Month: August 2004

If you devote any time at all to serious life extension, that’s the first reasonable objection you hear. Assuming of course, that you have the nerve to bring it up in public at all. Thirty years ago it was thought “eccentric”. But today’s a new day, and more and more people find the idea at…

Sometimes the internet is so behind the times… I saw a news story last night about a police officer surfing in Atlantic City (courtesy tropical storms which kicked up the surf) who was approached by a shark. As the shark came in for a bite, the officer (a former boxer who stands at 6′ 4″)…

The Beastly Overlord has left me with strict marching orders, and in the strangest tone of voice, too. It was a painfully self-cancelling mixture of virile, manly authority and unseemly whining. ?I?m counting on you and Varius to pick up the slack. Try to produce one new post per day. At least one. Two would…

You might enjoy this parody site, “The Iraq War Was Wrong Blog?. I laughed and laughed, perhaps you will too. Here’s just a sample. Good neighbors, bad neighbors When I was in law school, (briefly) (long story – don’t go there) (as in don’t ask, not as in don’t go to law school) (although that…

I was just reading Bertrand Bronson’s essay “Johnson Agonistes” which puts Johnson first in contest with the leading men of his youth and then in contest with himself. He emerges as a man of radical spirit yet with a belief in the unquestioned sovereignty of the state, viz. authoritarianism. In respect of this Bronson rightly…

I really need to get an internet connection so I can post these things in a timely manner … I happened to catch a few minutes of NBC’s coverage of the opening ceremonies at Athens and wondered if anyone else laughed along with me as a float clearly representing the geometric period in Greek vase…

Blogger D.F. Moore has done me the honor of responding to my latest Kass post. It?s my very first trackback, so I?m kind of pumped. Thanks, Mr. Moore! My argument stands accused of being sophomoric and unhelpful. Well, regarding the first count, guilty as charged, sir! Though my opinions may be sophomoric, I shall endeavor…

So Julia Child is gone. I mourn. She was truly one of a kind. Some of you may not know this, but she served in the O.S.S. during WWII. It?s true, so help me. She worked at one point with ?Wild Bill” Donovon. Scheie told me years ago, and I researched it. Frankly, I was…

Pondering the roots of a vexing problem, I stumbled upon something. Is French Hegelian Marxism competing right now with the philosophy (real or perceived) of Leo Strauss? Reading Leo Strauss’s book On Tyranny was a life-changing experience for me. Originally published in 1948, it is Strauss’s interpretation of Xenophon’s dialogue “Hiero, or the Tyrant.” The…

Here I am on the Florida East Coast, violating the first rule of my vacation by blogging! Well, there’s a two hour delay, and there’s free WiFi, so what else can I do? Everyone’s talking about the hurricane damage, but there’s none to be seen here, because the storm hit the West Coast. One thing…

In the comments to my post about the Republican base, Spoons raised a very important point which invites further elaboration. His comment: Eric, you fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is ‘Never get involved in a land war in Asia’, but only slightly less famous is this: ‘Some…

I fear I may have killed Julia Child, telepathically. Before you call me mad know that I have twice insisted in the last week that Julia Child was dead, hazily recalling her donation of a house to Smith College some years ago, and assuming that the consequence of her demise. And just last night a…

I may be diving into a hurricane, but unless the trip cancels at the last minute, I’m going to be away for one week (08/14 through 08/21). Fortunately, it won’t be like last year when my blog all but stopped. This time, Varius Contrarius and Justin Case will entertain and regale all regular readers. When…

This did not come as news to me. TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – In a stunning declaration, Gov. James E. McGreevey announced his resignation Thursday and acknowledged that he had an affair with another man. “My truth is that I am a gay American,” he said with his wife by his side at a nationally televised…

One of my favorite pastimes is to browse the stacks in the basement of the college library where most books are labelled “STORAGE” and virtually forgotten. I’m ever in the ire of the girls at the check-out counter for bringing them dusty old barcode-less books. One book has jumped out at me a few times…

This was too good not to share in full. The last line had me wondering whether “Turkmenbashi” had not been to Houyhnhnmland. ASHGABAT (Reuters) – Turkmenistan’s authoritarian president, whose recent decrees have included banning gold teeth, has told television presenters to stop wearing make-up because he had difficulty telling the men from the women. “You…

This is no one universally binding Morality; there are only moralities, which come in two basic types: slave morality and master morality. Slaves compensate for their lack of power by their feelings of resentment toward their masters, whom they label as “evil.” “Blessed are the poor” translates as “I hate the rich.” Masters, however, discharge…

Let me call your attention to a truly superlative little book. That is, if you have a love for historical technology bordering on the obsessive. Joel Mokyr’s immensely informative “The Lever of Riches” poses the question, how does an economy grow? It goes on to define the different modes of economic expansion, and explores in…

Hugh Hewitt made me laugh today: Atrios has put up the lamest post in history, an apparent defense of Kerry’s lies about having been in Cambodia on Christmas Eve, 1968. Go read it and laugh. The meltdown is progressing, as Carl Cameron reported on FNC tonight that the Kerry campaign is saying that Kerry was…

Have they got Kerry so dead to rights that he’s a dead man walking? A live zombie? Actually, I don’t think Kerry really is a zombie. But others have asked whether he might be soft on zombies: WASHINGTON, DC — If president, Sen. John Kerry may de-prioritize fighting zombies as part of the war on…