Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Speaking of activists with the power to ruin lives, one of the things that has long concerned me about activists in government is their natural tendency to misuse the power of government to go after people they don’t like. While I don’t know whether liberal activist types have now taken over the Department of Homeland…

Ever since I moved to Ann Arbor in August, I’ve wondered why gasoline prices are so much higher here than in surrounding communities. I assumed it was because the gas stations have to pay higher rents. But the higher prices are not my imagination; today I saw official confirmation: AAA Michigan says gasoline prices in…

Glenn Beck talks with the former Deputy Foreign Minister of Mexico. And as long as we are on the topic of Mexico. The rumor that 90% of the guns involved in Mexico’s crimes come from America is a flat out lie. And suppose the “loophole” that allows so many American guns into Mexico was closed.…

I realize that gun grabbers routinely misrepresent facts and figures, but the ongoing campaign by Mexican officials to make it look like US guns are flooding their country is getting ridiculous. In the latest, Mexico’s US Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan repeats the claim that 90 percent of the weapons seized in Mexico can be traced to…

Jennifer Rubin takes issue with the feminist/socialist “comparable worth” doctrine, which she sees as another bad idea that will not die: There are some public policy ideas that won’t die — no matter how bad they are. One of these is “comparable worth.” It is built on the misguided policy notion that there is a…

The immediate pirate crisis is over with the killing of three pirates, the capture of a wounded fourth and the recovery of Captain Phillips unharmed physically. The American captain taken hostage by Somali pirates aboard a lifeboat was freed today after making a second daring escape bid that allowed waiting US forces to open fire…

From a report that Glenn Reynolds linked earlier, I read that Joe Biden bought a pedigreed German Shepherd puppy from a breeder. Not much of a story there, but what happened later illustrates something I consider a very serious (and possibly unsolvable) problem. Because of an unstoppable movement of single-issue activist fanatics, the breeder has…

Yep. New research shows that salt may be an anti-depressant. Does demolishing a salty bag of potato chips seem to put you in a better mood? If so, you’re not alone, according to psychologists at the University of Iowa who say salt may be nature’s anti-depressant. Researchers based the conclusion on studies on rats. They…

Red Alerts reports on a school teacher who was using drugs and alcohol to sexually exploit youth. Red asks this question: Victimless Crime Files: Why Do Adults Want Kids to Get High? Red Alerts then says: The truth is that only two kinds of adults involved with drugs, ones with addiction problems/psychological issues and the…

And just in case you are wondering about the title. It is a play on Philip K. Dick’s book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which led to the movie with Harrison Ford called Blade Runner. Cross Posted at Power and Control H/T EDN Magazine

Are libertarians conservative? More properly, are libertarians included — and should they be? — within the rubric of the word “conservative”? This is not an idle question, as there is a fierce ongoing debate (linked by Glenn Reynolds earlier) about the Tea Party Movement, and it seems to me that this debate goes to the…

I have mixed feelings about the news that the Obama administration is denying that the president bowed to Saudi King Abdullah: The White House is denying that the president bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a G-20 meeting in London, a scene that drew criticism on the right and praise from some Arab…

Laugh all you want but this is no joke. The article linked is about batteries for cars. Anyway, this battery issue — and many like it — hasn’t stopped GM from announcing yet another Car Of The Future. Only this time they’ve partnered themselves up with Segway. You have got to be fucking kidding me.…

It appears that there is a “new” weed to improve male sexual performance. And I’m not talking about marijuana. Nope. I’m talking about the appropriately named “Horny Goat Weed”. The soft green heart-shaped leaf of the horny goat weed could hold the key to a new drug for treating erectile dysfunction. Researchers say the Viagra…

As I keep saying, the news sucks. On Drudge earlier, I saw a creepy (if unverified) statistic: Rasmussen Poll: Just 53% of Americans Say Capitalism Better Than Socialism… Developing… The question arises, what do you do when a manjority of citizens don’t appreciate what they have and are willing to vote away the freedom that…

A friend of mine, RN, said he found a comment I wrote about climate change rather funny. So I thought I’d let the rest of you in on the joke. I was responding to this bit of a comment. Meanwhile our atmosphere is loading up with carbon dioxide from that oh-so-easy combustion and we don’t…

Over the many years I’ve been blogging, I have seen countless scurrilous attacks on Glenn Reynolds by leftie bloggers. He is hated with a unique passion, for two primary reasons: His blog is too popular; and As a libertarianish blogger, Glenn is not right wing enough (or conservative enough). The latter may sound counterintuitive, because…

Bill Whittle recalls one of life’s early lessons on charity. There was a time, in my twenties, when I was very poor. I have sat silent in an apartment, shades drawn, silently waiting for the loud knocking of the landlord to go away. I have borrowed enough money to have to decide whether or not…

God, I hate the news these days. (This post may touch on why….) While I haven’t obsessed about it in this blog as much as I perhaps should, it has frequently occurred to me that the group of cultural attitudes popularly known (and yelled about) as “traditional values” are little more than 1930s values. Dominated…

Rick Nebel, the lead guy in Polywell Fusion Research has a few things to say about his current state of knowledge with reference to the Polywell Fusion Reactor. He also discusses some rather technical questions about his research and findings. You can read those by following the link. To a certain extent we are in…