Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

A lot of people have been citing this post by Doctor Zero (which I first saw linked at Instapundit), and I can see why. It is one of the best explanations of the central problem which I think is facing the country, and it bears repeating, and repeating: Bureaucracies grow through failure. They present failure…

A while back when my Windows XP box died I was able, with some help from my readers and my mom, to get a Gateway DX4831-01. A very nice machine with lots of ports. But a modem port was not one of the built in options. The first mate of course was always pestering me…

I was looking for the drug courier profile page which used to be on this site and came across this page. Perhaps the most profitable investment a community can make is establishing a POLICE K-9 UNIT. A properly trained K-9 will usually pay for itself in 60 days and keep the revenue of city hall…

Purity of Essence has morphed into Purity of Earth. Inspired by this bit on $Green Jobs at Hot Air. H/T Instapundit Cross Posted at Power and Control

To what extent are college professors entitled to voice opinions without being fired for them? I recently learned about an Illinois professor who stated his religious and personal opinion that homosexuality is immoral. Predictably, this caused a student to complain about “hate speech” — which led to the professor being fired: URBANA, Ill. — The…

This article was originally published in a number of places in May of 2001. It is still relevant so I’m republishing it here. ————- I’d like to talk today a little about the origins and meaning of the Fourth Amendment. First off what is the Fourth Amendment? Amendment IV The right of the people to…

I love the graphic. Dead Heads racing. Heh. More music by the Outlaws

It appears that Present obama is suffering an extreme drop in value when it comes to his fund raising abilities. Pres. Obama is the best fundraiser the Dem Party has, but his drawing power is way down from its peak during the ’08 campaign. Obama is heading to MO and NV today to raise money…

In an amusing and thoughtful piece, Jonah Goldberg looks at the supreme condescension behind the hiring of Dave Weigel to “cover” conservatism. Here’s the subtext — lurking inside what Goldberg calls “the ballad of David Weigel, a blogger for The Washington Post, briefly assigned to cover the ‘conservative beat’”: What is the conservative beat? According…

God bless Justin for ruining my day by telling me about a wonderful family friendly film titled “The Kids Are All Right.” The plot is fairly simple: Two children conceived by artificial insemination bring their birth father into their family life. The parents are lesbians (played by Julianne Moore and Annette Bening) and as to…

Justin (who used to blog here but who for reasons I can’t fathom stopped) has often been a helpful source of post ideas, for he knows how to find things which are certain to fiendishly irritate me. For example, yesterday he told me about San Francisco’s plan to ban the sale of pets in pet…

You learn something new every day. Congress failed to reapportion following the 1920 Census. The failure was in part the result of a difference of opinion over the method of dividing political power. Throughout the 1920s, Congress debated which of two mathematical models for reapportionment–whose outcomes for distribution of House seats differed–would be used. In…

What martyrdom is greater than making yourself a human bomb detonating it among the enemy? What spiritualism is greater than this spiritualism in which a person loses all feeling of his body and life for the sake of his cause and mission? — Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the spiritual leader of Hezbollah, who…

One of my pet peeves has long been the movement to abolish pets, and ultimately, all ownership of animals. I have blogged about this so many times that I probably sound like a broken record, but today I learned that San Francisco is seriously considering banning the sale of all pets — except fish: Sell…

More than six billion humans face extinction every year. And every year millions die. If the death rate accelerates it is hard to predict the overwhelmingly catastrophic consequences. Inspired by Ecologist who says: More than 25% of flowers face extinction – many before they are even discovered I wonder if he didn’t spell his name…

From the YouTube page. connvee3 October 24, 2009 FACEBOOK: If you’re on Facebook, JOIN their page as a fan…I wanted to do the full version 11 min. but youtube says No -10min only. So here it is, a few cut here and there. Also, my uncles are doing well in So. Cal. They have a…

There’s a new book out by WorldNetDaily bigwig Joseph Farah, titled “The Tea Party Manifesto: A Vision for an American Rebirth.” While I have not read it, if what Farah says here is any indication, I think the book is his attempt to redefine the Tea Parties and basically glom onto* a movement started by…

I learned about this interesting form of Sardinian polyphonic music today, and I’m sorry it took me so long, because I find it nothing short of amazing. A tenore is practised by groups of four male singers each of whom has a distinct role; the oche or boche (pronounced /oke/ or /boke/, “voice”) is the…

I wish I hadn’t been forced to watch this painful YouTube video showing Liza Minnelli hawking her wares on the HSN, but I did, mainly because a friend emailed me the link and beseeched me to get through it to hear a great line from a caller. Sure enough, at approximately 4:15 – 4:20 thew…

The TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) has decided to block — as “inappropriate for government access” — all Internet websites which contain “controversial opinion.” I have no idea whether that would include ClassicalValues.com. Are the opinions here controversial? What does that mean? An opinion that is controversial? Or an opinion about a controversial issue? Or are…