October 21, 2007 – 11:17 pm
A couple of days ago the Nobel laureate James Watson was all over the news: he had expressed, in an interview for the London Times, his opinion that scientific results indicated that black Africans were, on average, less intelligent than white Northerners. In a subsequent article, we read: Dr Watson, who runs one of America’s […]
October 21, 2007 – 12:01 am
In a previous post, I commented, perhaps a bit archly, upon the recent decision of the Portland, ME school board to give birth-control pills to young children without parental notification. While it is easy enough (and fun!) simply to jeer and scoff, now that I’ve got that out of the way I suppose we should […]
October 20, 2007 – 1:18 pm
In my morning visit to Kevin Kim’s place I found this post, in which he calls our attention to a hilarious video clip. This is not a family-oriented link (except in the sense, perhaps, of creating one). Adults only, please.
October 20, 2007 – 12:07 am
In today’s Times we learn that the King Middle School of Portland, Maine, will be doling out birth-control pills to its pupils. Eligible candidates will be as young as 11, and parents will not be notified. If you don’t believe me, take a moment to read the story for yourself. Readers will, of course, already […]
October 18, 2007 – 10:57 pm
There are several things in the news that are worth mentioning tonight; in particular I’d like to ruminate a bit on the James Watson imbroglio. But I’ve just got back from teaching class down at the kwoon, and it’s too late to begin a long post (especially as my forearms are a bit banged up, […]
October 18, 2007 – 12:42 pm
I’ll chalk it up to natural selection That we won’t see Sam in the next election.
October 17, 2007 – 9:45 pm
As I was poking around at the newly added Policeman’s Blog (see our previous post), I came across an item that featured the video below, in which we learn how a proper Musselman is expected to treat the ladies.
October 17, 2007 – 9:36 pm
If you’re like me — and I have no reason to assume you aren’t — you’ve been wondering: what is it really like to be an English policeman, anyway? Well, wonder no more, thanks to the latest addition to our sidebar (courtesy of the estimable Deogulwulf): The Policeman’s Blog.
October 17, 2007 – 12:30 am
I took a stroll through town this evening after work: from Grand Central down to the Lower East Side, with a stop at Pete’s Tavern to have a drink with a friend. The night air was enjoyable, and it was good to stir my bones after sitting at my desk in the office all day. […]
October 16, 2007 – 12:41 am
I’ve just read Sam Harris’s Letter To A Christian Nation. It is brief — one can finish it in an hour or so — but pungent.
October 14, 2007 – 12:04 am
Today was the occasion of the 7th Annual Wellfleet OysterFest, and, as usual, folks came from all over to visit our charming seaside village, to browse the displays put up by our many artists and craftspeople, and, first and foremost, to gorge upon the succulent bivalves for which the town is justly famed. The beer […]
October 12, 2007 – 4:09 pm
By now you have probably heard of Second Life, the enormously popular online “world”. I’ve poked around in it a bit myself, but am such a reclusive old grouch that I haven’t been inclined to hang around much. (One of the things I have found off-putting is the lack of a good audio interface, which […]
October 10, 2007 – 12:41 am
My friend Wayne Krantz has sent along a link to an item in the New York Times about the social perils of email. The article, by psychologist and author Daniel Goleman, is entitled E-Mail Is Easy to Write (and to Misread). In it, we learn that: In contrast to a phone call or talking in […]
October 8, 2007 – 11:03 pm
I must say this is certainly NOT how I imagined that the early days of October would be. Five weeks ago I scribbled a post in which I gave thanks that the summer’s sticky warmth was soon to give way to the clear cool days of autumn. “The most beautiful months of all”, I said. […]
October 7, 2007 – 11:05 pm
I ran across an odd website the other day. Its purpose is to demonstrate what a completely click-free browsing environment would be like. The authors clearly think it’s better, somehow, but I don’t think I like it at all. How about you? See for yourself here.
October 7, 2007 – 12:30 am
I’m sorry to have been off the air yesterday; it’s been a busy couple of days.
October 4, 2007 – 4:43 pm
Well, enough politics for now. I’ve dwelt on the topic overmuch lately anyway; folks might get the idea it was something I’m actually interested in. I’m gratified, at least, not to have received the cataract of vitriol that I might reasonably have expected to follow that previous post, though it might be too soon to […]
October 4, 2007 – 12:09 am
Neoconservatism takes a terrible pounding these days. The term “neoconservative” itself, and its common abbreviation, “necon”, are more often spat out in fury than with any understanding of what the word actually refers to, which is a coherent and morally informed school of thought that sees the traditional American ideals of liberty and democracy as […]
October 2, 2007 – 11:19 pm
My son Nick has sent along a link to a video, in four parts, of a marvelous lecture by Richard Dawkins on the topic of Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder. Dawkins is, of course, a controversial figure nowadays for his staunch criticism of religion, but like him or not he is a brilliant […]
October 2, 2007 – 2:57 pm
The latest NASA newsletter contained an unusual item: it’s a video clip of Comet Encke (looking for all the world like a plucky little spermatozoon), which, having passed too close to the Sun, has its tail ripped off by a “coronal mass ejection”. Have a look here.
October 2, 2007 – 10:35 am
Violence declined sharply in Iraq last month. This was such unwelcome news at the New York Times that the story, which opened with the sentence “The number of violent civilian deaths in Iraq dropped precipitously in September compared with the previous month”, was presented “below the fold” on page 10, having been knocked off the […]
October 1, 2007 – 11:12 pm
Well, it looks like John McCain is done. I don’t suppose that he had much of a shot at the Republican nomination anyway, but now he’s being roasted alive for some candid remarks he made during an interview at Beliefnet.org. What was McCain’s unpardonable offense? Being a Christian himself, he expressed a wish to have […]
October 1, 2007 – 12:10 pm
Since 9/11, there has been a steady drone of voices from the Left asking “why do they hate us?” ((No, it’s not for the reason this wag suggests.)), and supplying, lest we might be tempted to assign any blame whatsoever to our enemies, a litany of reasons why U.S. influence in the world is toxic […]
September 30, 2007 – 1:45 pm
Well, as we feared would happen, it appears that the peaceful uprising in Burma has been tamped down by ruthless violence. The UN has sent an envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, to speak with the ruling junta, and we can be sure that he will, at the very least, administer a stern finger-wagging — and if that […]
September 29, 2007 – 10:48 pm
I expect things to settle down a bit as of tomorrow, but writing at any length requires, for me at least, quiet time alone, which has been in short supply all week. So for tonight, I find myself reduced not just to “meta-blogging”, which is simply pointing readers to the work done by others, but […]
September 27, 2007 – 11:34 pm
I do apologize for the paucity of content around here this week. But don’t go away mad: here, with a hat tip to my friend Greg Estren, is some fabulous video footage of the exotic fauna of the ocean’s abyssal depths. Do have a look.
September 26, 2007 – 11:35 pm
Not having the time this evening for any long-winded jibber-jabber, I’ll share with you something nifty I’ve just run across: a new system that enables ordinary digital cameras to take multi-gigpixel panoramas. Have a look here, and zoom in all you like.
September 26, 2007 – 11:04 pm
For those of you who are interested, here is a transcript of the events at Columbia University on Monday. Looking back, I suppose little was gained, and perhaps something lost, by Mr. Bollinger’s caustic introduction, although for those of you who have only heard about it, it is worth reading, because it is much more […]
September 25, 2007 – 11:10 pm
We note with considerable interest the goings-on in Burma these days, where the military junta that runs the country — one of the most repressive governments in the world today — is finding itself in a bit of a cleft stick as Buddhist monks are waging an ever-bolder campaign of civil disobedience. Were any other […]
September 25, 2007 – 10:42 pm
Today’s Physorg newsletter (which, as always, I recommend to those of you who like to keep up with science news) contained a story about what looks to me like an important piece of medical research, involving the role played by tryptophan in cancer and other diseases. Have a look here.
September 24, 2007 – 11:32 pm
There was a predictable ruction about whether or not Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should have been allowed to speak at Columbia today, and I must say that at the very least it was gratifying to see that he was given a chilly greeting. It was nice to see the academic community turning out to express their disapproval […]
September 22, 2007 – 9:52 pm
I have been busy this weekend with a two-day Iron Wire seminar (which is turning out to be one of the most interesting and esoteric experiences I’ve had in 32 years of kung-fu training), so for tonight I’ll just leave you with an engaging little diversion. It’s an online test of your ability to perceive […]
September 21, 2007 – 11:09 am
Further wisdom from the Sage of Baltimore.
September 20, 2007 – 10:41 pm
Ask anyone these days, and they’ll tell you that health-care services in Cuba are second to none. Despite the island nation’s having been so thoroughly beggared by almost half a century of totalitarian Marxist rule that people drown themselves in rickety boats in desperate attempts to flee, even the humblest son of the soil, when […]
September 19, 2007 – 5:23 pm
One hears a lot these days about a “right” to health care. I bristle at this, because I think the notion of “rights” as anything other than matters of human convention is rubbish. We may, as a society, choose to define our laws such that they include a “right” to those things we deem appropriate: […]
September 18, 2007 – 1:25 pm
On September 6th, Israel did something in Syria, something about which they have been rather uncharacteristically mum. In today’s Wall Street Journal, Bret Stephens, ex-editor of the Jerusalem Post, considers what it might have been.
September 18, 2007 – 10:33 am
Our pal The Stiletto takes a pointed look at farm subsidies. Here.
September 17, 2007 – 11:45 pm
I’ve been swamped, and have had no time for the sort of brooding and omphaloskepsis required for gestating these posts. But today my friend Louis Franzetti sent along a copy of some recent Darwin Awards, and to keep you occupied this evening I offer a link that pops up a randomly chosen example every time […]
September 15, 2007 – 9:21 pm
I’ve been spending a few days in our seaside shack, reading a little H. L. Mencken. The collection I have in hand is The Vintage Mencken: Gathered by Alistair Cooke (at a mere $11.96, you should go right ahead and buy it). In an essay entitled Mr. Justice Holmes, Mencken pauses briefly to assess our […]
September 15, 2007 – 4:34 pm
Our friend Kevin Kim has recently begun and ended a storm-tossed relationship with a fellow by the name of Zach Shatz, who has written a slim book in which he attempts to explain Ultimate Reality through the prism of, well, prisms. Kevin did an interview with Shatz about the book (which, judging by this interview, […]
September 14, 2007 – 11:07 pm
It startles me how differently people can see things. We all like to flatter ourselves that our opinions are guided by naught but sweet reason, but we overlook that reasoning is in general terms simply a manufacturing process, and like all such processes its output depends sensitively upon its input. That input, however, depends in […]
September 14, 2007 – 10:11 pm
From my son Nick, a splendid young man, restless Internet spelunker, and the prop of my dotage, comes a link to what looks like an worthwhile website: The Worlds of David Darling. I’d never heard of the fellow, but according to Wikipedia he is a well-known British astronomer who has written scads of books. Anyway, […]
September 13, 2007 – 11:35 am
To do physical science, one needs uniform references for fundamental quantities: length, duration, mass, and so forth. Over time, as the need for accuracy has increased, attempts have been made to place the fundamental units on ever more precise footing. For example, the reference meter, which was declared in 1791 by the French Academy of […]
September 12, 2007 – 11:39 pm
Here is some interesting reading for you all, courtesy of Edge.org. First up is an essay called Moral Psychology and the Misunderstanding of Religion, by Jonathan Haidt, in which he takes the “new atheists” to task for failing to develop a subtle enough appreciation of the adaptive underpinnings of religion, and of morality. He draws […]
September 11, 2007 – 11:53 pm
I was saddened to see in today’s news that the great Joe Zawinul has died, of cancer, at the age of 75.
September 10, 2007 – 10:27 am
As a software engineer, and a techie all my life, I don’t get all that excited about most of the products that come down the pipe. But this could really be the Next Big Thing: Windows RG. Have a look here.
September 9, 2007 – 10:45 pm
Well, enough already, for now at least, with the religious stuff. I’m sure that readers are running for the hills after all that swooning about “numinous beauty and harmony”, etc. I had to make what I think is an important point, and I will return to it, I’m sure, before long, but for now, back […]
September 8, 2007 – 10:17 pm
In last night’s post I tried to make clear that disbelief in God need not be correlated with the sort of spritual tone-deafness that Dr. William Vallicella argued for in a recent essay.