Saturday, July 26, 2003
Paper ballots
Back when PCs first came out I had to get one. Then I had to figure out a way to make the PC do about anything I had been doing manually, and lamented that I couldn't put one in my pocket. Of course this meant that in addition to desktop PCs I had to have a portable computer (an old Kaypro running CP/M), a laptop (I'm on my 3rd one), and a PDA (my 3rd, and a 4th one could come soon). This has led to some absurd situations and I finally concluded that in fact computers weren't always the best tools for a job.
I'm thinking that that little epiphany has yet to occur to the people behind electronic voting. Good grief, if there's ever been a target for hacking or corruption, that's the one. A few scare stories, combined with public ignorance, would destroy confidence in the system almost immediately.
Glenn Reynolds has a few things to say about the good old fashioned paper ballots here. To that I would add that paper ballots would make it much more difficult to hack an election from overseas. We have enough dishonest voting as it is - I'm willing to suffer the inconvenience of going to a polling place in the US to minimize the possibility of guys like Jacques Chirac or Kim Jong Il influencing our elections on a large scale.
I'm thinking that that little epiphany has yet to occur to the people behind electronic voting. Good grief, if there's ever been a target for hacking or corruption, that's the one. A few scare stories, combined with public ignorance, would destroy confidence in the system almost immediately.
Glenn Reynolds has a few things to say about the good old fashioned paper ballots here. To that I would add that paper ballots would make it much more difficult to hack an election from overseas. We have enough dishonest voting as it is - I'm willing to suffer the inconvenience of going to a polling place in the US to minimize the possibility of guys like Jacques Chirac or Kim Jong Il influencing our elections on a large scale.
Friday, July 25, 2003
Can I write for the Taste Page too?
Here in WSJ Online (the taste page, no less) we hear that cow-pie bingo has invaded Atlantic City. The operator assures us "it can't be fixed".
Hmm. I'm thinking that as soon as it was on a square I liked, I'd set off some firecrackers or make a car backfire.
The latter seemed to work well with pigeons. A guy I knew some years ago assured me that during his 60's cruising days he and his buddies would regularly pass underneath a viaduct full of roosting pigeons. They'd wait until a convertible full of people they didn't like was behind them, then make their car backfire just as they cleared the viaduct. Yecch.
I wonder if this works with the Congress Avenue bats in Austin? You haven't heard of them? These people say watching them take off at sundown is one of the top 10 things to do in Austin.
This post seems to have deviated into the general area of animal defecation. Considering that I hope not to find my way back to this neighborhood for a while, I'll have to work in another anecdote. A relative had built a house on a long-vacant lot and found out that generations of dogs had been trained to relieve themselves there. In volume. He found this frustrating. One time he was outside with a beer bottle in his hand when a dog assumed the position not too far in front of him, as if to taunt him. He wound up and pitched that bottle so it glanced off the top of the dog's head.
Yeah, yeah, that's mean, what if someone did that to you, blah blah... Anyway, what made it funny was the dog's reaction. It attempted to run away without straightening up first, achieving a posture associated with Russian dancers. I guess you just had to be there.
Hmm. I'm thinking that as soon as it was on a square I liked, I'd set off some firecrackers or make a car backfire.
The latter seemed to work well with pigeons. A guy I knew some years ago assured me that during his 60's cruising days he and his buddies would regularly pass underneath a viaduct full of roosting pigeons. They'd wait until a convertible full of people they didn't like was behind them, then make their car backfire just as they cleared the viaduct. Yecch.
I wonder if this works with the Congress Avenue bats in Austin? You haven't heard of them? These people say watching them take off at sundown is one of the top 10 things to do in Austin.
This post seems to have deviated into the general area of animal defecation. Considering that I hope not to find my way back to this neighborhood for a while, I'll have to work in another anecdote. A relative had built a house on a long-vacant lot and found out that generations of dogs had been trained to relieve themselves there. In volume. He found this frustrating. One time he was outside with a beer bottle in his hand when a dog assumed the position not too far in front of him, as if to taunt him. He wound up and pitched that bottle so it glanced off the top of the dog's head.
Yeah, yeah, that's mean, what if someone did that to you, blah blah... Anyway, what made it funny was the dog's reaction. It attempted to run away without straightening up first, achieving a posture associated with Russian dancers. I guess you just had to be there.
The NWA style manual
It has come to my attention that some of y'all are screwing up in your basic English usage.
That's right, it's y'all. Oh, I still say 'you guys' once in a while, or even 'youse guys' if I'm in the right mood. It comes from living in a lot of different places, and they all say things in a lot of different ways.
Look at this page if you want to see how usage of various expressions varies geographically in the US. Here's an example:
They left off some good ones though. I thought surely "y'all" would be on there, but I missed it if it was. They were probably too PC to include ethnicity, and too chicken to include anatomical features (some of my favorites are for "perineum").
Stolen from Eric Mulkowsky (must be a Polack or a bohunk) of Max Power.
That's right, it's y'all. Oh, I still say 'you guys' once in a while, or even 'youse guys' if I'm in the right mood. It comes from living in a lot of different places, and they all say things in a lot of different ways.
Look at this page if you want to see how usage of various expressions varies geographically in the US. Here's an example:
64. What do you call the long sandwich that contains cold cuts, lettuce, and so on?I guess they've never been to Florida, or else somebody would have said a Cuban sandwich. And I'm surprised Dagwood isn't on there somewhere. Anyway, I suppose it's a half-decent way to get an idea where someone comes from.
a. sub (77.15%)
b. grinder (2.87%)
c. hoagie (6.98%)
d. hero (5.18%)
e. poor boy (1.77%)
f. bomber (0.01%)
g. Italian sandwich (0.46%)
h. baguette (0.25%)
i. sarney (0.03%)
j. I have no word for this (0.91%)
k. other (4.41%)
(10708 respondents)
They left off some good ones though. I thought surely "y'all" would be on there, but I missed it if it was. They were probably too PC to include ethnicity, and too chicken to include anatomical features (some of my favorites are for "perineum").
Stolen from Eric Mulkowsky (must be a Polack or a bohunk) of Max Power.
Thursday, July 24, 2003
"Death penalty"?
Yesterday Drudge pointed to a column entitled "BBC must not be a casualty of war". Fine. Once the idiots who set its contrary editorial policy are shown the door I'm sure everything will be fine.
What is it that gives some people the idea that for some of these things a corporation should be given "the death penalty"? They seem unaware that corporations themselves cannot be harmed, and they have no brains or morals. You can only harm their employees, pensioners, business partners and stockholders, and all of those might well be victims themselves. In any case, they are fluid, and there's no guarantee that the people who are harmed by a bankruptcy or other reverse are the ones who did the wrong or profited from it.
Symbolism can be important of course. I'm thinking that even if the National Socialist German Worker's Party still existed in Germany, no number of subsequent good works would have rehabilitated them. Hopefully some day the same fate will befall socialism and communism. But somehow I'm thinking that MCI WorldCom falls into a different moral category.
Now we have this, where people are questioning whether MCI should have any more federal contracts after the recent corporate shenanigans. They note that Enron and Arthur Anderson were both debarred from govt contracts - why not MCI too?
Well, for one, MCI controls valuable hard assets. Andersen did not, and I think Enron was organized such that hard assets were isolated from the divisions that did the mischief.
For another, it's easy to see if MCI is performing - did the call/data go through? Enron and Andersen OTOH depended on the trust and good will of their clients to stay in business - absent those, there was no reason to do business with them. (In particular, Andersen's business was credibility. The name had a long proud history, and a few years ago when their IT consulting business became a separate firm it tried to keep the Andersen name. Lucky for them they weren't willing to pay what the accountants wanted for use of the name. Goodbye Andersen Consulting, hello Accenture).
IMO the real reason why some are howling against MCI is that the Communications Workers of America want to unionize them. And like any other group dominated by the left, unions fight dirty - remember this? That's funny - I don't recall anyone suggesting that we put the United Food and Commercial Workers out of business even when they did things to endanger customer health so they could blame it on Food Lion.
What is it that gives some people the idea that for some of these things a corporation should be given "the death penalty"? They seem unaware that corporations themselves cannot be harmed, and they have no brains or morals. You can only harm their employees, pensioners, business partners and stockholders, and all of those might well be victims themselves. In any case, they are fluid, and there's no guarantee that the people who are harmed by a bankruptcy or other reverse are the ones who did the wrong or profited from it.
Symbolism can be important of course. I'm thinking that even if the National Socialist German Worker's Party still existed in Germany, no number of subsequent good works would have rehabilitated them. Hopefully some day the same fate will befall socialism and communism. But somehow I'm thinking that MCI WorldCom falls into a different moral category.
Now we have this, where people are questioning whether MCI should have any more federal contracts after the recent corporate shenanigans. They note that Enron and Arthur Anderson were both debarred from govt contracts - why not MCI too?
Well, for one, MCI controls valuable hard assets. Andersen did not, and I think Enron was organized such that hard assets were isolated from the divisions that did the mischief.
For another, it's easy to see if MCI is performing - did the call/data go through? Enron and Andersen OTOH depended on the trust and good will of their clients to stay in business - absent those, there was no reason to do business with them. (In particular, Andersen's business was credibility. The name had a long proud history, and a few years ago when their IT consulting business became a separate firm it tried to keep the Andersen name. Lucky for them they weren't willing to pay what the accountants wanted for use of the name. Goodbye Andersen Consulting, hello Accenture).
IMO the real reason why some are howling against MCI is that the Communications Workers of America want to unionize them. And like any other group dominated by the left, unions fight dirty - remember this? That's funny - I don't recall anyone suggesting that we put the United Food and Commercial Workers out of business even when they did things to endanger customer health so they could blame it on Food Lion.
Smart bandages
How about a bandage that not only covers the wound but tells you the germs on it? Right here on Technology Review.
The smart bandage is a thin sensor made of crystalline silicon and layers of porous silicon. The porous silicon is treated with a liquid that contains probe molecules engineered to bind to fat molecules found on the surface of specific bacteria. When the bandage is placed over an infected area, bacteria from the wound move into the porous silicon and attach themselves to the probe molecules, altering the optical properties of the silicon. Doctors illuminate the bandage with light from a handheld semiconductor laser device, and the bandage luminesces in a color that indicates the kind of bacteria that are present—red for E. coli, for example, or yellow for strep. With the immediate diagnosis of the culprit germs, doctors won’t have to wait for the results of laboratory cultures.
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Yum
Anybody for a tongue transplant?
Maybe they'll become more common what with the health complications of tongue-piercing and the even weirder tongue-splitting phenomenon. Go ahead, click this and see pictures.
Maybe they'll become more common what with the health complications of tongue-piercing and the even weirder tongue-splitting phenomenon. Go ahead, click this and see pictures.
Monday, July 21, 2003
So you don't like John Derbyshire?
Hey, Derb's alright, I don't care what Andrew Sullivan says. He posted an interesting article on NRO today suggesting that American troops will be provoked into situations like Bloody Sunday.
But if you don't like him, you might enjoy seeing clips of him getting his butt kicked by Bruce Lee in Return of the Dragon. Honest - look right here.
Stolen from Charles Murtaugh, who no doubt must be embarrassed that my blog isn't linked on his sidebar.
But if you don't like him, you might enjoy seeing clips of him getting his butt kicked by Bruce Lee in Return of the Dragon. Honest - look right here.
Stolen from Charles Murtaugh, who no doubt must be embarrassed that my blog isn't linked on his sidebar.
Who's bright?
I won't deny that I can be an arrogant SOB at times. But I'm not proud of it. So I couldn't be one of the self-proclaimed "Brights" (I'm best described as what one commenter elsewhere called a "militant agnostic" - I don't know and you don't either).
Lately they've emerged, with the intellectually masturbatory name they granted themselves, claiming to be all but the saviors of society and for all their trouble being oppressed.
Such silliness is to be expected when you look at some of the other stuff they believe. But most troubling is the way many of them fail to understand their own faith - science.
I've written of such things numerous times before (1 2 3 4). The fact is that for all the good we have been able to do with science, we really don't know that much about ourselves, our ecosystem, our solar system, our universe, our history..... And what we do know is based on stretching a little data a long way. The proper reaction from those who love science thus is modesty, not vanity.
Yet we've had Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins, two of the most insufferable people of our time, telling us implicitly that anyone who believes in anything supernatural is not "bright".
Based on what? That sliver of information we can derive via observation and logic.
If we had a million years' worth of observations and had fully analyzed them all, that would still only account for about 0.02% of the postulated life of the earth, and even less than that of the universe. And that has all been within that tiny chunk of the universe to which we have any sort of access. And that is via whatever limited means of detection we have - our senses and their extensions like microscopes, radio telescopes et al - to think that we can observe everything that is happening in the universe is an incredible leap of faith.
And logic itself is sorely limited - it appears otherwise only because there is so much work to be done in understanding our universe. Most fundamental of its limitations is that it has to start from some unquestioned postulates. To "prove" them is to use circular reasoning. To propose the wrong ones is to invalidate all that follows from them. Thus proposing them is a huge act of faith that goes unacknowledged by the "Brights" and their sympathizers. They claim "brightness" because they have arbitrarily ruled out some of these possible postulates.
Yet we have "brights" who can't know if they're seeing everything of relevance speaking with remarkable certainty of of "big bangs" requiring conditions never observed anywhere. We have "brights" who mock that which they cannot observe who are nonetheless willing to entertain theories that invoke unobservable "dark matter". We have "brights" who profess to understand science who take umbrage when a scientific theory (which is all science ever offers - there is no scientific "truth") like macroevolution is spoken of as being "just a theory". (That the person saying so is often clueless does not change this fact, and once science claims to produce "truth" it is no longer science.) A New Testament verse describes this perfectly: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" (KJV Romans 1:22)
Yet I'm willing to humor them, besotted by hubris as they may be. Maybe, as someone else has suggested, they'll feel better if they have their own symbol to identify themselves with. I humbly propose this: *
Why? To them it will suggest the sun, the brightest object in our sky.
And to the rest of us it suggests a perfect characterization for them.
AFTERTHOUGHT: Which of the angels was the brightest?
Lately they've emerged, with the intellectually masturbatory name they granted themselves, claiming to be all but the saviors of society and for all their trouble being oppressed.
Such silliness is to be expected when you look at some of the other stuff they believe. But most troubling is the way many of them fail to understand their own faith - science.
I've written of such things numerous times before (1 2 3 4). The fact is that for all the good we have been able to do with science, we really don't know that much about ourselves, our ecosystem, our solar system, our universe, our history..... And what we do know is based on stretching a little data a long way. The proper reaction from those who love science thus is modesty, not vanity.
Yet we've had Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins, two of the most insufferable people of our time, telling us implicitly that anyone who believes in anything supernatural is not "bright".
Based on what? That sliver of information we can derive via observation and logic.
If we had a million years' worth of observations and had fully analyzed them all, that would still only account for about 0.02% of the postulated life of the earth, and even less than that of the universe. And that has all been within that tiny chunk of the universe to which we have any sort of access. And that is via whatever limited means of detection we have - our senses and their extensions like microscopes, radio telescopes et al - to think that we can observe everything that is happening in the universe is an incredible leap of faith.
And logic itself is sorely limited - it appears otherwise only because there is so much work to be done in understanding our universe. Most fundamental of its limitations is that it has to start from some unquestioned postulates. To "prove" them is to use circular reasoning. To propose the wrong ones is to invalidate all that follows from them. Thus proposing them is a huge act of faith that goes unacknowledged by the "Brights" and their sympathizers. They claim "brightness" because they have arbitrarily ruled out some of these possible postulates.
Yet we have "brights" who can't know if they're seeing everything of relevance speaking with remarkable certainty of of "big bangs" requiring conditions never observed anywhere. We have "brights" who mock that which they cannot observe who are nonetheless willing to entertain theories that invoke unobservable "dark matter". We have "brights" who profess to understand science who take umbrage when a scientific theory (which is all science ever offers - there is no scientific "truth") like macroevolution is spoken of as being "just a theory". (That the person saying so is often clueless does not change this fact, and once science claims to produce "truth" it is no longer science.) A New Testament verse describes this perfectly: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools" (KJV Romans 1:22)
Yet I'm willing to humor them, besotted by hubris as they may be. Maybe, as someone else has suggested, they'll feel better if they have their own symbol to identify themselves with. I humbly propose this: *
Why? To them it will suggest the sun, the brightest object in our sky.
And to the rest of us it suggests a perfect characterization for them.
AFTERTHOUGHT: Which of the angels was the brightest?
What did they expect?
Puerto Ricans protested against Navy exercises at Vieques. The Navy shut them down. What could be wrong with that?
Now the Navy has decided that the nearby Roosevelt Roads facility is no longer needed and will be shut down. So now the Puerto Ricans are bitching about that.
Via Right Wing News.
Now the Navy has decided that the nearby Roosevelt Roads facility is no longer needed and will be shut down. So now the Puerto Ricans are bitching about that.
Via Right Wing News.
Ladies: your dream man awaits
He's young, well off, and he's available because he just broke up with his last girl. Here's how he did it.
You want his picture too - look here.
You want his picture too - look here.
Has Saddam heard about this?
If Saddam Hussein is still alive, I hope he's getting updates from the NY Times. Even now, some of his henchmen may be under torture, screaming "they're wrong - we did try to get the uranium in Africa!"
And I wonder if there have been any mysterious deaths or disappearances in France lately?
And I wonder if there have been any mysterious deaths or disappearances in France lately?
Sunday, July 20, 2003
Tonsils - what good are they?
Remind me to keep the bathroom door locked
Not that I have anything to fear of course. Anyway, I'll bet this never happened to James Lileks.
Stolen from Daniel Drezner.
Stolen from Daniel Drezner.
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Gay "marriage" potpourri
Is there a right to be married? It's nowhere in the Constitution - not even within the emanation of a penumbra. Last I knew state govts could restrict it for various ways for straights. So it would appear to my non-legal mind that no such right exists even for straights. So what is up with this civil rights crapola we keep hearing from Andrew Sullivan?
Oh, but the govt has an interest in pairing us off; for once we have gays telling us promiscuity is a Bad Thing. Well, what about the other nonmarrieds, who by choice or otherwise remain single? Why should they pay any more so Gerald FitzPatrick and Patrick FitzGerald can share each others' health benefits? Should the feds buy match.com and set up the rest of us?
Hey, aren't most gays in the US white males? Is this some backdoor way to take something away from women and racial minorities?
And aren't there more gays than lesbians? Aha, another way for white males to extract benefits at others' expense.
Are handicapped people married at the same rates as everyone else? If not, doesn't this favorable treatment of marriage further handicap them?
And don't singles die younger even while they spend time covering for the marrieds who come in late after taking Johnny to school, or leave early to take Muffy to soccer practice, or stay home with sick kids, or just disappear from work for months at a time at their discretion to have kids? Maybe that shorter life expectancy is the excuse for taxing them at a higher rate, eh? Why make the remaining singles carry more?
And seriously now - when so many straights are getting divorced every year, what would possess gays and lesbians to want to get in on the act? And that's not enough - they want to adopt too, so they can have child support and visitation grief too.
Why must we pervert the traditional concept of marriage just to accomodate the whims of that fraction of the 2% of our population that is gay and is interested in marriage? With the brigades of lawyers and lobbyists involved in this, they could have drafted one hell of a code covering "civil unions" that could be adopted by statute by every state interested in doing so. Why not take that approach instead of doing what amounts to spitting in the eye of marriage traditionalists?
I'll tell you why. I'm sure there are some gays out there who are sincerely interested in their conception of a marriage. But IMO the gay marriage movement at its core is really about delegitimizing and ultimately destroying marriage.
Oh, but the govt has an interest in pairing us off; for once we have gays telling us promiscuity is a Bad Thing. Well, what about the other nonmarrieds, who by choice or otherwise remain single? Why should they pay any more so Gerald FitzPatrick and Patrick FitzGerald can share each others' health benefits? Should the feds buy match.com and set up the rest of us?
Hey, aren't most gays in the US white males? Is this some backdoor way to take something away from women and racial minorities?
And aren't there more gays than lesbians? Aha, another way for white males to extract benefits at others' expense.
Are handicapped people married at the same rates as everyone else? If not, doesn't this favorable treatment of marriage further handicap them?
And don't singles die younger even while they spend time covering for the marrieds who come in late after taking Johnny to school, or leave early to take Muffy to soccer practice, or stay home with sick kids, or just disappear from work for months at a time at their discretion to have kids? Maybe that shorter life expectancy is the excuse for taxing them at a higher rate, eh? Why make the remaining singles carry more?
And seriously now - when so many straights are getting divorced every year, what would possess gays and lesbians to want to get in on the act? And that's not enough - they want to adopt too, so they can have child support and visitation grief too.
Why must we pervert the traditional concept of marriage just to accomodate the whims of that fraction of the 2% of our population that is gay and is interested in marriage? With the brigades of lawyers and lobbyists involved in this, they could have drafted one hell of a code covering "civil unions" that could be adopted by statute by every state interested in doing so. Why not take that approach instead of doing what amounts to spitting in the eye of marriage traditionalists?
I'll tell you why. I'm sure there are some gays out there who are sincerely interested in their conception of a marriage. But IMO the gay marriage movement at its core is really about delegitimizing and ultimately destroying marriage.
XY + XX = HELL
Man, I was looking forward to some feedback from Acidman test-driving his new equipment. But I guess it's not ready to go yet, and in the meantime he's lamenting a woman that did him wrong.
Women! You can't put a bounty on them, but maybe this would cheer him up. (no pictures though - if you want something prurient you'll just have to go to see Susanna)
Women! You can't put a bounty on them, but maybe this would cheer him up. (no pictures though - if you want something prurient you'll just have to go to see Susanna)
Monday, July 14, 2003
Sunday, July 13, 2003
Ghoulish pleasure
Indianapolis is deeply involved with publishing and distributing books, so it's easy to find cheap ones on about any topic imaginable. And since I'm interested in most of that, I wind up with books about a little of everything. I'm sure a shrink would have some fun noting recently acquired books on crying and two different books about cadavers.
You'll have to wait for the crying one and I'm only partway through the first cadaver book. Actually the name is "Corpse: Nature, Forensics, and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death". Most of the volume of this small book is about the entomological and other research that has gone into providing estimates of the time of death. It's far less exact than some would have you believe, and in one whopper a leader of the discipline erred by about a century. There are no pictures, and for all the talk of odors there's not even a scratch-and-sniff.
One has to admire the dedication it must have taken to carry out this research. For instance, corpses are covered with maggots very soon after death, and it is very important to know one kind of maggot from another. You might think maggots are fairly featureless, and that's mostly true, but entomologists are up to the task of identifying the species. How? By examining what conceptually at least is one of the most disgusting things around - the maggots' anuses. And their anal spiracles, through which they breath - that's pretty disgusting too, but then think of what's happening on the other end. Anyway, different species have different designs of anal spiracles, and these change during their various larval phases (instars). Sorry, no pictures of this either.
Gosh, I can hardly wait for the rest of the book. But first I'm gonna go to the refrigerator and eat some of the dead flesh therein. Bon appetit.
You'll have to wait for the crying one and I'm only partway through the first cadaver book. Actually the name is "Corpse: Nature, Forensics, and the Struggle to Pinpoint Time of Death". Most of the volume of this small book is about the entomological and other research that has gone into providing estimates of the time of death. It's far less exact than some would have you believe, and in one whopper a leader of the discipline erred by about a century. There are no pictures, and for all the talk of odors there's not even a scratch-and-sniff.
One has to admire the dedication it must have taken to carry out this research. For instance, corpses are covered with maggots very soon after death, and it is very important to know one kind of maggot from another. You might think maggots are fairly featureless, and that's mostly true, but entomologists are up to the task of identifying the species. How? By examining what conceptually at least is one of the most disgusting things around - the maggots' anuses. And their anal spiracles, through which they breath - that's pretty disgusting too, but then think of what's happening on the other end. Anyway, different species have different designs of anal spiracles, and these change during their various larval phases (instars). Sorry, no pictures of this either.
Gosh, I can hardly wait for the rest of the book. But first I'm gonna go to the refrigerator and eat some of the dead flesh therein. Bon appetit.
Can't we lock them *all* up?
There's no one to like in this case, courtesy of Therapy Sessions. Who's worse - the people who simply must have sex in public, or the guy who's been busted for videotaping them?
I suppose there are populations out there who have no choice but to copulate in public. I lived in a YMCA for a spell while in E-school and knew that the streetwalkers who couldn't be troubled with the hotsheet joint next door occasionally tore off a piece on the fire escapes. These typically weren't people anyone but anthropologist would want to videotape though.
A bit farther up the social scale, I've known people who couldn't wait to get home and had to get it on at work. Others couldn't go home because they were more likely to get caught there than at work. And many just thought the possibility of getting caught was incredibly erotic, but weren't quite ready for full-blown exhibitionism.
I'm suspecting that it was one of the latter group that was caught on videotape in the public park. Who would have guessed that they expected privacy?
This outdoor sex thing is overrated IMO. I didn't like it much even when I was a teenager. There's something about being interrupted by a spotlight from a sheriff's deputy's car that's just too counterlibidinous - I speak from experience.
Don't get me wrong - the videotape guy is about 99% likely to be a creep too. I leave him an out for perhaps some faulty reasoning - 1) human beings don't screw in parks, 2) I can videotape anything else, ergo 3) I can videotape this.
BTW, what ever happened to Ugly George?
I suppose there are populations out there who have no choice but to copulate in public. I lived in a YMCA for a spell while in E-school and knew that the streetwalkers who couldn't be troubled with the hotsheet joint next door occasionally tore off a piece on the fire escapes. These typically weren't people anyone but anthropologist would want to videotape though.
A bit farther up the social scale, I've known people who couldn't wait to get home and had to get it on at work. Others couldn't go home because they were more likely to get caught there than at work. And many just thought the possibility of getting caught was incredibly erotic, but weren't quite ready for full-blown exhibitionism.
I'm suspecting that it was one of the latter group that was caught on videotape in the public park. Who would have guessed that they expected privacy?
This outdoor sex thing is overrated IMO. I didn't like it much even when I was a teenager. There's something about being interrupted by a spotlight from a sheriff's deputy's car that's just too counterlibidinous - I speak from experience.
Don't get me wrong - the videotape guy is about 99% likely to be a creep too. I leave him an out for perhaps some faulty reasoning - 1) human beings don't screw in parks, 2) I can videotape anything else, ergo 3) I can videotape this.
BTW, what ever happened to Ugly George?
Friday, July 11, 2003
Self restraint vs. censorship
Meryl Yourish pointed us to an item from LT Smash, about how someone is tasked with blacking out a reference to pork on Heinz 57 Sauce bottles where he's stationed. Can't you just hear Satan gnashing his teeth?
Well, it's easy to be snarky about this. But I'm not from that culture - as far as I know this is offensive to the average member of their culture. So I see it as an interesting cultural observation, but nothing more.
Besides, our cultural preferences are already built into the products sold here. For instance, Crisco can be used for a number of things that don't appear on the label. Do you suppose the omission of these uses is an oversight by the manufacturer? Or do they perhaps choose not to be associated with certain activities?
In our own culture it can be difficult to gauge what the public will find acceptable, and sometimes distributors overdo it. The funny pages can give us some examples as mentioned here. Starting around the late 60's or so, Beetle Bailey had a regular character named Miss Buxley, a young very attractive secretary who managed to show up in bikinis regularly. Cartoonist Mort Walker would draw navels on Miss Buxley and his distributor scratched them out. He eventually rebelled by drawing a strip that showed a box of strategically oriented navel oranges. Shortly thereafter Miss Buxley got her navel.
Animated cartoons have had their moments too. My favorite was when 3 1/2 seconds were cut from a cartoon in which Mighty Mouse was accused of using cocaine.
The earlier link about the Miss Buxley thing mentioned a recurring character in Dilbert called Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light. But in the beginning Phil was actually Satan, which turned out to be too much for the distributor.
Devil references even affect fishing lures. The inventor of the Dardevle wasn't willing to spell out "devil" when he named his most famous product, and so it has been named for the better part of a century.
You can attribute the above to superstition, cultural tone-deafness or whatever. But at least some people are still attempting to restrain their own speech. Perhaps they recognize that there always will be restraints on free speech, and we ward off censors only by showing that we don't need them.
Well, it's easy to be snarky about this. But I'm not from that culture - as far as I know this is offensive to the average member of their culture. So I see it as an interesting cultural observation, but nothing more.
Besides, our cultural preferences are already built into the products sold here. For instance, Crisco can be used for a number of things that don't appear on the label. Do you suppose the omission of these uses is an oversight by the manufacturer? Or do they perhaps choose not to be associated with certain activities?
In our own culture it can be difficult to gauge what the public will find acceptable, and sometimes distributors overdo it. The funny pages can give us some examples as mentioned here. Starting around the late 60's or so, Beetle Bailey had a regular character named Miss Buxley, a young very attractive secretary who managed to show up in bikinis regularly. Cartoonist Mort Walker would draw navels on Miss Buxley and his distributor scratched them out. He eventually rebelled by drawing a strip that showed a box of strategically oriented navel oranges. Shortly thereafter Miss Buxley got her navel.
Animated cartoons have had their moments too. My favorite was when 3 1/2 seconds were cut from a cartoon in which Mighty Mouse was accused of using cocaine.
The earlier link about the Miss Buxley thing mentioned a recurring character in Dilbert called Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light. But in the beginning Phil was actually Satan, which turned out to be too much for the distributor.
Devil references even affect fishing lures. The inventor of the Dardevle wasn't willing to spell out "devil" when he named his most famous product, and so it has been named for the better part of a century.
You can attribute the above to superstition, cultural tone-deafness or whatever. But at least some people are still attempting to restrain their own speech. Perhaps they recognize that there always will be restraints on free speech, and we ward off censors only by showing that we don't need them.
Diana from Gotham is back
...at the third site that I know of since I first linked her ages ago. Then you can find out what you get when you cross a Jew and a Hindu.
Thursday, July 10, 2003
Did you bring bottles?
I've been jacking around with a post for a few days now. There's no telling how long it will be a-birthin', so in the meantime I'll post some interesting links related to it.
I stumbled across this site about the history of grocery stores. I won't attempt to do it justice - just check it out for a lot of history of the stores across the US.
Are you one of those people who doesn't like WalMart? You might like this from PBS, and get a touch of schadenfreude from deadmalls.com.
Here is some history of department stores.
This has a bit of retail history.
I stumbled across this site about the history of grocery stores. I won't attempt to do it justice - just check it out for a lot of history of the stores across the US.
Are you one of those people who doesn't like WalMart? You might like this from PBS, and get a touch of schadenfreude from deadmalls.com.
Here is some history of department stores.
This has a bit of retail history.
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
Goodbye to Last Page and Media Minded
A couple of days ago I wandered over to Last Page, who was one of my first links here. Say what - she's quitting!? Life can never be the same.
And now it's Media Minded, a very highly respected blog worth a visit if only for his nice long collection of quotes about the media on the sidebar.
Good luck to both of you!
And now it's Media Minded, a very highly respected blog worth a visit if only for his nice long collection of quotes about the media on the sidebar.
Good luck to both of you!
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
Who's lying?
Once I heard a puzzle that went like this - a missionary was in an area where he knew there were two tribes. One tribe always told the truth and the other always lied. The two tribes knew this of each other and were otherwise indistinguishable.
The missionary is traveling to Oogabooga when reaches a fork in the road and doesn't know which way to go. He sees a native coming by and wants to ask him which road to take to OogaBooga - it's fair to expect the natives to know the right answer. What question can he ask of the native to make sure he can know the right way to go?
While you're thinking about that, I'll note a recent study that suggests that perhaps women lie about sex more than men do:
Pollsters grapple with bias in questions all the time. I recall one poll I heard of on the radio once that noted how much difference some phrasing made. In broad outline, when a question was phrased as "would you deny X welfare payments", people were more likely to vote against, but if it was phrased as "would you not give X welfare payments" people were less likely to oppose. I guess the distinction was essentially "I wouldn't deny them as long as I don't have to chip in myself". Anyway, I'm sure somebody like Jane Galt has better examples of polling perversities.
So have you figured out what question to ask the native? Here it comes: "if I asked someone from the other tribe which of these two roads went to OogaBooga, what way would he tell me to go?" Then take the other road. Proof is left as an exercise....
The missionary is traveling to Oogabooga when reaches a fork in the road and doesn't know which way to go. He sees a native coming by and wants to ask him which road to take to OogaBooga - it's fair to expect the natives to know the right answer. What question can he ask of the native to make sure he can know the right way to go?
While you're thinking about that, I'll note a recent study that suggests that perhaps women lie about sex more than men do:
"Women are sensitive to social expectations for their sexual behaviour and may be less than totally honest when asked about their behaviour in some survey conditions," said Fisher. "Women appear to feel pressure to adhere to sex role expectations that indicate women should be more relationship-oriented and should avoid being seen as promiscuous."Maybe the trick is to ask them not what they do themselves, but what their friends do.
"Before the study, we thought men would generally over-report their sexual behaviour and women would under-report it under certain testing conditions. However, we found that women were more likely than men to have different answers depending on conditions when they were surveyed."
Pollsters grapple with bias in questions all the time. I recall one poll I heard of on the radio once that noted how much difference some phrasing made. In broad outline, when a question was phrased as "would you deny X welfare payments", people were more likely to vote against, but if it was phrased as "would you not give X welfare payments" people were less likely to oppose. I guess the distinction was essentially "I wouldn't deny them as long as I don't have to chip in myself". Anyway, I'm sure somebody like Jane Galt has better examples of polling perversities.
So have you figured out what question to ask the native? Here it comes: "if I asked someone from the other tribe which of these two roads went to OogaBooga, what way would he tell me to go?" Then take the other road. Proof is left as an exercise....
Fly by night health care
Judicious Asininity tells us it's cheaper and faster to send English heart patients to India than to work on them in the UK.
Via Venomous Kate's Slutertarian.com
Via Venomous Kate's Slutertarian.com
Sunday, July 06, 2003
And you can square dance too
Aw, that's a lame headline for this. So where's perpetual Caption Contest contestant and repeat winner Charles Austin when we need him?
Via AMCGLTD.
Via AMCGLTD.
Friday, July 04, 2003
I love the 80's...
...is a series by VH1. Imagine a video blog - it's full of short flashbacks to the time along with commentary by 30-something celebs about what it was like back then. Was it really so long ago?
And they're not through. They're producing a new series called "I love the 70's" and I'm sure I'll watch it too.
And they're not through. They're producing a new series called "I love the 70's" and I'm sure I'll watch it too.
Thursday, July 03, 2003
Legally gay?
Who knows who is gay and who isn't? And does it matter?
Yes, it matters. It seems that the Supreme Court and others think it's worse to pick on gays than it is to do the same to non-gays, in the name of "equal protection under the law".
Unfortunately they didn't tell us how to determine if someone is gay. This problem doesn't exist to the same degree with other groups SCOTUS has seen fit to protect. You can't necessarily tell if someone is black or a woman or handicapped 100% of the time either, but at least there are credentials like a birth certificate or driver's license. (Handicaps are ripe for scams this way too, as noted here, but that is not the issue du jour).
So what would happen if a landlord or other would-be discriminator asked the potential victim if they were gay or not? I've seen some ungodly questionnaires for tenant applicants and I don't recall ever seeing such a request. Would this be unlawful?
But if the landlord can't be shown to have known if the victim was gay or otherwise, how can they be shown to have discriminated? Surely this takes intent.
No, I'm not a lawyer, and it shows. But IMO if the law is going to take homosexuality into account for special protections, then people should be permanently identified as being gay or straight to prevent abuse of the system.
Yes, it matters. It seems that the Supreme Court and others think it's worse to pick on gays than it is to do the same to non-gays, in the name of "equal protection under the law".
Unfortunately they didn't tell us how to determine if someone is gay. This problem doesn't exist to the same degree with other groups SCOTUS has seen fit to protect. You can't necessarily tell if someone is black or a woman or handicapped 100% of the time either, but at least there are credentials like a birth certificate or driver's license. (Handicaps are ripe for scams this way too, as noted here, but that is not the issue du jour).
So what would happen if a landlord or other would-be discriminator asked the potential victim if they were gay or not? I've seen some ungodly questionnaires for tenant applicants and I don't recall ever seeing such a request. Would this be unlawful?
But if the landlord can't be shown to have known if the victim was gay or otherwise, how can they be shown to have discriminated? Surely this takes intent.
No, I'm not a lawyer, and it shows. But IMO if the law is going to take homosexuality into account for special protections, then people should be permanently identified as being gay or straight to prevent abuse of the system.
Thursday, June 26, 2003
I'm a huge National Review Online fan and donor. Unfortunately they goof once in a while, and they did it in spades about nuclear power a couple of days ago.
The authors (a libertarian and a Naderophile) complain about the govt's involvement with nuclear power and alleged subsidies via waste processing and others. Giving them credit for fundamental integrity, I must assume that they didn't do much research into the history of the industry.
What is a subsidy? We can play word games, but in essence I would say the kind that ticks people off is when an industry petitions for special treatment and gets it. IMO that is not the case with the nuclear power industry. OTOH, the government wanted "atoms for peace", and to get the most done for its tax dollars, they offered inducements to reluctant electric utilities to get them to put up their capital to build nuclear power plants. I wrote about some of the relevant issues in much more detail about a year ago here and here. IMO it makes a big difference if the subsidy was extracted by political clout, or if it was initiated by the govt to carry out policy.
Some parts of the post were particularly asinine:
What did they leave out? For starters, the regulatory environment became grossly unstable, and existing plants suddenly had to be refitted with new safety measures. Obviously such things affected their financial viability, or would have had such costs been anticipated in advance. But Mr. Nayak apparently doesn't consider the concept of "sunk costs" - given a choice between paying the additional capital costs to be permitted to operate, and suffering a double whammy of losing a major power source and having to write off a major asset, it was clear that the old plants had to be refitted and kept in operation.
And note the extreme hyperbole. The Three Mile Island disaster? Compare the death toll from TMI to that of babies and small adults being killed by airbags in their cars (and while you're at it, note which one Nader supports and which one he opposes). If TMI was a disaster, then what happened at the World Trade Center?
Not that I'm conceding anything about economic sense. Nuclear power opponents make such claims by vastly inflating the costs of the allegedly intractable waste problem and the govt's insistence on maintaining custody of the fuel. The former is a strong function of threshold limits that we can set over a wide range, and it appears that traditional models of the biological impact of radiation have overstated the effects.
But don't blame the utilities for those costs. Their main mistake was trusting the govt to maintain a stable regulatory environment and keep their other promises.
As for the siting issues, power plants are very expensive capital investments with long lead times. It's not so strange to think that a utility would want to know up front it would be permitted to operate its billion-dollar range investments once it had built them according to the rules. Imagine if you had to buy your housing first before you could know whether you or anyone else could occupy it legally or not.
Here is something else I wrote about the topic last summer.
And again, most of the vast increases in capital costs occurred only because of the regulatory uncertainty and other unique conditions (inexperienced utilities and contractors building their first plant, for instance). And there's no reason why that regulatory uncertainty won't ever strike alternatives such as coal-fired plants (Kyoto, anyone?). The result is that no one is building much power capacity at all lately, and the day will come when we pay dearly for this.
And we have groups fearing nuclear proliferation. Fine, let's beat some swords into plowshares - burn up the bomb material in nuclear reactors once and for all. Ultimately the only way to overcome existing problems with nuclear technology is more nuclear technology, and that's why the govt needs to spend the money on R&D for nuclear technology.
I have left out a lot of detail above that may be found in the several links provided. I'll conclude by noting that the version of nuclear power technology currently in operation at US commercial nuclear power plants can stand plenty of improvement, and the govt's way of creating the industry might be questionable. But the technology can be and has been improved in many ways since then. And the real issue is not "subsidies", but whether or not industries of any type dare to trust the govt again.
The authors (a libertarian and a Naderophile) complain about the govt's involvement with nuclear power and alleged subsidies via waste processing and others. Giving them credit for fundamental integrity, I must assume that they didn't do much research into the history of the industry.
What is a subsidy? We can play word games, but in essence I would say the kind that ticks people off is when an industry petitions for special treatment and gets it. IMO that is not the case with the nuclear power industry. OTOH, the government wanted "atoms for peace", and to get the most done for its tax dollars, they offered inducements to reluctant electric utilities to get them to put up their capital to build nuclear power plants. I wrote about some of the relevant issues in much more detail about a year ago here and here. IMO it makes a big difference if the subsidy was extracted by political clout, or if it was initiated by the govt to carry out policy.
Some parts of the post were particularly asinine:
The federal government has always maintained a unique public-private partnership with the nuclear industry, wherein the costs of nuclear power are shared by the public, but the profits are enjoyed privately.The government has always insisted on receiving radwaste to control nuclear proliferation, and it already has huge radwaste processing obligations stemming from medical, industrial and defense uses of nuclear material. It might be more accurate to say that the nuclear utilities did the govt a favor by providing the capital to build nuclear power plants, allowing the govt to achieve strategic objectives without having to raise the money itself. And there's nothing wrong with getting a return on the investment - to suggest otherwise is childish.
Despite extensive and continuous government assistance — including more than $66 billion in research and development alone — no nuclear-power plant has been ordered and built in the U.S. since 1973. After building more than 100 plants between 1954-1973, orders have been cancelled over the last 30 years, and capacity in the industry has stagnated since 1989.To read that, you'd think all of this happened organically without intervention of years of propaganda and legal skulduggery by what can only be called professional liars such as Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, and the various Nader organizations. Incidentally, one of the authors, Mr. Nayak, is from a Nader organization (US Public Interest Research Group). And considering some of what was left out of their presentation, Mr. Nayak is following the Nader playbook.
The decline of nuclear power is a result of several factors: The Three Mile Island disaster heightened public-safety fears and citizen opposition to the siting of plants in their neighborhoods grew.
What did they leave out? For starters, the regulatory environment became grossly unstable, and existing plants suddenly had to be refitted with new safety measures. Obviously such things affected their financial viability, or would have had such costs been anticipated in advance. But Mr. Nayak apparently doesn't consider the concept of "sunk costs" - given a choice between paying the additional capital costs to be permitted to operate, and suffering a double whammy of losing a major power source and having to write off a major asset, it was clear that the old plants had to be refitted and kept in operation.
And note the extreme hyperbole. The Three Mile Island disaster? Compare the death toll from TMI to that of babies and small adults being killed by airbags in their cars (and while you're at it, note which one Nader supports and which one he opposes). If TMI was a disaster, then what happened at the World Trade Center?
But investors ultimately rejected nuclear power because it simply does not make economic sense. In truth, nuclear power has never made economic sense, and exists purely as a creature of government.I'm glad to hear that economic sense is a criterion for govt programs. Maybe next these gentlemen will look at the abominations known as Social Security, Medicare and other govt liabilities. And recipients of these programs should shudder to see how these gentlemen are proposing to renege on promises made to nuclear power operators without which the plants would never have been built in the first place. And they can wonder if they aren't next.
Not that I'm conceding anything about economic sense. Nuclear power opponents make such claims by vastly inflating the costs of the allegedly intractable waste problem and the govt's insistence on maintaining custody of the fuel. The former is a strong function of threshold limits that we can set over a wide range, and it appears that traditional models of the biological impact of radiation have overstated the effects.
But don't blame the utilities for those costs. Their main mistake was trusting the govt to maintain a stable regulatory environment and keep their other promises.
In fact, a recent report by Scully Capital Services, an investment-banking and financial-services firm, commissioned by the Department of Energy (DOE), highlighted three federal subsidies and regulations — termed "show stoppers" — without which the industry would grind to a halt. These "show stoppers" include the Price Anderson Act, which limits the liability of the nuclear industry in case of a serious nuclear accident — leaving taxpayers on the hook for potentially hundreds of billions in compensation costs; federal disposal of nuclear waste in a permanent repository, which will save the industry billions at taxpayer expense; and licensing regulations, wherein the report recommends that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission further grease the skids of its quasi-judicial-licensing process to preclude successful interventions from opponents.I discuss the Price-Anderson Act and waste issues in the links above - the short answer is that private utilities would not have built nuclear power plants without these conditions, so you have no one but the govt to blame for the problem. As for the permanent repository, the govt was to have delivered on that some time back and hasn't, but somehow it keeps collecting the money set aside by nuclear utilities to pay for their disposal.
As for the siting issues, power plants are very expensive capital investments with long lead times. It's not so strange to think that a utility would want to know up front it would be permitted to operate its billion-dollar range investments once it had built them according to the rules. Imagine if you had to buy your housing first before you could know whether you or anyone else could occupy it legally or not.
But even these long-standing subsidies are not enough to convince investors, who for decades have treated nuclear power as the pariah of the energy industry. Nuclear-generated electricity remains about twice as expensive as coal- or gas-fired electricity.How do they know that? - no plants have been built recently in the US. Cost figures for the most recently constructed plants were inflated by factors that have nothing to do with nuclear power technology per se, and that's assuming that the technology stays stagnant. But in fact there are promising new technologies which would have entirely new cost structures.
Here is something else I wrote about the topic last summer.
Although the marginal costs of nuclear are lower, the capital costs are much higher.Once you've built the place, the marginal costs *are* the costs. Thus we see operators running their nukes at capacity as much as possible and filling in the additional demand with other sources.
And again, most of the vast increases in capital costs occurred only because of the regulatory uncertainty and other unique conditions (inexperienced utilities and contractors building their first plant, for instance). And there's no reason why that regulatory uncertainty won't ever strike alternatives such as coal-fired plants (Kyoto, anyone?). The result is that no one is building much power capacity at all lately, and the day will come when we pay dearly for this.
And we have groups fearing nuclear proliferation. Fine, let's beat some swords into plowshares - burn up the bomb material in nuclear reactors once and for all. Ultimately the only way to overcome existing problems with nuclear technology is more nuclear technology, and that's why the govt needs to spend the money on R&D for nuclear technology.
I have left out a lot of detail above that may be found in the several links provided. I'll conclude by noting that the version of nuclear power technology currently in operation at US commercial nuclear power plants can stand plenty of improvement, and the govt's way of creating the industry might be questionable. But the technology can be and has been improved in many ways since then. And the real issue is not "subsidies", but whether or not industries of any type dare to trust the govt again.
Unintended consequences
Quick, let's free-associate. I'll throw out a concept and you say the first thing that pops in your head. Are you ready? OK, here it comes....
Strip joints.
Did you say "protected speech"? Well of course you did. If you're a liberal, or have never been to a strip joint, anyway. Of course free speech as we know it would cease to exist without women dropping their drawers and displaying the latest triumphs in depilatory science and mammoplasty, or straddling and humping about any stranger who waves a $20 at her.
Today's NRO included this from Eugene Volokh. He notes that nowadays even private clubs have to regulate private behavior lest they be held responsible for verbal sexual harassment or other crimes against political correctness.
Strip joints.
Did you say "protected speech"? Well of course you did. If you're a liberal, or have never been to a strip joint, anyway. Of course free speech as we know it would cease to exist without women dropping their drawers and displaying the latest triumphs in depilatory science and mammoplasty, or straddling and humping about any stranger who waves a $20 at her.
Today's NRO included this from Eugene Volokh. He notes that nowadays even private clubs have to regulate private behavior lest they be held responsible for verbal sexual harassment or other crimes against political correctness.
The goal of workplace harassment law is to prevent offensive speech, by pressuring employers to adopt workplace speech codes. "Public accommodations harassment law," which is being built by analogy to workplace harassment law, extends such legally coerced speech codes to private clubs and other places (such as restaurants, bars, and the like). All those places would now have to control their members' and patrons' speech.Interesting. Does this mean that if a customer enters a strip joint and decides it's offensive, he can sue them for damages?
And nothing in harassment law is limited to slurs (the speech here included more than just personal epithets), or to campaigns to exclude members from a club. Workplace harassment is defined to cover a broad range of offensive speech: any speech (by the employer, coworkers, or even patrons) that is "severe or pervasive" enough to create a "hostile, abusive, or offensive environment" for a "reasonable person" and for the plaintiff based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and so on. Allegedly bigoted political statements can qualify. So can allegedly offensive humor. So can offensive art.
Now the same will presumably apply to clubs, too. A club's display of a painting containing nudity could now lead to hostile environment liability, just like display of sexually themed art in workplaces can lead to such liability. Likewise when club members say racially, sexually, or religiously themed jokes within earshot of other members who might be offended, or express allegedly bigoted political views. A South Dakota government publication already tells people that "racist or sexist statements displayed in a public accommodation which affect a person's ability to use and enjoy those accommodations" are illegal. Likewise, three years ago, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination found that an allegedly racist display in a bar was illegal, and fined the bar owner. To avoid spending tens of thousands of dollars in damages (plus attorney fees), clubs will have to err on the side of caution — just as employers now have to — and suppress any potentially offensive speech by club members.
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Ted Barlow used to be better than this
Ted Barlow is one of the few lefties permalinked here. I don't agree with him often for sure, but generally I can respect his positions. But...
Hey Ted, tell me exactly where anybody called French soldiers cowards in this link. To anyone without an axe to grind it's clear that Glenn Reynolds was referring to the French government when he wrote "they will run". No, you didn't write it, but you cited it without adverse comment in a critical context.
As for Galloway, check out recent news and see if you can still allow for any possibility that his objection to the war in Iraq was principled. Reynolds explicitly said that Galloway was "defending Saddam's interests" according to your quote. That goes well beyond simply opposing the war, and IMO anyone who is in the pay of foreign powers certainly is "unfit to hold office in a civilized country".
I know I don't always agree with Glenn Reynolds. But you can do better than this.
Hey Ted, tell me exactly where anybody called French soldiers cowards in this link. To anyone without an axe to grind it's clear that Glenn Reynolds was referring to the French government when he wrote "they will run". No, you didn't write it, but you cited it without adverse comment in a critical context.
As for Galloway, check out recent news and see if you can still allow for any possibility that his objection to the war in Iraq was principled. Reynolds explicitly said that Galloway was "defending Saddam's interests" according to your quote. That goes well beyond simply opposing the war, and IMO anyone who is in the pay of foreign powers certainly is "unfit to hold office in a civilized country".
I know I don't always agree with Glenn Reynolds. But you can do better than this.
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
More like a black hole
In case you weren't convinced that Richard Dawkins is a first-class horse's ass, here's another clue.
Monday, June 23, 2003
Scrappleface strikes again
I could probably link to all of them, but for today I'll stop at two: Gephardt Issues Order Making Self President and Clarence Thomas Gets 'Super Vote' On Supreme Court.
Shakedown?
Here comes a study claiming that talking on a cellphone in a car is no less dangerous if you use a hands-free device.
Suppose they're right. When will we be seeing a study about talking to other people who are in the car? Some drivers simply have to look at you when they talk, even if you're in the back seat. And what of kids? - carseat or no, you couldn't ask for much more of a distraction. Never mind all of the other stupid stunts people pull with makeup, changing clothes, fiddling with a car stereo or countless others. Why pick on cell phones in particular?
I smell a shakedown - some politicians have decided that the cellphone manufacturers haven't given them enough money lately.
Suppose they're right. When will we be seeing a study about talking to other people who are in the car? Some drivers simply have to look at you when they talk, even if you're in the back seat. And what of kids? - carseat or no, you couldn't ask for much more of a distraction. Never mind all of the other stupid stunts people pull with makeup, changing clothes, fiddling with a car stereo or countless others. Why pick on cell phones in particular?
I smell a shakedown - some politicians have decided that the cellphone manufacturers haven't given them enough money lately.
Saturday, June 21, 2003
Too good to be true
So you saw the story about the company named PowerGen that opened an Italian subsidiary and give it the website powergenitalia.com? It's a hoax.
No gratitude
Women! You let them wear shoes, you let them vote, and next thing it's this (the link doesn't position right - page up for the "Between a Man and a Woman" post).
Medical marijuana
Over at Andrew & Sasha's place Andrew Ian Dodge is holding forth on medical marijuana.
I lean toward drug legalization because currently the cure is worse than the disease in terms of civil liberties and law enforcement priorities, and IMO self-destructive people will always find a way to do themselves in. And I understand that there are known medical benefits to the use of pot (just as there are for cocaine, PCP, heroin and others).
And I'm willing to concede that drug companies would not like competition from pot. Certainly.
I'm certain that some pot legalization proponents are disingenuous in pushing for medical pot. They want it legal, period, and this is simply their angle. That they might be on the side of the angels doesn't mean they aren't opportunistic, ultimately dishonest creeps.
What might disabuse me of this idea would be if they would show how strains of pot could be grown and blended in a quality controlled way that would work consistently such that it could be prescribed quantitively. Surely sick people shouldn't use more than is necessary - it's an unnecessary expense unless there is an ulterior motive. And they ought to be able to trust that their product will deliver as needed - surely no one wants to take advantage of sick people, whether they're glaucoma sufferers, terminal cancer patients or anything in between. And sick people ordinarily aren't medical professionals, so who are they to adjust their dosages if needed because of inconsistent quality? Would doctors dare to prescribe a drug without being sure that the dose they prescribed could be delivered when the product was used as directed?
And it *is* smoking, after all. It's not the same as tobacco for sure, but then you don't hold a toke of tobacco in your lungs as long either. The issue is that it's an uncontrolled release, i.e. that great bogeyman "second-hand smoke". If my neighbor is on Prozac, hormones, Ex-Lax, etc, I can trust that I won't get a dose of it myself just by walking down the hall - what about pot? Where are the anti-smoking goons, or the folks who drove peanuts off airplanes?
Yes, all of those would be heavy regulatory and QA burdens. And it so happens that there are business sectors uniquely qualified to carry out such burdens - the drug companies, and tobacco companies. The devil in me makes me ask "would you mind if, say, RJ Reynolds and Monsanto got together and started producing pharmaceutical-grade joints from medicinal marijuana?"
You can bet that most if not all of the medical marijuana folks will scream in horror at that. And that is what exposes them not as defenders of the weak, but mere dishonest, besuited dopers.
I lean toward drug legalization because currently the cure is worse than the disease in terms of civil liberties and law enforcement priorities, and IMO self-destructive people will always find a way to do themselves in. And I understand that there are known medical benefits to the use of pot (just as there are for cocaine, PCP, heroin and others).
And I'm willing to concede that drug companies would not like competition from pot. Certainly.
I'm certain that some pot legalization proponents are disingenuous in pushing for medical pot. They want it legal, period, and this is simply their angle. That they might be on the side of the angels doesn't mean they aren't opportunistic, ultimately dishonest creeps.
What might disabuse me of this idea would be if they would show how strains of pot could be grown and blended in a quality controlled way that would work consistently such that it could be prescribed quantitively. Surely sick people shouldn't use more than is necessary - it's an unnecessary expense unless there is an ulterior motive. And they ought to be able to trust that their product will deliver as needed - surely no one wants to take advantage of sick people, whether they're glaucoma sufferers, terminal cancer patients or anything in between. And sick people ordinarily aren't medical professionals, so who are they to adjust their dosages if needed because of inconsistent quality? Would doctors dare to prescribe a drug without being sure that the dose they prescribed could be delivered when the product was used as directed?
And it *is* smoking, after all. It's not the same as tobacco for sure, but then you don't hold a toke of tobacco in your lungs as long either. The issue is that it's an uncontrolled release, i.e. that great bogeyman "second-hand smoke". If my neighbor is on Prozac, hormones, Ex-Lax, etc, I can trust that I won't get a dose of it myself just by walking down the hall - what about pot? Where are the anti-smoking goons, or the folks who drove peanuts off airplanes?
Yes, all of those would be heavy regulatory and QA burdens. And it so happens that there are business sectors uniquely qualified to carry out such burdens - the drug companies, and tobacco companies. The devil in me makes me ask "would you mind if, say, RJ Reynolds and Monsanto got together and started producing pharmaceutical-grade joints from medicinal marijuana?"
You can bet that most if not all of the medical marijuana folks will scream in horror at that. And that is what exposes them not as defenders of the weak, but mere dishonest, besuited dopers.
So you think you have problems
A riddle: The first one is invaluable, but the second is a standard for lack of utility ('like I need another....'). What could that be?
Beth knows. Sorry honeychile, but you're gonna have to share the 'atresia ani' traffic with me now.
She also shares info on your local gonorrhea, your lingual frenulum, sex and the single rat, and she left us with a teaser about aphid incest.
Man, what do they teach at that school?
Beth knows. Sorry honeychile, but you're gonna have to share the 'atresia ani' traffic with me now.
She also shares info on your local gonorrhea, your lingual frenulum, sex and the single rat, and she left us with a teaser about aphid incest.
Man, what do they teach at that school?
Friday, June 20, 2003
Energy independence the Krauthammer way
I could have written this post, but somehow it wound up on VodkaPundit
Harry Potter and the Mad Analysts
I don't have a copy handy, but I recall the Author's Note: or whatever at the beginning of "Huckleberry Finn" containing something to the effect of "those trying to find a plot in it shall be shot". And as crotchety as Mark Twain got toward the end, he might well have done it.
I suppose Harry Potter can take care of himself, but he's being analyzed every which way:
Some people just can't help it though - they have to look for alternate messages, subliminal or otherwise. From them we've learned that Paul McCartney was dead, for instance. Or there were those who saw fit to synch Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album to the Wizard of Oz and found eerie synchronicity. We can't forget Charles Manson and the Beatles' "white album" (Helter Skelter is coming down fast...). And incidentally, to my knowledge it is *not* true that if you play Black Sabbath backwards or at 78 that you'll see God (which I think we owe to Cheech and Chong).
I guess they can have their fun. But I sure hope we're not spending any tax money on this.
I suppose Harry Potter can take care of himself, but he's being analyzed every which way:
Nimbus 2003, the first international academic symposium on Harry Potter, will take place next month in Orlando. Organizers say more than 500 people have registered so far.Alright, I like the Harry Potter books, and in a couple of days I'll be trampling innocent moppets left and right if I have to to get my own copy of the latest book. But even Freud could say that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
"For a lot of academics, it's looking at the greater themes in the books, and what she's saying about gender relations, labor and class issues in modern Britain," says Penny Linsenmayer, a Houston lawyer and Nimbus 2003 organizer.
About 70 writers and scholars will present talks on topics such as Jane Austen's influence on the Potter series and a comparative analysis of jurisprudence in the wizard world. Academic papers will come from as far away as Bombay, India.
Meanwhile, a volume on Potter and philosophy is due out soon from Open Court Publishing, the same outfit behind similar books on the Matrix movies, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Seinfeld.
Some people just can't help it though - they have to look for alternate messages, subliminal or otherwise. From them we've learned that Paul McCartney was dead, for instance. Or there were those who saw fit to synch Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album to the Wizard of Oz and found eerie synchronicity. We can't forget Charles Manson and the Beatles' "white album" (Helter Skelter is coming down fast...). And incidentally, to my knowledge it is *not* true that if you play Black Sabbath backwards or at 78 that you'll see God (which I think we owe to Cheech and Chong).
I guess they can have their fun. But I sure hope we're not spending any tax money on this.
Thursday, June 19, 2003
Profile your brain
Via Richard Gayle, we have this test to determine your Brain Usage Profile. For me it turned out to be Auditory : 35% Visual : 64% Left : 52% Right : 47%
I wind up taking one of these types of tests once in a while as part of "team-building exercise" or whatever. One gave a series of questions that wound up classifying the clients as "Lions", "Beavers", "Golden Retrievers" and some other critter (a badger?). The one woman in the group turned out to be a "Beaver". I turned out to be the only "Golden Retriever" out of about 20 of us, but I had almost identical scores for all of the classifications. What can I say, I'm just a balanced kind of guy.
There's lots more good stuff on that blog too. All of the Corante blogs are good.
I wind up taking one of these types of tests once in a while as part of "team-building exercise" or whatever. One gave a series of questions that wound up classifying the clients as "Lions", "Beavers", "Golden Retrievers" and some other critter (a badger?). The one woman in the group turned out to be a "Beaver". I turned out to be the only "Golden Retriever" out of about 20 of us, but I had almost identical scores for all of the classifications. What can I say, I'm just a balanced kind of guy.
There's lots more good stuff on that blog too. All of the Corante blogs are good.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Bloggers: the next generation
Are you a blogger? If so, Venomous Kate may be having erotic dreams about you. This, the state of her bowels and much more here as she deals with an severe case of maternity.
No wonder antismoker types have lost their minds...
According to the Scientific Partisan American, smoking can delay the onset of Alzheimer's. And not by killing you first, either.
Stolen from Medpundit, who has lots of other good stuff too.
Stolen from Medpundit, who has lots of other good stuff too.
Googlebombing Orrin Hatch
Ah, Sharon, what happened to you? I met her at a nuke plant where she worked in personnel. She had a very special job - she escorted us to that special trailer onsite where we were drug tested. Nearly everyone had a comment for her about her essential mission, but she took it well - her favorite job title proposal was "whiz kid".
I hope she has a better job now. But if she doesn't, they could use her in Washington. IMO only drug abuse could account for this idiocy from Orrin Hatch, who seems to think that it's OK to destroy your computer in the name of copyright enforcement.
Yeah, you've probably seen that link before - lots of people have posted about it, and that in itself is usually enough to keep me from blogging something. But IMO this one deserves a Googlebomb, so anybody looking up Orrin Hatch finds out about this first.
I hope she has a better job now. But if she doesn't, they could use her in Washington. IMO only drug abuse could account for this idiocy from Orrin Hatch, who seems to think that it's OK to destroy your computer in the name of copyright enforcement.
Yeah, you've probably seen that link before - lots of people have posted about it, and that in itself is usually enough to keep me from blogging something. But IMO this one deserves a Googlebomb, so anybody looking up Orrin Hatch finds out about this first.
What-iffing the universe
Arthur Silber talks about the influence of philosophy on science here. In particular, he quotes this:
The book is no longer available under the original title, but I understand that "Mr Tompkins in Paperback" contains the same material and another book too.
Prof. Hut is less sanguine about another cosmic puzzle: whether the universe has to be the way it is because the laws of nature can exist only in their current form, or if other physics are possible. Einstein called this the question of whether God had any choice in how he created the world.This reminds me of a book by physicist George Gamow called Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland. In it one Mr. Tompkins, a disgustingly ordinary man, wakes up to the world in which quantities like the speed of light or Planck's constant have been changed to grossly different values. He finds it disturbing - you might find it interesting.
Without another world to show us different laws of nature, "I think we can never know for sure if the universe had to be the way it is, or if other laws of physics would allow other kinds of universes," says Prof. Hut.
The book is no longer available under the original title, but I understand that "Mr Tompkins in Paperback" contains the same material and another book too.
Monday, June 16, 2003
Nyah nyah
Now I have broadband and Moira Breen (welcome to the corn desert!) does not.
It's a cable modem. I love it so far, but it's only the first day.
I started getting these obnoxious IM popups trying to sell me something to block such popups. Grrrrr!
Then I decided to check the firewall settings and found that the XP firewall wasn't even turned on. After all the fuss about potential for DDOS and other attacks via unprotected broadband, somehow I expected the cable guy to turn it on as a default configuration. Silly me.
It's a cable modem. I love it so far, but it's only the first day.
I started getting these obnoxious IM popups trying to sell me something to block such popups. Grrrrr!
Then I decided to check the firewall settings and found that the XP firewall wasn't even turned on. After all the fuss about potential for DDOS and other attacks via unprotected broadband, somehow I expected the cable guy to turn it on as a default configuration. Silly me.
A hummer they'll never forget
From Drudge, "Business Owner Chases, Runs Over Robbery Suspects In Hummer".
It's not clear, but it appears that the Hummer driver was an insurance agent.
There's also a poll that asks "Should a business owner who ran over a group of robbery suspects in his Hummer face charges?"
It's not clear, but it appears that the Hummer driver was an insurance agent.
There's also a poll that asks "Should a business owner who ran over a group of robbery suspects in his Hummer face charges?"
Saturday, June 14, 2003
Offshore petrochemical inventory
John Cole has the details here. It seems that the professional ecobabblers among us don't even want us to know what is available offshore.
Randy Newman was right...
Way back in 1977 Newman wrote a hit song called "Short People" which he included on an album called "Little Criminals".
Even in those comparatively innocent days such sentiments drew screams from the professionally offended. But he might have been on to something, as noted in "The Shallow End".
Even in those comparatively innocent days such sentiments drew screams from the professionally offended. But he might have been on to something, as noted in "The Shallow End".
Carnival of the Vanities is at Overtaken by Events...
So hustle thine virtual electronic behind over there to partake of the collective wisdom of around 60 bloggers' submissions, together with Matt's commentary. The guy managed to marry a babe like Vicki after all - he must be good.
Friday, June 13, 2003
Celluloid Wisdom is coming...
Right here. And with my own wisdom hard-earned through about a year and a half of blogging, I think we're gonna like it like an old friend.
Just a hunch...
Just a hunch...
Nipple scarf
The coolest fashion trends start in Japan, eh?
For more of the finest in such humor, check out Bob and Tom's photo pages, from which the above is so shamelessly hotlinked. You'll also see woman's best friend, the world's largest tongue, bears doing 68*, the truth about being a large animal veterinarian, and a few other web classics.
(*you do me and I'll owe you one)
Thursday, June 12, 2003
Blogging fundraiser idea
How about a live Webcam catfight between Moxie and Moxiepop? I'd pay a few bucks to see that. Moxie's smart but she's not very big, so I'll give the edge to MoxiePop.
It might not be Celebrity Deathmatch, but it's a start.
UPDATE: Jim Treacher has another suggestion.
It might not be Celebrity Deathmatch, but it's a start.
UPDATE: Jim Treacher has another suggestion.
BlogMatcher
Enter a blog in BlogMatcher and find the ones supposedly most like it:,
It needs some work yet. For instance, I found that the blog most like Jane Galt's is....are you ready for this?....Jane Galt.
Then I tried Susanna Cornett. What do you know, I'm #2 after her own blog. Now there's a woman who'll sleep well tonight.
What about this humble offering? Three of the top five are Glenn Reynolds. Then there are two I haven't read before - Simone Koo and Arma Virumque (a blog by The New Criterion). Rounding out the top 10 are Steve Green and Bill Quick, then Quidnunc, ChicagoBoyz's old home on Blogspot, and TV Henry. Hmm.
How about James Lileks? As of 5 minutes ago, it said "no matches found". That I can believe.
Have fun!
BlogMatcher is a program that helps people find weblogs that match their interests and find like-minded blogs. When given an URL to a weblog (called "Reference Blog") the system finds other blogs that appear to discuss similar topics.
It needs some work yet. For instance, I found that the blog most like Jane Galt's is....are you ready for this?....Jane Galt.
Then I tried Susanna Cornett. What do you know, I'm #2 after her own blog. Now there's a woman who'll sleep well tonight.
What about this humble offering? Three of the top five are Glenn Reynolds. Then there are two I haven't read before - Simone Koo and Arma Virumque (a blog by The New Criterion). Rounding out the top 10 are Steve Green and Bill Quick, then Quidnunc, ChicagoBoyz's old home on Blogspot, and TV Henry. Hmm.
How about James Lileks? As of 5 minutes ago, it said "no matches found". That I can believe.
Have fun!
What he said
Now, after the item below, let me back James Lileks 100% here.
Most people will behave differently when there are children around. Some topics don't arise, some words aren't used, some gestures aren't made, etc. Just put the little monsters to bed and then do what thou wilt.
Our streets and open airwaves are like an area where children are around. IMO it isn't asking much of advertisers to maintain some semblance of decorum in such public spaces.
Most people will behave differently when there are children around. Some topics don't arise, some words aren't used, some gestures aren't made, etc. Just put the little monsters to bed and then do what thou wilt.
Our streets and open airwaves are like an area where children are around. IMO it isn't asking much of advertisers to maintain some semblance of decorum in such public spaces.
Blogging Mad
I remember being a kid and seeing a Mad magazine for the first time. Adults who raised children or paid rent didn't approve (publicly, anyway). Obviously this was some time ago.
There weren't any dirty pictures and I could barely read, so I didn't understand the fuss. I did know that Alfred E. Neuman was without a doubt the ugliest so-and-so I had ever seen. But about the time I got my paper route I was old enough and had the cash to pick one up once in a while, so I corrupted my mind and became the blogger you're reading right now.
Actually, it got a bit worse. Then came National Lampoon, where I learned lines like "didja hear about the big party? It's in "....well, what follows is just too rude. There were ads for delightful posters (particularly "The Big A", a closeup of a woman's nude derriere which might have used a fisheye lens) and how to pick up women (who would have guessed that National Lampoon readers would need help with this?), the occasional gratuitous nude or topless babe, and depraved stories by Chris Miller, Doug Kenney, Brian McConnachie, and even PJ O'Rourke. Alumni of this crowd went on to make "Animal House", "Caddyshack" and others.
Maybe they weren't *too* corrupting. PJ lived in the belly of the beast yet lived to make his mama proud with "Parliament of Whores", All the Trouble in the World", "Eat the Rich" and many others worth plugging. So there might be hope for me yet.
Wanna regress? You can get copies of Mad, Sick, Cracked, National Lampoon and others right here.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
A liberal is...
...someone who has no problem with explicit sex scenes in movies kids watch, but has a problem if the movie shows the participants smoking afterwards.
Unfair? Of course - it wouldn't be any fun otherwise. But really now, hasn't this antismoking crusade gone far enough?
Unfair? Of course - it wouldn't be any fun otherwise. But really now, hasn't this antismoking crusade gone far enough?
Check out the LA Examiner
Matt Welch's and Ken Layne's baby lives here. What could be wrong with a publication that calls Rob Reiner "a fat piece of crap"?
Monday, June 09, 2003
We do it for you...
We men are poor misunderstood creatures. For instance, women may think we're slobs when in fact we're trying to protect their health.
Sunday, June 08, 2003
Still alive...
No new content yet, and probably not much more for another couple of weeks. And that will probably be off Blogspot - hurrah! I just want to pick up some more CSS, JavaScript and Perl first.
I did change the blogroll to reflect the new sites for James Rummel, Common Sense and Wonder, and ChicagoBoyz. That's ChicagoBoyz.net, not .com - trust me, there's a difference.
And I'm getting some reading done. Some titles: Nature via Nurture by Matt Ridley, Linked by Albert-Laszlo Baranasi, Prime Obsession by Andrew Sullivan favorite John Derbyshire, The Frozen-Water Trade by Gavin Weightman and a few others.
Nature via Nurture is weeks of blogfodder all by itself. If you like it you might check out his earlier book "Genome"
I did change the blogroll to reflect the new sites for James Rummel, Common Sense and Wonder, and ChicagoBoyz. That's ChicagoBoyz.net, not .com - trust me, there's a difference.
And I'm getting some reading done. Some titles: Nature via Nurture by Matt Ridley, Linked by Albert-Laszlo Baranasi, Prime Obsession by Andrew Sullivan favorite John Derbyshire, The Frozen-Water Trade by Gavin Weightman and a few others.
Nature via Nurture is weeks of blogfodder all by itself. If you like it you might check out his earlier book "Genome"
Thursday, June 05, 2003
Coulter and Thomas named as editors at New York Times
Citing concerns with the lack of diversity in the newsroom, Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger announced that Anne Coulter and Cal Thomas would replace Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd respectively. Sulzberger said "We noticed that despite living in a country that is half women and with large minorities of blondes, Christians and conservatives, none of those groups were represented in our senior management".
Yeah, that'll be the day. Meanwhile, I'd keep an eye on Scrappleface to see what he comes up with on the management turnover at the Times.
Yeah, that'll be the day. Meanwhile, I'd keep an eye on Scrappleface to see what he comes up with on the management turnover at the Times.
Sunday, May 18, 2003
Say what?
Fox News just reported on the murder bomber in Morocco. The newscaster said that Morocco may now be paying a price for friendship with the West.
What a crock. Morocco is paying a price for tolerating the existence of some murderous thugs. Arab countries might fear domination by the West, but surely that's no worse than being dominated by any creep who can get his hands on a bomb.
What a crock. Morocco is paying a price for tolerating the existence of some murderous thugs. Arab countries might fear domination by the West, but surely that's no worse than being dominated by any creep who can get his hands on a bomb.
Fun with bladders
Whatever would we do about bladders? You just asked yourself that very question a few minutes ago, right?
There are various bladders in the human body, but the one that most of us think of is probably the urinary bladder. Especially if you're a woman - that short pathway between it and the outside doesn't provide much protection, so you're more prone to have infections or irritations.
Even so, it can be tricky to catheterize you women - germs can find their way in but your nurse might not. I'm told that the secret is to ask the patient to cough.
How big is the average bladder? My buddy Zorba from college had one that was exactly 12 ounces - one can of beer, one trip to the john. Apparently he's not as odd as we all thought at the time - estimates vary, but allegedly the average bladder holds about 17-18 ounces. The "urge" shows up a lot sooner than that though.
Need to make sure you wake up on time? Drink about a pint of something before you go to bed. That seems to limit me to about 4 hours of sleep tops. I know - thank you for sharing.
Some people have "bashful bladders". Of course there's a five dollar word for this - "avoidant paruresis". It even has its own website.
I'm not sure where, but I thought I read this in the late Alex Haley's now-discredited book "Roots". It seems that for entertainment, the slaves would take bladders from slaughtered animals and heat them over a fire until they popped. May you never get so bored.
There are various bladders in the human body, but the one that most of us think of is probably the urinary bladder. Especially if you're a woman - that short pathway between it and the outside doesn't provide much protection, so you're more prone to have infections or irritations.
Even so, it can be tricky to catheterize you women - germs can find their way in but your nurse might not. I'm told that the secret is to ask the patient to cough.
How big is the average bladder? My buddy Zorba from college had one that was exactly 12 ounces - one can of beer, one trip to the john. Apparently he's not as odd as we all thought at the time - estimates vary, but allegedly the average bladder holds about 17-18 ounces. The "urge" shows up a lot sooner than that though.
Need to make sure you wake up on time? Drink about a pint of something before you go to bed. That seems to limit me to about 4 hours of sleep tops. I know - thank you for sharing.
Some people have "bashful bladders". Of course there's a five dollar word for this - "avoidant paruresis". It even has its own website.
I'm not sure where, but I thought I read this in the late Alex Haley's now-discredited book "Roots". It seems that for entertainment, the slaves would take bladders from slaughtered animals and heat them over a fire until they popped. May you never get so bored.
On the road again...
We keep hearing about how mobile Americans are, but even then I'm guessing I'm a couple of sigmas off center. I've had mailing addresses in 8 states that I recall, and often more than one in those. And now it starts again in Indy - the second week is about to start, and I'm not even in the same motel I was in for the first week.
Relocating is a PITA for sure, but it has its pluses. One of the best is that you're "reborn" - you meet a bunch of people with no preconceptions about you besides maybe an interview, background check and a resume. It's a great opportunity to break out of ruts, start new hobbies, and generally get your act together. It's not exactly like Groundhog Day, but you do get a chance to remake yourself to a certain extent. IMO it might be funny if people who had worked with me at different places got to compare notes - it would be like the blind men and the elephant (and almost none of them know that I have a blog...)
Driving gets old too. Yesterday I drove from Indianapolis to St. Louis. Tomorrow I'll drive to upstate IL, then from there back to Indy, totaling about 400 miles. And I'll be doing something similar for the next several weeks as I finish organizing and moving. But...I have some tapes and CDs I've been intending to listen to, including Pimsleur tapes for Spanish (that I keep wanting to answer in German). I can practice what I call singing far from innocent ears. If I think of something noteworthy I can whip out the voice recorder and deal with it later. If I have time I'll get off the interstate and check out the back roads just to see what's going on. Throw in a cellphone with headphones and life is just one big beer commercial.
But I'd better get moving so I'll have time to hunt for that laptop tomorrow. Then maybe I'll blog about something interesting.
Relocating is a PITA for sure, but it has its pluses. One of the best is that you're "reborn" - you meet a bunch of people with no preconceptions about you besides maybe an interview, background check and a resume. It's a great opportunity to break out of ruts, start new hobbies, and generally get your act together. It's not exactly like Groundhog Day, but you do get a chance to remake yourself to a certain extent. IMO it might be funny if people who had worked with me at different places got to compare notes - it would be like the blind men and the elephant (and almost none of them know that I have a blog...)
Driving gets old too. Yesterday I drove from Indianapolis to St. Louis. Tomorrow I'll drive to upstate IL, then from there back to Indy, totaling about 400 miles. And I'll be doing something similar for the next several weeks as I finish organizing and moving. But...I have some tapes and CDs I've been intending to listen to, including Pimsleur tapes for Spanish (that I keep wanting to answer in German). I can practice what I call singing far from innocent ears. If I think of something noteworthy I can whip out the voice recorder and deal with it later. If I have time I'll get off the interstate and check out the back roads just to see what's going on. Throw in a cellphone with headphones and life is just one big beer commercial.
But I'd better get moving so I'll have time to hunt for that laptop tomorrow. Then maybe I'll blog about something interesting.
Where are the Indy bloggers?
I've been to Indy twice before, but I didn't blog back then. So I don't know too much about what's going on there yet. But I have a few clues.
I'm not sure exactly where Gregory Harris of Planet Swank is in Indy, but I'm guessing the left side... Likewise for Jeff Cooper. Hmm - we never seemed to get any lefties like ArchPundit to show up at St. Louis Blogbashes - this ought to be interesting if we manage to get together...
Further out, I know Dodd and Brent about 100 miles away down I-65. Josh Claybourne and the Hoosier Review conspiracy are in somewhere in that nest of Commies/porn production playground called Bloomington. The Axis of Greeblie is downstate somewhere, and I thought Paul Musgrave was in Evansville.
So where is everybody, and when do we get together?
I'm not sure exactly where Gregory Harris of Planet Swank is in Indy, but I'm guessing the left side... Likewise for Jeff Cooper. Hmm - we never seemed to get any lefties like ArchPundit to show up at St. Louis Blogbashes - this ought to be interesting if we manage to get together...
Further out, I know Dodd and Brent about 100 miles away down I-65. Josh Claybourne and the Hoosier Review conspiracy are in somewhere in that nest of Commies/porn production playground called Bloomington. The Axis of Greeblie is downstate somewhere, and I thought Paul Musgrave was in Evansville.
So where is everybody, and when do we get together?
Greetings from Indianapolis
Yep, that's the new day gig. I've been incommunibloggo because I can't find that cheapo old laptop of mine and I don't blog from work. And what with moving and all, there's been plenty to do anyway. Best estimate is that I'll be here 3 months. It could be a lot longer just because I'm just such a helluva guy, but you never know what can happen when a company has a bad quarter.
Sunday, May 11, 2003
Zobmondo
It's the name of a book. If it means anything, it should mean "obnoxious alternatives". In it, you're supposed to answer questions like "would you rather be given a rectal exam by a dentist, or have a proctologist fill a cavity?"
Good grief, now Amazon is showing me another one like it here.
Should I continue, or would you rather read about something else?
Good grief, now Amazon is showing me another one like it here.
Should I continue, or would you rather read about something else?
Why blogs are better than women
Ya know, women can't fully appreciate sweethearts like me without considering what others have said. Consider the following:
Why Beer is better than women
Why guitars are better than women
Why motorcycles are better than women
Why bicycles are better than women
Why dogs are better than women
Why computers are better than women
Why cats are better than women
Why sheep are better than women
Why remote controls are better than women
And there were more...
Why Beer is better than women
Why guitars are better than women
Why motorcycles are better than women
Why bicycles are better than women
Why dogs are better than women
Why computers are better than women
Why cats are better than women
Why sheep are better than women
Why remote controls are better than women
And there were more...
Mysteries of the universe
Steven Den Beste discusses the universe and women here, and like everyone else, finds the universe more explicable.
Others have commented on various things about the post, but what I'd like to point out is that just as a rubber love doll is no substitute for a live woman (so I'm told, and I'm inclined to believe it), a theory is no substitute for reality. SDB notes that equations for relativity have singularities when the relative velocities of entities approach the value of the speed of light. What many often misunderstand is that the singularities are a property of the equation, not the universe itself - the universe does what it will, and we won't know what really happens at these singularities without experimentation.
You'll find similar singularities in equations that apply to fluid flow at high speeds - they have singularities at the speed of sound. Does that mean we can't achieve the speed of sound? - of course not, and we've known that for a long time.
Such singularities are not the only problem with using logic and mathematics in deriving scientific theories. Their value lies in the way they limit the number of possible theories that we will test - we reject out of hand the testing of theories which are not based on logic. The downside is that this is making the questionable assumption that the universe honors our rules of logic. Why should we believe that the universe "makes sense"?
Once we learn to let go of this useful but restrictive assumption, then maybe we'll have taken the first step toward understanding women.
Others have commented on various things about the post, but what I'd like to point out is that just as a rubber love doll is no substitute for a live woman (so I'm told, and I'm inclined to believe it), a theory is no substitute for reality. SDB notes that equations for relativity have singularities when the relative velocities of entities approach the value of the speed of light. What many often misunderstand is that the singularities are a property of the equation, not the universe itself - the universe does what it will, and we won't know what really happens at these singularities without experimentation.
You'll find similar singularities in equations that apply to fluid flow at high speeds - they have singularities at the speed of sound. Does that mean we can't achieve the speed of sound? - of course not, and we've known that for a long time.
Such singularities are not the only problem with using logic and mathematics in deriving scientific theories. Their value lies in the way they limit the number of possible theories that we will test - we reject out of hand the testing of theories which are not based on logic. The downside is that this is making the questionable assumption that the universe honors our rules of logic. Why should we believe that the universe "makes sense"?
Once we learn to let go of this useful but restrictive assumption, then maybe we'll have taken the first step toward understanding women.
The atheist faith
Steven Den Beste takes it on here and notes that atheists (and he includes himself) cannot back their beliefs scientifically.
Footprints?
I understand that it's prudent not to erect statues honoring living men. I have the opposite problem - it seems like all traces of me are being wiped out before they get around to planting me.
Did I say I have a home town? Right. In the last year they've demolished the hospital where I was born and the house I grew up in. Another house I lived in with my parents in another town has burned to the ground. Of what is still standing I don't know of any neighbors who are still around. I'm not that old, dammit.
I passed through the alma mater this past week coming and going. While I was there I lived in the two scuzziest dorms they had. Both have been demolished. The campus hangouts I frequented are all gone but one (no more MJ Pippin's Stuffed Pizzas!), but that's probably only because the campus hasn't crossed the interstate there yet.
Now let's check out the resume. About half of the employers are defunct, bankrupt or have been acquired, and often the very buildings have been destroyed and rebuilt. Of the organizations that are ongoing, the sites where I worked have often been closed since I worked there. Hmm - maybe I shouldn't mention any of this at my next interview...
Maybe this is normal, and I've just noticed too much of it too recently. But it has made an impression.
Did I say I have a home town? Right. In the last year they've demolished the hospital where I was born and the house I grew up in. Another house I lived in with my parents in another town has burned to the ground. Of what is still standing I don't know of any neighbors who are still around. I'm not that old, dammit.
I passed through the alma mater this past week coming and going. While I was there I lived in the two scuzziest dorms they had. Both have been demolished. The campus hangouts I frequented are all gone but one (no more MJ Pippin's Stuffed Pizzas!), but that's probably only because the campus hasn't crossed the interstate there yet.
Now let's check out the resume. About half of the employers are defunct, bankrupt or have been acquired, and often the very buildings have been destroyed and rebuilt. Of the organizations that are ongoing, the sites where I worked have often been closed since I worked there. Hmm - maybe I shouldn't mention any of this at my next interview...
Maybe this is normal, and I've just noticed too much of it too recently. But it has made an impression.
On the road again...
Tomorrow I report for a new gig away from St. Louis. It's in a town I've lived in before, and the work ought to be very similar to what I was doing here in St. Louis, so it won't be too disruptive. (And what the heck - although I've been here for 2+ years now, St. Louis isn't my home town anyway).
But it will mean that blogging will be light for a while. Maybe even only on weekends unless I can rejuvenate my junky old 133MHz laptop. And even then I'll need to be doing a lot of packing and transporting, because my lease in StL goes for a while yet, I'm doing everything singlehanded, and I want to get things organized for once after 7 job related relocations in 5 years.
Knowing me, I'll think of several things to blog after I write this. It beats moving.
But it will mean that blogging will be light for a while. Maybe even only on weekends unless I can rejuvenate my junky old 133MHz laptop. And even then I'll need to be doing a lot of packing and transporting, because my lease in StL goes for a while yet, I'm doing everything singlehanded, and I want to get things organized for once after 7 job related relocations in 5 years.
Knowing me, I'll think of several things to blog after I write this. It beats moving.
Blogbash recap
TNGs still stands in Kirkwood despite our best efforts at Friday's Blogbash. Then again we were missing Matt and Vicki and Charles Austin. And JD left a bit early, perhaps having solved the mystery of how to make a move on a group of nine women.
We also had the tanned and toned Blogger Formerly Known as Juan Gato, Chris Johnson, Anne Wilson and hubby, and Kevin Murphy. The young, blonde and buxom Sara was also there, uterus and all, escorted by Sean. Add alcohol and a barmaid who is heading for Washington to be an intern and what more could you ask for?
M & V apparently couldn't see fit to make a ~700 mile round trip in lousy weather - sheesh, whatta buncha wimps! And Austin wants us to believe he's been working long hours away from home, even going to the trouble of blogging less lately.
And where were YOU?
We also had the tanned and toned Blogger Formerly Known as Juan Gato, Chris Johnson, Anne Wilson and hubby, and Kevin Murphy. The young, blonde and buxom Sara was also there, uterus and all, escorted by Sean. Add alcohol and a barmaid who is heading for Washington to be an intern and what more could you ask for?
M & V apparently couldn't see fit to make a ~700 mile round trip in lousy weather - sheesh, whatta buncha wimps! And Austin wants us to believe he's been working long hours away from home, even going to the trouble of blogging less lately.
And where were YOU?
Green vs. black
Chris Johnson notes this in which the Congress of Racial Equality has accused Greenpeace of "eco-manslaughter".
Although I'll enjoy watching this, I don't think Greenpeace is racist. IMO they despise all humans equally.
Although I'll enjoy watching this, I don't think Greenpeace is racist. IMO they despise all humans equally.
Friday, May 09, 2003
The good news is, you're not drunk...
I don't have much to fear from a drunkometer test - I probably get more alcohol from mouthwash than anywhere else. But those who do have tried and recommended many things to avoid detection of their condition. One in particular swore by hyperventilation.
Some years back I thought there was a bestseller about an English or Canadian country physician. In it I recall he learned that having a sour or rotten apple smell on the breath was a sign of appendicitis. Hmm - how far can you go with this?
Max Jacobs of Common Sense and Wonder notes a new electronic nose of sorts, along with applications. Some can be used in food processing to detect subtle off-odors consistently. But the ones under development are to be used for health diagnostics such as for lung cancer:
Afterthought: what's next, flatulence? Sweat? Handkerchiefs?
Some years back I thought there was a bestseller about an English or Canadian country physician. In it I recall he learned that having a sour or rotten apple smell on the breath was a sign of appendicitis. Hmm - how far can you go with this?
Max Jacobs of Common Sense and Wonder notes a new electronic nose of sorts, along with applications. Some can be used in food processing to detect subtle off-odors consistently. But the ones under development are to be used for health diagnostics such as for lung cancer:
Scientists tested the e-nose on 60 people at the Forlanini Hospital in Rome, including 35 waiting for an operation to remove a large lung tumour. Each test took just over a minute and the nose successfully pinpointed every cancer patient, according to New Scientist.I wonder if they'll be able to detect drug abuse by this means. Anyway, the implications are fascinating, and I'm sure civil libertarians will have a lot to say about this before it's over.
Afterthought: what's next, flatulence? Sweat? Handkerchiefs?
Tuesday, May 06, 2003
Heading back...
I made it to my destination and I've done nothing but loafing and sponging for a few days now. But duty calls, so I will start back to St. Louis bright and early tomorrow AM. Then it's time to decompress, have a Blogbash, organize, pack, and make tracks to the next work assignment a few hours away from St. Louis on Monday.
Enquiring minds want to know...
Enquiring minds want to know...
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