Category: Uncategorized

Watch and believe! (Link here.) (HT Justin, who told me that naturalists used to tell people that the above could never happen.)

Not long ago, Eric Wilson discussed something I’ve often wondered about: I do wonder, however, if normal sadness — typical melancholy — is increasingly being viewed as a sickness, a state to be treated with medication. Of course, there is a fine line between normal melancholy and clinical depression. What separates the two, as far…

“What I’d really like is something with the price of the Asus, the keyboard of the HP, and Windows XP for speed and broad software compatibility.” So says Glenn Reynolds, in his review of the Asus 900 mini notebook (which he generally likes). When I’m on the road or when the power’s out, I use…

I guess that doesn’t mean yours truly, because not only do I not make a living from blogging, but I never read, linked to, or knew who the complainant (“ex blogger” Emily Gould) was. At least, not until I saw the link from Ann Althouse, and read more: “They want me to be punished for…

I just got an interesting report on a technical conference that is to be held by moving electrons not people. CISSE 2008 provides a virtual forum for presentation and discussion of the state-of the-art research on computers, information and systems sciences and engineering. CISSE 2008 is the fourth conference of the CISSE series of e-conferences.…

How to get more taxes out of high earners: May I suggest lowering the rate on top earners to a rate below that of other civilized countries and attracting them to the USA? I call my plan: Steal The Rich. Cross Posted at Power and Control

A “little thing” pissed me off earlier. The City of Philadelphia is demolishing an architectural gem known as the Race Street Firehouse. Constructed in 1926, it’s one of those whimsically functional buildings no one would design today, and it was adorned with what are probably the world’s only “firemen gargoyles” — an architectural detail I’ve…

Conservatives are pining for a candidate they can vote for. What they really need is an electorate that will vote for their candidates. Cross Posted at Power and Control

Commenter Mike at my post Republicans Need A Hawaiian On The Ticket said: It seems everyone wants to essentially surrender and put a RINO (or in Jonah Goldberg’s case, an actual Democrat) on the ticket with McCain. Wouldn’t it be better to have a VP who actually brings people to the ticket, instead of pushing…

Take a look at this video of John McCain being heckled by anti-war protesters. As I’ve discussed before, McCain has this calm, unflappable quality, and when he’s under pressure, all that seems to happen is that he looks mildly amused. I’d be willing to bet that if his blood pressure were monitored during these incidents,…

May I suggest Linda Lingle a two term Republican Governor of Hawaii. She won her last election in a Democrat state by 62.5% to 35.4%. She is Jewish, which might help peel NY-31, NJ-15, and FL-27 from the Democrat column. That is 73 Electoral College votes. I think the help in those states would be…

This is an interesting version. Just a little different from the album version. The illustrations are by Giovanni Rabuffetti of Italy. Harvey Brooks (the bass player on the album version) talks about the album session from his point of view. Part two of his remembrances are here.

No, I don’t mean the Republicans In Name Only. I mean real rhinoceroses. According to Michael Miersch (one of Germany’s most prominent writers on ecological matters), efforts to stop “Global Warming” are endangering not only Rhinos, but many other forms of wildlife living in rain forest areas being burned down and replanted for biodiesel production:…

In a comment to the last post, longtime commenter Rhodium Heart argues very convincingly for a McCain/Hillary Unity Ticket: Please please please be the first one in the blog-o-sphere to suggest that John McCain form what other presidents have done in times of war: a national unity ticket. Just like Abraham Lincoln (R) chose Andrew…

I wish I could prevent the Democrats from seeing these numbers, but I can’t. So I might as well speak my mind. As I had expected would happen eventually, McCain is pulling ahead of Obama, yet Hillary still beats McCain: Tracking Polls (General) * Gallup: McCain 47, Obama 45 * Gallup: Clinton 49, McCain 44…

Jefferson to Adams in a July 11, 1786, letter: “I acknolege I very early thought it would be best to effect a peace thro’ the medium of war.” Jefferson was speaking about the jihadis of his day. A sobering thought for this Memorial Day.

It’s Memorial Day and most people are out and about, as I will be too. (I’m planning to attend a Memorial Day event at Laurel Hill Cemetery.) While it doesn’t apply to the kind of people capable of reading blogs, I was taken aback to read that according to a recent Gallup poll, 28% of…

This pair of discarded television sets in SoHo looked so forlorn that I felt obligated to take a picture of them: Not sure whether the graffiti beautifies them or makes them uglier, but it seemed to add to their pathos. Near the TV sets, a colonial soldier looked almost as forlorn, especially because he had…

While I’ve long been an advocate of a conservative/libertarian political alliance, electing someone like Barack Obama was not exactly what I had in mind: The only thing Senator McCain and his consultants can say to conservatives and libertarians is * The Democrat boogieman is going to get you if you don’t vote Republican or *…

In the primaries the Republican base did what has fractured the Democrat base. They voted for a candidate “who looks like me” (socialist Huckabee) instead of voting for the Reagan Republican (Thompson). With the conservative vote split we wind up with McCain. The liberal wing of the party has to be satisfied (we need their…