Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

    I was in the Marine Corps for 11 years and did two combat tours before being medically discharged. After coming back home, I was put on 40 different medications over the course of five years. In 2012, after watching a documentary, I decided to try cannabis. I felt more relaxed after one joint…

Suggested by Kathy Kinsley.    

I’m having a conversation with an avowed Prohibitionist. He says that only 5% (the number of signatures gathered for a ballot initiative) of the Ohio population favors an end to Prohibition and he assumes that 5% are all users. My response (slightly revised): The usual number is about one in ten. And another 4.5 in…

The space probe that landed on a comet, once thought to be dead, is now alive. To scientists’ relief and delight, the Philae spacecraft that landed on a comet last fall has woken up and communicated with Earth after seven long months of silence, the European Space Agency announced Sunday. Philae became the first spacecraft…

Reason Magazine has a story about Secret Police and Informants. It happens at Ole Miss. It happens at Florida State. I think this explains why kids are turning against prohibition. Notice the pig about 5:30 into the video. And for all you animal lovers I mean no disrespect to pigs. But when a supposed human…

From a Climate Summit Past: Climate policy has almost nothing to do anymore with environmental protection, says the German economist and IPCC official Ottmar Edenhofer. The next world climate summit in Cancun is actually an economy summit during which the distribution of the world’s resources will be negotiated. – Ottmar Edenhofer Figures it would be…

Another day, another gigantic Big Hack Attack. Not to sound like a nutjob, but sometimes I wonder who is hacking who. OPM officials said as recently as Thursday evening that they believed 4.2 million people—including 2.1 million current employees—were affected by the breach, but the background-investigation form breach suggests the number could be larger. The…

From Reason Magazine: Cops in Santa Ana, California, donned ski masks to break and enter into a local medical marijuana dispensary, raiding it with guns drawn in a May 27 police action. They then proceeded to remove surveillance cameras and recording equipment, but they didn’t remove it all. Video from a camera they didn’t disable…

What is slavery? Well let us suppose Jewish rules applied (look up Jewish laws on slavery if the topic interests you). It is saying, “You can manage my life better than I can.” What does government tell us these days? “We can manage your life better than you can.” I really wish the anti-slavers applied…

I started posting this phrase around a few months back and now I’m staring to see it more and more frequently.     He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.    

The story that Eric and I have been following has reached the lower rungs of the MSM. NPR. The article? More of the same. The comments? Solid gold. One commenter: There ought to be a law against prosecutors that try to extend a charge where it most obviously doesn’t apply. Another replies: Ha Ha Ha…

I’m working on some electronics for tools like these. I want to bring the costs within reach of the advanced hobbyist. And not just for predesigned tools. Anything you want up to 8 axis. You provide the machine we provide the controls. I’m planning to use the tools/electronics on the Proton-Boron Fusion Project.

As M. Simon’s recent post makes clear, the War on Drugs is not only far from dead, but its proponents have come up with a new tack: target dissenters, like commenters to Reason. Prosecutors are targeting anonymous blog commenters by going after the blog proprietors with grand jury subpoenas. The prosecutor going after Reason contends that…

As part of a fusion project I’m working on, me and the Proton-Boron Gang have put up a Line Frequency Meter that shows the power grid frequency in Northern Illinois. It is representative of the grid frequency of the The Eastern Interconnection. We need some people to take a look at the page and let…

Nick Gillespie of Reason Magazine says don’t discuss this: Please refrain from any discussion of the subject of the article at Popehat.com and its contents on our site. Well I did leave links in various comment threads to the article that wasn’t to be discussed. Just to make sure people knew what was out of…

Originally, a man named Bruce Jenner said that when he identified as a man. Was he a man in those days? Did he change his Jenner? Or does a change of gender operate ex post facto? Have we always been at war with Gender? Someone please straighten out my confusion quick, or else I’ll end up…

A fellow on a pollution control thread said the real problem was population. And population control was the answer. My response: Re: population control. I’m awaiting news that you are setting an example. If we had more people who believe this is a problem setting an example it wouldn’t be a problem.

I’m having a discussion with a guy about “addiction”. Is it real? Suppose you come across an addict? What should you do? Get them off drugs and keep them from drugs as best as you can. Suppose you come across a person in pain what should you do? If you can’t fix the problem at…

Did you know that it is a federal crime to withdraw your own money from your own bank account in such a way as to avoid federal reporting requirements? And (according to federal law) the “crime” has absolutely nothing to do with what you plan to do with the money. The mere withdrawal is the…

Last year a similar amendment passed 219 to 189. This year it passed 242 to 186. That is twenty three more members in support and three fewer in opposition. My guess is that the fence sitters are getting off the fence. My own Congress Critter, Adam Kinzinger (R) Illinois, voted in favor. Nice to see…