Category: Uncategorized

Not only was that my immediate reaction to Roger L. Simon’s and Lionel Chetwynd’s lively and spirited discussion of “An Education,” but it was the very first IMDB User Comment on the film (which BTW, bas drawn rave reviews across the board). I haven’t seen the film, so I can’t weigh in on whether Lionel…

I found a really interesting article on how thermodynamics affects political persuasion. Conservatives and Liberals. The Theory of Island Biogeography is a theory of species population distribution. There are major evolutionary implications in the ability of a species to distribute itself across space and time, not to mention the curious thermodynamics associated with this distribution.…

Regarding the the incredible story of the leaked Hadley CRU files (a story which M. Simon helped break in the blogosphere, and which prompted Dave to suggest that the leaker deserves Al Gore’s Nobel Prize), I’m naturally curious about the whodunnit aspect. It’s beginning to look like it was no hacker but an insider. From…

As there’s been some advocacy of secession in the comments, I thought I would examine how this might occur in practice, whether legally or not. A lot of people seem to think the Civil War settled the issue of whether states have the right to secede, except it did not. The war — not a…

We constantly hear that only moderate centrist Republicans can win in some places. And that is true. But what kind of moderate? What kind of centrist? I think that it has to be a moderate with strong principles. A strange beast to be sure. At least in this day and age. The last time the…

No, really. If you haven’t heard, someone has posted a whole bunch of correspondence between AGW “scientists.” The mask has slipped, fallen, and shattered: This is part of a letter send from Michael E. Mann to Phil Jones: I think we have to stop considering “Climate Research” as a legitimate peer-reviewed journal. Perhaps we should…

In an earlier email to M. Simon, I remarked, If a woman has a right to an abortion, all people have a right to medicate pain. That happens to be what I think. Yet as I learned recently, there are some people who interpret remarks I’ve made like that as an attempt to — let…

Rand Simberg linked a post I wrote last month about the federal criminalization of wood, and I thought I should thank him here rather than in the post itself — which Glenn Reynolds linked yesterday, but which is so old that regular readers might miss updates on it. Simberg added a great point which I…

I have posted Climate Files Hacked about the release by anonymous ftp of the contents of hundreds of files and thousands of e-mails. Some have questioned their authenticity. I have partial verification from Real or Fake. Steve McIntyre (Comment#23773) November 19th, 2009 at 6:08 pm I’m having trouble getting into CA right now. I made…

I just got a tip from Jccarlton at Talk Polywell that some one has hacked a lot of Hadley CRU files on Climate Science. You can get what details that are currently available at Watts Up With That. What has been released so far is full of bombshells. Like this e-mail. From: Phil Jones To:…

Is this what it sounds like when magical gov’t healthcare ponies die? Quinnipiac 36-51. PPP 42-50. The claims that America spends more for worse health care are crumbling under closer examination; people aren’t being fooled anymore by misleading comparisons of things that don’t measure health care outcomes. The poll numbers are dropping like a rock…

I’m getting more than a little tired over the fact that some people on the left — aided, naturally, by some people on the right (with the help of agents provocateurs and trolls) — seem hell-bent on fomenting an American Civil War. I think people need to remember how much civil wars suck. Take it…

Despite the fact that I hate repeating myself, I have complained about government health care and unconstitutional laws till I’m blue in the face. All to no avail, it often seems. Those government bastards will do what they want, no matter what I think or say. Still, no matter how tired I get of complaining,…

That there is a double standard between the “right” and the “left” where it comes to sexuality is not news. In general, people perceived as being on the left are allowed sexual freedom — including the right to be gay, to be promiscuous, to engage in sex for money, and to pose in pornography —…

The Boyz and Girlz at HillBuzz are on a mission. Please offer your thoughts here, because our mission going forward includes but is not limited to: (1) Dismantling and destroying ACORN, the SEIU, and all of their affiliates (2) Taking down the Al Sharpton/Henry Gates/Jesse Jackson/Eric Holder Race Industry (3) Reforming the nominating contests to…

The above video is to introduce you to Joss Stone who is creating quite a furor in the UK by saying the same thing this book says: Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? Joss says marijuana is safer than alcohol. Singer Joss Stone has been condemned for glamourising drugs after…

Via Glenn Reynolds, James Taranto makes a very important point I think is being missed in the debate over the trial of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad in New York: one man’s technicality is another’s violation of due process; and the corollary of treating KSM like ordinary criminals is treating ordinary criminals like KSM. This column approves…

A Palin detractor in the comments at Althouse has this to say: But I don’t know how a book can be the number one best seller before a single reader has his hands on one. To which I responded: The left will NEVER understand business. They will always be failures in America. Which is why…

A forensic scientist I am not. However, the following comment to M. Simon’s post about the suicide of Michael Scott intrigued me: Was Scott left-handed? In my personal experience, I have found that a good way to tell which hand a person favors is simply to watch the person write something. If that isn’t possible,…

In a refreshing reminder of how pleasantly “out-of-it” some people are, when I told a South Park fan about a recent episode which spoofs Glenn Beck, an immediate question arose. “Who is Glenn Beck?” I don’t watch him (on the few occasions I tried, the commercials thwarted me), but I tried to stick to the…