Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

While I don’t watch network programming* (instead I watch only old movies, and occasional documentaries), I hate being a cultural illiterate. An unpleasant fact of life is that not knowing what’s on TV is probably a form of cultural illiteracy. How regrettable that is might be open to debate, but when I saw Glenn Reynolds’…

Keith O. Rattie gave a speech at the 22nd Annual UVU Symposium on Environmental Ethics at Utah Valley University about America’s energy future under cap and trade. The long term goal with cap and trade is “80 by 50” – an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050. Let’s do the easy math on what…

Most people have probably had fantasies about finding a large amount of cash. You think it would be fun? Think again. When a contractor in Ohio was tearing out bathroom walls in an old house he was remodeling for a friend, he found two ancient metal boxes containing $182,000 in Depression era cash. Because he…

I am no fan of the Republican establishment. So naturally, I am inclined to agree with the central thesis of a PJM piece by John Hawkins, which is that the Republican establishment “views the conservative base like a medieval monarch viewed his serfs.” What it all comes down to is that the Republican establishment is…

The lovely lady in the picture is Louisa Lockhart, from the UK. What I find most attractive about her, and there is a lot to like, is her million watt smile. Since I found her, we have been in a rather animated Facebook conversation. She is just 19 and working on a degree in Marine…

Thomas Frank had some nasty things to say about conservatives the other day. Basically, he sees the conservative anti-government philosophy as being responsible for the failure of government: The government and its bureaucrats are, to the right, ever a malign force — jealous, power-hungry and greedy. But it’s hard to blame someone for failing after…

Watts Up With That is having a discussion of a Times Online review of the new Honda Insight. The Times review is a hoot. Much has been written about the Insight, Honda’s new low-priced hybrid. We’ve been told how much carbon dioxide it produces, how its dashboard encourages frugal driving by glowing green when you’re…

A fashion blog this most definitely is not. The closest I come to that is occasionally offering gratuitous fashion advice to politicians, which they don’t seem to heed. But this blog does purport to be about the culture, and like it or not, fashion is part of the culture. So, when a new men’s outfit…

I think it might be a good idea to look at how a wind generator’s output varies with speed. Wind power varies with the cube of wind speed. That is basic physics. No way around it that we know of. So let us look at some wind turbines. Typical are turbines that start generating power…

I believe this will not end well for Pelosi. H/T Pajamas Media which has an excellent discussion of the likely outcome. Short version: Pelosi under the bus. Cross Posted at Power and Control

“I became a conservative by being around liberals, and I became a libertarian by being around conservatives.” So says Greg Gutfeld, host of Red Eye on Fox News and former editor of Men’s Health magazine in a free-ranging reason.tv interview Sean Kinsell describes as “a hilarious conversation” with “a lot to say about health-related nanny-state-ism,…

I’d heard that Buicks were popular in China, but I didn’t know they were this popular: SHANGHAI (Reuters) – A popular Chinese online video showing a woman going hysterical after her male companion refuses to buy her a car is stirring debate about Shanghai’s females, who are renowned for their demanding ways. In the video,…

Do we all agree that there should be fewer abortions? The reason I’m asking is because President Obama has been quoted as saying that we do: Notre Dame provost Thomas Burish said he thought Obama fared well in the face of controversy, delivering a speech the audience embraced and setting the tone for a conversation…

You think green energy crates jobs? Guess again. A power producer typically gets paid for the power it generates. In Texas, some wind energy generators are paying to have someone take power off their hands. Because of intense competition, the way wind tax credits work, the location of the wind farms and the fact that…

Tom Ligon is an engineer who worked with Dr. Robert Bussard on Polywell Fusion. Tom explains the technology and his work with Dr. Bussard. There are seven videos in the series. You can watch the rest of them here: Tom Ligon Interview 2 Tom Ligon Interview 3 Tom Ligon Interview 4 Tom Ligon Interview 5…

I’m probably projecting my own frustrations onto my dog while behaving in a very anthropomorphic manner, but a recent picture of Coco screaming made me think of a famous Norwegian painting, so into the painting Coco had to go! This is not the first time that Coco has invaded art. Here she is persistently invading…

This video was described by Ann Althouse as “A beautiful, emotional anti-gun ad.” Which it is. See for yourself. One of the things I most like about Ann Althouse is that she fearlessly and unhesitatingly highlights the strengths and weaknesses of arguments on both sides, regardless of which side she and most of her readers…

M. Simon made the following observation about politicians last night: Politicians use words the same way squids use ink. To cover their tracks. I think that in the current political climate, most voters understand the above implicitly. A brief review of the current numbers from RealClearPolitics is in order: President Obama Job Approval RCP Average…

I can’t believe it, but it was six years ago yesterday that I started ranting in this blog. These days I often feel like I’ve run out of things to say, but then something will come along and annoy me enough (or amuse me enough) that I just keep right on as if there’s something…

In a comment on my post Green Energy Kills Jobs stressdoc had this to say about his experience with wind power. I am a mechanical engineer and quite knowledgeable about wind power and the reliability problems. They are many! Wind power has a longer history in the EU, but the experience has been similar. Wind…