Author: Dave

America left South Vietnam to its own devices in 1975, leading to 2 1/2 million deaths and totolitarian governments in Cambodia and Vietnam. So I assume the anti-war mantra now is: if it turns out no worse than ‘Nam every thing will be fine. Also note that in ’75 all the South was asking for…

Anxiety Insights has a post up about childhood trauma and its relation to depression. Childhood trauma, but not adult trauma, is strongly associated with depression and coronary heart disease in adulthood, say Emory University researchers and colleagues presenting at the American Psychosomatic Society Annual Meeting, being held March 7-10 in Budapest, Hungary. “Little is known…

I was reading a thread at the Netscape blog about why and how Iraq is lost. It made me clarify some of my ideas from an earlier post. One commenter put forth the notion that wars are in fact diplomacy by other means and that the object is to gain a post war commercial advantage.…

The usual quit now and avoid the rush folks are out in force at Winds of Change. One of them comes up with the clever idea that in geopolitics it is wise to avoid moves whose outcome is uncertain. Of course that cedes all uncertain ground to our enemies. Given that most of life is…

Wind energy generation is booming [pdf]. Brussels, 2 February 2007. The booming wind energy markets around the world exceeded expectations in 2006, with the sector experiencing yet another record year. On the day of the publication of the 4th Assessment Report on Climate Change by the IPCC, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) released its…

Well the design is hippie. The sentiments not so much. Click on the design to get one. Mugs and other stuff too. The artists? Cox and Forkum of course

Economics for every day people. Translation from economics to english by Yoram Bauman PhD. H/T A Second Hand Conjecture Cross Posted at The Astute Bloggers

That would be the duty on imported ethanol. Or if you prefer the Aurthur Daniels Midland duty. This video is Not Work Safe in places. In other places it might be a requirement. Viewer discretion advised. For more video of a somewhat drier nature visit Set America Free. Actually since they are promoting alcohol they…

As some of you may know I’m a big fan of Economist Hernando DeSoto. I covered some of his thinking in Property. Which is all about the historical origins of property. Of course the origin of the desire for property is biological. What property rights do is minimize the fighting about property. Making the owner…

London Calling. The Times Online has an article by the author of “Sideshow”, William Shawcross, about how Iraq could turn out like Vietnam. (bolding by your ed.) At the end of 1975 I went to the Thai-Cambodian border to talk to refugees. Their horrific stories of people with glasses being killed as “intellectuals” and of…

I was doing my daily read of LGF and came across an interesting item on the Burka Band. An all girl band from Afghanistan. The music is kind of a bland techno, but the words of social commentary are in english and the visuals are interesting. So I went looking in the comments of LGF…

A. Jacksonian says China Has Problems. He gives a long and detailed look at China’s current situation (bad) and its future outlook (worse). * He looks at economic problems – non-performing loans in the 30 – 60% of GDP range. * Demographic problems – an aging population and too many men * Ecological problems –…

The subject of John Kerry and his war stories has come up again. Some of the people at the above link started in with their war stories. So naturally I had to tell one or two of my own. Some one was talking about Danag. So I piped up. I remember Danag early ’66. My…

Reader Paul has sent me a couple of links on what Microsoft’s Vista will mean to computer users. This link is for non technical folks. Let me excerpt a bit: …reviews have focused chiefly on Vista’s new functionality, for the past few months the legal and technical communities have dug into Vista’s “fine print.” Those…

I couldn’t blog this myself. Too horrible. Carl in Jerusalem

The latest Medal of Honor recipient was a chopper pilot in ‘Nam at the Battle of Ia Drang. President Bush awarded him the Medal. Let me quote a little from the President: On the morning of November 14, 1965, Major Crandall’s unit was transporting a battalion of soldiers to a remote spot in the Ia…

My favorite Egyptian blogger The Sandmonkey has been blogging about jailed blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman. CAIRO — An Egyptian court’s imprisonment of a blogger last week is another official blow to free speech, according to fellow bloggers and human-rights activists. “It affects the only space of free speech left in Egypt, which is the…

I was reading Michael Totten’s blog and came across this interview of him by the Jerusalem Post. One part of the interview caught my eye. (Question by the Post in bold) Are Syria and Iran still supplying Hizbullah? Have they recovered from the war last summer? Absolutely. Hizbullah is as strong, or at least nearly…

Since I have a post up on cognitive ability and how it seems fixed, I thought it would be a good idea to post this bit of advice. There is now considerable evidence that breast-fed children have higher intelligence. For a long time it was impossible to be certain this was not merely because the…

According to the American founders all men are created equal. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,…