Author: Justin

Lord only knows that the English Language, in all its magisterial glory, can be a stone bitch to deal with, but I have completely lost sympathy with its too abundant victims. How many times in the last year have I seen someone “pouring” over difficult subject material? Too damn many. The root word is “pore”,…

If you missed Charlie Rose the other day you missed Reynolds, Sullivan, Trippi, and Wonkette. Here are one man’s impressions of the TV smash hit. That man would be Dave at Logical Meme, who not so long ago rounded up a “Call For Papers” that had me in stitches. It was a choice between laughter…

John Weidner at Random Jottings has put up a new banner photograph, and it’s a beauty. I also like his new countertops. Soapstone, eh? That view from the Golden Gate bridge reminds me of all the good things San Francisco has to offer. Excepting Ken Layne and the thousands like him, expats from the area…

Big Chief Mouse in Hand says that he is too a real Indian. Those white devil reporters were speaking with…oh, never mind. Big War Bonnet tip to LGF.

From Eurekalert, an observation on May-December conjunctions… Any older person can attest that aging muscles don’t heal like young ones. But it turns out that’s not the muscle’s fault. A study in the Feb. 17 issue of Nature shows that it’s old blood that keeps the muscles down. The study, led by Thomas Rando, MD,…

Just how long can a whale live? And how does one find out? You can’t just saw one in half and count the rings. That would be wrong. I suppose you could get all scientific-like and measure chemical changes in the eye, or something. Or, you could try and date the beast by the hundred…

Rand Simberg asks an interesting question. Would Bill Clinton have survived the blogosphere? Well now, Bill had a certain, shall we say, rapport with the MSM. But as Mr. Simberg helpfully points out, Kerry had it too… Despite Evan Thomas’ estimate that MSM support was worth fifteen points in the election, the MSM failed in…

A brief post on bilious young fogey has led me to Vietpundit. This post in particular struck a nerve. John Moore, in an email to me, wrote that “It is amazing to me that you don’t harbor resentment of the US, because we betrayed you, costing your family horribly.” Old Patriot, in a comment below,…

Glenn Reynolds has taken a bit of abuse from time to time regarding his fascination with nanotech. And not just from Mark Modzelewski. I’ve read comments on other blogs indicating that some of his most loyal readers find that aspect of his interests, well, unreadable. The more fools they. Some of the things that drew…

The U.S. space effort is changing course…maybe. From an editorial at Hobbyspace: The President signed off on a new national space transportation policy at the end of last year [summary available here, J.C.], and there’s a lot to like in it. It formally gets rid of the mid-nineties division of labor that gave NASA a…

From the often fascinating blog of A.E. Brain comes this absorbing account of a collision at sea. How did I miss this? If you do nothing else, follow the link and scroll down to THE PICTURE. It’s amazing they made it home. Here are some excerpts from his later update. 1. A usually-sealed access hatch…

Eric has tactfully requested that I remind people of the notorious Kass “Ice Cream Quote”, which was featured here at Classical Values on July 25, 2003. While it had appeared in numerous other venues in its truncated form, we here at Classical Values took rightful pride in presenting the great man’s thoughts, unexpurgated, on July…

I just watched the International Space Station slide by overhead, like a little amber bead on an invisible abacus wire. If you don’t know what it is, you might mistake it for an airliner. If you do know what it is, it’s too cool for words.

As it is, I have a hard time balancing flippancy and venom. The more sincerely I feel about something, the more I’m drawn towards shrill peevishness and bilious ranting. Except, of course, when I talk about Leon Kass… I realize that past a certain point, confident self-assurance sounds like arrogant dogmatism. This is counterproductive, but…

I have long been a chump for the romance and glamour of airships. A credulous rube, a gullible hayseed, a sucker, a mark, a patsy. I wanted to believe. Seeing the Goodyear Blimp can still bring a vacant smile to my childlike face. It always has. Cruel the fate, that denies me a sky darkened…

Friday, October 15, 2004 “Bush talks and thinks like Milosevic. He will lose, but the most disheartening thing is the prospect of his religio-nationalist reality-deniers clinging fiercely to the sacred glory of their Lost Cause for the next hundred years. We live under the Confederacy. We’re a podunk bunch of swaggering pious hicks.” –Bruce Sterling,…

Well, now I’m really behind the curve. I finally got crosstown and retrieved my copy of “ Tsunami: The Underrated Hazard“. However, at this late date, the Boxing Day Tsunami is all but off the radar. That’s too bad, cause’ I wasn’t FINISHED yet. Please indulge my slight monomania. Submitted for your approval…a few snippets…

The romance of airships? Count me in!

Serendipity can be both educational and amusing. Not long ago, I made some appreciative remarks about a book by Sherwin Nuland. That post generated more comment traffic than I’m generally used too, which was both novel and welcome. Now, by the merest fortuitous happenstance, I find that Dr. Nuland and Leon Kass are fellow travelers.…

This is embarassingly late, but then, I’ve had houseguests. Please forgive the lack of immediacy. Some days ago, I pointed out the work of Australian geologist Edward Bryant. He’s the guy who maintains that Australia has been hit by some truly monstrous tsunamis in the past, perhaps even as recently as five hundred years ago.…