Monthly Archives: July 2013

Sugar Daddy

July 31, 2013 – 10:27 am

We note with continuing satisfaction that Mayor Bloomberg’s big-soda ban has been nullified once again in the courts, this time on appeal. (Our reaction to the original ruling is here.) The issue here is personal responsibility. Implicit in this ban is the idea that it is the proper role of the State to intervene in […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (33)

Jonah Goldberg On Politics And Meaning

July 30, 2013 – 11:20 pm

I’m back from Southern California (always a relief) and will be getting back to normal operation around here shortly. For tonight, here’s a longish excerpt from Jonah Goldbergs’ most recent ‘G-File’ newsletter, in which he looks at the differences between conservative and liberal sex scandals in light of what he considers to be essential differences […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics | Comments (8)

Call Of Nature

July 27, 2013 – 2:38 pm

Here is a haunting, oddly beautiful video about Aokigahara, the “suicide forest” at the foot of Fuji-san. After watching this, I remembered a haiku I had written, years ago.

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (3)

Service Notice

July 25, 2013 – 9:26 pm

Out in Southern California for a few days, visiting my ancient and ailing dad. Posting if time permits.

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (4)

Pre-Cover

July 24, 2013 – 9:21 am

Here’s an unfamiliar version of an all-too-familiar tune.

By Malcolm | Posted in Music and Recording | Comments (0)

Veritas. Schmeritas.

July 23, 2013 – 8:37 pm

Here’s an essay by Victor Davis Hanson on lying. Worth your time.

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (4)

Enlightened Statesmen Will Not Always Be At The Helm

July 23, 2013 – 3:28 pm

I’m not one to wallow in salacious gossip, but when it comes to the detestable liberal jackass and odious sexual deviant Anthony Weiner, I’ll make an exception. New examples of his dark obsession have just come to light, in a series of prurient exchanges between the disgraced former Congressman and a 22-year-old woman. You can […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics | Comments (19)

Fists

July 22, 2013 – 4:32 pm

In the days since the Zimmerman verdict, I’ve had a lot of conversations with liberal friends* in which they complain about the use of lethal force against the “unarmed” Trayvon Martin. Most of these people have no experience whatsoever with the use of hands, elbows, and forearms as weapons, and imagine that nothing really serious […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Martial Arts | Comments (5)

The Wealth Of Nations

July 22, 2013 – 11:02 am

Here’s an item that I missed when it was published in 2011: a study correlating the IQ of nations with per-capita GDP. The results are unsurprising.

By Malcolm | Posted in HBD | Comments (0)

Hawkmoths Jam Bat Radar With Bursts Of Ultrasonics From Their Genitals

July 21, 2013 – 12:12 am

Here. Hat tip: John D.

By Malcolm | Posted in Science | Comments (3)

The Parasite Outgrows Its Host

July 20, 2013 – 11:51 am

Mark Steyn on Detroit, which is scrounging around for assets to liquidate: What else is left to sell? Windsor has already offered to buy Detroit’s half of the Detroit/Windsor tunnel, perhaps to wall it up. With bankruptcy temporarily struck down, we’re told that “innovation hubs” and “enterprise zones” are the answer. Seriously? In my book […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (7)

Honor Thy Father

July 19, 2013 – 5:04 pm

From an article on today’s ruling by Ingham County Circuit judge Rosemary Aquilina, who has blocked Detroit’s bankruptcy filing: “It’s cheating, sir, and it’s cheating good people who work,’ the judge told assistant Attorney General Brian Devlin. “It’s also not honoring the (United States) president, who took (Detroit’s auto companies) out of bankruptcy.’ Aquilina said […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (3)

Canary In The Coal Mine

July 18, 2013 – 3:46 pm

Detroit, once a great American city, is filing for bankruptcy. Draw your own conclusions; I’m not going to spell this one out for you.

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (3)

Pretty Much Deities

July 18, 2013 – 1:30 pm

The NBA’s New Orleans Hornets are changing their name. They are going to become the Pelicans, and apparently many of their fans think the new moniker doesn’t sound fearsome enough. They ought to know better, says Deadpsin’s Barry Petchesky. He has written a lusty defense of the pelican’s ferocity, including the sentence “The pelican might […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (2)

Everythang Flows

July 18, 2013 – 10:42 am

Snoop Dogg explains dialectical materialism. Courtesy of Gizoogle.

By Malcolm | Posted in Reason and Philosophy | Comments (0)

Ace On Race, And Putting Piers In His Place

July 17, 2013 – 11:58 pm

With the Zimmerman verdict still reverberating, the blogger known as Ace of Spades has written an excellent contribution to that “national conversation” we’re supposed to be having. Read it here. Also, in case you missed it, here’s George Zimmerman’s brother dismantling Piers Morgan shortly after the verdict.

By Malcolm | Posted in General, Society and Culture | Comments (0)

Edit Wars

July 17, 2013 – 6:31 pm

Our reader and commenter The Big Henry has sent along an interesting item: the most contentious articles on Wikipedia. Some of them are what you’d expect: Global Warming’, ‘Race and Intelligence’. Others, not so much — in particular, number 4: ‘List of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Employees’. Also, number 1 on the list is ‘George […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (0)

Honey, Where’s The Tumbrel?

July 16, 2013 – 6:01 pm

The Department of Justice, frustrated by the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case, is determined to crucify George Zimmerman anyway, whatever it takes. (This is, apparently, necessary in order to fulfill the DOJ’s primary mission: to “alleviate tensions, address community concerns and promote healing’.) Despite the FBI having determined that there was no evidence that […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (2)

The Verdict

July 14, 2013 – 9:55 pm

Well, as you all know by now, George Zimmerman was cleared of all counts last night in the Trayvon Martin shooting. There’s little to cheer about here, beside the fact that the legal system worked as intended. An unarmed 17-year-old has been shot dead, and another young man will never know a day’s peace as […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (14)

This And That

July 11, 2013 – 11:10 pm

I’ve been working like a dog all week, and between earning a crust and winnowing away the chaff in the comment threads, I’ve had no time to pile up a new post. So for tonight, just a few links: — Supermassive object begins to collapse. — The Butlerian jihad begins. — A blue planet where […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General, Shameless Filler | Comments (5)

Dark Counsel From The Durants

July 9, 2013 – 10:53 pm

In 1965, near the end of a long lifetime of scholarly study and reflection, the great historians Will and Ariel Durant brought forth a slim volume called The Lessons of History, a companion to their magnum opus, The Story of Civilization. The third chapter, Biology and History, deals with topics now associated with the dissident […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Darwin and Biology, Society and Culture, HBD | Comments (7)

Culture And Metaculture

July 8, 2013 – 11:08 pm

Our recent post on differing views of the importance of tradition led to a disagreement, in the comment thread, on whether American culture was in decline. No, said our interlocutor “the One Eyed Man”, quite the contrary: While you fret about “our own rapidly vanishing culture,’ the rest of the world frets that their cultures […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture, Pretty Good Posts | Comments (18)

July 4th

July 5, 2013 – 1:09 pm

I generally make some sort of post on Independence Day, but yesterday I neglected to. It was the usual “Main Street, USA” kind of Fourth here in Wellfleet: a slightly goofy, locally themed parade under a hot July sun. (Along Main Street.) One thing I might have mentioned yesterday was that John Adams, our second […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (1)

Tradition

July 2, 2013 – 11:44 pm

In our recent discussion of the Supreme Court’s DOMA ruling, our reader Peter, “The One Eyed Man”, made the following response to the suggestion that marriage was a tradition so ancient, and so universal, that some care might be warranted in tampering with it: Tradition alone does not justify continuance in perpetuity. Well, I don’t […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General, Society and Culture | Comments (42)