Author: Eric Scheie

Sexism in this country can take many forms. One famous example is when a young female college student invites a professor over for a candlelight dinner and then complains (over 20 years later) that he touched her on the thigh. OK, so maybe the professor was unwise to accept the invitation. But to give some perspective,…

These are the people Megan McArdle calls the Mandarins, due to their similarity to the Chinese ruling class scholars. Passing the tests and becoming a “scholar official” was a ticket to a very good, very secure life.  And there is something to like about a system like this . . . especially if you happen…

Funny thing that just before going to bed last night I would write about uptight feminists (including a famous anti-sex law professor here at UM), because this morning I saw a local news item that made little sense in the abstract until I factored in the prudish uptight feminist mindset that reigns at the University…

A photo I saw on Facebook earlier got me thinking about a relatively new term that has captured public attention. Sex trafficking. The above conjures up sexual slavery, which I and everyone I know is against. Yet the term is being used more and more in such a manner that it is indistinguishable from ordinary…

This may seem like an odd topic for a post, but I was talking with a man the other day who is in a state of grief over the killing of his two Labrador retrievers by what he said were coyotes. I’m not a zoologist, but it initially struck me as odd that Labradors (large…

I sometimes worry about irresponsible calls for civil war or armed revolution, and I have pointed out till I am blue in the face that if such an event happens, I will fight against it. But so far (fortunately), most of the people I’ve heard clamoring for such things have no real power, and perhaps…

One of today’s popular truths is that people (especially young people) are so mired in technological gadgetry that they are missing out on important things. Actually, I think many of the technological gadgets rank high as the most important things, but to those who want to make sweeping judgments about how the quality of life…

The answer is that when they save lives, the news is unlikely to be widely reported. Like this report of a heroic pit bull, who saved her family from what would have been certain death: WELLSTON, Okla. —A 10-year-old pit bull terrier is being hailed a hero after she saved a Lincoln County family from their…

As I had some precious time to waste this morning, I went to Facebook (imo one of the most pleasant time wasters going) and scrolled. I found a somewhat simplistic graphic image that gave me a chuckle for several reasons. While I agreed with the overall sentiment, whoever the author was made an embarrassing mistake…

Considering that even such left wing arbiters as Salon are calling President Obama “the gun control President,” I think a few words are in order. Starting with Salon’s words: By design, it wasn’t until the end of his hour-long remarks that Obama got around to gun violence. His speeches tend to build toward emotional climaxes,…

This is one of my longtime favorite doowop songs (it makes me cry), and I didn’t know until today that someone had put it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8X94CMv-mM Fascinatingly, the author (Van McCoy) later achieved national fame for that 70s disco song “The Hustle.” A song I absolutely hated, but which made millions. I don’t mean…

Did I miss President Obama’s State of the Union Speech? I guess so. I’d like to be spared such things, so I’m glad others aren’t. (Honestly, I don’t think I could have taken it. I see this president as waging a war against the Constitution as no president has before, and I can’t stand watching…

When I was a kid, if you got a C, you got a C. These days, people sue. Megan Thode isn’t the first Lehigh University student who was unhappy with the grade she received in a course. But she may be the first to sue to get it changed. The C+ that Thode was given…

While there has been a lot of attention focused on gun control lately, not quite as much attention is being paid to a related underlying question. Who is being disarmed, and why? The gun control plans that I have seen always exempt the police, the government, and the military, so in that sense their proponents…

Making Thomas Jefferson into a socialist takes work, but I have seen a particular Jefferson “quote” invoked so many times (by the so-called “99%”) that I thought it merited closer examination. Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey…

I’ve been fascinated by a recent Reason-Rupe poll on the marijuana issue, which is forcing me to rethink some of the stereotypes that are hard to shed. Ironically, the poll results reminded me that I need to stay in the Republican Party, despite my differences with what the majority of the party seems to think.…

When people have to play things backwards to find and decipher hidden Satanic meanings, you know we live in desperate times. And when I have to run around and find these hidden decipherments on YouTube in order to supply a Saturday night blog post,  you know I’m desperate! Anyway, I always enjoyed the playing of…

Has something changed in the weather? Or has something changed in the way people perceive the weather? OK, there is a big snowstorm on the East Coast. When I was a kid, there used to be occasional huge snowstorms that dropped large amounts of snow. People dealt with them as they have for centuries. But…

A man who publicly wore a KKK outfit in Philadelphia has found himself on the frontier of free speech, and I suspect the only reason he is alive is because he is not an actual Klansman, but a black man using a hated symbol to demonstrate a point: PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – In 2013, no one…

Earlier I got an email asking me to sign a petition to the White House. The problem is, I cannot tell whether it serious or satire. Start Planning and Siting “Polar Cities” for Survivors of Global Warming Impact Events 30 Generations From Now We call on the White House to start planning adaptation strategies for…