Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

I found a security cap lock to a liquor bottle lying in the street, and I decided to take it apart to see how it worked. I was surprised to find what looked like a solenoid inside, which was the heart of the lock mechanism. [I was wrong about it being a solenoid; see below.…

It is not happening in the US. But it is happening in Germany. With snow blanketing the ground, it’s the perfect time of year to snuggle up in front of a fireplace. That, though, makes German foresters nervous. When the mercury falls, the theft of wood in the country’s woodlands goes up as people turn…

Suggested by my Facebook friend Stephanie Reifkind Kahn the wife of Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn. YouTube notes: Published on Oct 9, 2013 Taken from the israeli TV show “Rising Star”. Aryeh and Gil Gat are two brothers from Jerusalem. In this video they’re singing “The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel.

I bought some interesting coffee the other day, which turned out to be pretty good. It’s called “Cafe Rio,” and here’s the package: While I had assumed it was Brazilian coffee because of the name, the words on the label are  French and Arabic only. No Spanish, no Portuguese, and of course no English. This…

I found an interesting article on the Chinese Navy. It is a post that will take you about 7 minutes to read. According to the post. If you are new to the field it might take a little longer. H/T Information Dissemination. And War Is Boring. Update: War Games Against China Iran’s Airforce is a…

This just seemed odd and quirky. So I decided it deserved some attention. Well the dress did catch my eye. Some wag in the comments said “I like melons the best.” I know what you mean buddy. And what was the turmoil? Some people were eating cooked foods. Oh. The horror. Reminds me of when…

Here is a Gallup poll that bodes well for the future of libertarianism. Seventy-two percent of Americans say big government is a greater threat to the U.S. in the future than is big business or big labor, a record high in the nearly 50-year history of this question. The prior high for big government was…

H/T Bill Quick and CV commenter Frank

While I haven’t watched his show, I finally managed to watch a YouTube video of Phil Robertson. He strikes me as a bit of a religious fanatic. Hardly someone I would identify with or follow. But I don’t see how calling him a bigot is going to change his mind about anything. Then there’s the…

Because, in the eyes of too many people across the spectrum, it comes down to the following dichotomy. Either or, folks! EITHER OR! Must I choose? Why? Because activists on both “sides” want me to? Sorry, but that’s not enough.

I just did a post ripping conservatives for their support of Drug Prohibition. I didn’t want to dilute the article by covering too much but this is too good to pass up. It is about Federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries. …the Supreme Court’s opinion upholding Obamacare this summer cited the precedents of Raich many…

As many of you know there is no love lost between me and “conservatives” over the issue of Drug Prohibition. So I went looking (via search engine) through “the American Conservative” for more material to use for a post. And what I found was the unexpected. An article entitled The Right & the Drug War.…

An actress named Jennifer Lawrence has upset people on the Internet by making the following statement (with which, btw, I do not agree): I just think it should be illegal to call somebody fat on TV. I mean, if we’re regulating cigarettes and sex and cuss words because of the effect it has on our…

I found an interesting comment at Nation States. It is my perception that social conservatives are on the losing side of every major social issue and the Republicans have for the most part, lost the culture wars. So if being socially conservative is a losing proposition, does it make sense for the GOP to continue…

As you may have read, under Obamcare, the government is forcing people to go on Medicaid whether they want to or not. The Sept. 26 letter from my mother’s insurer promised that the more expensive plan “conforms with the new health care law”—by covering maternity needs, newborn wellness and pediatric dental care. My mother asked:…

Commenter Neil makes this point in a comment on Eric’s No Other Single Policy… Changing that would require libertarians to get along with social conservatives… In electoral politics it is the least committed faction that sets policy. Contra what social conservatives believe. You constantly hear “we are the majority, we are the base, without us…

James Taranto takes issue with the idea that boys and young men (in contrast with girls and women), are failing to behave “rationally.” Boys and young men are no less rational, or capable of adapting to incentives, than girls and young women are. They are, in fact, adapting very well to the incentives for female…

Don’t miss this excellent piece on the drug war. A practical argument and not a moral harangue: Let me start by setting one issue aside. This is the fundamental moral argument. You might think drugs ought to be legalized because there is a principled moral case against prohibition. It’s not hard to imagine such arguments.…

Apropos of Eric’s previous post: From This is a test

I took this picture (of the vortex, natch) last night before I washed it down the drain. That’s a closeup of this if we zoom out: Which if further zoomed out, looks like an iris. Coco thinks this is gross, and she wants me to stop.