Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

I brought up the question of abortion and as usual the usual pointless discussion ensued. A couple of my conservative friends chimed in and all they could talk about is philosophy and morality. I, being a more practical sort due to my engineering training, would prefer to talk policing. Or if you will: what can…

I think it is unconscionably cruel of Mediaite to make Rick Sanchez publicly humiliate himself with a column this way. I mean, come on guys. Have mercy. He was fired from CNN, and he’s probably really sorry about the paralyzed kid he ran over and the whole “Jews control the media” thing. Let the poor…

I am delighted to report that my proposal for sex withholding to force Ann Arbor to repair its roads (as is being done in Barbacoas, Colombia) was linked by P.D. Lesko’s A2Politico, Ann Arbor’s leading political blog. Better yet, an important classical reference was added. Withholding sex to induce behavioral compliance is a very old…

Coco has a new friend. A baby bulldog named Woodson is staying next door for at least a few days. Coco is quite taken with the wrinkly little chap and wishes he’d move in permanently. (He leaps into my lap and showers me with slobbery bulldog kisses, and has repeatedly tried to follow me home.)…

For liner notes you can visit the YouTube page. The lead, Paul Kantner was 70 on March 17, 2011. This was recorded March 20, 2011. Also available in 1080p.

Here’s an annoyance which has happened one time too many. The problem of disappearing cash register receipts! I have been in the middle of a long project for which I need to save receipts (both for tax purposes and in case things need to be returned), and when I was going through receipts yesterday, I…

I try to keep up. Really I do. But I missed Bill Daley, White House Chief of Staff, basically saying that the White House was clueless on economics. This report was from 17 June. White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley took heat from business executives Thursday for the Obama administration’s regulatory expansions. Daley also…

One of the things that fascinates me about the world we live in – a world so dominated by media and “reportage of real events” is the often complete divorce of reality and things people “know.” Let me put this another way – when I was a kid, I would get up in the morning,…

In Ann Arbor where I live, there are potholes galore, and many people complain about the city doing a piss-poor job of fixing them. As one local analyst puts it, “Ann Arbor Has Third Worst Roads in Michigan and Some Seriously Fed Up Residents“: Since 2008, Ann Arbor has been at the top of MITA’s…

A headline in today’s Wall Street Journal proclaims, “New York Gay Marriage Vote Alters Political Battle Lines.” Obviously, it is an indication of changing public attitudes, but I think (especially because of poll numbers) it might be a mistake for either side to see gay marriage as the issue worth a major showdown in politics…

Those of you of a certain age (what age is that?) will recall that ancient call. But for the rest of us that may become a reality thanks to a new government program. And what will that program do? It will let the frequency of the grid wander to better accommodate intermittent sources of power…

I cannot stop thinking about a comment to my post about panhandling. According to commenter John, no one using public transportation in Seattle can be required to pay a fare: Got hit up by a guy in Seattle who needed money for the bus because he only had 50 cents and bus fare was $1.50.…

The idea itself goes a way back in psychedelic history when LSD was used by Dr Humphry Osmond to treat alcoholism. And alcoholism is a symptom of PTSD. Sometimes. Sometimes it is a symptom of something else. In any case the treatment of PTSD with psychedelics is gaining ground. Let’s say an abuse-ridden childhood has…

As an addendum to Eric’s post below, here’s some quoteworthy snark making its way across the intertubes: “It’s a good thing Syria has gun control; otherwise the citizen-slaughtering troops could get hurt.” It’s noteworthy that in both cases, security officials want those being gunned down defenseless and dependent.

Earlier I found an almost comical example of ignorance and stupidity which nonetheless shocked me. Not that comically ignorant stupidity is shocking per se, but it frightened me to see the kind of thinking that emanates from a chief of police in one of America’s largest cities. That’s because idiots with power are scary. Anyway,…

I don’t know why, but my heart just goes out to this 7-year-old boy who wanted to see his father so badly that he purloined his stepfather’s car and tried to drive to his dad’s place. When the cops finally pulled him over, he was crying and terrified: The boy was stopped while driving his…

The most frequent criticism I hear about libertarians is that they are selfish. Cruel, even. The kind of “rugged individualists” who would leave people to sink or swim. Literally. For example, not wanting to fence off, hire lifeguards, armed goons, and a bureaucratic staff to police a river or natural lake (and of course raising…

Took this the other day after feeding some giant carp. Wish I had the same kind of enthusiasm, but if you’re a fish, its eat or be eaten. One way of avoiding being food is to be poisonous. If you are (or if you just want to look like you are), it helps to advertise.…

With Project Gunwalker so much in the news these days it is rather surprising to me that the 2nd Amendment Community is not up in arms (heh) about the Drug War. The biggest threat to gun ownership (at least according to those who initiated the Gunwalker Project) is the Drug War. And yet the silence…

Occasionally people renew my faith, and the latest is Hillary Clinton’s former aide Sammie Spades, who ditched a possible career in politics for more honest work: During her tenure with Clinton, Spades performed a myriad of office and administrative tasks but ultimately wanted to be a lawyer and political figure. “I was planning on becoming…