Monthly Archives: May 2020

How’s It Going?

May 31, 2020 – 10:32 pm

Haven’t looked at the news much for a week or so. Did I miss anything?

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (12)

Going Green

May 30, 2020 – 12:32 pm

Next time you hear someone refer to carbon dioxide as a “pollutant”, mention this: Carbon Dioxide Fertilization Greening Earth, Study Finds Carbon dioxide is plant food. Plants eat carbon dioxide, make human food, and release oxygen. Humans breathe oxygen, eat plants, and release carbon dioxide. Simple and elegant.

By Malcolm | Posted in Science, Global Warming | Comments (0)

A Fate Worse Than Death

May 28, 2020 – 8:58 pm

From John Hirschauer at National Review: “More Men Die, But Women Bear The Brunt“.

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (6)

There Is Security In A Jail-Cell

May 27, 2020 – 12:17 pm

This Corona-chan crisis has been an excellent experiment in determining just how much we are willing to imprison and fetter ourselves to avoid danger. Our prolonged interval of peace and prosperity since the Second World War — our isolation from the hormesis of what, throughout history, have been regular calamities and stresses — has made […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (8)

Scary Vs. Dangerous, And The Madness Of Crowds

May 23, 2020 – 7:56 pm

Here’s a sharp little item on the miscalculation of risk.

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (2)

Ye Have Been Weighed

May 21, 2020 – 8:58 pm

Over at American Greatness yesterday, Mackubin Owens has written a short piece entitled ‘Pandemic Is Shining a Light on the American Character‘. Indeed it has. There have of course been many Americans who have shown great courage in manning their stations, and keeping necessary infrastructure working, despite personal risk. Had it not been for them, […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (4)

Motive And Opportunity

May 17, 2020 – 2:09 pm

Two motives must be kept in mind as we debate public policy regarding this lockdown: First, elected politicians have one universal and overriding priority, which is to preserve their seats, and so to minimize short-term public risk. If they are faced with a choice between, say, liberty and security, they will consistently, and quite naturally, […]

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

Zhi Lu Wei Ma

May 12, 2020 – 12:06 pm

In a press-conference today Governor Andrew Cuomo twice referred to the current pandemic as “the European virus”. I am old and experienced, and expect nothing but lies and deception from politicians generally, and Democrats in particular, but even by contemporary Blue-Team standards this is stunningly audacious. Everybody — everybody! — knows this thing did not […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics | Comments (8)

Do They Still Make Tumbrels?

May 11, 2020 – 12:37 pm

We owe a debt of gratitude to a handful of journalists who have worked for years now to keep the true story of the Russiagate scandal (now trending as #Obamagate) in public view: Mollie Hemingway, Andrew McCarthy, Lee Smith, Sharyl Attkisson, John Batchelor, and a few others. Over the last several days new information has […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics | Comments (3)

Tied Off

May 10, 2020 – 7:09 pm

The apt metaphor, I think, for what we have done to ourselves in response to this virus is the tourniquet. Leave it on too long and gangrene sets in. You can watch your own body begin to die and rot and stink. “Ah, but it’s just a limb,” you say. “It’s worth losing a limb […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (0)

Gone, But Not Forgotten

May 10, 2020 – 1:21 pm

It’s Mothers’ Day. Here was mine. I miss her.

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (0)

Service Notice

May 9, 2020 – 10:51 pm

Longtime readers will have noticed the lack of substantial content here recently – just little odds and ends, mostly. It’s mostly the Groundhog-Day monotony of this new life: the days, and the news they bring, never vary much. There is very little vitality or energy in the air, or on the air — just the […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (2)

Kung Fu In 4-D

May 9, 2020 – 12:18 pm

Here’s something beautiful, from a visual artist by the name of Tobias Gremmler. Watch in full-screen.

By Malcolm | Posted in Martial Arts, Curiosities | Comments (1)

Code Review

May 7, 2020 – 4:31 pm

Here’s another item over the transom from our e-pal Bill K. — a software engineer’s look at the modeling software that was relied upon to shut down the West. (As a former C++ developer myself, I can say that it sounds awfully bad.)

By Malcolm | Posted in Science, Rubbish | Comments (7)

Another Small Victory

May 7, 2020 – 4:27 pm

The big news today is the vindication of General Flynn, but there was another heartening local item as well: a federal judge has blocked Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker’s executive order keeping gun shops closed. Today, U.S. Judge Douglas P. Woodlock issued a preliminary injunction to prevent Massachusetts from enforcing the unlawful order. “We don’t surrender […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Law, Politics | Comments (1)

Some Good News, For A Change

May 7, 2020 – 4:16 pm

Wonderful news, just in: the DOJ has dropped the case against Michael Flynn. The prosecution, which had no basis in law and will be judged by history as part of a political scandal without rival in the modern era, began to fall apart last week after recently revealed documents revealed the enormity of the FBI’s […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics, Law | Comments (0)

The Burnt Fool’s Bandaged Finger Goes Wabbling Back To The Fire

May 4, 2020 – 12:41 pm

Our e-pal Bill K. sent along the following updated parable this morning:    *  * *  *  *  *   *   *   *   *   *   *   * The ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER This one is a little different … Two Different Versions … Two Different Morals   OLD VERSION   The ant works hard in the withering heat […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture, Politics | Comments (4)

The Mouse That Roared

May 3, 2020 – 1:38 pm

Here are the latest Wuhan Red Death stats from the CDC. The page shows the week-by week numbers since the beginning of the outbreak. As of May 1st, the revised U.S. total is 37,308. Enjoy your new economy.

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture, Politics | Comments (1)

Obstruction Of Injustice

May 3, 2020 – 12:25 pm

It’s becoming clearer every day that Michael Flynn’s persecution was a nothing more than a politically motivated frame-up (many of us have known this for ages, but in the past week documents have come to light that make it irrefutable). But why Flynn? Andrew McCarthy gives us the reason: he was a liability to the […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics | Comments (0)

Sez Who?

May 2, 2020 – 1:14 pm

Here’s the question that interviewers should be putting to governors: “If, in normal times, you were to announce as a matter of executive fiat that people must close their businesses, could not assemble in groups over a certain size, and must stay home except for travel you deem essential, it would seem an absurdity. People […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (17)

PSA

May 1, 2020 – 1:55 pm

In times of crisis, it’s important to do what we can. One of the ways good citizens have responded to our current health emergency has been by sewing their own protective face-masks. Given that many of you, I’m sure, would find it easier to shove a camel through the eye of a needle than to […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (4)