Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

In my post about erototoxic end times, I was in too much of a hurry to explore a paradox I might as well call the erototoxic paradox. (I decided to call it the Erototoxic Paradox because I think the model operates along similar lines to a poorly understood phenomenon the cardiologists call the French Paradox.)…

Here is a headline I never expected to see in my lifetime. U.S. Steel Exports Surpass Imports. So far it is only for the month of August. Still. A steel industry trade group said the United States exported more steel than it imported in August for the first time in more than 50 years. But…

Noting that Marge Simpson has posed for Playboy, Glenn Reynolds says, simply, The end times are upon us. Well, he’s right. The end times are upon us. And the end times are erototoxic! I could not make this stuff up if I tried. No seriously. There are people who apparently sincerely believe that cartoon porn…

His tirade against Fox News would some have some semblance of coherence if it at least made a pretense toward intellectual honesty. What’s most distinctive about the American press is not its freedom but its century-old tradition of independence–that it serves the public interest rather than those of parties, persuasions, or pressure groups. What’s most…

According to Vodka Pundit (about 2:30 into a 4 minute video) I’m the number four blog in his top ten for this post: An Epiphany On The Left?. H/T EricF via private message at Talk Polywell Cross Posted at Power and Control

Watts Up With That has some excerpts from the treaty. Skimming through the treaty, I came across verification of Monckton’s assessment of the new entity’s purpose: 38. The scheme for the new institutional arrangement under the Convention will be based on three basic pillars: government; facilitative mechanism; and financial mechanism, and the basic organization of…

There are few things I hate more than being a scold. Especially because of all of my condemnation of scolds and scolding, having to be a libertarian scold makes me feel like a hypocrite, and little better than the scolds I criticize. I don’t like people who criticize the moral failings of others, especially when…

So… the government forces the sale of the company to the unions, and the unions squeeze the competition. This is not what a free market looks like. No doubt our Nobel Laureate-In-Chief will explain this is just good healthy “competition,” a la the public option. As Nola Dog suggests in Megan’s comments, it’s probably not…

Linking a post which explains how the Tea-Party Activists Complicate Republican Comeback Strategy, Glenn Reynolds opines, Well, they should. Well, I don’t know whether I should. Perhaps I shouldn’t. Are libertarians like me just supposed to swallow whatever pride we still have after years of supporting “National Greatness” conservatism, and keep our collective traps shut…

I just got an e-mail from Roland Burris (who claims to be my Senator). He wants me to know that he is here to help. As Congress debates contentious issues such as health care reform, climate change, and our continued economic recovery, it is more important than ever to keep in touch so that I…

Life sure is complicated. While I have blogged about the war on sex, there’s a related meme which I hope doesn’t turn into a war (although maybe it already is in some circles), and that is the idea that there is some sort of duty for those with good genes to reproduce. I would hesitate…

It seems that some Chicago Police Officers may have gotten themselves in trouble for some little indiscretions at the G-20 summit. The video apparently shows about 15 police officers in riot gear posing for a photo with a man they detained kneeling in front of them. Kyle Kramer, the 21-year-old University of Pittsburgh student forced…

The world’s tallest female econoblogger takes on cost-shifting at hospitals. When asking whether hospitals engage in cost-shifting–subsidizing inadequate public reimbursement with private insurer fees–the question is partly one of framing. One way to look at it is that the private insurers pick up the slack for the public programs. Another way to look at it…

This post touched on one of my worst fears: A skunk in Oklahoma, USA, was rescued by a good samaritan and a ‘skunk whisperer’ after it got its head stuck in a jar of peanut butter. Teresa Vick spotted the stuck skunk while delivering papers and called for help. Ned Bruha, ‘Skunk Whisperer’, used a…

On the front page of today’s Detroit Free Press, there’s a scary article about ferocious killer fish from Asia which are about to invade and destroy Lake Michigan. The situation is said to be as bad as a hurricane: Immediate action is needed to prevent a flood-prone Illinois river from releasing scores of ferocious Asian…

Breaking news: the Iraq war is still over — and won. I think this makes it official: the liberal Brookings Institution is apparently no longer bothering to update their Iraq Index, with the last update having been done on September 1st. Final score: 8500-11000 MW of power (vs. 4000 prewar), vastly improved access to potable…

Whenever I read news reports like this about horrendous crimes being committed by people society considers “children,” I am reminded of the fiction of child innocence. DETROIT (WXYZ) – The Wayne County prosecutor announced first degree murder charges against a teenage boy and his mother for the shooting death of a teenager who was playing…

I suspect liposuction fat oozing out of our ground. I have no proof. H/T rj40 at Talk Polywell Cross Posted at Power and Control

So the NFL won’t allow the likes of Rush Limbaugh within its hallowed tent, but dog torturer Michael Vick is just fine. Yet another in a long line of mind-numbing double standards. (See this post from Stephen Spruiell which Glenn linked yesterday.) The message? Uttering opinions with which powerful activists like Al Sharpton disagree is…

Smart power. We scrap the Eastern European missile defense program that Russia hates, and Russia responds by… changing their policy to start using nukes in just about every conceivable military situation: In an interview published today in Izvestia, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Kremlin’s security council, said the new doctrine offers “different options to…