Month: December 2011

I haven’t been doing much politics lately (well not as much as I used to) but my latest ECN article, Good Politics, is about correcting an error made by our government in the 30s (it takes the stupids in Washington a while to wise up). And it is relevant to electronics and the whole tech…

Here’s something that ought to amaze and astound everyone. A scientific study has reached a dramatic conclusion: Alcohol fuels the desire to engage in unsafe sex. Got that? Science is catching up to the centuries-old popular wisdom that alcohol lowers inhibitions. I used to think that was one of those truisms. Common sense, even. Now…

No. I didn’t misspell crisis. Because when you understand it you will cry too. Hypothecation ReHypothecation

FYI Newt’s name is not Johnny. Fire On The Mountain

“I want a World War Two style victory plan-a decisive, all out cataclysmic effort to break the back of the drug culture.” Yes, Newt Gingrich actually said that. Please let that sink in. He did not say he wanted a World War Two style war on drugs, but against drug culture. What does that mean,…

Reason’s A. Barton Hinkle has an interesting piece titled “Drug War’s Mission Creep Hurts Farmers: The nation’s drug warriors fret that hemp cultivation would make pot prohibition harder.” A Virginia farmer wants to do what the early Virginian founders once did, and grow hemp. Politis is a retired businessman who now sits on the Board…

I hate it when important details news in events go unreported, especially when it seems that they are being deliberately unreported. Last night when I read about a gunman at Sunset and Vine shooting people at random, I figured he was either a nut or a Jihadist (which is a distinction, even though there is…

There’s a GOP debate tonight. Many of the consensus bandwagon people are drooling with anticipation over Newt kicking Mitt’s butt. As I have said a number of times, I don’t like Romney, but I can’t stand Gingrich. What I like less or cannot stand more does not matter. I have learned that regardless of what…

Three Dog Night. Shambhala Booksellers In Berkeley Closes. It was one of my favorite places when I lived in Berkeley. I bought my first Aleister Crowley book, Magick In Theory And Practice, there.

A bill which would stop the EPA from regulating so-called “farm dust” was recently approved by Congress: The Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act, H.R. 1633, which would prevent the EPA from issuing any new rule over the next year that regulates coarse particulate matter, or “nuisance dust,” passed in a 268-150 vote. Like other environmental bills…

And that is not a cause of indigestion at all. But it is natural. It is shale gas. SHANGHAI (AP) — China is reporting discoveries of major shale gas reserves in its western Sichuan region, a development that could drastically boost its domestic supplies of natural gas and temper demand for imports. State-owned China National…

My friend Karridine reports: Friends, Good news, less-good news… The less-good news is, there’s no NEW flooding hitting us in the Bangkok river-delta flood-basin, and that’s FINE for now. The GOOD news is, we took flood-relief out to affected Thais (and others) in the Bangkok area this last week, because BAD news is that much…

“ONLY TRAINED LAW-ENFORCEMENT PROFESSIONALS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO CARRY GUNS” So proclaims Glenn Reynolds sarcastically, as he links the latest news item about some incredibly inept gun handling by Milwaukee police: According to a criminal complaint released Thursday, Edwards was in line at Auntie Anne’s pretzel shop when he reached into his back pocket for his…

I was deeply disappointed to read that not only might the world not actually end on December 21, 2012, but that the evidence doesn’t even show that it’s what the Mayans believed: Trying to determine how 2012 — specifically, Dec. 21, 2012 — turned into a worldwide doomsday watch is a thankless pursuit, although the…

This is a confirmation of Eric’s point in Remember Pearl Harbor. Too many people think that stuff like that will never happen again. They have already been proven wrong.

Liberals love the Government tit. But so do conservatives. The difference? Liberals love the left tit and conservatives love the right. Some difference.

After 70 years, the date still lives in infamy, and even though the survivors have gotten so old that they will have to disband their group, it is important that we remember. Too many people think that stuff like that will never happen again. They have already been proven wrong.

The book: Beyond Politics – Why Government Fails

I have a new one up at ECN Magazine, I Love The Sound Of Hetrodyne Whistles. It is an evaluation of an electronics kit suitable for kids (perfect for the holiday season). And I also discuss how my love of electronics came about. Cross Posted at Power and Control

When I first read about the family whose home was destroyed by a fire while firemen stood there and watched, I was upset. Apparently they failed to pay a subscription fee, so the result is that they didn’t get emergency fire services: A Tennessee couple helplessly watched their home burn to the ground, along with…