Yep, some lefties apparently think Republicans fight dirty in elections, in a tone suggesting that they never did such things. Now that's a whopper.
After ROTFLMAO, I thought it would serve the Dems right if their opponents behaved as claimed. Like me, for instance. What could I come up with? Hypothetically, of course - I'm above such conduct.
Let's start with the fact that John Kerry, who has been treated for cancer and whose true military record is subject to question doesn't want to release his medical records and his full military records. And IIRC Kerry's divorce records are sealed too. Could there be a common thread tying all of this together?
Aha! Kerry's Purple Heart wasn't really for a little bitty wound in his arm. In fact, John Kerry, a man known for his long face, must have accidentally blown off part of his genitalia.
He wouldn't want to flaunt this. At the time there was no Lance Armstrong to inspire him, so I'm guessing that about any red-blooded American male of his age in his time would have done his utmost to hide any such misfortune. "No, it's just this thing on my arm - honest!"
I'm assuming that he didn't lose both testicles, because he does have two daughters who I'm sorry to say do look like him. Then again perhaps he has a relative who helped him out. And it would help to explain some of his Senate votes.
Now perhaps it's time to note a couple of conditions that affect the sex of your children. One is that the further the sperm have to travel, the more likely it is that any resulting offspring will be girls (i.e. he's working with a stump). The other is that orgasms change the chemistry in the vagina in a way that favors male sperm (i.e. he's a lousy lay). Having only girl children is consistent with the above, and again points to a reason why he might want to keep his divorce records sealed. And isn't it interesting that we haven't had any "bimbo eruptions" from a guy whose hero was JFK?
Now I for one would never spread such a nasty rumor - I offer it only as an example of fighting dirty. But you have to admit it's consistent with the record. All John Kerry has to do to stop it in its tracks is to release the rest of his military and medical records and his divorce records.
Why wouldn't he release the records? Doesn't he have the....never mind.
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Cry of the moonbat
Yes, we must avoid treating dissent as a pathology to be treated by strong drugs. And then you read stuff like this. Believe it or not, there are those who think the Democrats don't fight dirty enough.
Via, of all places, The Corner.
Via, of all places, The Corner.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
It takes all kinds...
There's a TV in a break area at work, and normally it's tuned to a partisan news network. If anyone else is there and I happen to be watching, they're in sever danger of hearing my opinions. Because believe it or not, not everyone reads blogs yet.
Today I was watching with another man briefly, and he piped up that he like Kerry's position on outsourcing and trying to stop it.
I started to go into my spiel about how anybody could possibly know what perennial flip-flopper Kerry's position was on anything, in addition to the specific drawbacks of opposing outsourcing, blah blah, when it dawned on me that I was talking to an IT guy from India.
I guess it makes sense - I guess if he had wanted to stay there he would have. It just struck me as amusing that at a time when some US IT jobs are heading to India, here's an Indian who isn't happy with it either.
Today I was watching with another man briefly, and he piped up that he like Kerry's position on outsourcing and trying to stop it.
I started to go into my spiel about how anybody could possibly know what perennial flip-flopper Kerry's position was on anything, in addition to the specific drawbacks of opposing outsourcing, blah blah, when it dawned on me that I was talking to an IT guy from India.
I guess it makes sense - I guess if he had wanted to stay there he would have. It just struck me as amusing that at a time when some US IT jobs are heading to India, here's an Indian who isn't happy with it either.
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Alternate history
It's 1941 and the Japanese have just bombed Pearl Harbor. John Kerry is President, and he's holding a press conference.
"When will we go to war, Mr. President?"
"First we have to understand why they hate us. Meanwhile we must create a plan for winning the peace. I'll have Congress review and approve all rules of engagement. We have to hire counselors for all of our POW camps to make sure our prisoners aren't abused. We plan to schedule an exploratory meeting to discuss in principle our most appropriate reactions with our allies - I've already had some input from Petain of France. We'll issue warrants for the arrest of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Hirohito as soon as we have enough evidence. We mustn't rush into war."
"Are we well prepared with men and materiel?"
"It will take a while to build up. Past Congresses and people like Dick Cheney voted down many weapons systems I sure wish we had now in my wisdom as a veteran. Fortunately we do appear to have an adequate supply of spitballs"
"And didn't you lead the charge against those weapons programs when you were in Congress?"
"That's ancient history, and we must move on"
"When will we go to war, Mr. President?"
"First we have to understand why they hate us. Meanwhile we must create a plan for winning the peace. I'll have Congress review and approve all rules of engagement. We have to hire counselors for all of our POW camps to make sure our prisoners aren't abused. We plan to schedule an exploratory meeting to discuss in principle our most appropriate reactions with our allies - I've already had some input from Petain of France. We'll issue warrants for the arrest of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Hirohito as soon as we have enough evidence. We mustn't rush into war."
"Are we well prepared with men and materiel?"
"It will take a while to build up. Past Congresses and people like Dick Cheney voted down many weapons systems I sure wish we had now in my wisdom as a veteran. Fortunately we do appear to have an adequate supply of spitballs"
"And didn't you lead the charge against those weapons programs when you were in Congress?"
"That's ancient history, and we must move on"
One question IQ tests
...as proposed by Mike S. Adams.
I have a few myself:
1. Did George W. Bush win the 2000 election?
2. Did George W. Bush have anything to do with the attacks on 9/11?
3. Did you question whether WMD's had existed in Iraq prior to the most recent war?
4. Have the MSM been favoring John Kerry in this election?
5. Are Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell at least as dangerous as Islamic fundamentalist jihadis?
Suggestions?
I have a few myself:
1. Did George W. Bush win the 2000 election?
2. Did George W. Bush have anything to do with the attacks on 9/11?
3. Did you question whether WMD's had existed in Iraq prior to the most recent war?
4. Have the MSM been favoring John Kerry in this election?
5. Are Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell at least as dangerous as Islamic fundamentalist jihadis?
Suggestions?
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Not bad for a girl...
Mary Katharine Ham asks "If women really do offer equal work for 23 cents less on the dollar, why does anyone bother hiring men?"
She also blogs at The Insider. It's a product of the Heritage Foundation.
She also blogs at The Insider. It's a product of the Heritage Foundation.
Interview coup
He's done it again - John Hawkins got an interview with John O'Neill of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth right here.
Hat tip to Ed Driscoll.
Hat tip to Ed Driscoll.
Subtle propaganda?
A few years ago I ran across a nuclear power plant simulator PC game. What a propaganda opportunity that could be - all they'd have to do is make it impossible to win the game and voila - an insidious message that reactors are unsafe.
Glenn Reynolds approves of his daughter's play with The Sims and The Sims 2. He says he got a column out of this - it'll be interesting to see what he says. For me, I've always meant to take a look at some of the Sims games, which have been out for around 15 years now in one form or another. But then it's not as if I don't spend enough time on the computer already.
GR says "It apparently conveys the message that if you marry a loser, he'll probably stay a loser, and your kids are likely to be losers, too." Sounds realistic to me. But....
Of course the game is just a model, and presumably we adults know that. We can play it as a diversion, and we're in a position to know when real life ain't that way. But for kids I have to wonder if it couldn't lead them in the wrong direction.
(My concerns are similar for kids and porn movies. No one will tell them that's an exceptional size, they looped the tape to make it last longer, things didn't happen in that sequence, a professional was paid a bonus for that, they're only in that position because of lighting and camera angles, they just spent 20 minutes cleaning, stretching and lubing off-camera before that happened, they get tested for diseases every week, they used a stand-in for that, most people don't groom like that, they're not even practicing "safe sex"... Do you want a kid who learned sex from porn going out with your kid?)
If kids run their own scenarios with the Sims and see how they turn out, in the absence of real world experience that *is* their experience. So what if the Sims don't accurately reflect reality, or consciously bias it toward a particular political POV?
The game has been out for some time - presumably some people out there are in a position to say whether it behaves consistent with human nature, or if it is somehow tuned with some "values" so that the good guys usually win, etc. Even so, it would have to be retested with each version.
I guess I'll have to check it out someday.
Glenn Reynolds approves of his daughter's play with The Sims and The Sims 2. He says he got a column out of this - it'll be interesting to see what he says. For me, I've always meant to take a look at some of the Sims games, which have been out for around 15 years now in one form or another. But then it's not as if I don't spend enough time on the computer already.
GR says "It apparently conveys the message that if you marry a loser, he'll probably stay a loser, and your kids are likely to be losers, too." Sounds realistic to me. But....
Of course the game is just a model, and presumably we adults know that. We can play it as a diversion, and we're in a position to know when real life ain't that way. But for kids I have to wonder if it couldn't lead them in the wrong direction.
(My concerns are similar for kids and porn movies. No one will tell them that's an exceptional size, they looped the tape to make it last longer, things didn't happen in that sequence, a professional was paid a bonus for that, they're only in that position because of lighting and camera angles, they just spent 20 minutes cleaning, stretching and lubing off-camera before that happened, they get tested for diseases every week, they used a stand-in for that, most people don't groom like that, they're not even practicing "safe sex"... Do you want a kid who learned sex from porn going out with your kid?)
If kids run their own scenarios with the Sims and see how they turn out, in the absence of real world experience that *is* their experience. So what if the Sims don't accurately reflect reality, or consciously bias it toward a particular political POV?
The game has been out for some time - presumably some people out there are in a position to say whether it behaves consistent with human nature, or if it is somehow tuned with some "values" so that the good guys usually win, etc. Even so, it would have to be retested with each version.
I guess I'll have to check it out someday.
Bainbridge on Volokh on Hastert on Soros
You might recall House Speaker Dennis Hastert's recent comment on George Soros. Specifically, about where the money he works with comes from. Eugene Volokh rightly notes that if Hastert has evidence that Soros is using drug money, he should present it.
Fair enough. But it's not as if the drug money charge is far-fetched - from Wikipedia we have:
Fair enough. But it's not as if the drug money charge is far-fetched - from Wikipedia we have:
Critics point out that Soros plays the currency markets through Quantum Fund, his privately-owned investment fund registered in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles, a Caribbean tax haven which has repeatedly been cited by the International Task Force on Money Laundering of the OECD as one of the world's most important centers for laundering the illegal proceeds of the Latin American drug trade. By operating from Curaçao, Soros not only avoids paying taxes but also hides the nature of his investors and what he does with their money.
In short, anyone with a pile of money and interests contrary to the US can act through Soros to try to influence US policy. You don't have to be paranoid to see potential dangers in that. If Soros is offended, let him disclose the sources of his money.
Monday, September 06, 2004
Please come to Boston...
Where are you from? That question sounds straightforward enough but really isn't for those of us who have lived in a lot of places. Nina Camic tries to answer.
True loyalties
Before college John Kerry opposed the war in Vietnam.
When John Kerry could not obtain a deferment to study in France, he enlisted in the Navy Reserves, from which he went to Vietnam.
When he got back he found that his carefully accumulated medals didn't do him much good politically in a place like Massachusetts. And it happens that for whatever reason, John Kerry went whole hog into the antiwar movement.
Now it's 3 decades later and he wants to present himself as a war hero. Will the real John Kerry please stand up? Can we determine which one is the real one?
Well, one metric is whether he ever broke the faith with his former comrades beyond switching sides.
He certainly broke faith with his Vietnam buddies, accusing them and even himself of outrageous atrocities. To my knowledge neither he nor any he accused ever suffered any personal consequences beyond bad PR for Vietnam veterans, but that was plenty IMO. (Branded as "baby-killers", I wonder how many of them redeemed themselves to the Left by becoming abortionists?)
What about his antiwar buddies? For instance, did he go running to the feds when people from his organization, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, proposed killing pro-war Senators? Why heavens, he wasn't at any such meeting! Until contradicted by FBI surveillance information, that is. Then, like cornered Democrats always do, he wanted to "move on".
So he told authorities about events that might not have happened to the detriment of the war buddies he's trying to get support from now. But when he had information that people were proposing assassination of pro-war Senators, he didn't go to authorities, and he tried to hide that fact until he was busted.
In short, he kept the faith with the antiwar people, but not with his fellow veterans. In the presence of innumerable flip-flops, that may be the closest thing to sincerity that we ever see from John Kerry.
When John Kerry could not obtain a deferment to study in France, he enlisted in the Navy Reserves, from which he went to Vietnam.
When he got back he found that his carefully accumulated medals didn't do him much good politically in a place like Massachusetts. And it happens that for whatever reason, John Kerry went whole hog into the antiwar movement.
Now it's 3 decades later and he wants to present himself as a war hero. Will the real John Kerry please stand up? Can we determine which one is the real one?
Well, one metric is whether he ever broke the faith with his former comrades beyond switching sides.
He certainly broke faith with his Vietnam buddies, accusing them and even himself of outrageous atrocities. To my knowledge neither he nor any he accused ever suffered any personal consequences beyond bad PR for Vietnam veterans, but that was plenty IMO. (Branded as "baby-killers", I wonder how many of them redeemed themselves to the Left by becoming abortionists?)
What about his antiwar buddies? For instance, did he go running to the feds when people from his organization, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, proposed killing pro-war Senators? Why heavens, he wasn't at any such meeting! Until contradicted by FBI surveillance information, that is. Then, like cornered Democrats always do, he wanted to "move on".
So he told authorities about events that might not have happened to the detriment of the war buddies he's trying to get support from now. But when he had information that people were proposing assassination of pro-war Senators, he didn't go to authorities, and he tried to hide that fact until he was busted.
In short, he kept the faith with the antiwar people, but not with his fellow veterans. In the presence of innumerable flip-flops, that may be the closest thing to sincerity that we ever see from John Kerry.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
These guys too?
Alright, I've been slow on the uptake before. And I'll admit that I missed the live delivery of Zell Miller's speech at the RNC. I had read good reviews from the Republican side and bad from the rest, but that wasn't exactly a surprise.
Then I read Thomas Nephew and his cites of Ken Layne, Matt Welch and Matthew Yglesias and was astounded by the heat of the denunciations, such as 'The audience was so enthused by his frankly fascistic remarks that at any moment I thought the distinguished Senator might point up and say "see, there, right there is one of these unpatriotic liberal journalists busy abusing the freedoms our soldiers fight to protect -- he must be destroyed for the safety of the Republican" and that Matt Welch and I would need to fend for our lives against the onrushing hordes.'
Good grief, what kind of candyass do you have to be to fear a bunch of Republicans, anyway? And this after that human waste Michael Moore had escaped in one huge jiggling piece a couple nights before. What could Mr. Miller have said to deserve characterizations like "fascistic"?
I knew Yglesias had had too much Kool-Aid lately but until now I'd thought the others remained sane, so I read the speech myself.
Oh, that's it. He dared speak positively of the military, defending the flag, and fearing God. Horrors!
What happened to the left to send them so far off the deep end?
Then I read Thomas Nephew and his cites of Ken Layne, Matt Welch and Matthew Yglesias and was astounded by the heat of the denunciations, such as 'The audience was so enthused by his frankly fascistic remarks that at any moment I thought the distinguished Senator might point up and say "see, there, right there is one of these unpatriotic liberal journalists busy abusing the freedoms our soldiers fight to protect -- he must be destroyed for the safety of the Republican" and that Matt Welch and I would need to fend for our lives against the onrushing hordes.'
Good grief, what kind of candyass do you have to be to fear a bunch of Republicans, anyway? And this after that human waste Michael Moore had escaped in one huge jiggling piece a couple nights before. What could Mr. Miller have said to deserve characterizations like "fascistic"?
I knew Yglesias had had too much Kool-Aid lately but until now I'd thought the others remained sane, so I read the speech myself.
Oh, that's it. He dared speak positively of the military, defending the flag, and fearing God. Horrors!
What happened to the left to send them so far off the deep end?
Fake trees for cell phone towers
See them here.
Via Boing Boing, which continually offers proof that technical savvy and political sophistication don't always coincide.
Via Boing Boing, which continually offers proof that technical savvy and political sophistication don't always coincide.
The ultimate weapon against terrorism?
I'm agnostic, but I admire faith and courage. And any man who'll build a Christian church in the heart of terrorist country has plenty of both:But that may be the weapon they fear most.
Saturday, September 04, 2004
If they *really* disapproved they'd call them Republicans
This should have happened: Guerrillas and fighters took over the New York Times today and swore vengeance if the Times ever again wrote "guerrillas" or "fighters" to describe people who obviously were "terrorists".
Alas, what really happened is described by Michelle Malkin here.
Note to jihadis - as long as you stick with shooting up kids in schools you needn't fear negative coverage by the NY Times. But heaven help you if you should touch an abortion clinic...
Alas, what really happened is described by Michelle Malkin here.
Note to jihadis - as long as you stick with shooting up kids in schools you needn't fear negative coverage by the NY Times. But heaven help you if you should touch an abortion clinic...
You can't make this stuff up
Well, maybe you could make it up. But you couldn't get people to actually believe it, could you?
Yes you can.
Yes you can.
Notice
I don't want to hear another peep about discrimination against Muslims unless it starts and ends with LOUD condemnations of all jihadis, like the fiends at the Russian school.
It's long past time to declare a side and stick with it. And IMO anyone who won't condemn the jihadis is on their side.
Any Muslim who isn't one of the radicals might as well start fighting against the radicals anyway. After all, to these killers' eyes you're an infidel too - perhaps even the worst kind. They'll get you sooner or later.
Maybe some are starting to catch on.
It's long past time to declare a side and stick with it. And IMO anyone who won't condemn the jihadis is on their side.
Any Muslim who isn't one of the radicals might as well start fighting against the radicals anyway. After all, to these killers' eyes you're an infidel too - perhaps even the worst kind. They'll get you sooner or later.
Maybe some are starting to catch on.
Cocked hat bowling
Looking for a league? You'll probably have to go to St. Charles, MO, just outside St. Louis on I-70. For details check this out.
Friday, September 03, 2004
"A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down..."
I'm thinking even Mary Poppins couldn't sell this. I suppose if you chill it and mix it with some "Old Milwaukee" you'd never know the difference.
The stuff is sterile, and I understand that certain drugs can be recycled via this means. Even so, I'm hoping it doesn't catch on.
The stuff is sterile, and I understand that certain drugs can be recycled via this means. Even so, I'm hoping it doesn't catch on.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Negative campaigning!
Some people get an idea in their heads and it's bye-bye reason. One of the sillier ones is the idea that negative campaigning is bad. Women in particular seem susceptible to this.
No doubt it would be bad if all campaigning were done this way. But surely no one expects candidates to expose their own weaknesses. And if the people who are crying like babies over the Swift boat ads and the money they got from people connected from Republicans would kindly line up some Democrats to give to them instead, I'm sure the Swift boat veterans would be happy to take that money instead.
And of course George W. Bush is an incumbent. You can see what he has done as President, for good or ill, and the net score is positive. For John Kerry OTOH you have only the claims of a demonstrated flip-flopper who has shown the willingness to betray even his band of brothers on the Swift boats for his pathetic political career. Under those circumstances, why would anyone believe a thing he promises?
Beware of those who complain about negative campaigning. They have something to hide.
No doubt it would be bad if all campaigning were done this way. But surely no one expects candidates to expose their own weaknesses. And if the people who are crying like babies over the Swift boat ads and the money they got from people connected from Republicans would kindly line up some Democrats to give to them instead, I'm sure the Swift boat veterans would be happy to take that money instead.
And of course George W. Bush is an incumbent. You can see what he has done as President, for good or ill, and the net score is positive. For John Kerry OTOH you have only the claims of a demonstrated flip-flopper who has shown the willingness to betray even his band of brothers on the Swift boats for his pathetic political career. Under those circumstances, why would anyone believe a thing he promises?
Beware of those who complain about negative campaigning. They have something to hide.
Unfathomable mystery
Being male, I'm not much for clothes shopping. I do it as little as I can. But there is one thing I have noticed.
Large men wear larger sized clothes than smaller men. Are you with me so far?
Large men on average are taller than smaller men. Was that controversial?
Then why on earth are the large sizes always at the bottom of the stack, with the runt sizes on top? Isn't that exactly bass-ackwards?
Who is it in the fashion industry who forces this situation where buying clothes means we bigger men either bend over or get on our knees?
Large men wear larger sized clothes than smaller men. Are you with me so far?
Large men on average are taller than smaller men. Was that controversial?
Then why on earth are the large sizes always at the bottom of the stack, with the runt sizes on top? Isn't that exactly bass-ackwards?
Who is it in the fashion industry who forces this situation where buying clothes means we bigger men either bend over or get on our knees?
Monday, August 30, 2004
Imagine what a success would be like
Glenn Reynolds linked to this graph from the Detroit News this weekend showing effects of the Bush tax cuts on the distribution of the tax burden among income groups.
At a flat rate for everyone of course people who make x% more money will pay x% more in taxes, so rich will always be paying more in taxes than poor. That's not good enough for lefties, however - they want a "progressive" tax system in which the next x% in income will cost more than x% in additional taxes. Fairness be damned - the intent is to cause the richer people, who presumably are more able to pay, to pay an even greater share of the tax burden.
No one has ever explained to me just how it is that a public work, welfare payment, missile or other public expenditure is somehow more valuable to the rich than the poor. One could argue that the opposite is true. But lefties figure that unevenly distributed income is somehow unjust, so they offer injustice in return by making people who have more pay more for the sole reason that they have more. Should we do that at grocery stores too? "Paper or plastic?" "What was your adjusted gross income last year?"
Anyway, the lefties screamed bloody murder at Bush's tax rate cuts for upper incomes. Knowing that their knee-jerk followers aren't too sharp mathematically, they equated lower tax rates with lower tax receipts. That's been known to be wrong for centuries, but lefties won't let lies stand in their way - it fits the lies they retail about Republicans so it became their story.
Well look at the charts and see what happened. Despite the lower rates, the rich paid more of the total income tax bill! A Republican extracted more money from the "rich".
One would think that lefties, who always want more money for govt, would take a lesson like this to heart - it's possible to increase receipts at a lower rate. Admittedly it doesn't always work (but the higher tax rates already are, the more likely it will).
But who says lefties want more govt revenue above all? There's another reason for them to keep taxes and other burdens higher than they should - it increases the value of their favors. Why else would a sane businessman give money to lefties?
No, the above isn't too rigorously presented. If you want that there are econobloggers out there who can do a better job - try the Carnival of the Capitalists. But they'll wind up reaching the same conclusions.
One last thing. Notice the headline of the linked article: "Bush fails to get deserved credit for tax cut benefits". What kind of wording is that? As long as he beats that undertaxed rich guy John Kerry, if Bush's "failure" is in getting credit for what he did, I can live with that.
At a flat rate for everyone of course people who make x% more money will pay x% more in taxes, so rich will always be paying more in taxes than poor. That's not good enough for lefties, however - they want a "progressive" tax system in which the next x% in income will cost more than x% in additional taxes. Fairness be damned - the intent is to cause the richer people, who presumably are more able to pay, to pay an even greater share of the tax burden.
No one has ever explained to me just how it is that a public work, welfare payment, missile or other public expenditure is somehow more valuable to the rich than the poor. One could argue that the opposite is true. But lefties figure that unevenly distributed income is somehow unjust, so they offer injustice in return by making people who have more pay more for the sole reason that they have more. Should we do that at grocery stores too? "Paper or plastic?" "What was your adjusted gross income last year?"
Anyway, the lefties screamed bloody murder at Bush's tax rate cuts for upper incomes. Knowing that their knee-jerk followers aren't too sharp mathematically, they equated lower tax rates with lower tax receipts. That's been known to be wrong for centuries, but lefties won't let lies stand in their way - it fits the lies they retail about Republicans so it became their story.
Well look at the charts and see what happened. Despite the lower rates, the rich paid more of the total income tax bill! A Republican extracted more money from the "rich".
One would think that lefties, who always want more money for govt, would take a lesson like this to heart - it's possible to increase receipts at a lower rate. Admittedly it doesn't always work (but the higher tax rates already are, the more likely it will).
But who says lefties want more govt revenue above all? There's another reason for them to keep taxes and other burdens higher than they should - it increases the value of their favors. Why else would a sane businessman give money to lefties?
No, the above isn't too rigorously presented. If you want that there are econobloggers out there who can do a better job - try the Carnival of the Capitalists. But they'll wind up reaching the same conclusions.
One last thing. Notice the headline of the linked article: "Bush fails to get deserved credit for tax cut benefits". What kind of wording is that? As long as he beats that undertaxed rich guy John Kerry, if Bush's "failure" is in getting credit for what he did, I can live with that.
It beats accounting...
Carlos Barrios Orta is a "wastewater diver" in Mexico City.
....He loves his job. Two years ago, he gave up a career in accounting for this -- which, he noted, says something about accounting.....For this, Barrios earns about $480 a month. It's not much, certainly -- his diving helmet alone cost the city $3,500 -- but it's more than he ever made as an accountant....he's happy to know that while there are millions of divers in the oceans, only four have the privilege of diving in the Mexico City sewer system....
Ya gotta like his attitude.
....He loves his job. Two years ago, he gave up a career in accounting for this -- which, he noted, says something about accounting.....For this, Barrios earns about $480 a month. It's not much, certainly -- his diving helmet alone cost the city $3,500 -- but it's more than he ever made as an accountant....he's happy to know that while there are millions of divers in the oceans, only four have the privilege of diving in the Mexico City sewer system....
Ya gotta like his attitude.
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Calling John Edwards
"The woman, known as Jane Doe in court documents, was horrified to learn that a lab worker who had drawn her blood in 1997 and 1999 had admitted reusing needles.
Several months later, she discovered she was HIV-positive."
If John Edwards wanted a case with some merits he'd be all over this one, instead of extorting millions driving North Carolina obstetricians out of business as he's been doing for years.
If you want to know how things turned out, look here.
Several months later, she discovered she was HIV-positive."
If John Edwards wanted a case with some merits he'd be all over this one, instead of extorting millions driving North Carolina obstetricians out of business as he's been doing for years.
If you want to know how things turned out, look here.
Denial?
Allegedly Laura Branigan had had headaches for a couple of weeks. Now she's dead of an aneurysm.
Maybe the doc wouldn't have caught it. Maybe it would have been inoperable.
Or maybe she'd still be alive if she'd had medical attention.
Maybe the doc wouldn't have caught it. Maybe it would have been inoperable.
Or maybe she'd still be alive if she'd had medical attention.
Only 4 million
4 million what? Americans that jihadis are to kill. Any more than that would be immoral, according to this.
What kind of people do you think they are, anyway?
What kind of people do you think they are, anyway?
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Lunar power
The moon doesn't get enough credit. It gives us light at night when we need it, it doesn't burn anybody, and it even provides power as noted here.
It comes in pints?
That's where you'll find this item about side effects of Viagra.
Oh, and read the comments and decide for yourself whether Ken Summers is being defensive...
Oh, and read the comments and decide for yourself whether Ken Summers is being defensive...
German Spiked Helmet Evolution
Being an engineer, I'm a form-follows-function kind of guy. Which means that things like the old fashioned spiked helmets once worn by Prussian soldiers were kind of a mystery. Why spend the money on some expensive ornament for the top of the helmet? And if it wasn't an ornament, just what good was it?
What am I rambling about? This - German Spiked Helmet Evolution.
Stolen from The Corner.
What am I rambling about? This - German Spiked Helmet Evolution.
Stolen from The Corner.
Friday, August 27, 2004
Dump Dick Durbin
Once merely a lovely sentiment, now it's a blog.
Somebody throw this silly arch-partisan hack out of office. IMO the country would be better served if his seat were vacant.
Somebody throw this silly arch-partisan hack out of office. IMO the country would be better served if his seat were vacant.
It's good for you
Yeah, yeah, few things are as annoying as an Objectivist who's had too much of the Kool-Aid. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't read Atlas Shrugged. IMO your education simply isn't complete until you've read it. If nothing else, you'll miss a lot of references to it in blogs, and few fates could be more ignominious than that.
It's a long book, and parts of it drag. But you can get an idea of what it's about starting here.
It's a long book, and parts of it drag. But you can get an idea of what it's about starting here.
Thursday, August 26, 2004
I've gotta see this
I've seen or heard of amazing feats of elasticity, dexterity (involving dimes), power (usually involving ping-pong balls) and even musicianship, but now they can even vote?
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Prediction
Karma demands the following.
Terrorists will attack an NBA playoff or all-star game in the next year. Several players will suffer grievous injury at best.
Which ones will be hurt? The ones who are staying home from this year's Olympics because of "security concerns".
It's their off season, which grows ever shorter. It's a chance to get injured, which is a very real concern. And although it's really hard to beat the prestige of an Olympic medal, they're not compensated for playing to my knowledge. And Kobe Bryant has some legal troubles to deal with. So it's not as if there's no understandable reason why an athlete might beg off.
But really now - do they think the security in Athens is worse than what they'd have on average at NBA games here in the US?
Terrorists will attack an NBA playoff or all-star game in the next year. Several players will suffer grievous injury at best.
Which ones will be hurt? The ones who are staying home from this year's Olympics because of "security concerns".
It's their off season, which grows ever shorter. It's a chance to get injured, which is a very real concern. And although it's really hard to beat the prestige of an Olympic medal, they're not compensated for playing to my knowledge. And Kobe Bryant has some legal troubles to deal with. So it's not as if there's no understandable reason why an athlete might beg off.
But really now - do they think the security in Athens is worse than what they'd have on average at NBA games here in the US?
Monday, August 23, 2004
Yucca Mountain and John Kerry
As discussed by the inimitable Jonah Goldberg on NRO.
The point that keeps getting obscured is that whatever objections may be raised to Yucca Mountain, 1) it's better than anyplace else we're using now for the same purpose, and 2) we're not likely to find better. To bitch about nuclear waste *and* Yucca Mountain's use for disposal is about as clear-cut an example of the best being the enemy of the good that you're likely to see.
That's assuming that you believe antinukers are motivated by genuine informed concerns. At best this does not account for all of them. Many of the rest simply want to cause the US nuclear power industry to die of constipation, and they figure that this is the way to make it happen.
The point that keeps getting obscured is that whatever objections may be raised to Yucca Mountain, 1) it's better than anyplace else we're using now for the same purpose, and 2) we're not likely to find better. To bitch about nuclear waste *and* Yucca Mountain's use for disposal is about as clear-cut an example of the best being the enemy of the good that you're likely to see.
That's assuming that you believe antinukers are motivated by genuine informed concerns. At best this does not account for all of them. Many of the rest simply want to cause the US nuclear power industry to die of constipation, and they figure that this is the way to make it happen.
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Capital Dancesport Championships this weekend
It's at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center in Alexandria, VA this Thursday through Saturday. It starts on Thursday as noted here, culminating in Saturday night's show of pros competing in International and American styles.
It's not a cheap ticket, but it's a good show. I'll be around all three days - come by and see us!
It's not a cheap ticket, but it's a good show. I'll be around all three days - come by and see us!
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Withdrawal from the world?
Yep, that's what's happening with US policy about right now. Read all about it here.
How did our analyst reach this conclusion? President Bush has decided to redeploy some military assets.
Apparently this threatens the writer, who is described as follows:
He's also highly Eurocentric, because that's the focus of the German Marshall Fund.
And some of those redeployed assets and their corresponding spending will be leaving Germany. Ouch! Despite the high-minded claims, I'm betting that the Germans were expecting an ongoing return on the assets they used to establish the GMF, and although there are differences of opinion on the severity of the impact on the German economy, the transitions will cause some disruption.
Is President Bush doing the right thing? We won't know for some time to come. In the meantime the article cited should be recognized not as honest critique, but as yet another partisan hit piece.
How did our analyst reach this conclusion? President Bush has decided to redeploy some military assets.
Apparently this threatens the writer, who is described as follows:
The writer, senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, served as deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs from 1997 to 2000. The views here are his own.
Now things are making sense. He's a Democrat, because he served under Bill Clinton. So of course he'll spew the party line for John Kerry.
He's also highly Eurocentric, because that's the focus of the German Marshall Fund.
And some of those redeployed assets and their corresponding spending will be leaving Germany. Ouch! Despite the high-minded claims, I'm betting that the Germans were expecting an ongoing return on the assets they used to establish the GMF, and although there are differences of opinion on the severity of the impact on the German economy, the transitions will cause some disruption.
Is President Bush doing the right thing? We won't know for some time to come. In the meantime the article cited should be recognized not as honest critique, but as yet another partisan hit piece.
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
And this is whose fault exactly?
David Ignatius's editor must have taken the day off, or else surely this column would have been rejected.
He says "don't politicize terrorism". Fine. And then he proceeds to politicize it for the rest of the column. Ignatius writes:
Elaborate? There are 5 whole colors. I'd expect a kindergartener to know that many - is this too much of a challenge for Ignatius to keep them straight?
Bush isn't Bill Clinton. He doesn't conduct polls to see where he should go on vacation. He's willing to take heat for convictions, such as limiting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. He doesn't have a principle-free creep like Dick Morris making suggestions. When his DUI years ago well before his well-known reform was hyped just before the 2000 election, he didn't send his minions out to convince the world that "everybody gets DUIs". He's trustworthy, and the Dems can't stand it - what if the public starts expecting trustworthiness from them too?
Further asininities:
If Ignatius has a problem with Porter Goss, he should state it. Better yet, leave all mention out of the column because it's irrelevant. We know what side you're on, Mr. Ignatius - you can quit padding your word count.
And the finale:
He says "don't politicize terrorism". Fine. And then he proceeds to politicize it for the rest of the column. Ignatius writes:
The dangers of politicizing terrorism were clear in this month's announcement about potential attacks on financial centers in the New York area and in Washington. When Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge disclosed the threats on Aug. 1, he faced immediate skepticism about whether the intelligence was valid. Sadly, the Bush administration had helped create this climate of public suspicion by overusing its elaborate, color-coded system of terrorism warnings.
IIRC after the initial setting the color code has changed 3 times - once up, once down, and now back up again. This, over a couple of years or so since the color system was created. This is overusing? I wonder how often they have fire drills in his building.
Elaborate? There are 5 whole colors. I'd expect a kindergartener to know that many - is this too much of a challenge for Ignatius to keep them straight?
After a terrorism advisory by Attorney General John Ashcroft last spring was pooh-poohed the same day by Ridge, some people wondered whether these warnings were being used for political effect.
Good grief, this past week we've had people talking about the use of hurricanes for political effect - there is nothing Bush could ever do to keep some opponents from projecting their own underhanded motivations onto him.
Bush isn't Bill Clinton. He doesn't conduct polls to see where he should go on vacation. He's willing to take heat for convictions, such as limiting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. He doesn't have a principle-free creep like Dick Morris making suggestions. When his DUI years ago well before his well-known reform was hyped just before the 2000 election, he didn't send his minions out to convince the world that "everybody gets DUIs". He's trustworthy, and the Dems can't stand it - what if the public starts expecting trustworthiness from them too?
Further asininities:
By linking its reelection campaign so closely to the war on terrorism, the Bush administration has eroded its credibility -- to the point that some members of the public are beginning to wonder whether terrorism warnings are all just politics.
Bush's campaign's linkage to the war on terror is entirely appropriate inasmuch as he has no more important task than that, and because it identifies significant differences between him and opponent John Kerry. And Kerry could neutralize it all tomorrow by stating that he approved of Bush's war on terror and if elected, he would give Bush a high position in his govt so Bush could keep running the show.The administration risks compounding that climate of politicization by nominating a sitting Republican member of Congress, Porter Goss, to be the next CIA director.
What's wrong with having a sitting Republican member of Congress in this role? Shouldn't CIA directors have some knowledge of how Congress runs? And if Bush were a Democrat, does Ignatius doubt for a minute that the nominee would be a Democrat?
If Ignatius has a problem with Porter Goss, he should state it. Better yet, leave all mention out of the column because it's irrelevant. We know what side you're on, Mr. Ignatius - you can quit padding your word count.
And the finale:
Public cynicism about terrorism is dangerous -- and so is the politicization of intelligence that breeds it. The danger is that when the administration warns for real about the next Sept. 11, it won't be believed.
It took some brass-balled effrontery to write that given what preceded it. If Ignatius really believes this, then why would he write a column like the above full of innuendoes that encourage public cynicism?
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Power piping
I really know how to write those titles, eh? What can I say, I'm an engineer, not a marketer. And this item is about piping in power plants, as inspired by Sean Kinsell's post here.
It seems that some steam piping failed and killed some workers in a Japanese nuclear power plant recently. Of course anything that happens at a nuclear power plant attracts media attention, and since they can't be troubled to learn anything the coverage usually is shrill. In my naivete I'll attempt to address some of this.
The plant in question was pressurized water reactor, often abbreviated as PWR. Such a reactor operates by heating water in a nuclear reactor core and then pumping it through a number of steam generators (common designs have 2, 3, or 4). These steam generators are built something like vertically oriented boilers, with tubes running vertically through them containing reactor water. The system also has a "pressurizer", which contains a bubble of steam at the top - this device serves to make sure that no steam forms within the reactor itself.
So what happens outside the steam generator tubes? This volume is filled with water at a bit lower pressure and temperature. Water comes into it at the bottom from the feedwater system. Steam forms around the hot tubes and rises to the top, where it goes through separators and driers and ultimately flows through the turbine to drive it. After passing through the turbine the steam is exhausted into the condenser, where it is cooled enough to recondense it into the condensate system.
At this point the water is at very low pressure and lukewarm. The first step is to clean it in "condensate polishers" to catch any corrosion products or other impurities in the water (initial fill is with "demineralized" water - not quite distilled, but highly purified with ion exchange resins).
After the polishers the water is slowly reheated and repressurized in stages until it is ready to return to the steam generators. By the time it returns it is at a high pressure and several hundred degrees F - if it leaks it will immediately form steam. It was piping in these stages which failed at the Japanese plant.
You might think you know a little about steam. Not under those conditions you don't. The amount of concentrated power is unlike anything you see elsewhere, and if it hits you directly it doesn't just scald you, it more or less eats you. If you inhale it live, bye-bye lungs.
Anyway, this feedwater piping is insulated heavily both to minimize personnel hazards and save the heat. In my experience this insulation usually consists of several inches of chalky calcium silicate covered with sheet metal such that none of the pipe's exterior is visible. Power plants turn heat into electric power they can sell after all - wasted heat is expensive.
(Incidentally, piping is used the same way for the same reasons with the same kind of very clean water in it at coal-burning plants. Actually the pressures and temperatures are even higher because there's no nuclear reactor to protect, which means that the personnel hazard onsite from the steam is even greater.)
You might think that if the steam is so dangerous that personnel are kept out of the area wherever pipe that might leak steam runs. In fact the area will be inhabited regularly by plant operators in their rounds checking pressures and temperatures, inspecting steam traps, and sundry other duties needed to keep the plant running. Likewise fire watch or security people or engineers like me might be around from time to time. In practice failures of such piping are uncommon, and their failure would be expensive even if the human factors were discounted, so they are designed carefully and water chemistry is maintained strictly to avoid problems.
As noted in the original article, no radiation was released. If you've been paying attention, you know why - the pipe didn't have anything radioactive in it, so it couldn't release anything. Minor steam generator leaks' results would be captured in condensate polishers further upstream, and if they can't handle it management will be taking the plant down pronto to keep the crud from spreading throughout the plant and sending maintenance costs through the roof, above and beyond any extra regulatory scrutiny and paperwork they'll suffer.
OK, but what happens to the reactor when such pipes fail? Small failures like what killed the workers are hard to pick up on instrumentation right away because nothing is really looking for them - my guess is that, depending on the design of the plant, some fire protection instrumentation might pick up on the extraordinarily high local temperature. It's possible that an HVAC (heating/ventilating/air conditioning) system would pick it up, but such a failure in the turbine building isn't the kind of thing that would alarm on an operator's console necessarily.
Should it? Definitely, if it were likely to indicate that the reactor would need attention. But small leaks are not threats to the reactor and thus are not worthy of highlighting - the risk of distracting operators can be higher than the value of the information.
Larger breaks OTOH would be unmistakeable. Temperatures would get out of hand, sumps would fill, pressures would drop and the noise would be incredible (turbine buildings are noisy but you ain't heard nothin' yet). Life in the control room would get exciting fast. They'd send operators to investigate if needed, or else they'd conclude that for safety's sake they'd have to shut down the reactor and isolate some valves.
What about the steam generators - will they overheat if their feedwater supply is cut off by a big leak or failure? Not once the reactor has been shut down, and there are numerous automatic sensors that can cause this to happen in case the control room is slow on the trigger (and if they are, they'll hear about it, from management, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry's own Institute of Nuclear Power Operations). If feedwater is cut off entirely, there is a backup system designed to much higher QA standards to provide water to the steam generators, and similar high-QA valves would close automatically to isolate the leak from the steam generators so this auxiliary water doesn't just run back out the leak.
That's what happens if the piping *feeding* the steam generator fails (simplistically - the possible accidents are examined in much greater detail in regulatory documentation filed with the USNRC for each commercial US nuclear power plant in existence). What if the pipes coming *out* of the steam generators - the main steam pipes - fail?
That's a bit uglier, because the water escaping has even more energy in it. But this piping is even more physically remote and heavily insulated than the feedwater piping. Failures of this piping in the turbine building will immediately be isolated from the steam generators and the reactor building by the main steam isolation valves (MSIVs), of which there are two per main steam pipe, and each of those has two independent signals to actuate it. (this is for a boiling water reactor (BWR), in which the main steam system is much more significant to radiological safety than it is in a PWR, but similar controls and safeguards will be in place). That action combined with the auxiliary feedwater system mentioned earlier will keep things under control in the reactor building. Operators who are in the area when the problem occurs had better get going pronto to survive, but in fact I know of no such failures in the history of the US commercial nuclear power industry.
Alright, that's enough of a brain dump for a while. Who knows? - if the world comes to its senses and we start building nuclear power plants again, I may be able to use that background again....
It seems that some steam piping failed and killed some workers in a Japanese nuclear power plant recently. Of course anything that happens at a nuclear power plant attracts media attention, and since they can't be troubled to learn anything the coverage usually is shrill. In my naivete I'll attempt to address some of this.
The plant in question was pressurized water reactor, often abbreviated as PWR. Such a reactor operates by heating water in a nuclear reactor core and then pumping it through a number of steam generators (common designs have 2, 3, or 4). These steam generators are built something like vertically oriented boilers, with tubes running vertically through them containing reactor water. The system also has a "pressurizer", which contains a bubble of steam at the top - this device serves to make sure that no steam forms within the reactor itself.
So what happens outside the steam generator tubes? This volume is filled with water at a bit lower pressure and temperature. Water comes into it at the bottom from the feedwater system. Steam forms around the hot tubes and rises to the top, where it goes through separators and driers and ultimately flows through the turbine to drive it. After passing through the turbine the steam is exhausted into the condenser, where it is cooled enough to recondense it into the condensate system.
At this point the water is at very low pressure and lukewarm. The first step is to clean it in "condensate polishers" to catch any corrosion products or other impurities in the water (initial fill is with "demineralized" water - not quite distilled, but highly purified with ion exchange resins).
After the polishers the water is slowly reheated and repressurized in stages until it is ready to return to the steam generators. By the time it returns it is at a high pressure and several hundred degrees F - if it leaks it will immediately form steam. It was piping in these stages which failed at the Japanese plant.
You might think you know a little about steam. Not under those conditions you don't. The amount of concentrated power is unlike anything you see elsewhere, and if it hits you directly it doesn't just scald you, it more or less eats you. If you inhale it live, bye-bye lungs.
Anyway, this feedwater piping is insulated heavily both to minimize personnel hazards and save the heat. In my experience this insulation usually consists of several inches of chalky calcium silicate covered with sheet metal such that none of the pipe's exterior is visible. Power plants turn heat into electric power they can sell after all - wasted heat is expensive.
(Incidentally, piping is used the same way for the same reasons with the same kind of very clean water in it at coal-burning plants. Actually the pressures and temperatures are even higher because there's no nuclear reactor to protect, which means that the personnel hazard onsite from the steam is even greater.)
You might think that if the steam is so dangerous that personnel are kept out of the area wherever pipe that might leak steam runs. In fact the area will be inhabited regularly by plant operators in their rounds checking pressures and temperatures, inspecting steam traps, and sundry other duties needed to keep the plant running. Likewise fire watch or security people or engineers like me might be around from time to time. In practice failures of such piping are uncommon, and their failure would be expensive even if the human factors were discounted, so they are designed carefully and water chemistry is maintained strictly to avoid problems.
As noted in the original article, no radiation was released. If you've been paying attention, you know why - the pipe didn't have anything radioactive in it, so it couldn't release anything. Minor steam generator leaks' results would be captured in condensate polishers further upstream, and if they can't handle it management will be taking the plant down pronto to keep the crud from spreading throughout the plant and sending maintenance costs through the roof, above and beyond any extra regulatory scrutiny and paperwork they'll suffer.
OK, but what happens to the reactor when such pipes fail? Small failures like what killed the workers are hard to pick up on instrumentation right away because nothing is really looking for them - my guess is that, depending on the design of the plant, some fire protection instrumentation might pick up on the extraordinarily high local temperature. It's possible that an HVAC (heating/ventilating/air conditioning) system would pick it up, but such a failure in the turbine building isn't the kind of thing that would alarm on an operator's console necessarily.
Should it? Definitely, if it were likely to indicate that the reactor would need attention. But small leaks are not threats to the reactor and thus are not worthy of highlighting - the risk of distracting operators can be higher than the value of the information.
Larger breaks OTOH would be unmistakeable. Temperatures would get out of hand, sumps would fill, pressures would drop and the noise would be incredible (turbine buildings are noisy but you ain't heard nothin' yet). Life in the control room would get exciting fast. They'd send operators to investigate if needed, or else they'd conclude that for safety's sake they'd have to shut down the reactor and isolate some valves.
What about the steam generators - will they overheat if their feedwater supply is cut off by a big leak or failure? Not once the reactor has been shut down, and there are numerous automatic sensors that can cause this to happen in case the control room is slow on the trigger (and if they are, they'll hear about it, from management, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry's own Institute of Nuclear Power Operations). If feedwater is cut off entirely, there is a backup system designed to much higher QA standards to provide water to the steam generators, and similar high-QA valves would close automatically to isolate the leak from the steam generators so this auxiliary water doesn't just run back out the leak.
That's what happens if the piping *feeding* the steam generator fails (simplistically - the possible accidents are examined in much greater detail in regulatory documentation filed with the USNRC for each commercial US nuclear power plant in existence). What if the pipes coming *out* of the steam generators - the main steam pipes - fail?
That's a bit uglier, because the water escaping has even more energy in it. But this piping is even more physically remote and heavily insulated than the feedwater piping. Failures of this piping in the turbine building will immediately be isolated from the steam generators and the reactor building by the main steam isolation valves (MSIVs), of which there are two per main steam pipe, and each of those has two independent signals to actuate it. (this is for a boiling water reactor (BWR), in which the main steam system is much more significant to radiological safety than it is in a PWR, but similar controls and safeguards will be in place). That action combined with the auxiliary feedwater system mentioned earlier will keep things under control in the reactor building. Operators who are in the area when the problem occurs had better get going pronto to survive, but in fact I know of no such failures in the history of the US commercial nuclear power industry.
Alright, that's enough of a brain dump for a while. Who knows? - if the world comes to its senses and we start building nuclear power plants again, I may be able to use that background again....
In case you need a picture
How to tell if you served with someone, as presented by the Kerry folks.
Link stolen shamelessly from Dean Esmay.
Link stolen shamelessly from Dean Esmay.
Free security?
I wonder - has building security improved on average since smokers were exiled outside buildings? It seems that there are always a few hanging around outside for a toke where they still can.
And some of them are nosy. I remember having an interview for a job once when an admin stuck her nose in the closed door to interrupt us. Was it *my* car that had the expired tags? In fact it was, lady, and !@#$ you very much for bringing it up right then and there. (What a day - I didn't get the job and I got a flat tire on the interstate on the way home too. Bill Clinton was President, so it must have been *his* fault, right?)
Hmm - it might be nice to have some witnesses like that around 24-7. How might you make that happen - by passing out free cigarettes? That might work, but I'm guessing it might be cheaper just to hire a guard.
Voila! - geeks are up all night. So if a company that wanted to have some witnesses hanging around decided to put up a free wireless hotspot that was available after normal working hours, could that attract help them with their physical security?
Beats me. But I'd like to see more drive-by wireless hotspots. So I'm looking for selling points wherever they might be found.
And some of them are nosy. I remember having an interview for a job once when an admin stuck her nose in the closed door to interrupt us. Was it *my* car that had the expired tags? In fact it was, lady, and !@#$ you very much for bringing it up right then and there. (What a day - I didn't get the job and I got a flat tire on the interstate on the way home too. Bill Clinton was President, so it must have been *his* fault, right?)
Hmm - it might be nice to have some witnesses like that around 24-7. How might you make that happen - by passing out free cigarettes? That might work, but I'm guessing it might be cheaper just to hire a guard.
Voila! - geeks are up all night. So if a company that wanted to have some witnesses hanging around decided to put up a free wireless hotspot that was available after normal working hours, could that attract help them with their physical security?
Beats me. But I'd like to see more drive-by wireless hotspots. So I'm looking for selling points wherever they might be found.
Reaching the wrong conclusion
Once upon a time there was a preacher inveighing against the Demon Rum. For a demonstration he took a bottle of moonshine and dropped a live worm into it. The worm quickly quit wriggling and died. He asked the congregation what they should conclude from this. And the drunk in the back (all these joke congregations have one) hollered "If you don't want to get worms, drink moonshine!"
IMO we have a similar situation where Glenn Reynolds cites big reductions in atmospheric SO2 and other substances during last year's blackout in the Ohio Valley.
So what does this tell us? That power plants are particularly filthy? Or that the atmosphere recovers rapidly from such influxes?
Always be suspicious when numbers are given in percentages. What is important is whether the typical numbers were dangerous. Were they? We can't tell from GR's cite.
At the end we read:
So perhaps the most appropriate conclusion to reach is that the atmospheric scientists are wrong again. Remember that the next time we hear about anthropogenic global warming.
Having once worked in TVA country not too far from the Widows Creek generating station, I heard the stories. Supposedly things were done differently at night when it was harder to see the smoke, etc. And experienced dirt-burner engineers know better than to drive nice cars to work - get a beater to absorb the abuse from the pollution.
Things have changed since then so perhaps I'm too harsh. And I have something of a conflict of interest in that I worked in the nuclear power industry for 10 years before I was starved out in the early 1990's. I was one of those guys who'd remind people that in normal operation a coal plant released more radioactive substances into the environment than a nuclear power plant does.
But I'm also one of those guys who knows our alternatives and has worked in the utility industry. I stand to profit from energy technologies regardless of the source of the power or whether demand goes up or down. So while I won't claim I'm a savant on energy issues, I'm more aware of them than the average citizen.
Later GR writes "I've always felt -- as many people who live in TVA country do -- that burning coal to generate power is an absolutely filthy and destructive habit." This is the guy who raves about nanotech and other cutting-edge technologies. Who's to say that we won't someday find technologies for extracting the energy from coal economically without throwing away potentially useful constituents like the sulfur that currently gets dumped into the atmosphere as SO2?
In fact, the cure might involve nanotech....
IMO we have a similar situation where Glenn Reynolds cites big reductions in atmospheric SO2 and other substances during last year's blackout in the Ohio Valley.
So what does this tell us? That power plants are particularly filthy? Or that the atmosphere recovers rapidly from such influxes?
Always be suspicious when numbers are given in percentages. What is important is whether the typical numbers were dangerous. Were they? We can't tell from GR's cite.
At the end we read:
the spectacular overnight improvements in air quality "may result from underestimation of emission from power plants, inaccurate representation of power plant effluent in emission models or unaccounted-for atomospheric chemical reactions." (Marufu et al., Geophysical Research Letters, vol 31, L13106, 2004.)
There could be other issues too, such as weather in the vicinity - if winds came from a different direction or there was a good rain the results could be skewed significantly also.
So perhaps the most appropriate conclusion to reach is that the atmospheric scientists are wrong again. Remember that the next time we hear about anthropogenic global warming.
Having once worked in TVA country not too far from the Widows Creek generating station, I heard the stories. Supposedly things were done differently at night when it was harder to see the smoke, etc. And experienced dirt-burner engineers know better than to drive nice cars to work - get a beater to absorb the abuse from the pollution.
Things have changed since then so perhaps I'm too harsh. And I have something of a conflict of interest in that I worked in the nuclear power industry for 10 years before I was starved out in the early 1990's. I was one of those guys who'd remind people that in normal operation a coal plant released more radioactive substances into the environment than a nuclear power plant does.
But I'm also one of those guys who knows our alternatives and has worked in the utility industry. I stand to profit from energy technologies regardless of the source of the power or whether demand goes up or down. So while I won't claim I'm a savant on energy issues, I'm more aware of them than the average citizen.
Later GR writes "I've always felt -- as many people who live in TVA country do -- that burning coal to generate power is an absolutely filthy and destructive habit." This is the guy who raves about nanotech and other cutting-edge technologies. Who's to say that we won't someday find technologies for extracting the energy from coal economically without throwing away potentially useful constituents like the sulfur that currently gets dumped into the atmosphere as SO2?
In fact, the cure might involve nanotech....
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Ill-suited
Some lefty put together this set of playing cards bearing images of Republicans. How original!
John Ashcroft only rates the king of diamonds? Ann Coulter, at deuce of clubs, is outranked by Andrew Sullivan?
Frankly I'd like to see what the Dems' own deck would look like. There'd have to be a lot more colors to be inclusive. Throw in yellow and brown colors and get rid of the idea of "suits" as too Republican. Clubs and Diamonds would have to go as connoting privilege, violence and wealth, and surely we couldn't have Spades...
And what games would they play with them? Not poker for sure, for as Laurence Simon has written somewhere recently, they couldn't stand a game in which it took 4 queens to beat a straight.
Original link stolen from Betsy's Page, which has lots of other good stuff too.
John Ashcroft only rates the king of diamonds? Ann Coulter, at deuce of clubs, is outranked by Andrew Sullivan?
Frankly I'd like to see what the Dems' own deck would look like. There'd have to be a lot more colors to be inclusive. Throw in yellow and brown colors and get rid of the idea of "suits" as too Republican. Clubs and Diamonds would have to go as connoting privilege, violence and wealth, and surely we couldn't have Spades...
And what games would they play with them? Not poker for sure, for as Laurence Simon has written somewhere recently, they couldn't stand a game in which it took 4 queens to beat a straight.
Original link stolen from Betsy's Page, which has lots of other good stuff too.
Riddle me this
How would Bill Clinton run against a guy who's positioned himself like John Kerry has since the convention?
The CW vs. the truth
John Kerry sought to fight in Vietnam, while George W. Bush sought to avoid it, right? That's what John Kerry would have you believe. And it's more or less the opposite of the truth.
Rev. Sensing notes a few things that aren't getting much coverage here.
Want the short(er) version?
Rev. Sensing notes a few things that aren't getting much coverage here.
Want the short(er) version?
- Kerry went to Vietnam and asked to be assigned to a swift-boat unit in the hope he wouldn't see combat. His unit's mission was changed and he did see combat.
- G. W. Bush, OTOH, became an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air Guard and was assigned to a fighter wing that was sending pilots to fly in Vietnam.
- Furthermore, Bush asked to be sent to Vietnam
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Deep question
NoSuchBlog asks "what good is surviving if all you do with your life is sit around writing blog entries about how to survive?"
I can't answer that question, but I can point to his survival tips
I can't answer that question, but I can point to his survival tips
Nichols Seeks Forgiveness for Okla. City Bombing
Right here.
I have no problem with the death penalty, especially for people like Nichols' partner Timothy McVeigh. But IMO he was executed awfully quickly by a Clinton Administration more concerned with closing the issue than for extracting just what he knew.
Let's not repeat that with Terry Nichols.
I have no problem with the death penalty, especially for people like Nichols' partner Timothy McVeigh. But IMO he was executed awfully quickly by a Clinton Administration more concerned with closing the issue than for extracting just what he knew.
Let's not repeat that with Terry Nichols.
Monday, August 09, 2004
How John Kerry would have handled 9/11
The first few minutes, anyway. Don't miss this terrific cartoon on PowerLine
At least there aren't any loopholes
Bitter points out an example of legislation at its finest: here.
When did you know you were an adult?
That was the question on a local radio station's morning drive last week. Answers varied widely. Coming home with a first paycheck, paying a first rent check, signing off on a house, bringing a baby home, were examples. Some set the sights lower, such as remembering to pick up napkins with the food at the fast food joint like their mother always had (if that's what it takes, I'm still waiting...).
I'm not sure where to draw the line for me. Getting up by myself in the morning without nagging? Buying my own clothes/doing my own laundry? Shutting off lightbulbs? Doing my own housecleaning? Buying furniture that you don't intend to sleep on? Refraining from spending money when I had it?
Of course being an adult isn't the same as being recognized as one. Little things like being treated as a houseguest rather than as a kid when you visit your parents. Getting addressed with honorifics like "Mr". Not getting carded when buying cigarettes or alcohol. Getting your own credit card solicitations.
Having survived twoscore and more years, I figure I must have made it to adulthood at some point, sense of humor and taste notwithstanding. I'm not in quite the same hurry to reach the next milestone (millstone?), when I start getting senior citizen discounts.
I'm not sure where to draw the line for me. Getting up by myself in the morning without nagging? Buying my own clothes/doing my own laundry? Shutting off lightbulbs? Doing my own housecleaning? Buying furniture that you don't intend to sleep on? Refraining from spending money when I had it?
Of course being an adult isn't the same as being recognized as one. Little things like being treated as a houseguest rather than as a kid when you visit your parents. Getting addressed with honorifics like "Mr". Not getting carded when buying cigarettes or alcohol. Getting your own credit card solicitations.
Having survived twoscore and more years, I figure I must have made it to adulthood at some point, sense of humor and taste notwithstanding. I'm not in quite the same hurry to reach the next milestone (millstone?), when I start getting senior citizen discounts.
Markets Protecting the Environment
...is the subheading for The Commons, a blog dedicated to Free-Market Environmentalism. It's excellent.
Sunday, August 08, 2004
Corporophobia
Some of the biggest corporations in this country are in the media. And who are some of their favorite whipping boys? Large corporations.
The WaPo published this today, speaking of fear of corporations. We see this:
GM did not adopt the workers when it hired them. If Flint had too many eggs in one basket economically, then that's a local problem. If they had insisted upfront that GM take extraordinary responsibility for their workers before the plant had been built, certainly GM would have gone elsewhere. Would Flint have been better off if the jobs had never been there?
How is it that people who fear corporate power can believe that government power is better? Which one has the guns and the prisons? And if corporations manage to get control of those via control of the govt, that's only because of the powers given to the govt, so if you would limit the power of corporations, maybe you ought to take a look at limiting govt power.
But in the final analysis the article can be dismissed out of hand. After all, the author works for a corporation...
The WaPo published this today, speaking of fear of corporations. We see this:
Think of the first global corporation -- the Catholic church -- with its offices in many countries (monasteries and churches), language peculiar to the institution (Latin), aggressive takeover methods (the Crusades), vigorous marketing campaign (missionaries) and competition-killing strategy (the Inquisition). It took 1,500 years and Martin Luther's entrepreneurial spirit to create a viable alternative for consumers.Right - there were no alternatives to Roman Catholicism anywhere on the planet at the time, right? And in this age of Islamists, who have spread their faith by the sword since Mohammad himself, he chooses the Catholic church as an example. And more silliness:
From the Catholic church sprang the Knights Templar, the Crusades' elite soldiers and the world's first international banking system, as the knights transmitted money along the pilgrims' path from Europe to the Holy Land. As such, they had the power that went with wealth, and were viewed with such suspicion and envy as to be eradicated by France's Philip IV, something of a medieval trust-buster.Trust-buster my eye - he saw a rival and dealt with it. Likewise for Teddy Roosevelt - he wanted to be the biggest BSD around and certainly wouldn't tolerate corporations powerful enough to tell him off.
Omnipotent organizations form in power vacuums. For those who think Rupert Murdoch is too powerful, look back to the end of the 19th century, when the federal government's regulatory authority was so small it would be unrecognizable to us. In those times, sprawling, self-interested corporations filled the void. And they weren't just depicted in the media -- they often were the media.Oh yeah, we get the example of Rupert Murdoch for excessive power. This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that he's not a flaming liberal, would it? Why don't we ever hear anyone complaining about lefties like the obscenely rich head of Viacom, Sumner Redstone? Or Ted Turner?
On the other hand, Michael Moore's 1989 "Roger & Me" details the devastating consequences of General Motors' decision to pull a manufacturing plant out of Flint, Mich. No one accuses former GM chief executive Roger Smith of intending to turn Flint into an urban ruin where people eat rabbits to survive, yet it happened when the GM plant, and its 30,000 jobs, left.He's hit bottom. Ye gads, the writer is treating Michael Moore as someone with intelligent responsible commentary!
GM did not adopt the workers when it hired them. If Flint had too many eggs in one basket economically, then that's a local problem. If they had insisted upfront that GM take extraordinary responsibility for their workers before the plant had been built, certainly GM would have gone elsewhere. Would Flint have been better off if the jobs had never been there?
United Fruit, for instance, with its close ties to the Eisenhower administration and the CIA, was Guatemala's largest landowner and employer and its de facto government, writes David Halberstam in "The Fifties."Does Halberstam, a liberal, have a problem with this? Surely he's not suggesting that the biggest "corporation" of them all, the US government, would ever do anything sinister? Oh, I forgot - Eisenhower was a Republican, and the opposition in Central America typically was Marxist.
Just last week, reports surfaced that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether four major U.S. oil companies bribed the dictator of Equatorial Guinea.Interesting. It takes two parties to a bribe, and both are unethical, yet somehow it's only the corporation which is seen as wrong. At least the briber from the corporation is working to advance the interests of his stockholders - the one who takes the bribe is putting his personal interests ahead of those he nominally serves.
In many ways, today's corporations are more powerful than nations and much more modern. Corporations are borderless nation-states, many of which have higher economic output than most sovereign countries. Ethnic infighting and border hatreds rarely affect their ability to form alliances. They are not shackled by the history of the regions in which they operate.What a shame that governments can't be run more like corporations...
How is it that people who fear corporate power can believe that government power is better? Which one has the guns and the prisons? And if corporations manage to get control of those via control of the govt, that's only because of the powers given to the govt, so if you would limit the power of corporations, maybe you ought to take a look at limiting govt power.
But in the final analysis the article can be dismissed out of hand. After all, the author works for a corporation...
Saturday, August 07, 2004
The Third Terrorist
(Whoops, an earlier version of this somehow got published before I was through with it. Let's try this again.)
It's a shame that blogs weren't as popular back in the early 90's as they are now. There are tons of stories from Clinton's day that IMO got bum's rush coverage. And probably the worst case was the Middle Eastern ties to the OKC bombings.
I recall the early coverage, in which we suspected Middle Eastern involvement and we were looking for a John Doe who looked suspiciously Middle Eastern. Then that stopped abruptly and we wound up with a couple of white guys supposedly with right-wing ties.
Wasn't that convenient for Bill Clinton? He was in trouble. He didn't want to have to deal with foreign affairs, yet he might be forced into it if this were associated with Muslims. Far better that the perps should be "right-wingers" - he'd attempt to associate these with his political opponents. Next thing we know he's accusing Rush Limbaugh et al of inspiring the event.
Of course he had no evidence of this. But what evidence *did* he have?
Now I'm reading "The Third Terrorist", by Jayna Davis. I haven't read too much of it yet. But from what I've seen, Bill Clinton knew very well that he was lying when he was blaming "hate radio" for the terrorism.
It's a shame that blogs weren't as popular back in the early 90's as they are now. There are tons of stories from Clinton's day that IMO got bum's rush coverage. And probably the worst case was the Middle Eastern ties to the OKC bombings.
I recall the early coverage, in which we suspected Middle Eastern involvement and we were looking for a John Doe who looked suspiciously Middle Eastern. Then that stopped abruptly and we wound up with a couple of white guys supposedly with right-wing ties.
Wasn't that convenient for Bill Clinton? He was in trouble. He didn't want to have to deal with foreign affairs, yet he might be forced into it if this were associated with Muslims. Far better that the perps should be "right-wingers" - he'd attempt to associate these with his political opponents. Next thing we know he's accusing Rush Limbaugh et al of inspiring the event.
Of course he had no evidence of this. But what evidence *did* he have?
Now I'm reading "The Third Terrorist", by Jayna Davis. I haven't read too much of it yet. But from what I've seen, Bill Clinton knew very well that he was lying when he was blaming "hate radio" for the terrorism.
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Alabama Executes 74-Year-Old Man (washingtonpost.com)
So reads the headline, anyway. Down in the body we see this:
All told, I'm thinking that this one might have been a good one for the anti-execution types to sit out. Yet the usual suspects, having arbitrarily decided that "a civilized society" does not execute even slimeballs like that, had to show up and get their ration of free uncritical publicity.
And of course the WaPo gave it to them.
J.B. Hubbard's failing body kept him lying in bed -- a bunk on Alabama's death row -- most of the last days of his life. Other inmates say they walked his wobbly frame to the showers and listened to him complain about the pain: the cancer in his colon and prostate, the hypertension, the aching back. They combed his hair because he couldn't. They washed him.So how did it come to this?
When spasms of dementia made him forget who he was -- what he was -- they told him: a 74-year-old, small-town Alabama man gone bad, a twice-convicted murderer, the oldest inmate on "the row." He left them behind, these most unlikely of caretakers, one month ago and was transported south to a drab, gray prison set back in the cotton fields of lower Alabama. As the sun was tipping toward the horizon, Hubbard was put to death there Thursday, becoming the oldest inmate executed in the United States in more than six decades.
Hubbard first killed in 1957, teaming with his uncle to rob and murder a Tuscaloosa man. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison but was released in October 1976, in part because a widow agreed to give him a job and help ease him back into society.So someone sponsored him. How could you ever repay someone for that? Here's how:
on a winter evening in 1977, police say Hubbard shot his benefactor three times in the face.Poor guy - losing his benefactor like that must have been devastating.
All told, I'm thinking that this one might have been a good one for the anti-execution types to sit out. Yet the usual suspects, having arbitrarily decided that "a civilized society" does not execute even slimeballs like that, had to show up and get their ration of free uncritical publicity.
And of course the WaPo gave it to them.
Oh Veronica!
Not you too! Yep, even the Archies are loosening up according to this.
Further down the page you are invited to vote for the sexiest cartoon babes of all time. I correctly picked the winner of the last contest, but competition is heating up. Kim Possible won't be jailbait forever, and then a few years behind her there's the PowerPuff Girls.
I need to get out more often.
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Alternate History
The French would love a veto over our military activity, as noted again in this.
I can't help but think of 1940, when the Wehrmacht went through the French like Ex-Lax through a skeleton. Quickly the French formed their Vichy government to get along with Hitler.
What would the French govt have said if we had asked them if we could get involved to beat Hitler?
I can't help but think of 1940, when the Wehrmacht went through the French like Ex-Lax through a skeleton. Quickly the French formed their Vichy government to get along with Hitler.
What would the French govt have said if we had asked them if we could get involved to beat Hitler?
Monday, August 02, 2004
Bunny suits?
Tasteless joke time!
A couple of guys were swapping stories about embarrassing moments. One said he had been caught while hiding in the closet watching his parents have sex. The other one said "kids do the craziest things, don't they?" The other said, "Yeah, but this was just last week".
John Kerry isn't happy about his "bunny suit" costume picture, which makes him look like one of the sperm from Woody Allen's classic "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex (But were Afraid to Ask)". Of course his thoroughly professional campaign team is calling its release a dirty trick by the Republicans. Aww -
Now we hear that there's a similar picture of W. But his dates back to 1981, long predating his political career. OK, so there is. But why would anyone bother to keep it that long? Has J. Edgar Hoover been reincarnated and hired by NASA?
IMO it's no big deal for Bush or Kerry. Kerry doesn't exactly look like the massively phony image he'd like to project, but he could hardly rank lower in my eyes anyway.
A couple of guys were swapping stories about embarrassing moments. One said he had been caught while hiding in the closet watching his parents have sex. The other one said "kids do the craziest things, don't they?" The other said, "Yeah, but this was just last week".
John Kerry isn't happy about his "bunny suit" costume picture, which makes him look like one of the sperm from Woody Allen's classic "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex (But were Afraid to Ask)". Of course his thoroughly professional campaign team is calling its release a dirty trick by the Republicans. Aww -
Now we hear that there's a similar picture of W. But his dates back to 1981, long predating his political career. OK, so there is. But why would anyone bother to keep it that long? Has J. Edgar Hoover been reincarnated and hired by NASA?
IMO it's no big deal for Bush or Kerry. Kerry doesn't exactly look like the massively phony image he'd like to project, but he could hardly rank lower in my eyes anyway.
Sunday, August 01, 2004
Dark Light
Here is an interesting review of a book about people's reactions to electricity. "Dark Light - Electricity and Anxiety From the Telegraph to the X-ray", by Linda Simon, is "fact an utterly idiosyncratic romp, a poetical humanist's inquiry, a chronicle not so much of gizmos and inventors but of their effects on the public imagination."
I had heard of Luigi Galvani's experiments applying electricity to frogs' legs to make them twitch, but the book speaks of another Italian's work with freshly guillotined human heads - by electrifying them, he could make them blink or grind their teeth. Ewwww. It made an impression on Mary Shelley too - she later wrote "Frankenstein".
In the early days people didn't know what to make of electricity, and even those like Edison had their moments - '"When Edison first heard his own phonograph talk back to him, he told a reporter he was 'actually frightened and for a moment dropped the crank he was turning,'" Simon writes'.
I think I'll have to have a look at this one. Maybe it'll provide some insight into contemporary reactions to the Internet.
I had heard of Luigi Galvani's experiments applying electricity to frogs' legs to make them twitch, but the book speaks of another Italian's work with freshly guillotined human heads - by electrifying them, he could make them blink or grind their teeth. Ewwww. It made an impression on Mary Shelley too - she later wrote "Frankenstein".
In the early days people didn't know what to make of electricity, and even those like Edison had their moments - '"When Edison first heard his own phonograph talk back to him, he told a reporter he was 'actually frightened and for a moment dropped the crank he was turning,'" Simon writes'.
I think I'll have to have a look at this one. Maybe it'll provide some insight into contemporary reactions to the Internet.
Saturday, July 31, 2004
What people with lower standards might post
Or in this case, forward through email. Yes, the picture to the left is unacceptable for a respectable blog, and is posted only so you might know how this blog's careful and discriminating editing process protects you from lower forms of political discourse while edifying you on countless other subjects.
If you checked out this blog on Sunday before noon, you no doubt noticed that the gods of irony deliberately fouled up this post - I've corrected it since then.
Incidentally, I am told that the sign in question is to be found somewhere near Green Bay, Wisconsin. And notice the lower right hand corner - apparently the guy even sprung for a spotlight so you could see it at night. Not bad for a state whose best known citizens are Ed Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer...
Explain this one to me
I grew up with the legend of JFK and PT 109. Or the movie, anyway. It was long, but I liked it when I was little.
I don't recall seeing it playing on TV for a while now, so I suppose it's possible that twenty- and possibly thirty-somethings don't know the story. It seems that JFK's craft was rammed broadside by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri, which cut it in two.
What happened later was tough on JFK and the crew, but all but two of them survived. But how did they wind up in that situation in the first place?
In particular, how did a small craft that could go at 45 knots get hit broadside by a comparatively monstrous destroyer? They were operating in Blackett Strait, which is narrow by ocean standards but still left plenty of room to maneuver. It's as if a human being were hit by a semi traveling at walking pace - it wouldn't be too hard to stay out of the way. It's hard to see how PT 109 could have suffered such a fate without gross failure by the commanding officer - IMO they would have done better with Joseph Hazelwood.
But I know jack squat about issues nautical and thought maybe some of you naval types might have comments.
I don't recall seeing it playing on TV for a while now, so I suppose it's possible that twenty- and possibly thirty-somethings don't know the story. It seems that JFK's craft was rammed broadside by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri, which cut it in two.
What happened later was tough on JFK and the crew, but all but two of them survived. But how did they wind up in that situation in the first place?
In particular, how did a small craft that could go at 45 knots get hit broadside by a comparatively monstrous destroyer? They were operating in Blackett Strait, which is narrow by ocean standards but still left plenty of room to maneuver. It's as if a human being were hit by a semi traveling at walking pace - it wouldn't be too hard to stay out of the way. It's hard to see how PT 109 could have suffered such a fate without gross failure by the commanding officer - IMO they would have done better with Joseph Hazelwood.
But I know jack squat about issues nautical and thought maybe some of you naval types might have comments.
Happy Birthday Milton Friedman!
He's 92 today. And he's one of the best arguments for cloning I can think of.
Not that I care
Glenn Reynolds is having some fun with the Alabama dildo sales ban again today. Of course no such blog item would be complete without references to junior-high taunts at judges and legislators who support such bills, suggesting that their position resulted from their personal inadequacies.
Oh, so it's acceptable to argue that way now? OK, no more unemployment insurance - whatsamatter, you're not man enough to earn a living? No more health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, ya wimps, or if we do keep them we certainly won't be covering Viagra. Yeah yeah, it was tongue in cheek, but still...
And there's a flip side to the argument. Maybe the men of AL have enough ideas and energy already and it's their partners who are lobbying for relief. Maybe they simply doesn't need these things, while those from other states need all the help they can get.
Personally I couldn't care less about it. I'd insist on a fairly compelling reason for banning the sale of a product, and I can't think of one for banning dildos and vibrators. Maybe I'd see things differently if I raised cucumbers, or manufactured candles or arthritis products.
How did this ban come about? I don't know, but AL politics can be bizarre. I lived there for a while in a dry county, which also happened to have one of the highest alcoholism rates in the state. The largest town in the county had long sought to become wet, but the county always outvoted it to keep it dry thanks to an unholy alliance of bootleggers and Baptists.
Then by some miracle, a bill passed to permit towns above a certain size to become wet independently of their counties, and IIRC this bill somehow passed without any votes from legislators in the dry counties. How the dry county delegation managed to pull that one off without leaving any fingerprints has to be a terrific story, but I've never heard the details. Anyway, my town was eligible and the locals were excited at the prospect.
Well, others were less thrilled - you should have heard the outcry. For instance, the town had one of those picturesque town squares where they still held markets every First Monday of the month (your lost baggage may be there too). But the drys circulated an illustration of the square after legalizing liquor sales, complete with strip joints and gay bars, and...well, you can't fully appreciate just how absurd that was unless you'd lived in the area at the time. Anyway, the town went wet, and although I left no more than a year later I don't recall any particular ill effects.
But I'm not living in AL nowadays, so (assuming that they don't vote for gay marriage...) their laws are none of my business. As for Glenn Reynolds, who lives in neighboring TN, I'd think he'd be for the ban. Now Tennesseeans can build a bunch of sex toy stores on the TN/AL border alongside all the fireworks places (and liquor stores, in case there are still some dry counties nearby). Border towns like South Pittsburg will make out like bandits, and the state will suck down tax dollars from Alabamians.
And let's not forget the service industries - haven't we all heard that old song "Tennessee Stud"? Isn't Tennessee the Volunteer State? (Even Alabamians will vouch for them - they told me nothing sucks like a Big Orange. To which the Tennesseeans would respond by telling you what AL women put behind their ears to attract men - their ankles.)
So if I were GR I'd encourage such bans in AL and in all the other bordering states too.
I'll close by noting that IMO this excessive interest in the sexual options of Alabamians is at least as weird as the sex toy ban. Sheesh, don't these people have anything better to worry about?
Oh, so it's acceptable to argue that way now? OK, no more unemployment insurance - whatsamatter, you're not man enough to earn a living? No more health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, ya wimps, or if we do keep them we certainly won't be covering Viagra. Yeah yeah, it was tongue in cheek, but still...
And there's a flip side to the argument. Maybe the men of AL have enough ideas and energy already and it's their partners who are lobbying for relief. Maybe they simply doesn't need these things, while those from other states need all the help they can get.
Personally I couldn't care less about it. I'd insist on a fairly compelling reason for banning the sale of a product, and I can't think of one for banning dildos and vibrators. Maybe I'd see things differently if I raised cucumbers, or manufactured candles or arthritis products.
How did this ban come about? I don't know, but AL politics can be bizarre. I lived there for a while in a dry county, which also happened to have one of the highest alcoholism rates in the state. The largest town in the county had long sought to become wet, but the county always outvoted it to keep it dry thanks to an unholy alliance of bootleggers and Baptists.
Then by some miracle, a bill passed to permit towns above a certain size to become wet independently of their counties, and IIRC this bill somehow passed without any votes from legislators in the dry counties. How the dry county delegation managed to pull that one off without leaving any fingerprints has to be a terrific story, but I've never heard the details. Anyway, my town was eligible and the locals were excited at the prospect.
Well, others were less thrilled - you should have heard the outcry. For instance, the town had one of those picturesque town squares where they still held markets every First Monday of the month (your lost baggage may be there too). But the drys circulated an illustration of the square after legalizing liquor sales, complete with strip joints and gay bars, and...well, you can't fully appreciate just how absurd that was unless you'd lived in the area at the time. Anyway, the town went wet, and although I left no more than a year later I don't recall any particular ill effects.
But I'm not living in AL nowadays, so (assuming that they don't vote for gay marriage...) their laws are none of my business. As for Glenn Reynolds, who lives in neighboring TN, I'd think he'd be for the ban. Now Tennesseeans can build a bunch of sex toy stores on the TN/AL border alongside all the fireworks places (and liquor stores, in case there are still some dry counties nearby). Border towns like South Pittsburg will make out like bandits, and the state will suck down tax dollars from Alabamians.
And let's not forget the service industries - haven't we all heard that old song "Tennessee Stud"? Isn't Tennessee the Volunteer State? (Even Alabamians will vouch for them - they told me nothing sucks like a Big Orange. To which the Tennesseeans would respond by telling you what AL women put behind their ears to attract men - their ankles.)
So if I were GR I'd encourage such bans in AL and in all the other bordering states too.
I'll close by noting that IMO this excessive interest in the sexual options of Alabamians is at least as weird as the sex toy ban. Sheesh, don't these people have anything better to worry about?
Friday, July 30, 2004
Psst - Susanna's birthday is coming
Yep, another couple of days (8/2) and she'll be, uh, well, I don't exactly know. I'm too much of a gentleman to say anyway even if I knew. But it's for sure that if she were a horse they'd have shot her by now.
Keep going down the lower right side of her page and you'll see the Amazon wish list and tip jars. Give till it hurts so she can continue to spread enlightenment in rural Alabama, post gratuitous niece photos and finish up that Ph. D.
Incidentally, I have no financial ties to our Ms. Susanna and she lives several hundred miles away. But if she wants to pass on some of the spoils that's OK with me.
Keep going down the lower right side of her page and you'll see the Amazon wish list and tip jars. Give till it hurts so she can continue to spread enlightenment in rural Alabama, post gratuitous niece photos and finish up that Ph. D.
Incidentally, I have no financial ties to our Ms. Susanna and she lives several hundred miles away. But if she wants to pass on some of the spoils that's OK with me.
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Should be seen and not heard
Did you know that abortions never happened before Roe v. Wade? Why all, they were illegal!Sure, honey. Women never had abortions before then - those guys on the Supreme Court invented it just as sure as some Italian guy discovered the clitoris in the 1600's. Actually women went for visits with relatives, or to attend to a sick aunt, or something else, and when they came back that little problem had gone away.
Ashley sweetie, you are one fine specimen. Don't ruin it with stupid lines like this. If you want to talk about women's rights, learn some of the history first.
And support the man who's freed women by the millions in Afghanistan and Iraq - certainly more than the likes of Gloria Steinem and Betty Fredan have ever done. In case you don't know, I'm talking about George Bush.
Ashley sweetie, you are one fine specimen. Don't ruin it with stupid lines like this. If you want to talk about women's rights, learn some of the history first.
And support the man who's freed women by the millions in Afghanistan and Iraq - certainly more than the likes of Gloria Steinem and Betty Fredan have ever done. In case you don't know, I'm talking about George Bush.
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Wimps
Being a Cub fan by the grace of God, I have some natural sympathy for the Red Sox. And I'm with those who say that rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for General Motors.
But I'm not at all impressed with the Red Sox after the skirmish with the Yankees last night. First we have Jason Varitek in full catcher's gear taking on an unprotected A-Rod after he's just been hit by a pitch. Varitek didn't even take his mask off. Was that enough protection, Varitek? Or should we have given you a gun just to make it fair?
Then we have three Red Sox taking one Yankee off to the side without doing enough damage to him to get him out of the game. I would have expected three Boston sports writers to do better than that. In my old neighborhood we'd have made those three wear skirts, except the girls were tougher than that.
Well, maybe that last part was exaggerated a little. But the Red Sox sure don't have anything to be proud of.
But I'm not at all impressed with the Red Sox after the skirmish with the Yankees last night. First we have Jason Varitek in full catcher's gear taking on an unprotected A-Rod after he's just been hit by a pitch. Varitek didn't even take his mask off. Was that enough protection, Varitek? Or should we have given you a gun just to make it fair?
Then we have three Red Sox taking one Yankee off to the side without doing enough damage to him to get him out of the game. I would have expected three Boston sports writers to do better than that. In my old neighborhood we'd have made those three wear skirts, except the girls were tougher than that.
Well, maybe that last part was exaggerated a little. But the Red Sox sure don't have anything to be proud of.
Curtain call
In case you haven't seen JibJab, here's another link.
Thanks to Punch the Bag from the great state of Indiana for reminding me.
Thanks to Punch the Bag from the great state of Indiana for reminding me.
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Gay Marriage: What's It For?
So Michael Williams asks here. IMO he's basically on target - it's about "we're just as good as you" and wanting to suck up some bennies.
Oh, but they're in Love! Fine - you don't have to be a cynic to ask what that has to do with marriage. Are we now to be permitted to marry anything we love?
If we're going to do it and extend it to same-sex couples, what justification do we have to stop there? If the definition of marriage is just some arbitrary social construct, then why can't it group people more than two at a time? If it needn't be restricted by sex, then why should it respect age, genetic distance or even be limited to pairs? And what about the narcissists - why even require two)? Can gays provide any intellectual or moral justification for limiting marriage only to pairs?
Oh yeah, there's this crap about it being a "civil right". I've never heard any legal justification for that assertion. If the intentions of the legislators or justices is to be given any weight, does anyone really believe that any anti-discrimination legal decisions, laws or amendments were made with the intent of permitting gay marriage?
Enough - this has been addressed here many times. Somehow the fact that I have weighed in on this topic doesn't settle it - imagine that....
Oh, but they're in Love! Fine - you don't have to be a cynic to ask what that has to do with marriage. Are we now to be permitted to marry anything we love?
If we're going to do it and extend it to same-sex couples, what justification do we have to stop there? If the definition of marriage is just some arbitrary social construct, then why can't it group people more than two at a time? If it needn't be restricted by sex, then why should it respect age, genetic distance or even be limited to pairs? And what about the narcissists - why even require two)? Can gays provide any intellectual or moral justification for limiting marriage only to pairs?
Oh yeah, there's this crap about it being a "civil right". I've never heard any legal justification for that assertion. If the intentions of the legislators or justices is to be given any weight, does anyone really believe that any anti-discrimination legal decisions, laws or amendments were made with the intent of permitting gay marriage?
Enough - this has been addressed here many times. Somehow the fact that I have weighed in on this topic doesn't settle it - imagine that....
Public service announcement
Attention you single men: Fred Reed doesn't think you should get married.
But if you won't be dissuaded, at least listen to Ben Franklin.
Above all, don't believe everything you read.
But if you won't be dissuaded, at least listen to Ben Franklin.
Above all, don't believe everything you read.
Security Clinton style
I'm guessing that I would have seen this photo long ago if the models were Republicans.
Stolen from Clayton Cramer.
Stolen from Clayton Cramer.
Friday, July 23, 2004
Your number has come up...
Because in Nigeria rumors are spreading that taking calls from certain numbers can kill you.
It must be true - it came from Fark.
It must be true - it came from Fark.
Essential information
Yes, fish get constipated too, and no one knows it betta than our Big Arm Woman.
Land rights under attack
From Beaker's Corner we have this account of asinine land use rules.
What's for the common good should be at the common expense. Is that too hard to understand?
What's for the common good should be at the common expense. Is that too hard to understand?
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Tell me another one
If you read the news long enough you'll see everything. One that I saw on the news in FL once told of a man who got too affectionate with the filter suction inlet on a swimming pool at a motel. Others have tried to explain intimate encounters with vacuum cleaners that way ("I was nude, and I tripped over the vacuum, turning it on, and....) , and the list of items found in colons is long ("I accidentally sat on that light bulb. Honest!").
But to date no one has tried to tell us that he "inadvertantly" stuck classified documents in his pants. See Glenn Reynolds from about here on up for all the links you can stand on this farce. Sheesh, how stupid do they think we are?
But to date no one has tried to tell us that he "inadvertantly" stuck classified documents in his pants. See Glenn Reynolds from about here on up for all the links you can stand on this farce. Sheesh, how stupid do they think we are?
NWA Worldwide Exclusive!
That's right - where else could you read where I've been the last few days?
Yep, I went to Chicago for a long weekend and got to see some people I've wanted to see for a long time. This was the first time I had flown since 9/11 so I was wondering what to expect. Of course I had seen the Syrian musician story just before I left...
It wasn't too ridiculous. I had already frisked myself and put stuff that would flunk a metal detector into ziplock bags, and if I hadn't bumped my shoulders on the sides of the metal detector I would have made it through without incident. I did forget to take this laptop out of my carry-on bag at O'Hare, which got a bit of a rise out of the security people, but it wasn't a catastrophe.
There was one small snafu with the luggage. It seems that the airline has two flights from O'Hare to BWI on Monday nights, and although I was on the later flight the bag was placed on the earlier one. That's a good idea as long as the planes land in the order they're scheduled, but somehow the earlier flight had a crew scheduling problem and wound up leaving after mine did. I got my stuff, but it probably added an hour to my time at the airport.
If you go to Chicago, be aware that several of the big attractions such as the Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum are only open until about 5, even in the summer. My friend and I did manage to spend an hour in the Field Museum, then it was off to nearby Chinatown for dinner and shopping.
Then it was off to suburban Brookfield for "Brookfest", featuring a carnival and local oldies legends the Cryan' Shames and the Ides of March. Both had national hits in the 60's and early 70's - you must have heard the horn riff from "Vehicle".
Most of the rest of the time was with relatives. Yep, same people, same bull sessions, same stories, same arguments. And I can't wait for the next time.
One of my relatives brought her boyfriend. They were new graduates from a small expensive liberal arts school - she had studied English and history, and he was a philosophy major. They were raving about that abomination "Fahrenheit 9/11", but somehow hadn't heard of "Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man". The best part was when she said that the two of them were "realists", which almost made me gag. The philosophy major's denial of the existence of objective reality was a hoot. He gave the stock lefty spiel that Communism had never been properly implemented, and I inquired what was "scientific" about "scientific socialism" - how could we know what would happen if it were implemented if in fact it never had been? No answer, of course.
Alas, it's back to the salt mines. But at least the world knows what was happening while I was gone so everyone can finally get a good night's rest.
Yep, I went to Chicago for a long weekend and got to see some people I've wanted to see for a long time. This was the first time I had flown since 9/11 so I was wondering what to expect. Of course I had seen the Syrian musician story just before I left...
It wasn't too ridiculous. I had already frisked myself and put stuff that would flunk a metal detector into ziplock bags, and if I hadn't bumped my shoulders on the sides of the metal detector I would have made it through without incident. I did forget to take this laptop out of my carry-on bag at O'Hare, which got a bit of a rise out of the security people, but it wasn't a catastrophe.
There was one small snafu with the luggage. It seems that the airline has two flights from O'Hare to BWI on Monday nights, and although I was on the later flight the bag was placed on the earlier one. That's a good idea as long as the planes land in the order they're scheduled, but somehow the earlier flight had a crew scheduling problem and wound up leaving after mine did. I got my stuff, but it probably added an hour to my time at the airport.
If you go to Chicago, be aware that several of the big attractions such as the Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum are only open until about 5, even in the summer. My friend and I did manage to spend an hour in the Field Museum, then it was off to nearby Chinatown for dinner and shopping.
Then it was off to suburban Brookfield for "Brookfest", featuring a carnival and local oldies legends the Cryan' Shames and the Ides of March. Both had national hits in the 60's and early 70's - you must have heard the horn riff from "Vehicle".
Most of the rest of the time was with relatives. Yep, same people, same bull sessions, same stories, same arguments. And I can't wait for the next time.
One of my relatives brought her boyfriend. They were new graduates from a small expensive liberal arts school - she had studied English and history, and he was a philosophy major. They were raving about that abomination "Fahrenheit 9/11", but somehow hadn't heard of "Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man". The best part was when she said that the two of them were "realists", which almost made me gag. The philosophy major's denial of the existence of objective reality was a hoot. He gave the stock lefty spiel that Communism had never been properly implemented, and I inquired what was "scientific" about "scientific socialism" - how could we know what would happen if it were implemented if in fact it never had been? No answer, of course.
Alas, it's back to the salt mines. But at least the world knows what was happening while I was gone so everyone can finally get a good night's rest.
Good news from Iraq
Arthur Chrenkoff has been compiling good news from Iraq for some time now, and he's done a very good job. His latest compilation has even been featured on the OpinionJournal's site.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Check it out
I'd never been to Bifurcated Rivets before, and I wonder why. I could rip it off for days - what could be wrong with a blog that points us to the Slide Rule Universe?
Wanna argue forever? Of course you do - you're reading blogs. So I propose a couple more links I found there - the 50 greatest rock intros and top 100 albums of the 70's.
But there's lots more.
Wanna argue forever? Of course you do - you're reading blogs. So I propose a couple more links I found there - the 50 greatest rock intros and top 100 albums of the 70's.
But there's lots more.
Sunday, July 11, 2004
"Look Ma, No Hands!"
Derek Lowe presents How Not To Do It, a compendium of ways to shorten your career or life via chemistry. I've never met the gentleman, but I wonder if he still has all of his fingers.
His tongue is probably OK though. He discourages tasting chemicals in the lab, but there is at least one prominent dissenter as noted here.
After all, the tongue and olfactory apparatus are sensitive chemical sensors - it's a shame not to be able to use them. And in days before better technologies became available, they were. For instance, one of the tests for diabetes was sugar in the urine....yeah, that's one way they tested.
His tongue is probably OK though. He discourages tasting chemicals in the lab, but there is at least one prominent dissenter as noted here.
After all, the tongue and olfactory apparatus are sensitive chemical sensors - it's a shame not to be able to use them. And in days before better technologies became available, they were. For instance, one of the tests for diabetes was sugar in the urine....yeah, that's one way they tested.
Leftism as mental illness
From a comment over at Gene Expression:
No, we needn't treat "deviationism" with drugs. But IMO there are plenty of leftists who need some serious medication nowadays.
The Left is nothing but the reservoir of all unresolved dissatisfaction of any sort, of all unresolved feelings of inferiority
There's more here.
No, we needn't treat "deviationism" with drugs. But IMO there are plenty of leftists who need some serious medication nowadays.
The CPA from the inside
Once-respectable economist Paul Krugman smeared the CPA, and Simone Ledeen replies here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)