Author: Simon

I originally wrote Desolation Row in January 2007. I also posted it at Classical Values then. It is a companion piece to one I posted here a few days ago:Decline and Fall. So that is why you are seeing it again here. Not to mention that I promised some one in the comments to Desolation…

That was CongressMAN Joe Wilson calling Obama a liar. So is Obama lying? During Barack Obama’s speech tonight, Obama said it was untrue that “the reforms I am proposing” cover illegal aliens. Someone in the audience, reportedly South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson, yelled out “liar.” Now this isn’t the British parliament, so I don’t…

Bill Clinton is offering Mr. Obama some advice on health care reform. Former President Bill Clinton says those in his party should ignore any grief from Republicans on health care reform, because the GOP is just waiting for Democrats to “mess up.” Clinton told Esquire magazine that lawmakers should put together the best health care…

Here is a bit I did in December of 2006. It is especially relevant given Eric’s post on how the world is going to the dogs. === Commenter Karridine alerted me to this interesting piece by Orson Scott Card on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Card’s central thesis is that trade made…

Actually the butcher is at the meeting only in spirit as far as I can tell. But the baker is there and she unloads on her Congress Critter. For taxes. For Cap and Tax. For health care. For bank bail outs. And for the Congress Critter insulting her with the critter’s responses to her questioning…

I was Googling “feynman lectures video” and came across this series on quantum electrodynamics. Very light on the math. Very heavy on the concepts. In the delightful Feynman way. I especially recommend the first lecture (about 78 minutes) where Feynman discusses the theory of light, the philosophy of physics, and Mayan Codexes. And as I…

Not content with nail biting (their own) over the prospects of health care reform Democrat operatives have begun finger biting (other’s). It seems particular unfair to me – this finger tax. Couldn’t they just have asked for the shirt off his back? Or a twenty year lease on his first born? Well actually no one…

Yes. It is true. We are temporarily running out of peak oil. A lot of new oil has been discovered. BP is British Petroleum. BP has reopened the debate on when the “peak oil” supply will be reached by announcing a big new discovery in the Gulf of Mexico which some believe could be as…

Alan W. Bock writing in the Orange County Register has some interesting things to say about how decriminalization in Portugal is going. Since decriminalization lifetime prevalence rates (any consumption over a lifetime) have decreased, especially for the critical adolescent-young-adult population cohort. For 13-15-year-olds the rate decreased from 14.1 percent in 2001 to 10.6 percent in…

Barbra Oakley has a very interesting article in Psychology Today explaining what is wrong with journalists. The whole article is a must read, but I especially liked the closing. As far as investigating the dark side of the Major Issues, there’s a critically important concept that students of journalism are rarely taught. It’s easy to…

A fascinating video by Hans Rosling on development, income, and health outcomes. The software he uses in the video can be found at Gap Minder. The exact page is Gap Minder World. It is fun to play with. Possibly even educational. H/T Betruger at Talk Polywell Cross Posted at Power and Control

It seems that some folks are unhappy with Glenn Beck and want advertisers to boycott his show. An advertising boycott against Fox News host Glenn Beck has succeeded in keeping most major sponsors from running commercials on his show even as the controversial commentator’s viewership has grown. Beck attracted 2.81 million viewers Monday, his third-largest…

It seems that Ted Kennedy had very good relations with the USSR before their much lamented demise. This letter which details Senator Edward Kennedy’s offer to help the Soviet Union defeat Reagan’s efforts to build up the nuclear deterrent in Europe was unearthed by a Times of London reporter in the 1990s after the KGB…

It seems like the health care bill needs a new name. Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.), one of the few to have served in the Senate longer than the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, said in a statement today that health care legislation should be named in his honor. Kennedy famously called health care reform “the cause…

Eric put up a post on the death of Ted Kennedy. He is disgusted that some Democrats are taking advantage of his death to push their health care plan. ‘Win One for Teddy,’ Say Dems Pushing for Health Reform Well if they want to get down and dirty: ‘Win One for Mary Jo’ say those…

Eric recently wrote a post on the connection between genetics and crime. I thought it would be good to chime in with a post I wrote in 2007 at Power and Control on the connection between genetics and talent. ===== According to the American founders all men are created equal. We hold these truths to…

I just ran across an article on the proliferation risks of fusion and a few paragraphs caught my eye. Some proponents of nuclear fusion power falsely claim that it would pose no risk of contributing to weapons proliferation. In fact, there are several risks including the use of tritium as a fusion power fuel which…

David Warsh is giving economic advice to the Queen of England on how to avoid bubbles and financial panics in the future. The disarming question you asked when you visited the London School of Economics last autumn – why did nobody notice that the credit crunch was on its way? – produced a thoughtful letter…

It looks like the European Carbon Trading Scheme is being hit by massive fraud. Carousel fraud has found its way to the carbon market. The particularly European type of fraud entails setting up complicated import and export schemes between EU member countries, charging buyers for value-added tax in the country of destination, and then absconding…

Instapundit links to a piece on Hillary Clinton that proclaims that Hillary wants to stop sexual violence. Women and girls in particular have been victimized on an unimaginable scale, as sexual and gender-based violence has become a tactic of war and has reached epidemic proportions. Some 1,100 rapes are reported each month, with an average…