Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Glenn Reynolds has a very amusing editorial comparing Barack Obama to Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel, who has cranked up the knobs to 11. The more I watch this administration at work, the more I think we’re seeing the first Nigel Tufnel presidency. Nigel Tufnel, many will remember, was the fictitious heavy metal guitarist in the…

Well, it looks as if I’ve been in denial about Global Warming. Turns out that it’s killing people: At least 60 people have died across Europe during the current cold snap, as snow plagued transport in Britain on Friday and serious flooding prompted mass evacuations in the Balkans. Seventeen people died in Central Europe in…

While there don’t seem to be very many film directors in Afghanistan, I recently watched an excellent film — Osama — about a girl in the era of Taliban rule whose mother encouraged her to disguise herself as a boy, because that was the only way for the family (which had no remaining men alive)…

The Best Dead version of Good Lovin I’ve heard on YouTube. Cross Posted at Classical Values

Despite our best efforts the holidays are once again upon us, and so in the spirit of the season I’d like to share a recipe that I’ve enjoyed annually for some years now. Traditional Two-Minute Bodybuilders’ Low-Carb High-Omega-3 Christmas Dinner You will need: 1/4 cup olive oil 1/3 cup flaxseed meal (milled) 1 tsp Metamucil…

I love discussing the wedge issues between libertarian Republicans and Christian Conservatives. Evidently it is a subject that interests Instapundit who sent me to Dana Loesch. Who is hot on the subject. Since they brought It up I’m feeling a few words coming on. First a redefinition of sorts: Uh it is not Christians vs…

I really liked Glenn Reynolds’ latest InstaVision interview: I talk with Jim Meigs of Popular Mechanics, who explains the creepy side of the information age. Corporations compile information on you. Can this information be used for nefarious purposes? What happens if a stalker gets a hold of your information? I like to think that at…

It is rich, but Raich has come back to haunt those hoping for a legal answer to Obama Care. Just as I predicted in Letter to a Friend. Reason Magazine has the news. According to a federal judge in Virginia, ObamaCare’s individual mandate to purchase health insurance is constitutional under the Commerce Clause because, under…

I’m a 56 year old man who sometimes enjoys contemplating the beauty of ruins. I don’t want to say that I “celebrate the beauty of decay” because that might sound decadent and distract from my purpose here, which is to stick to an activity considered normal and wholesome. Contemplating the beauty of ruins is certainly…

One of the hot topics of today is the DADT quagmire, which I don’t feel especially compelled to discuss right now — mainly because I don’t like joining in news-driven choruses in rote response to the appearance of news items. (Allahpundit noted that despite the hype over the poll that’s generating the current fuss, “there…

I was over visiting Stacy McCain’s thanks to Instapundit where there was a discussion going on about a Muslim gang that raped white women and girls – some as young as 12 – in the UK. So of course the question of culture comes up. And of course the decline in morals in the West.…

…mental illness? I have to say, Clayton Cramer dug up quite a gem here: It is proposed that happiness be classified as a psychiatric disorder and be included in future editions of the major diagnostic manuals under the new name: major affective disorder, pleasant type. In a review of the relevant literature it is shown…

Via an email, I learned that the University of Michigan is hosting an event that I am going to miss. (Boo hoo!) Ted Rall [discussed infra] will be speaking, as well as hawking and signing copies of his latest book — “The Anti-American Manifesto.” Which means that if I weren’t busy that night, I might…

I have to agree with Matt Welch’s criticism of Bill Kristol’s call for forceful state action against Wikileaker and accused rapist Julian Assange. I happened to catch Bill, who I have past admired, saying much the same yesterday while watching Special Report on Fox News for the first time in years. Krauthammer was even worse,…

I don’t know whether to call it an improvement or not, but Detroit seems to be slipping in the rankings again. This time, it’s fallen to third place in the Most Dangerous Cities in America category: CQ Press has released its annual list of the most dangerous cities in America. According to the independent publishing…

Eric and I met up on Saturday Night at the Irish Rose one of Rockford, Illinois’ fine eating establishments. We had a friend take a few pictures. One of which is above. I have a few pictures of the friend, but she declines to be identified. Sorry. For more (not much) on the dinner at…

I’m back from Illinois (which is west of Michigan and yet seems somehow more “East”) and looking through my pictures. Here’s me and M. Simon, right after eating dinner at the Irish Rose in Rockford. I ate pork imposingly, and M. Simon had an imposing cheeseburger. It’s not often that all the problems of the…

In this weekend’s “strange new respect” news, someone at Newsweek… trumpets Hayek’s triumphant return? Apparently we aren’t all socialists now. The big debate lately seems to be whether Bernanke’s second round of “quantitative easing” is helping provide liquidity, a la Milton Friedman, or just an attempt to reflate the bubble. If you read Amity Shlaes’…