mushier, read Lileks.
Oh yeah, I saw the relative I mentioned a few posts ago about college funding. We got everything straightened out and she's back at the same school for her junior year (We finally got her father out of the way - what a jerk! Everyone but him should have a daughter so bright and beautiful). Many thanks to those of you who offered advice, especially the two of you to whom I wrote directly - that was an outrageous imposition, but I wanted to try something.
Enough - I leave you with Warm Fuzzies.
Well, the kids weren't bad, but they certainly were spirited and loud and ornery. And they're learning too fast, particularly the stuff they needn't. (If we could only convince kids that there's something illicit about math and science. Maybe we could inscribe multiplication tables on the bathroom walls or something).
For instance, the oldest was a girl of about 10. She's getting big to ride on my shoulders, but I carried her around for awhile. Then my neck got tired and I put her back down and she told me "that wasn't long enough!". I mumbled something to one of the adults about how a woman shouldn't ever tell a man that, har har. The kid made it clear that she caught the allusion and pronounced me a "perv" or something like that. Well, at least she thought it was off color.
I usually bring something for the kids in hopes that they'll learn something besides stuff like the above. There were some age-appropriate quizzes among the booty, and the little squirts wanted to play. They did better than I had hoped. Hopefully the parents can help them with some of the projects that I don't have time to do with them.
The smallest was 6 months old, and has had her picture posted here before. She just laid there cooing, kicking her feet and getting passed around to everybody. She's not too easily intimidated, even though I kept telling her in baby talk how I was going to bite off her nose and suck out her brains. Hey, if you want something mushier, read Lileks.
Oh yeah, I saw the relative I mentioned a few posts ago about college funding. We got everything straightened out and she's back at the same school for her junior year (We finally got her father out of the way - what a jerk! Everyone but him should have a daughter so bright and beautiful). Many thanks to those of you who offered advice, especially the two of you to whom I wrote directly - that was an outrageous imposition, but I wanted to try something.
Enough - I leave you with Warm Fuzzies.
Another way to reform campaigns...
Roots of racism?
It appears that lady lions prefer males with darker manes.
Of course, nothing is innocent, you know - there must be a political dimension to this. Does this mean that lions are racist? And if it does, does it mean that females are responsible for causing racism?
Uh, no. But some of us seem to think that animals have a lot to teach us humans, and draw conclusions no less asinine than the above.
Of course, nothing is innocent, you know - there must be a political dimension to this. Does this mean that lions are racist? And if it does, does it mean that females are responsible for causing racism?
Uh, no. But some of us seem to think that animals have a lot to teach us humans, and draw conclusions no less asinine than the above.
Four strikeouts in one inning
Who else but the Cubs?
Incidentally, I wonder if major league baseball attendance has been impacted by the strike threat?
Incidentally, I wonder if major league baseball attendance has been impacted by the strike threat?
Monday, September 02, 2002
Stem cell question
From here we get
The team of researchers from Keio University School of Medicine in Japan extracted stem cells from a 14 day-old rat fetus. The type of stem cells they extracted are called neural progenitor cells, which are genetically programmed to later develop into various kinds of nervous system cells.I thought the point of getting stem cells from a fetus was that any such stem cell could form any other type of cell, ie, it wouldn't matter what kind of stem cell you got from a fetus. Otherwise you could use non-fetal stem cells instead, which were more specialized and highly developed at the cost of the flexibility.
Wireless networking available at Starbucks
Via Daniel Pink we have this story. It does require a membership with a particular wireless carrier, but the first 24 hours are free.
Borders, Barnes & Noble, are you listening?
Borders, Barnes & Noble, are you listening?
Thursday, August 29, 2002
Wednesday, August 28, 2002
For frustrated baseball fans...
The players really might strike again to advance the cause of proletarians everywhere. And if they do, all you fans who swore you'd never watch again are going to need a new sports fix. Leave it to NWA to guide you to the wonderful world of alternative sports.
How about donkey baseball? mud volleyball? Or for the ladies, jello wrestling (rated PG-work).
I saw something new on Saturday - Slamball. This loosely resembles basketball, but there are four trampolines flush with the court surface at the base of each basket. The result is that everybody can play far above the rim and fouls are spectacular. Just don't bother looking for a court near you.
Here in St. Louis we have "Demolition Ball". It's a trip - two teams in bumper cars catching and throwing a wiffle ball at a goal using a basketlike contraption. The cars are tricky to steer and drive at first, and don't go real fast, so you'd have to try hard to hurt yourself. It can be a lot of fun for a small group, and what can be wrong with a sport that you play sitting down?
Alas, the killjoys of the world are on the march. Animal rights groups are attacking Calaveras County for its frog jumping competitions, and some places have banned dwarf tossing. What's the world coming to?
And who needs baseball anyway? - pro football starts in a week. Go Bears, Chiefs, Colts and Rams!
How about donkey baseball? mud volleyball? Or for the ladies, jello wrestling (rated PG-work).
I saw something new on Saturday - Slamball. This loosely resembles basketball, but there are four trampolines flush with the court surface at the base of each basket. The result is that everybody can play far above the rim and fouls are spectacular. Just don't bother looking for a court near you.
Here in St. Louis we have "Demolition Ball". It's a trip - two teams in bumper cars catching and throwing a wiffle ball at a goal using a basketlike contraption. The cars are tricky to steer and drive at first, and don't go real fast, so you'd have to try hard to hurt yourself. It can be a lot of fun for a small group, and what can be wrong with a sport that you play sitting down?
Alas, the killjoys of the world are on the march. Animal rights groups are attacking Calaveras County for its frog jumping competitions, and some places have banned dwarf tossing. What's the world coming to?
And who needs baseball anyway? - pro football starts in a week. Go Bears, Chiefs, Colts and Rams!
Tuesday, August 27, 2002
Sponsor Susanna Cornett today
She'll be running in Manhattan on September 15 in the Race for the Cure for breast cancer.
Of course my engineering mind is constantly pursuing alternate approaches to problems, seeking to leverage knowledge by applying successful practices from other disciplines to new problem domains. So I was thinking...you must have seen these ads for various worldwide save-the-children charities. For donations, they'll send pictures, letters, progress reports, etc, as if your money were supporting a particular kid. Could there be a lesson here?
I'm just trying to help.
Of course my engineering mind is constantly pursuing alternate approaches to problems, seeking to leverage knowledge by applying successful practices from other disciplines to new problem domains. So I was thinking...you must have seen these ads for various worldwide save-the-children charities. For donations, they'll send pictures, letters, progress reports, etc, as if your money were supporting a particular kid. Could there be a lesson here?
I'm just trying to help.
Thrills to come
I pledged elsewhere that I would put together some CBO and other figures to compare the budgets and economies of the last several Presidents and Congresses by Tuesday. That's in process, but my schedule has changed and it will probably take until Thursday. The waiting is torture, I know.
Monday, August 26, 2002
Radionuclides in Nature
This PDF has a lot of interesting information on radioactive substances found in nature. I dug it up while researching the previous item.
The most interesting single fact IMO is this "Sea water contains some 4 500 Mtons U". Next to that, Ted Turner's stash (described in the next item down) is trifling. Hmm....
There's also some interesting but highly technical info about radon gas.
In short, if you're trying to rid your life of radiation, you're living on the wrong planet.
The most interesting single fact IMO is this "Sea water contains some 4 500 Mtons U". Next to that, Ted Turner's stash (described in the next item down) is trifling. Hmm....
There's also some interesting but highly technical info about radon gas.
In short, if you're trying to rid your life of radiation, you're living on the wrong planet.
Jane Fonda's ex-husband buys highly enriched uranium, sends it to Russians
Glenn Reynolds points us to this interesting article in the Guardian about Ted Turner's latest adventure. It seems that Turner has paid a good chunk of money to buy some enriched uranium from a scientific institute in Serbia to be shipped to the Russians. There it is "to be rendered unusable". (Thank God - the thought of Ted Turner with nuclear weapons is unnerving).
Assuming that Ted isn't really seeking revenge against AOL, the driving idea behind this is that it was "enough uranium to make more than two nuclear bombs", and he wants to deny it to terrorists.
Clamping down on access to the materials is an important factor, and the claims seem to check out. According to this, "About 50 kilograms of the material is in fresh or unirradiated fuel, and another ten kilograms is in only slightly irradiated fuel. Enrichment of the 60 kilograms of highly enriched uranium remains at 80 percent."
I don't know if you can build a bomb out of 80% enriched uranium or not - this says it takes 90%. So presumably the stuff would require further, very expensive refinement to be useful to terrorists.
Apparently Turner has the 50 kg quantity mentioned earlier, which is consistent with its packaging - "The rods were reportedly stored in their original crates and guarded by only lightly armed civilians." Why not take the rest? - probably because it has been irradiated and may be too hot to transport.
The fuel was transported by plane. I guess Greenpox didn't have time to protest.
Why give it to the Russians? Presumably because it was their uranium in the first place, and because they're probably more flexible in what they're willing to do with it.
Now we get to the really interesting part, where the stuff is to be rendered unusable. Nobody is saying how. Assuming that the Russians aren't going to use it for bombs, the sensible thing to do is to burn it up in reactors as originally intended. Then the consumed uranium is gone forever.
I wonder if Turner violated any federal laws in doing this?
UPDATE: This was in the WaPo on Friday and I missed it (again, via Glenn Reynolds). TT was working in collaboration with the US govt, so one hopes that what he was doing was totally lawful.
GR's nameless source says that 80% was the enrichment of the Hiroshima bomb, so presumably the material could be used as is to make bombs. However, then the quantities required for a bomb are different - according to this, the Hiroshima bomb used 60 kg of U-235, which at 80% concentration would be 75 kg of uranium. Either figure is more than was removed from Vinca.
Assuming that Ted isn't really seeking revenge against AOL, the driving idea behind this is that it was "enough uranium to make more than two nuclear bombs", and he wants to deny it to terrorists.
"Stopping terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons boils down to one top priority: stopping them from getting nuclear bomb-making materials," Mr Turner said yesterday as it emerged that his Nuclear Threat Initiative had provided £3.3m to fund the operation.
Clamping down on access to the materials is an important factor, and the claims seem to check out. According to this, "About 50 kilograms of the material is in fresh or unirradiated fuel, and another ten kilograms is in only slightly irradiated fuel. Enrichment of the 60 kilograms of highly enriched uranium remains at 80 percent."
I don't know if you can build a bomb out of 80% enriched uranium or not - this says it takes 90%. So presumably the stuff would require further, very expensive refinement to be useful to terrorists.
Apparently Turner has the 50 kg quantity mentioned earlier, which is consistent with its packaging - "The rods were reportedly stored in their original crates and guarded by only lightly armed civilians." Why not take the rest? - probably because it has been irradiated and may be too hot to transport.
The fuel was transported by plane. I guess Greenpox didn't have time to protest.
Why give it to the Russians? Presumably because it was their uranium in the first place, and because they're probably more flexible in what they're willing to do with it.
Now we get to the really interesting part, where the stuff is to be rendered unusable. Nobody is saying how. Assuming that the Russians aren't going to use it for bombs, the sensible thing to do is to burn it up in reactors as originally intended. Then the consumed uranium is gone forever.
I wonder if Turner violated any federal laws in doing this?
UPDATE: This was in the WaPo on Friday and I missed it (again, via Glenn Reynolds). TT was working in collaboration with the US govt, so one hopes that what he was doing was totally lawful.
GR's nameless source says that 80% was the enrichment of the Hiroshima bomb, so presumably the material could be used as is to make bombs. However, then the quantities required for a bomb are different - according to this, the Hiroshima bomb used 60 kg of U-235, which at 80% concentration would be 75 kg of uranium. Either figure is more than was removed from Vinca.
Thursday, August 22, 2002
Getting it together against greenhouse gases
Whether greenhouse gases are a problem or not, the following are simply good ideas for the locals, from this article:
MAPHEPHETHENI, South Africa - In rural South Africa, where getting electricity isn't simply a matter of flicking a switch, Myeka High School is looking to its pupils to supply an unusual source of power.And as poor as they are, they won't have Western-style power distribution until the cows come home:
For several years, the school has only had solar power, but the system's output is erratic and computer classes can be held just two or three days a week. Now the school plans to add electricity produced by burning methane gas from decomposing sewage from the school toilets.
Such innovations could be vital to South Africa, where the government is trying to extend electricity to 300,000 more households each year. About 50 percent of rural families and 22 percent of urban dwellers now lack electricity — a total of 3.6 million households.
Greg Austin, an engineer who designed the school's biogas system, believes gas generated from cattle dung is also an ideal power source in rural south Africa where more than a half million households keep cattle and rely on fossil fuels to cook.
"With the dung from three cows, you can generate enough gas to run a fridge and cooker," he said.
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
He's right, I don't understand
Susanna Cornett and a host of others have zeroed in on some asininities by one Charles Barron at Sunday's reparations rally in Washington. It's black hyperbole alright.
And for this achievement in furthering more harmonious race relations I declare Mr. Barron an "Al Sharpton Scholar". Can a Nobel Peace Prize be far behind?
And for this achievement in furthering more harmonious race relations I declare Mr. Barron an "Al Sharpton Scholar". Can a Nobel Peace Prize be far behind?
Monday, August 19, 2002
Fighting fire with fire
They're handing out potassium iodide (KI) pills near the nuclear power plants in PA. This tells a bit about why.
It mentions the Chernobyl accident, and 1000 cases of thyroid cancer that allegedly resulted from it (other sources, including the previous link, differ).
Whatever the right number is, it's a shame. If the Russian Communists had given a damn about civil defense and passed out such pills, most of those could have been prevented. Instead, they chose to deny the existence of a problem that was visible from outer space and set off radiation alarms in Scandinavia.
Incidentally, these pills will be radioactive. Never mind the poll.
It mentions the Chernobyl accident, and 1000 cases of thyroid cancer that allegedly resulted from it (other sources, including the previous link, differ).
Whatever the right number is, it's a shame. If the Russian Communists had given a damn about civil defense and passed out such pills, most of those could have been prevented. Instead, they chose to deny the existence of a problem that was visible from outer space and set off radiation alarms in Scandinavia.
Incidentally, these pills will be radioactive. Never mind the poll.
Hoosier party school?
I'm not Joshing, it's Indiana University.
The source also offered a list of 20 "stone-cold sober" schools, with Brigham Young winning for the 3rd straight year. Now that's a shocker.
The source also offered a list of 20 "stone-cold sober" schools, with Brigham Young winning for the 3rd straight year. Now that's a shocker.
Sex and Martha Stewart (?)
I have read odds and ends about Martha Stewart's alleged involvement with insider trading involving ImClone. Basically I've been giving her the benefit of the doubt, figuring that lots of people had their knives out for her. After all, she's guilty of being rich, and I hear she's no treat to get along with either.
But the sympathy is gone as of today. Martha Stewart thinks the Republicans are out to investigate her sex life.
Don't get me wrong. She's well preserved, and I'd rank her well ahead of, say, Hillary Clinton or Janet Reno. But I'm thinking she'd be a bit, uh, particular. No thanks.
I see a David Letterman Top Ten list coming - "Top 10 things heard in Martha Stewart's Bedroom".
UPDATE: the real Letterman fails us, but she's been on his Top 10 lists before. Like this one.
But the sympathy is gone as of today. Martha Stewart thinks the Republicans are out to investigate her sex life.
Embattled media mogul Martha Stewart is said to see a political conspiracy behind the deepening investigation into her questionable stock trades, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.Alright, I'm a bit morbidly curious, just as I was about hedgehogs a few weeks ago. But really - Martha Stewart? How vain is that? Those Congressmen may be old, but lots of women have given big chunks of money to the Democrats - couldn't they find someone with more potential?
"Martha really believes it is the Republicans who are behind this -- and they are chasing her for purely political reasons," a Stewart intimate said this weekend.
"Martha told me that she believes they are doing the very same thing to her, they did to President Clinton. What Ken Starr did. She believes it is nothing short of a witch hunt! They are even digging into her private e-mails! They are demanding to know who she's dated. Martha said to me, 'Can you believe they want to know who I'm dating?' Republicans on Capitol Hill are probing her sex life!"
Don't get me wrong. She's well preserved, and I'd rank her well ahead of, say, Hillary Clinton or Janet Reno. But I'm thinking she'd be a bit, uh, particular. No thanks.
I see a David Letterman Top Ten list coming - "Top 10 things heard in Martha Stewart's Bedroom".
UPDATE: the real Letterman fails us, but she's been on his Top 10 lists before. Like this one.
Sunday, August 18, 2002
Spin? What spin?
See kausfiles for 8/14/02 for an interesting discussion of "child-only" welfare cases.
After turning both cheeks...
Normally I don't bother to link to something after Glenn Reynolds has - odds are you've already seen it. But for this item, about the "Peace Abbey", make sure you read the comments if you haven't already. There are some choice Gandhi quotes that don't get enough airplay.
Say hello to Ellen Feiss, a Rula Lenska for our time
Oh never mind, you really don't care. But if you must, here's Ms. Lenska and here's Ms. Feiss.
The Ellen Feiss link was from Daniel Pink, who usually has something more profound to say.
The Ellen Feiss link was from Daniel Pink, who usually has something more profound to say.
Friday, August 16, 2002
Thursday, August 15, 2002
Right on
You read everything Thomas Sowell writes, don't you? Here's some more wisdom from this column:
Imagine that a genie magically appeared and offered to grant you one wish -- and, being a decent sort, you wished that everyone's income would be doubled. That could bring down on you the wrath of the political left, because it would mean that the gap between the rich and the poor had widened.
Crossing Richard Bennett and Meryl Yourish
I was going to stick my nose in the Richard Bennett/Meryl Yourish exchange, but Diane E. has said most of what I had in mind here.
I don't agree with her totally - I won't say she trivializes abortion, but I think she takes it less seriously than I do.
I don't agree with her totally - I won't say she trivializes abortion, but I think she takes it less seriously than I do.
Right idea, wrong issue
Frequently we see the spectacle of disgustingly rich people shilling for the govt to spend more money on their pet issues. Yeah, that's it - next time you see somebody who needs some money, send a check to Washington. Or the UN.
Andy Grove, the head of Intel, is taking a step in the right direction.
Besides, if Mr. Grove's $5 million donation went through the sticky hands of govt bureaucrats en route to the researchers, how much of it do you suppose would be left when it got there? And if he spent it to lobby politicians to spend money on stem cell research, he might get a huge payoff, but he might also get nothing at all.
Eliminate the middlemen, especially if they're the govt.
Andy Grove, the head of Intel, is taking a step in the right direction.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp. Chairman Andy Grove will donate $5 million to the University of California-San Francisco to boost studies in the controversial field of stem cell research, university officials announced on Thursday.Embryonic stem cell research is controversial, and many would like to see it banned, especially when there are many research opportunities with non-embryonic stem cells. So why force people who disagree with this morally to pay for it too?
Besides, if Mr. Grove's $5 million donation went through the sticky hands of govt bureaucrats en route to the researchers, how much of it do you suppose would be left when it got there? And if he spent it to lobby politicians to spend money on stem cell research, he might get a huge payoff, but he might also get nothing at all.
Eliminate the middlemen, especially if they're the govt.
Wednesday, August 14, 2002
Good news and bad news
It looks like Ames is giving up the ghost, at the cost of 22,000 jobs.
But capitalism is dynamic, and new technologies lead to entire new occupational categories. For instance, think of the job opportunities that might arise with commercialization of this technology. They might not be the greatest jobs, but better than this
I suppose it would be unethical to replace the mice with humans. But we might get volunteers who might otherwise let these opportunities slip between their fingers.
Aside - if it's "linky love" to link to someone else's blog, what do you call it when I link to my own archives?
But capitalism is dynamic, and new technologies lead to entire new occupational categories. For instance, think of the job opportunities that might arise with commercialization of this technology. They might not be the greatest jobs, but better than this
I suppose it would be unethical to replace the mice with humans. But we might get volunteers who might otherwise let these opportunities slip between their fingers.
Aside - if it's "linky love" to link to someone else's blog, what do you call it when I link to my own archives?
Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Put your money where your mouth is
So you like renewable energy? This company manufactures solar photovoltaics, which convert sunlight to electricity.
"Spheral Solar(TM) Technology's first factory is expected to produce enough cells to provide 20 megawatts of power annually, which is roughly the total annual power requirement of 6,000 homes," said Mr. Woerner. "Quite frankly, we believe Spheral Solar(TM) Technology will spark substantial new demand for solar energy and we expect to support that demand by building more automated factories in the future."Just to put this in perspective, modern nuclear power plant sites will have more than 20 MW available just for standby use (2 units, 2 diesel generators per unit at about 7MW each).
Monday, August 12, 2002
Road rage
There was a time when I had a fairly hot temper, which is especially bad when you're bigger than most like I am. I'm pretty tame now, but there are still things that can get me going. One of them is the individual I've been calling Ex below, who alone would serve as a justification for mortality. A little fury came in handy in my wrestling days, and working up a lather can help if I'm not doing well in a racquetball tournament. But I'm at my worst behind the wheel.
I drive an SUV, and if you don't like it, my only regret is that I have but one ass to kiss. You roller-skate driving wusses had better get out of my way. And here's a clue - you don't have to pull all the way in to a parking space. Give the rest of us a chance to see your politically correct little deathtrap before we're halfway pulled in behind you.
As for you bikers...is it necessary to bisect a full-sized parking place so you can't even share it with another motorcycle?
Another hint - either pass me or back off. Don't sit there locking me in a lane unnecessarily - I've seen some of the strangest crap lying in the road and recently lost two tires to something that fell off the back of some Beverly Hillbillies wannabes' trailer. Even if I don't try to dodge, if I blow a tire I might lose control and take us both off the road.
But the worst are deer, which I submit as proof that Satan copulates with rats. One Christmas Eve I was driving a 6 month old car on a stretch of I-74 between the Quad Cities and Galesburg, IL with woods in a deep median strip, a deep dropoff into a field to the right, and a road slick enough to force reduced speeds. Then out of the cover in the median a !!@#$ deer sashays out into the road, straddles the centerline and turns crosswise to the road. Ka-ching! - $4500 worth of work, and endless questions about what happened to the deer. And that's just the one I hit - I've had the stupid things hit me. (But I don't even have the bragging rights in the family, because a relative survived a broadside collision with a horse).
And finally, well, I'm not in the habit of picking on religious people, and I usually take their side. I don't send kids to Sunday school to ask "Can God make a rock so big he can't pick it up?" But I've seen one too many bumper stickers that say "Warning - in case of Rapture this car will be unmanned". If you believe that, shouldn't you be riding the bus?
I drive an SUV, and if you don't like it, my only regret is that I have but one ass to kiss. You roller-skate driving wusses had better get out of my way. And here's a clue - you don't have to pull all the way in to a parking space. Give the rest of us a chance to see your politically correct little deathtrap before we're halfway pulled in behind you.
As for you bikers...is it necessary to bisect a full-sized parking place so you can't even share it with another motorcycle?
Another hint - either pass me or back off. Don't sit there locking me in a lane unnecessarily - I've seen some of the strangest crap lying in the road and recently lost two tires to something that fell off the back of some Beverly Hillbillies wannabes' trailer. Even if I don't try to dodge, if I blow a tire I might lose control and take us both off the road.
But the worst are deer, which I submit as proof that Satan copulates with rats. One Christmas Eve I was driving a 6 month old car on a stretch of I-74 between the Quad Cities and Galesburg, IL with woods in a deep median strip, a deep dropoff into a field to the right, and a road slick enough to force reduced speeds. Then out of the cover in the median a !!@#$ deer sashays out into the road, straddles the centerline and turns crosswise to the road. Ka-ching! - $4500 worth of work, and endless questions about what happened to the deer. And that's just the one I hit - I've had the stupid things hit me. (But I don't even have the bragging rights in the family, because a relative survived a broadside collision with a horse).
And finally, well, I'm not in the habit of picking on religious people, and I usually take their side. I don't send kids to Sunday school to ask "Can God make a rock so big he can't pick it up?" But I've seen one too many bumper stickers that say "Warning - in case of Rapture this car will be unmanned". If you believe that, shouldn't you be riding the bus?
Sunday, August 11, 2002
SOS
So who knows about last-minute financial aid for college students?
Somebody is playing dirty in a divorce, and a relative of mine is caught in the middle. She's about to start her junior year at the same school she started in, and for obvious reasons would like to finish there. She has done well and has been active on campus.
But her grants and loans could be held up, and apparently if Ex has his way, they will be. The amounts involved are substantial, and the cooperative parent could find it impossible to make up the difference despite best efforts. On the other hand, it might save Ex a couple of grand (and he definitely isn't broke) if he can force her into transferring.
Yes, he's violating the divorce decree, but in the meantime there very little time to intervene if she is to avoid transferring or missing a semester - classes start in about a week and legal relief will take longer.
And in the meantime if anybody knows an effective, affordable, merciless family law attorney in the SW Chicago burbs, I'll pass the info on to someone who can use it.
Somebody is playing dirty in a divorce, and a relative of mine is caught in the middle. She's about to start her junior year at the same school she started in, and for obvious reasons would like to finish there. She has done well and has been active on campus.
But her grants and loans could be held up, and apparently if Ex has his way, they will be. The amounts involved are substantial, and the cooperative parent could find it impossible to make up the difference despite best efforts. On the other hand, it might save Ex a couple of grand (and he definitely isn't broke) if he can force her into transferring.
Yes, he's violating the divorce decree, but in the meantime there very little time to intervene if she is to avoid transferring or missing a semester - classes start in about a week and legal relief will take longer.
And in the meantime if anybody knows an effective, affordable, merciless family law attorney in the SW Chicago burbs, I'll pass the info on to someone who can use it.
Thursday, August 08, 2002
So's yer old man
From Chris Johnson at Midwest Conservative Journal here in St. Louis, we learn that the Saudi press says "...Christian fundamentalism was no less dangerous to international peace and security than other forms of religious extremism..."
I'm trying to picture an Episcopalian terrorist. It isn't working.
I'm trying to picture an Episcopalian terrorist. It isn't working.
It's the economy, stupid
Six months ago in NWA...
Glenn Reynolds notes the asymmetry between men's and women's rights with regard to child support and abortion. Been there, done that, way back here in a No Watermelons Allowed Classic.
Stay ahead of the curve with NWA...
Stay ahead of the curve with NWA...
Wednesday, August 07, 2002
Tuesday, August 06, 2002
Nixon without the decency
Bill Clinton is again trying to rewrite history - this time about Somalia.
That force asked for heavy armor--in the form of Abrams tanks and Bradley armored vehicles--as well as the AC-130 gunship, but the Clinton Administration denied those requests. On October 3 on a mission to pick up Aidid, two Black Hawks were unexpectedly shot down; in the ensuing urban gun battle, 18 American soldiers were killed and another 73 injured.But Bill Clinton was Commander in Chief and had to make weighty decisions. Among a CinC's responsibilities is to decide what to hold in reserve - who could know where armor might be needed next? For instance, how about here?
Many military experts believe that if the U.S. forces had had armor, fewer would have died. Secretary of Defense Les Aspin resigned two months after Somalia, having acknowledged that his decision on the armor had been an error. A 1994 Senate Armed Services Committee investigation reached the same conclusion. But perhaps the most poignant statement came from retired Lieutenant Colonel Larry Joyce, father of Sergeant Casey Joyce, a Ranger killed in Mogadishu: "Had there been armor . . . I contend that my son would probably be alive today."
An honest mistake...
One of several strange items from here
Woman Mistakenly Adjusts Wrong Man's 'Package'
From the NORTHWEST FLORIDA Daily News comes this story of a Crestview couple who drove their car to Walmart only to have their car break down in the parking lot. The man told his wife to carry on with the shopping while he fixed the car there in the lot.
The wife returned later to see a small group of people near the car. On closer inspection she saw a pair of male legs protruding from under the chassis. Although the man was in shorts, his lack of underpants turned private parts into glaringly public ones.
Unable to stand the embarrassment she dutifully stepped forward, quickly put her hand UP his shorts and tucked everything back into place. On regaining her feet she looked across the hood and found herself staring at her husband who was standing idly by.
The mechanic, however, had to have three stitches in his head.
Woman Mistakenly Adjusts Wrong Man's 'Package'
From the NORTHWEST FLORIDA Daily News comes this story of a Crestview couple who drove their car to Walmart only to have their car break down in the parking lot. The man told his wife to carry on with the shopping while he fixed the car there in the lot.
The wife returned later to see a small group of people near the car. On closer inspection she saw a pair of male legs protruding from under the chassis. Although the man was in shorts, his lack of underpants turned private parts into glaringly public ones.
Unable to stand the embarrassment she dutifully stepped forward, quickly put her hand UP his shorts and tucked everything back into place. On regaining her feet she looked across the hood and found herself staring at her husband who was standing idly by.
The mechanic, however, had to have three stitches in his head.
Monday, August 05, 2002
Read at your own risk
Look here and check out the list of disclaimers on the lower right side of the page. Do you think he left anything out?
Sunday, August 04, 2002
Interesting environmental sites
Once in a while I find a decent environmental technology resource that has a high practicality to politics ratio. This one, Journeytoforever.org, is about the best I've ever seen.
And through them I found developmentbookshop.com. Here you'll find references for simple practical technologies that you could put to work on your farm or in the most godforsaken Third World countries. They're based in the UK, so prices are in pounds and delivery will take some time.
If those packs of elitist jerks like the Sierra Club or joyriding adolescents like Greenpox were worth the powder it would take to blow them up, this is what they'd be promoting.
And through them I found developmentbookshop.com. Here you'll find references for simple practical technologies that you could put to work on your farm or in the most godforsaken Third World countries. They're based in the UK, so prices are in pounds and delivery will take some time.
If those packs of elitist jerks like the Sierra Club or joyriding adolescents like Greenpox were worth the powder it would take to blow them up, this is what they'd be promoting.
God - the evidence
Donald Sensing doesn't have a comments section on his blog, but I do. So I'll point to three interesting posts of his:
God - the evidence
Scientism is not science, it is faith in science
Some feedback on God and creation
God - the evidence
Scientism is not science, it is faith in science
Some feedback on God and creation
Charles Ponzi's big mistake
Silly guy, didn't he know that only Congressmen can create financial schemes like that?
Now we get to see Congressmen preaching fiscal responsibility to businesses. It's enough to cause projectile vomiting. Link via Todd LaClair.
Now we get to see Congressmen preaching fiscal responsibility to businesses. It's enough to cause projectile vomiting. Link via Todd LaClair.
Fuel cells - future?
You can't have fuel cells without fuel. Producing, storing and transporting those will be severe bottlenecks, particularly with hydrogen, even if the price is right.
I don't think this is the answer. If it is, don't we look silly - the answer was behind us all along.
On a more serious note, I'm keeping an eye on biotechnology for this problem. Yo, Gene Expression crew - it's time you guys whipped us up a germ that'll excrete hydrogen...
Even if they did so, there's still the question of where all the hydrogen is going to come from. Yeah, we have plenty of water, but it's not easy to get the hydrogen from that. Making it from fossil fuels is possible, but there are probably better alternative uses for those.
I'm not sure what's the next most prevalent, but off the top of my head I suspect it's animal and vegetable fats. This sounds like something a Greg Hlatky would know about. We hydrogenate fats all the time - can we dehydrogenate them and make it worth our while?
I don't think this is the answer. If it is, don't we look silly - the answer was behind us all along.
On a more serious note, I'm keeping an eye on biotechnology for this problem. Yo, Gene Expression crew - it's time you guys whipped us up a germ that'll excrete hydrogen...
Even if they did so, there's still the question of where all the hydrogen is going to come from. Yeah, we have plenty of water, but it's not easy to get the hydrogen from that. Making it from fossil fuels is possible, but there are probably better alternative uses for those.
I'm not sure what's the next most prevalent, but off the top of my head I suspect it's animal and vegetable fats. This sounds like something a Greg Hlatky would know about. We hydrogenate fats all the time - can we dehydrogenate them and make it worth our while?
Fuel cells...
I went looking for new info on fuel cells and spotted this. Then I read it. Ugh.
Maybe the errors don't matter to most people, but it was still pretty bad. The most innocent one was a sentence that said "Fuel cells produce electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen", Some fuel cells do, but the technology can be applied with other fuels too. H2 is attractive because the emissions are nothing but water. It's not a real big deal, but it's misleading.
Then came this:
But there was something to be salvaged from the article - most people probably wouldn't remember the numbers anyway. It's good to see some progress, even if this isn't likely to pay off for a while.
Maybe the errors don't matter to most people, but it was still pretty bad. The most innocent one was a sentence that said "Fuel cells produce electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen", Some fuel cells do, but the technology can be applied with other fuels too. H2 is attractive because the emissions are nothing but water. It's not a real big deal, but it's misleading.
Then came this:
The automaker wants to tap the lucrative "premium power" market, such as data communications companies and hospitals that are willing to pay as much as $1,000 per kilowatt hour for reliable power.That's premium power alright. A dime per kWH is about right, which is a tenth of the lower number they cited. Sheesh, at $1000/kWh I'd quit my day job, buy a treadmill and start generating power myself.
Such power is interrupted an average of just more than three seconds a year, compared with an average of 8.76 hours a year for electricity provided to most residential and commercial customers who pay $1 a kilowatt hour.
But there was something to be salvaged from the article - most people probably wouldn't remember the numbers anyway. It's good to see some progress, even if this isn't likely to pay off for a while.
Shut up, Al
Remember the 2000 election with Al Gore on the cover of the Rolling Stone? We heard all this fuss about his "package". They were on the right track.
Now Gore says as a result of President Bush's economic policies, "What has been put at risk is nothing less than the future of democratic capitalism."
To which I can only say, "What an ass!"
Now Gore says as a result of President Bush's economic policies, "What has been put at risk is nothing less than the future of democratic capitalism."
To which I can only say, "What an ass!"
Too cynical?
One of Lily Tomlin's better quotes is "No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.".
Back in the 80's we saw televangelists Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker go down in flames. Bakker in particular, with his overpainted wife Tammy Faye and his PTL Club, got in trouble for financial shenanigans. (Nominally "PTL" stood for "Praise the Lord", but a popular alternative was "Pass the Loot").
Steven Den Beste notes that Bill Clinton's misadventures with Afghanistan turned out to have strengthened al-Qaeda. Hmm.
We've heard all sorts of explanations for the attacks by al-Qaeda, in terms of religion, culture, etc. But maybe we're not cynical enough. What if it's all about some mullahs and their fundraising?
Back in the 80's we saw televangelists Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker go down in flames. Bakker in particular, with his overpainted wife Tammy Faye and his PTL Club, got in trouble for financial shenanigans. (Nominally "PTL" stood for "Praise the Lord", but a popular alternative was "Pass the Loot").
Steven Den Beste notes that Bill Clinton's misadventures with Afghanistan turned out to have strengthened al-Qaeda. Hmm.
We've heard all sorts of explanations for the attacks by al-Qaeda, in terms of religion, culture, etc. But maybe we're not cynical enough. What if it's all about some mullahs and their fundraising?
Thursday, August 01, 2002
Prison rape
I'm not a journalist, and I'm about to present proof in case there was any doubt. But it so happens that I'm from a small town that happens to house a maximum security prison and a hospital, and I know any number of people who have or do work there, as nurses, guards and others.
After Spoons' post noted below, I got morbidly curious because I didn't recall ever hearing anything about prison rape from the local prison. This could be because it was unheard of, or because it was so commonplace that it wasn't remarkable. I thought I'd find out.
Have you ever cold-called someone and asked them about prison rape? That poor woman is probably still creeped out. You see, I called the local hospital and asked if they ever got inmates delivered there for uh, reconstructive surgery after such an event (I had heard that they had). The woman at the emergency room stood up well under the coyly phrased questions and noted that they didn't see much if any of that or other prison-related injury. She also noted that the prison had its own health facilities. She was amazingly game, but she clearly wanted off the phone, and it was an emergency room after all. Remind me to work on my interviewing.
Next stop - call some people I knew from town about the topic, whether for scuttlebutt or direct news. Nobody recalled ever hearing anything about such events, in a town with plenty of prison guards who hang out in local bars. Hmm, interesting.
Next - call a person who I know very well, who had worked in nursing at the prison, who no longer works there, and who has no reason to shade the truth. How often was prison rape seen? She didn't recall any that required the attention of her staff, over a three year period. She noted that prison sex was against the rules, so there was an incentive to cry rape. And over her tenure, they had only seen two instances of medical conditions that implied inmate-inmate sex of any kind.
OTOH inmates were ingenious at getting it on with visitors. Wearing big coats provided cover for someone else within. They could gather around picnic tables as a screen while taking turns screwing beneath. I've heard that woman prisoners have managed to get pregnant while serving time, and not by the guards either, but I can't find a link as this is written.
Caveats about the above: obviously it's anecdotal. The prison in question is maximum security, so inmates are more constrained in their movements than they are at other facilities. And different states do things differently. But we have to start somewhere, and you're getting every bit of what you pay for.
Here is what Human Rights Watch has to say. The short answer is that they don't know, and attempts to answer are all over the map. Extrapolations are treacherous because practices vary from state to state.
And HRW is biased, as evidence by this: "Unsurprisingly, when corrections officials are asked about the prevalence of rape in their prisons, they claim it is a exceptional occurrence rather than a systemic problem." Why is this unsurprising? Obviously they presume that corrections officials would lie about this. Certainly they might, but then so might the prisoners and advocates who provide the more spectacular numbers.
My personal conclusion is that activists are magnifying a problem, as usual. Prisoners and lawyers are always looking for grounds for lawsuits. And I don't hear the activists proposing sanctions against the prisoners who are doing this - it's always the prison that needs to change.
After Spoons' post noted below, I got morbidly curious because I didn't recall ever hearing anything about prison rape from the local prison. This could be because it was unheard of, or because it was so commonplace that it wasn't remarkable. I thought I'd find out.
Have you ever cold-called someone and asked them about prison rape? That poor woman is probably still creeped out. You see, I called the local hospital and asked if they ever got inmates delivered there for uh, reconstructive surgery after such an event (I had heard that they had). The woman at the emergency room stood up well under the coyly phrased questions and noted that they didn't see much if any of that or other prison-related injury. She also noted that the prison had its own health facilities. She was amazingly game, but she clearly wanted off the phone, and it was an emergency room after all. Remind me to work on my interviewing.
Next stop - call some people I knew from town about the topic, whether for scuttlebutt or direct news. Nobody recalled ever hearing anything about such events, in a town with plenty of prison guards who hang out in local bars. Hmm, interesting.
Next - call a person who I know very well, who had worked in nursing at the prison, who no longer works there, and who has no reason to shade the truth. How often was prison rape seen? She didn't recall any that required the attention of her staff, over a three year period. She noted that prison sex was against the rules, so there was an incentive to cry rape. And over her tenure, they had only seen two instances of medical conditions that implied inmate-inmate sex of any kind.
OTOH inmates were ingenious at getting it on with visitors. Wearing big coats provided cover for someone else within. They could gather around picnic tables as a screen while taking turns screwing beneath. I've heard that woman prisoners have managed to get pregnant while serving time, and not by the guards either, but I can't find a link as this is written.
Caveats about the above: obviously it's anecdotal. The prison in question is maximum security, so inmates are more constrained in their movements than they are at other facilities. And different states do things differently. But we have to start somewhere, and you're getting every bit of what you pay for.
Here is what Human Rights Watch has to say. The short answer is that they don't know, and attempts to answer are all over the map. Extrapolations are treacherous because practices vary from state to state.
And HRW is biased, as evidence by this: "Unsurprisingly, when corrections officials are asked about the prevalence of rape in their prisons, they claim it is a exceptional occurrence rather than a systemic problem." Why is this unsurprising? Obviously they presume that corrections officials would lie about this. Certainly they might, but then so might the prisoners and advocates who provide the more spectacular numbers.
My personal conclusion is that activists are magnifying a problem, as usual. Prisoners and lawyers are always looking for grounds for lawsuits. And I don't hear the activists proposing sanctions against the prisoners who are doing this - it's always the prison that needs to change.
Not bad for a Steeler fan
Let's get rid of some federal bureaucrats - John Cole can discern unemployment levels all by himself.
Wednesday, July 31, 2002
Dittos
To help Hillary answer the question of where the corporate corruption came from truthfully, I submit the following minimum competency test:It goes on for 14 more.
1. Who was in the White House when Enron and Citigroup, with the help of former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, were concealing billions in bad debt from investors, the public and the government?
2. Who was in the White House when Adelphia and Global Crossing were making insiders like DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe rich, and concealed the bad debt from investors, the public and the government?
3. Who was in the White House when the stock market began to tank, reducing all those 401-K accounts?
He just won't go away
If Bill Clinton won't go away, then he still deserves a good cussing. And this should continue until his last defender curls up and dies of shame. The only question is where to start.
Now suppose you're in the White House surrounded at every turn. Your finances are subjected to downright proctological examination. You're living high at govt expense, so you really don't need to spend any of your own money anyway. You're known as an enthusiastic drug user who would screw a snake in a sandstorm, and you're married to a woman who couldn't get laid on Death Row with a pardon in each hand. You can and will reduce White House security and background checking as needed to let in anyone you want. Under these circumstances, what would be the best things for influence peddlers to offer you?
Sex and drugs of course. There's no audit trail except possibly in your medical records, and you don't have to release those. It doesn't take long to use the drugs, so you're not likely to be caught in the act, and who's going to give you a drug test? You can always claim that the sex was other than commercial, and you're not pro-choice for nothing. And with a quick BJ you don't even have to hang up the phone. "Sorry Yassir, the Jews lined me up with this chubby chick, but you can have this cigar".
It's not as if using sex and drugs for bribery is unprecedented. And don't forget extortion too, whether in cash or espionage. Good grief, the guy had the entire federal investigation apparatus at his command, and he wasn't squeamish about using it - if he just couldn't contain himself, couldn't he have shown a bit of discretion and at least screen them a little?
Now suppose you're in the White House surrounded at every turn. Your finances are subjected to downright proctological examination. You're living high at govt expense, so you really don't need to spend any of your own money anyway. You're known as an enthusiastic drug user who would screw a snake in a sandstorm, and you're married to a woman who couldn't get laid on Death Row with a pardon in each hand. You can and will reduce White House security and background checking as needed to let in anyone you want. Under these circumstances, what would be the best things for influence peddlers to offer you?
Sex and drugs of course. There's no audit trail except possibly in your medical records, and you don't have to release those. It doesn't take long to use the drugs, so you're not likely to be caught in the act, and who's going to give you a drug test? You can always claim that the sex was other than commercial, and you're not pro-choice for nothing. And with a quick BJ you don't even have to hang up the phone. "Sorry Yassir, the Jews lined me up with this chubby chick, but you can have this cigar".
It's not as if using sex and drugs for bribery is unprecedented. And don't forget extortion too, whether in cash or espionage. Good grief, the guy had the entire federal investigation apparatus at his command, and he wasn't squeamish about using it - if he just couldn't contain himself, couldn't he have shown a bit of discretion and at least screen them a little?
Tuesday, July 30, 2002
He must have had a bad day.
First read this. Then read this. Are we talking about the same article?
I'm not in favor of rape, in prison or elsewhere. But PJ's article didn't even mention sex, much less rape.
And my bet is that anybody raped in a prison is guilty of worse than writing a column somebody doesn't like.
Raise consciousness about prison rape if you want. But this is far over the top. What now, is he going to wish anal rape on me too?
I'm not in favor of rape, in prison or elsewhere. But PJ's article didn't even mention sex, much less rape.
And my bet is that anybody raped in a prison is guilty of worse than writing a column somebody doesn't like.
Raise consciousness about prison rape if you want. But this is far over the top. What now, is he going to wish anal rape on me too?
The Ames test, toxicity and you
Derek Lowe is always terrific, but now he has a couple of posts on the Ames test too.
As DL puts it, the Ames test is used "as a measure of carcinogenicity and other Bad Things". He goes on to discuss details and the interpretation of the results, and the unnatural distinction some would have us make between "natural" and "unnatural" compounds.
As DL puts it, the Ames test is used "as a measure of carcinogenicity and other Bad Things". He goes on to discuss details and the interpretation of the results, and the unnatural distinction some would have us make between "natural" and "unnatural" compounds.
Monday, July 29, 2002
Something else you need
How about a Shoulder Saddle? It's just the thing for carrying little kids on your shoulders. This page shows the Shoulder Saddle and a bunch of other goofy inventions.
I could have used one once. Back in high school some relatives were small and I would give them and their friends rides on my shoulders. Unfortunately one of the kids had ringworm on the inside of her thigh, and it rubbed on my neck. Someone asked me how I got ringworm on my neck and I innocently told them. I have some warped friends.
I could have used one once. Back in high school some relatives were small and I would give them and their friends rides on my shoulders. Unfortunately one of the kids had ringworm on the inside of her thigh, and it rubbed on my neck. Someone asked me how I got ringworm on my neck and I innocently told them. I have some warped friends.
Horsepower, or is there work after death?
There's no point in beating a dead horse, but that doesn't mean you can't get any more work out of him.
In animated cartoons, the way to make a horse run faster was always to give him a whiff of some glue. I learned that as a little kid, but I didn't know what it meant. And if I didn't know right now, that would be alright too, because it's not the most pleasant topic. Yes, I'm talking about rendering plants, where dead animals and other waste get recycled into glue, gelatin, food supplements, pet food, bone meal, cosmetics and others.
This tells more about them and their processes than you might care to know, including the possible connection with mad-cow disease.
So why do I bring this up? Actually I was looking for waste-to-energy information, and I figured that rendering plants might be good candidates for this. They use a fair amount of energy to cook their ingredients, and their byproducts would include fats that could be turned into biofuels. These can be used to drive a diesel generator, which can provide power to run pumps, conveyors and lighting loads.
But we're not through yet. The engine heat can be used to preheat the water used for processing, and the exhaust heat might be usable too if only for a turbocharger. Using the energy in this way is called cogeneration, and by using it your energy input will give you more output horsepower.
If you want to do it you'll have to pony up some money though - this increases capital costs significantly. The heating and electrical power output of the diesels might not match the requirements of the rest of your process, and you might need special auxiliaries either for startup or for backup. Personnel will need more training, maintenance people will have to learn new tricks and the viability of the whole works depends strongly on the cost of alternatives like electric power and diesel fuel.
But you don't know until you analyze it. Given that a successful implementation could lower costs substantially, it might be that anyone using a cogen system in this application considers it a trade secret and won't talk about it.
In animated cartoons, the way to make a horse run faster was always to give him a whiff of some glue. I learned that as a little kid, but I didn't know what it meant. And if I didn't know right now, that would be alright too, because it's not the most pleasant topic. Yes, I'm talking about rendering plants, where dead animals and other waste get recycled into glue, gelatin, food supplements, pet food, bone meal, cosmetics and others.
This tells more about them and their processes than you might care to know, including the possible connection with mad-cow disease.
So why do I bring this up? Actually I was looking for waste-to-energy information, and I figured that rendering plants might be good candidates for this. They use a fair amount of energy to cook their ingredients, and their byproducts would include fats that could be turned into biofuels. These can be used to drive a diesel generator, which can provide power to run pumps, conveyors and lighting loads.
But we're not through yet. The engine heat can be used to preheat the water used for processing, and the exhaust heat might be usable too if only for a turbocharger. Using the energy in this way is called cogeneration, and by using it your energy input will give you more output horsepower.
If you want to do it you'll have to pony up some money though - this increases capital costs significantly. The heating and electrical power output of the diesels might not match the requirements of the rest of your process, and you might need special auxiliaries either for startup or for backup. Personnel will need more training, maintenance people will have to learn new tricks and the viability of the whole works depends strongly on the cost of alternatives like electric power and diesel fuel.
But you don't know until you analyze it. Given that a successful implementation could lower costs substantially, it might be that anyone using a cogen system in this application considers it a trade secret and won't talk about it.
Sunday, July 28, 2002
The Anna Nicole Smith Show!
They promise no educational value, but you probably already suspected that. Unless, as the teasers showed us, you've never seen a small dog humping a teddy bear.
What, you haven't heard of Anna Nicole Smith?
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