Month: April 2007

At least, so said Paul Krugman (from Mickey Kaus, via Glenn Reynolds). What Krugman is talking about is the play in which the Rhinoceros is a metaphor for fascism, the characters eventually transforming themselves into Rhinos (i.e. fascists). It’s just Krugman’s cute way of stopping just short of calling Kaus a fascist. (Along with “the…

Battery technology sucks. As these comments by infuriated Ipod users make clear, it’s still in the Stone Age. The Stone Age is catching up with me in the form of a war between the dying batteries in my cell phone and its bluetooth earpiece — both of which are the same age. Even under ideal…

In the latest horror story from San Francisco (HT Justin), a family with small children whose crime was to attempt to drive home from a Japantown restaurant was set upon and their vehicle vandalized by a deranged cult of bicycle activists known as “Critical Mass”: It was supposed to be a birthday night out for…

Anyone who thinks the lash is a particularly awful punishment should remember that when the founders used the phrase “cruel and unusual punishment,” they had in mind far more awful things. Via Clayton Cramer, I learned about a wonderful online resource: The Proceedings of the Old Bailey–the primary criminal court of London from 1674-1834–is available…

Excuse me, but did the Supreme Court just inject morality into a scientific debate? Thought I should ask. Massachusetts v. EPA is a long decision (pdf here via David Bernstein), but it was generating blogospheric commentary even before the decision. Greenie Watch featured this cartoon: And now that it’s a done deal, there’s a lot…

Glenn Reynolds quoted Megan McArdle as saying (in part) that she’d “rather be waterboarded than put in the general population of a high security prison,” and that: “it is entirely possible that life at Guantanamo is more bearable than life at San Quentin, and no, that is not a defense of Guantanamo. I’d take the…

Listening to the G. Gordon Liddy Show, I just heard Congressman Tom Tancredo announce his candidacy for president of the United States (on the GOP ticket of course). He’s stressing the immigration issue, and considering how much this issue has been neglected by most politicians, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Tancredo get a substantial…

Jose Guardia links a very ironic post about how global warming may have triggered the rise of mammals: The researchers believe our ‘ancestors’, and those of all other mammals on earth now, began to radiate around the time of a sudden increase in the temperature of the planet – ten million years after the death…

An anonymous commenter named “Candace” has just discovered a post I wrote so long ago (about the ongoing effort to make the Philadelphia Zoo get rid of its elephants) that I’m afraid no one will notice it. From the tone of her comment, I don’t think Candace is happy with me or with the other…

As I’ve said repeatedly, I don’t like television. In fact, I really hate the medium. Not so much because of media bias (which is of course there), but because it occupies too much of my brain space. It’s as if it wants to take over my thinking for me, and leave nothing up to my…

Local gun control. Coming soon to a city near you? Yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer featured the following front-page headline about illegal guns — Mayoral Mayday on violence – Keeping illegal guns off the street and other remedies for crime topped the agenda as 17 city leaders from three states met here. The article discusses the mayors’…