Author: Eric Scheie

Edward Lawson (who regular readers may recall is a dear old friend) was arrested not long ago in Newark, New Jersey for basically nothing. (A lot of manufactured, trumped up charges.) He discusses what happened here: EDWARD LAWSON from Picture America on Vimeo. For no reason that I can determine other than his appearance and…

Maybe I’m too traditional, but men’s plunging necklines (exhibited in order to display what the fashionists call “heavage”) is something I can do without. Man cleavage — plunging necklines slit open to reveal chest hair, pectoral muscles, maybe more — is back. Until recently, male d&eacutecolletage was an androgynous fashion affectation limited mainly to sporadic…

Earlier I saw signs hanging on chains which blocked a brand new, otherwise perfectly passable sidewalk on the University of Michigan campus. The signs proclaimed “SIDEWALK CLOSED. NO WINTER MAINTENANCE” and yet there was absolutely no indication that any maintenance was needed. The only thing that’s changed is that the temperature has dropped into the…

Here’s a guy who speaks fake Chinese, fake French, fake Italian, fake Russian, fake Spanish, fake German and fake Japanese, in order to invite fellow fakers to reply by speaking in fake English. A tall order, but for those who wonder what our language sounds like to those who don’t speak it, here’s one girl…

Earlier I stumbled across the phrase “New York hostess” in a news article, and as I tend to be hypervigilant about sneaky new trends in language, I wondered precisely what the term meant. The hostess in question is a nightclub hostess named Rachel Uchitel. While “hostess” is not defined, it would see that it is…

One of the things I most like about Michigan is that it’s a relatively car-friendly state. The speed limit is 70, which means that you can comfortably do 75 without having to worry about the cops. This touches on one of my pet annoyances about life on the East Coast — and I recently saw…

I’ve been keeping aquarium fish for years, and I have long known that fish gender is nowhere near as starkly defined and inflexible as it is in higher animals. It has long been known that many species of fish can and do switch gender, sometimes routinely. The process is not well understood, though. Earlier Glenn…

Is everyone ready for the Christmas season? I’m not. However, Sean Kinsell got me in the mood with this quote from Virginia Postrel on buying Christmas gifts: The problem of buying good presents for other people, even people you supposedly know well, illustrates that old familiar Hayekian concept, the knowledge problem. If you can’t even…

Glenn Reynolds links a Reuters report of a new study, which he calls “MORE POTENTIALLY MONEY-SAVING NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF HEALTHCARE RESEARCH.” How true. Although cost-cutting is not specifically mentioned in this research report, a new meme is inescapable: save money by eliminating hope. The Reuters headline makes a sweeping claim which I don’t…

One of the paradoxes of blogging is that if you write about something, it tends to be seen as, if not the most important issue, at least as an issue more important than whatever it is you don’t write about. Appearances can be misleading. Sometimes, the most important things are precisely what I do not…

It’s always nice to take a break from blogging, and for the past three days I did just that. At no point did I have time to get online, not even to check email. The closest I got to blogging was a wonderful visit with M. Simon on Friday night at Rockford’s Irish Rose Saloon.…

No time for a long essay today, as I am about to hit the road along with millions of other cannibalistic turkeys in search of food. Blogging will be spotty to non-existent for the next few days, but with any luck there will be content of one sort or another…. So have fun, enjoy the…

The more the CRU Climategate scandal unfolds, the more likely it is to do some serious damage to the Anthropogenic Global Warming scientific bandwagon. Not only has the word “gate” been securely attached to it, it has been likened to Vietnam, and clearly it is the biggest blow the Global Warmists (yes that is a…

Regular readers know that I am not a fan of WorldNetDaily or Alan Keyes, nor am I impressed with the various Birth Certificate conspiracy theories. But sometimes fantasy collides with reality, and when it does, I have to become a patient analyst. At least in terms of free speech, this is still a free country.…

It took me a long time to finally come around on this one, but for years I rolled my eyes when I heard feminists kvetching about how the Barbie doll was a sexist icon which was oppressive to women. I studiously ignored the argument that Barbie dolls encouraged the subjugation of women to men by…

I don’t know what else to conclude after seeing this, but Chris Matthews is looking downright disenchanted with Barack Obama: Here’s the short YouTube version: And at Daily Kos (which is sounding the alarm over “Chris Matthews anti-Obama rant”), they’ve posted a longer version, in which Matthews details his complaints. It’s too early to tell…

“Instead of science, I’m going with crazy.” In Al Gore’s case, I’d say that’s a distinction without a difference, but why would he say that? Most likely, it’s a Climategate backup plan. Personally, I suspect that “Crazy Al” read Dave’s proposal to give his Nobel Prize to whoever purloined the Hadley CRU files, and he’s…

Not to belabor the point I’ve made enough as it is, but I want to do a little arithmetic with last night’s health care vote. Glenn Reynolds linked the following list of Red State Democrats who voted for cloture last night, and here they are: Alaska – Mark Begich. Arkansas – Blanche Lincoln. Arkansas –…

Anyone who really wants to understand why the release of the Hadley CRU files is so damaging should read this piece about how “Climate change pushes poor women to prostitution.” The “evidence” is so ludicrously thin that I find myself wondering whether it was just decided somewhere by the Powers That Be amongst the AGW…

This is absolutely horrible news: WASHINGTON — Invoking the name of Edward M. Kennedy, Democrats united Saturday night to push historic health care legislation past a key Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama. There was not a vote to spare. The 60-39 vote cleared…