Month: November 2011

The First Mate asked for this. So here it is honey.

In the discussion a few of us were having about the (near) future of civilization commenter bram said (edited for spelling errors) The problem I have with most of the atheists (I’m typing to an obvious exception [that would be me – Simon]) I know is that they have substituted God with the State. They…

I have absolutely no sympathy for the Occupy Wall Street protests (OWS). None. It wasn’t the Banks that crashed the economy. It was Congress under the auspices of Chris Dodd and Barney Frank who set up the rules that the banks HAD to operate under. The banks were forced to write mortgages that were never…

Joe Paterno is wonderful man (and an old family friend), and FWIW, I think firing him at his age is an awful act of disrespect towards someone who has helped Penn State enormously for many decades. It smacks of cowardly institutional CYA. The man is not accused of doing anything himself. He is accused of…

The government is now taxing Christmas in order to pay for its wrecking of the economy. In the pre-dawn darkness of a chilly LA morning, my day started off with a chuckle. A friend in the reforestation business sent me an email detailing the US Department of Agriculture’s new ‘Christmas Tree’ tax that was approved…

Do not watch this video if you can’t stand dogs getting shot and a SWAT team terrorizing a Columbia, Missouri family over a few pot pipes. I first blogged this on 10 May 2010. There has been some reaction to that video which I will get to shortly. What was the disposition of the case?…

I was reading a transcript of the above speech at Israpundit and decided to follow the link given to the source of the transcript. You can try that here: sarahpac.com/posts/governor-palins-speech-at-the-restoring-america-tea-party-of-america-rally-in-indianola-iowa-video-and-transcript. As you can see it comes up “Not Found”. OK maybe Comcast is acting up again. So I look up Sarah Pac and what do…

I was reading the reviews of Spengler’s new book How Civilizations Die: (And Why Islam Is Dying Too) and came across this interesting bit: David Goldman’s book is hard to summarize, perhaps because it is so thought-provoking. It is also full of data which you have probably never seen before. The most startling data describe…

The engineer is a Brit obviously. What we Americans call a ‘scope probe – meaning oscilloscope probe – he calls a CRO probe – meaning cathode ray oscilloscope probe. Well obviously there are no cathode ray tubes (sort of like a television display tube) in modern ‘scopes. But the term has stuck. For the Brits…

I have just been reading about Carrie Nation’s visit to my beloved hometown of Ann Arbor. Here’s what she said in her memoirs: “I have been to all the principal universities of the United States. At Cambridge, where Harvard is situated, there are no saloons allowed, but in Ann Arbor the places are thick where…

Well Gold ATMs actually. China is one of the world’s largest producers and purchasers of precious metals, especially gold and silver. Beijing has now unveiled its first gold ATM machine in a shopping district. More than 2,000 will be installed in the next two years. I wonder if this is meant to sop up the…

My friend Karradine has sent me an update from Thailand. ==== A friend sent me a link this morning to tempers rising as the waters rise, but that’s been a local headline, recurring for a couple days now… I asked around, and learned this: various parts of Bangkok benefit from ‘aid’ or ‘protection’ from different…

I’ve mentioned fusionism before, but I am fascinated by Matt Welch’s recent Reason article on the subject. Especially this: …The GOP has been more receptive to libertarian ideas these past couple of years. Yes, it’s still not much, and a lot of it is just the skin-deep opportunism of being in opposition, but I think…

I like them because they are interesting. Very few are worth anything. So here is a woman, a former State Department Official, droning on about the Illuminati, the Skull and Bones Society, Adam Weishaupt, and lots of other stuff. Great fun from Newsalert. Where you can watch the rest of the videos. .

There are more comments from the Iranians earlier in the thread. Here is one I found interesting. It seems that Construction of WB7 or WB8 model isn’t difficult. It will be possible for us. Here is a real gem. What I can’t figure out is why the Israelis aren’t on it. The thread started because…

I got a disturbing email from a friend  who tells me my “prognostication skills are apparently fairly good,” and sends me a link to this analysis from Captain Ed, who confirms what I have been predicting too many times. “If Republicans want a proven substantive fighter who can out-debate Barack Obama, they may come to…

Charlie Rose discusses with brain scientists the nature of addiction. There are a few commercials at the beginning. Update: The NIDA woman just repeats the DEA line – drugs hijack the brain. She never explains why only 10% of those who try heroin ever become addicted. She also makes no mention of the fact that…

The protesters back in the 60s who behaved the way the OWS crowd is behaving elected Nixon in a landslide. The backers of OWS have to know this even if the rioters don’t. So the question for me is: why do the backers of OWS want a Republican elected? And just which Republican might that…

“Cain 26%, Romney 23%, Gingrich 14%” What can I say? For many months I have been doing my damnedest to sound the alarm about Gingrich, but obviously a blog like this is not the place to avert an impending train wreck.

The researchers at Polywell Fusion have issued a report on their progress. Project Status More than 50% Completed Final Project Report Submitted No Project Activities Description Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services Quarterly Activities/Project Description As of 3Q/2011, the WB-8 device has generated over 500 high power plasma shots. EMC2 is conducting tests on Wiffle-Ball…