Author: Justin

Here at Classical Values, we deeply esteem the art of satire. When one of our witty and well informed readers gently “joshes” us we take it in the fun-loving spirit in which it was given. Dude, the document has been authenticated and the White House has not denied their accuracy. Game Over. Know when you…

Abridged excerpts from the President’s Council on Bioethics, February 14, 2002 CHAIRMAN KASS…. Gil, would you mind if I imposed on you since you have made — I mean, you have made a very strong argument that would seem to imply that, though, great good can come from the use of embryos to derive cells…

Abridged excerpts from the Presidents Council on Bioethics, April 25, 2002. DR. BLACKBURN: …. for me a helpful metaphor was thinking about, well, if one were, let’s say, there with a blastocyst and you had to do something to keep it alive and then you saw a child drowning, who would you save, if it…

I used to love Bruce Sterling’s fiction. Now I find him unbearably tendentious and self-satisfied. Case in point. The Speculist is back from a refit and presents us with this tired, pointless column from Wired Magazine. It annoyed me when I first read it, and it annoys me now. I guess he just got too…

Years ago I read about an experiment in infant psychology. Take a curved line and three small geometric shapes. Arrange them randomly in many different patterns, and show them to a baby. Then slip a joker in the deck. Using the same four elements, arrange a stereotypical smiley face. The random patterns don’t get no…

Some days ago, I wrote a rather dyspeptic post detailing my first encounter with the ideas of Leon Kass, and my continuing disgust with same. This led to a civil and pleasant exchange of views with blogger D.F. Moore, a Kass fan. Re-runs are available in chronological order here, here, here, and here. My main…

Too much stupidity can make you irritable. Heres a proper antidote. In July and August, a team from MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) deployed its sixth field “fab lab,” based on the campus of the Takoradi Technical Institute in the sister cities of Sekondi and Takoradi in Ghana’s southwest corner…. With about $20,000…

WARNING. Abridged Wisdom Alert. For Wisdom in Bulk, click HERE. Excerpted from “L’Chaim and Its Limits: Why Not Immortality?” by Leon Kass ….The core question is this: Is it really true that longer life for individuals is an unqualified good? ?. How much more life do we want, assuming it to be healthy and vigorous?…

The following is an excerpt from “L’Chaim and Its Limits: Why Not Immortality?” by Leon Kass. It is severely abridged wisdom. For the full wisdom, go here. ….Jewish commentators….nearly always come down strongly in favor of medical progress and on the side of life?.They treat the cure of disease, the prevention of death, and the…

Communists for Kerry have dispelled the puny flea-bites of the crimethink death-merchant counter-revolutionaries known as Swiftboat Veterans. Behold their triumphant righteous fisting….

Stuff like this was supposed to arrive in the 23rd century. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.

My attention was caught by this article on this site . Reuters reports that the Danish company Aresa Biodetection has developed genetically-modified flowers which change color when their roots come in contact with Nitrogen Dioxide in the soil. Explosives used in mines produce NO2 as the chemicals gradually decay. Okay, so some of these ideas…

To go along with this entry, a new wrinkle on keeping cool. Still punching above their weight.

Staunch Mac Blogger Brian Tiemann is back from Toronto. Besides being an irredeemably nice guy, he has enriched my conversational ability. “I don’t give a rat’s left ass cheek.” strikes me as one of those rare improvements on the original. I use it frequently now. Thanks Brian!

The following testimony is abridged. You are viewing a mere skeleton. The fullness of its wisdom can be found here. Testimony Before United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime on ?The Ethics of Cloning? June 7, 2001 Testimony of Leon R. Kass, M.D., Ph.D.* Mr. Chairman and Members of the…

Frequent readers may recall that I have pushed this book, ?The Golden Age?, on you once before. In belated honor of Glenn Reynolds birthday, I feel that one more time wouldn?t be inappropriate. Matter of fact, I?m recommending the whole damn trilogy. The subject matter concerns topics of interest to him. Plus, these may possibly…

My father was in the navy. My mother was in the navy. They met in the navy, and I grew up in the navy. This doesn?t make me an authority on navy life, far from it, but it does give me a wealth of anecdotes. I was reading some recollections of John F. Kerry the…

I stumbled across this, and thought it was sort of funny. They sure look like a fun bunch. They do public outreach like Protest Warrior, but demented. Click here, and scroll down to “The People’s Cube”. Look at the top left corner of their mainpage and marvel at the revolutionary hair of bronze. And don’t…

Sometimes, when you are curious about where the world is heading, asking an expert is the worst thing you can do. Experts know too much. They know the pitfalls and roadblocks with an intimate, hands on knowledge, and they will brook no backchat as to what can and can’t be done. Often, they are correct…

Israel has done it again. Another technological triumph. For a change, I?m less than thrilled, and hoping it?s just a false alarm. You?ll have to make your own judgment on that score. The first thought I had upon reading this was that life really does imitate art. The heart of Nemesysco’s security-oriented technology is a…