December 5, 2013 – 8:34 pm
From PJ Media, here’s a report on a recent restaffing of the Department of Homeland Security’s legal team. Given the bios of the new hires, readers should be forgiven for coming away with the impression that their selection reveals something of a departure from ideological neutrality. (And from any interest whatsoever in enforcing our immigration […]
December 5, 2013 – 5:00 pm
Nelson Mandela has just died. Waiting for President Obama to release a tribute featuring himself. … Update: …aaaaand — here it is! Rest in peace, Nelson Mandela. pic.twitter.com/4qlqsXLp6e — The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 5, 2013 A twofer this time: a picture of himself, AND he quotes himself, too!
December 4, 2013 – 11:39 pm
When I was a young boy (the son of two scientists), I was fascinated by paleontology, and always imagined that it would be what I would do when I grew up. It didn’t work out that way, but I never lost my interest in natural history and the theory of evolution. One man I admired […]
December 4, 2013 – 12:36 am
“He who desires or attempts to reform the government of a state, and wishes to have it accepted and capable of maintaining itself to the satisfaction of everybody, must at least retain the semblance of the old forms; so that it may seem to the people that there has been no change in the institutions, […]
December 3, 2013 – 12:26 am
Making the rounds this evening is a study of male and female brains that reveals — you’d better sit down for this — that they are actually wired up, and operate, rather differently. There’s an article about it in The Independent, here. A great deal of costly and coercive public policy is based on the […]
December 2, 2013 – 12:44 pm
OK everybody, here’s a treat for you: the Faces, live in 1972. Rod Stewart at the peak of his powers, with one of the greatest old-school rock bands of all time — Ron Wood, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, and Kenny Jones. Nicely recorded, too. Here.
November 29, 2013 – 11:34 pm
Another of our steeples drench’d, I’m afraid. More here. We are dying, dying…
November 29, 2013 – 11:20 pm
Here’s something that’s apparently been going on for a while now that I’m just hearing about: Cicada 3301. “The world is so full of a number of things; I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.”
November 28, 2013 – 10:59 pm
Thanks to all of you, readers, for all your time and attention these past eight years. Thanks especially to those of you who have joined the conversation here. It’s why I started this blog in the first place.
November 27, 2013 – 12:19 pm
From the blogger known as ‘educationrealist’, here’s a penetrating look at Common Core, and some of the reasons why it is such a bad idea. One of the reasons it’s a bad idea: it fails to acknowledge an essential and utterly self-evident truth, namely that the ability to learn and master complex topics is not […]
November 26, 2013 – 11:39 pm
It’s a long day at work for me today — 11:35 p.m. and I’m still at it. All I have to offer is this little item from XKCD, which I happened on earlier today, in an idle moment. Back soon.
November 24, 2013 – 6:33 pm
There’s a bosky little corner of the blogosphere that is home to an intellectual movement to which I am ideologically sympathetic, and with which I am loosely associated. It is known variously as the Dissident Right, the Dark Enlightenment, or Neoreaction. This seditious cabal been around for years, but only lately has begun to attract […]
November 24, 2013 – 1:38 pm
Well, Carlsen did it. He defeated Anand 6.5-3.5, with three wins and not a single loss, and is now the world champion. You can go over all the games here.
November 22, 2013 – 10:20 pm
Our e-pal ‘hbd* chick’ (a scholar of human reproductive patterns and variation whose outstanding blog should be on your regular reading list, if it isn’t already) posted an excellent item yesterday on the increasing difficulties confronting adherents of the ideological cult of Diversity in the face of damning and discrediting evidence. (At this point the […]
November 22, 2013 – 4:08 pm
My God, is there no limit to this man’s narcissism? (No need to reply, we already know the answer.) Can he not honor anything or anyone without placing himself in the frame?
November 21, 2013 – 7:12 pm
The Democrats today decided to grab a little more power — for now at least — by changing the Senate rules so as to prevent filibustering of executive nominees. This enables them to bypass the Republican minority in order to get some left-wing judges onto the D.C. circuit court. The rule they changed has been […]
November 21, 2013 – 11:02 am
Magnus Carlsen has done it again, defeating Anand in Game 9 to take a near-insuperable 6:3 lead. If he can manage a single draw in the remaining three games, he’s the new champ. You can look at the game (a Nimzo-Indian, with Carlsen playing Black) here.
November 21, 2013 – 12:05 am
Here are a few language-related links I’ve collected over the past few days: — The Webster’s that wasn’t. — Lost in translation. — More of the above. — Some old-school cussin’. — OK, this last one isn’t about language, but here it is anyway: break-dancing Turks. No need to thank me.
November 20, 2013 – 11:32 pm
It seems to me that race is more in the news today than ever — and I’m old enough to remember the 1960s. For something that, according to all goodthinkful people, doesn’t even exist, it sure does get a lot of attention. Or not, depending on the context. For example, the media seem just now […]
November 20, 2013 – 12:10 am
I apologize for the lack of substantial content here these past several weeks. There has been so much to comment on — if nothing else, I’ve been missing out on one of the great Schadenfreudefests of modern political history — yet somehow I’ve found it difficult to lift the pen. Of course this has been […]
November 18, 2013 – 10:30 pm
Interesting item in the New York Post today, especially in light of this item from a few years back. Wonder if we’ll be hearing any more about this.
November 18, 2013 – 10:21 pm
I pass this along without comment: an actual television show, from Japan.
November 17, 2013 – 10:10 pm
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a world chess championship match underway in Chennai, India (that’s ‘Madras’, to those of you of a certain age). The reigning champ, 43-year-old Viswanathan Anand, is attempting to defend his crown against the Norwegian enfant terrible Magnus Carlsen, 22. It isn’t going very well. After four draws, Carlsen, the […]
November 15, 2013 – 9:36 pm
I’m back home in New York, but I’m completely exhausted. These past few weeks have really taken it out of me, and it may be a days or two before I’ll get back to posting here. Thanks again to everyone who has written, posted, and Tweeted their condolences. I really appreciate it.
November 13, 2013 – 11:09 am
My father’s obituary is in today’s New York Times. You can read it here.
November 10, 2013 – 9:43 pm
I’ll be there all week, on business. The days will be long, and there will be scant time for the blog, I’m afraid. I’ll do what I can, but it’s likely that political outrages will go unremarked, scientific breakthroughs will transpire in silence, amusing links will go unposted, and fatuous comments will even go unrebutted. […]
November 10, 2013 – 8:47 pm
My old friend Dave, aware of my gloomy presentiments about our incoming Mayor, sent along an item from Commentary that he thought might cheer me up. The article suggests that things might not go as badly for Gotham as it seems reasonable to expect. After all, argues the author, nobody‘s crazy enough to govern the […]
November 8, 2013 – 3:35 pm
Saved myself a thousand words here:
November 7, 2013 – 11:06 pm
Spare a thought tonight, all of you, in the comfort of your homes, for the poor people of the Philippines who are suffering the horror of Nature’s awful wrath. Many will not see tomorrow.
November 7, 2013 – 10:49 pm
Here’s a 3D-printed 1911. In metal.
November 7, 2013 – 1:19 pm
This is brilliant. Investors take note.
November 7, 2013 – 12:24 am
— Hovercrafts. No eels. — Safety first! — Thomas Sowell on race war in America. — From Isegoria: the original Peabody & Sherman! — Hayek rips Keynes a new one. — Gordon Ramsay explains how to cook a perfect steak. — A mendacious montage. — Jowls a-flappin. — It’s always in the last place you […]
November 5, 2013 – 9:03 pm
Today was Election Day, and at the top of the ballot here in New York City were the candidates for our next mayor. For the fifteen or twenty of us here in Gotham who would prefer a relatively conservative hand upon the helm, there was a fellow by the name of Joe Lhota — while […]
November 4, 2013 – 11:32 pm
I flew home today, and will be glad to put this awful week, and Southern California, behind me. Thanks so very much to all of you who wrote to offer support and sympathy. It was a great comfort to me at a very difficult time. We’ll be getting back to normal here soon. So much […]
November 3, 2013 – 11:49 am
My father, Dr. William Pollack, died at about 8:25 this morning, after having slipped into a coma last night. He was a remarkable man. I will have more to say when the words come.
November 1, 2013 – 4:22 pm
I’m still in California, where my father is slowly sinking, and is now almost completely unresponsive. I have put everything else aside — in particular writing, and work — but will try to get back to both in the next few days, as he lingers on. If nothing else it will be a distraction. Thanks […]
October 26, 2013 – 10:06 pm
Things may be quieter than usual here for the next few days. My elderly father, who has been in declining health for some time, has taken a very serious turn for the worse, and is gravely ill. I am flying to California to join my brother at his bedside.
October 25, 2013 – 6:51 pm
As we all know by now, the good-for-nothing Obamacare website was built, at a cost to U.S. taxpayers of hundreds of millions, on a no-bid contract awarded to a Canadian company called CGI (which stands for Conseillers en Gestion et Informatique). But why CGI? Wouldn’t it have made patriotic sense, at the very least, to […]
October 25, 2013 – 2:25 pm
As noted in these pages seven years ago, I’m a “fall guy“. It’s always been my favorite season. Here are some lovely photos of autumn in America. (I mean that literally, not figuratively, of course.)
October 24, 2013 – 11:10 pm
In the Antarctic. The most in thirty years.
October 24, 2013 – 3:16 pm
In case you missed it: here’s a lesson in political philosophy from one Russell Brand, who is apparently a British entertainer of some sort. His plan appears to be: Phase 1: Revolution! Phase 2: ? Phase 3: Justice! Should work. He’s obviously given it a lot of thought.
October 24, 2013 – 2:18 pm
In this article from Science Daily, we learn that eucalyptus trees are pumping gold out of the ground.
October 23, 2013 – 9:58 pm
Here’s a a 3D zoomable panorama of the Sistine Chapel.
October 23, 2013 – 5:05 pm
The indefatigable JK sends along this item, with the comment “Good thing they raised the debt ceiling in time.” This is OUR MONEY, people.
October 23, 2013 – 10:43 am
It is generally the case that bien-pensant women (and not just the women!) in advanced Western societies are eager to crush all vestiges of “gender” differences. They imagine a world in which half of all soldiers, network admins, metallurgists, auto mechanics, and oil-rig workers are female, and half of all librarians, nurses, pre-school teachers, cosmetologists, […]
October 22, 2013 – 9:39 pm
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a brief post about an idea, discussed by blogger and IT consultant Bruce Webster, that he calls the “Thermocline of Truth”. Mr. Webster describes it: In many large or even medium-sized IT projects, there exists a thermocline of truth, a line drawn across the organizational chart that represents […]
October 22, 2013 – 1:54 pm
For you bitter clingers, here’s a WWII-era training film: combat firing with the 1911 .45 ACP. One thing modern shooters will notice (and did, if you read the comments at the linked clip): the lack of emphasis on trigger and muzzle safety, which nowadays is the first thing you learn in any training course.
October 21, 2013 – 10:25 pm
Another item from the frontiers of science: the Law of Mammalian Urination.
October 21, 2013 – 10:00 pm
With a hat tip to our man Mangan, here’s some good news: coffee helps prevent liver disease. The more you drink, the more it helps.