October 18, 2012 – 2:45 pm
Mitt Romney’s “steady erosion in the polls” continues: as of this afternoon’s Gallup survey, Romney now leads fifty-two percent to forty-five percent among likely voters. Not that I put a lot of stock in polls, mind you — after all, only about nine percent of the people pollsters call actually respond. Nice to see this […]
October 17, 2012 – 3:03 pm
From Edge.org, here’s a fascinating article about human athleticism, and how it compares to that of other mammals.
October 16, 2012 – 3:39 pm
Tim Carney brings the mallet down on a load of tendentious hogwash from Politico. Here.
October 16, 2012 – 3:03 pm
Here we go again, folks. Tonight’s debate is now considered to be a must-win for the incumbent, thanks to what one of our commenters referred to not long ago as Mr. Romney’s “steady erosion in the polls”. So what’s tonight’s drinking game? Well, this time, readers, you get to take your pick. Sadly, I won’t […]
October 16, 2012 – 2:30 pm
Possible debate strategy for Mr. Romney tonight: just stand there holding this chart.
October 15, 2012 – 8:30 pm
Here. Hat tips to Bill Keezer and GoV.
October 15, 2012 – 2:15 pm
I must apologize for the thin content here over the past few days — from time to time the demands and obligations of personal life leave me no time for blogging. (I realize that for waka waka waka to go dark for a day or two deprives no one of oxygen, but a lot of […]
October 12, 2012 – 10:48 pm
For weeks now the Obama campaign has been offering a chance at dinner with The One to those who chip in a few bucks. (We commented here on one such solicitation.) That dinner has now taken place, it appears. I know this because Mr. Obama just tweeted a picture with the heading: Table for four: […]
October 12, 2012 – 10:30 pm
Some house-guests arrived sometime after midnight Thursday night  —  the night of the bizarre VP debate  —  and of course before anyone could go to bed we had to spend an hour or so arguing about politics. (They’re liberal sorts.) Healthcare came up. So did the alleged “fact” that the healthcare system of the  U.S.A. […]
October 11, 2012 – 10:40 am
From Danger Room, here’s a damning summary of the runup to the assault in Libya (thanks to Lokilinkster for the link). An excerpt (emphasis added): The security situation in Benghazi was “a struggle and remained a struggle throughout my time there,’ (.pdf) said Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, the State Department’s Site Security Team commander in […]
October 10, 2012 – 11:44 pm
OK, enough grim reality. Let’s all lighten up and take a break. Here, for example.
October 10, 2012 – 10:41 pm
You’ve probably heard people mentioning Lara Logan’s blunt talk about Afghanistan last week, but you should take twenty minutes and actually watch it. It’s here. If you are informed enough, and wise enough, not to be taken in by the steady diet of lies and self-serving propaganda this administration feeds us about our Mideast adventures […]
October 10, 2012 – 11:16 am
From the Heritage Foundation, here’s a sharp video on the Obama administration’s deceitful, ass-covering response to the Benghazi attack. But hey, look  —  Big Bird!
October 9, 2012 – 9:33 pm
I haven’t said much about politics for the past few days; that’s because I haven’t had much to say. It’s been delightful to watch the discomfiture of  Mr. Obama’s media catchfarts as they’ve watched the momentum shifting sharply in Mr. Romney’s direction, though. A couple of things worth mentioning: First, Mr. Romney’s foreign-policy speech certainly […]
October 9, 2012 – 7:53 pm
I’m working a long day today, so for tonight here’s another musical item: a clip of the one and only Steve Gadd taking some extended solos. These aren’t your typical drum solos. What I love about Gadd’s soloing is the depth of the groove that’s always playing in his head, and that he expresses just […]
October 8, 2012 – 8:08 pm
Can we stop saying “flat-screen TV” yet? You can’t even buy the other kind anymore.
October 8, 2012 – 12:37 pm
As I was poking around on YouTube this morning I ran across a link to this little number by the great Chaka Khan, only available on a compilation album released in 1998. Recorded and mixed by yours truly, at the now-defunct O’Henry Studios in Burbank, CA. (What a great studio that was.) Note the guitar solos […]
October 6, 2012 – 10:14 pm
We’ve been hearing for a couple of days now that Mitt Romney’s drubbing of President Obama in Wednesday’s debate may have been due to his having smuggled in a “cheat sheet”. Now we have confirmation:  we’ve just learned that the folks at RedState.com have got their hands on a copy. Here it is.
October 6, 2012 – 9:55 pm
Last year I wrote a little post about visiting Google’s lavish offices in Manhattan to see my friend Greg, who had recently joined their engineering staff. Here’s a longish excerpt: It being a mild day, Greg and I dined al fresco on a high terrace with a sweeping view of Midtown. (I had a delightful […]
October 5, 2012 – 9:53 pm
I’m feeling a little under the weather tonight, so all I have to offer is a handful of interesting links. Here’s an item about construction of three-dimensional objects by swarms of autonomous drones acting without central guidance. Here’s one about evolutionary music-composition algorithms. This item covers a topic that gets far too little attention from […]
October 4, 2012 – 9:57 pm
Philly Student’s Romney T-shirt Likened To KKK Sheet
October 4, 2012 – 10:40 am
Mind-boggling, suicidal socialist insanity in France. Here.
October 3, 2012 – 10:04 pm
Well, well. If you’ve ever wanted empirical confirmation of the “Taranto Principle”, you got it tonight. When your every public appearance for the past four years has been a tongue-bath from fawning media groupies, this is what happens. Next up, the vice-presidential debate. Iowahawk: “Compared to that, this one was a nail-biter. Wear a raincoat.”
October 3, 2012 – 6:32 pm
OK, folks, ready for the big debate? The good people at RebelPundit.com have given us tonight’s drinking game. Here it is: Bottoms up!
October 2, 2012 – 1:01 pm
In the days following the lethal attack on our diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, the Obama administration doggedly clung to its story that the assault, in which a United States Ambassador was killed on U.S. soil, was an unforeseeable and spontaneous eruption of anger, caused by an unflattering video about Mohammed. This story was false, and […]
October 1, 2012 – 9:09 pm
Sorry all  —  still too overwhelmed with domestic logistics (and ongoing emergencies at work) to spend any personal time at the computer. The blog is gathering dust, and emails are piling up in the inbox. Things should be getting back to normal in another day or two, insh’Allah. Meanwhile, just to get you in the […]
September 27, 2012 – 6:17 pm
To all who’ve emailed with links, comments, etc. recently: thanks as always. We’re moving house today and tomorrow, however, and will not be able to get to any of it for at least a couple of days.
September 26, 2012 – 9:44 am
Here’s an item from Iowahawk, posted way back in 2006, that’s as relevant today as the day it was written. Update: As is this.
September 25, 2012 – 8:34 pm
We’ve been hearing a lot about free speech lately (though not nearly enough). Here’s the NYPD coming to its defense. (And responding to an assault.)
September 25, 2012 – 4:00 pm
The latest Economic Freedom of the World Annual Report has the U.S. ranked eighteenth, down from second place in 200o. Well, home of the brave, still, maybe. We’ll see.
September 25, 2012 – 10:47 am
Speaking of world-class narcissists, no list would be complete without including  the exquisitely unlovable Madonna. (Sadly, I learned this first-hand; you will find my name on your copy of Like a Virgin, if you have one.) Ms. Ciccone has now enlivened the campaign season in her own special way. The Huffington Post reports: Madonna brought […]
September 24, 2012 – 10:06 pm
We never seem to run out of examples of the pathological narcissism of Barack Obama. Just when I decide to lay off for a few days, I get this in the mail: Â * Â Â Â Â * Â Â Â Â * Malcolm — If you win this, you’re going to have a lot more friends […]
September 24, 2012 – 8:28 pm
There will be reduced activity here this week, as the lovely Nina and I are fully consumed with the immense task of emptying our Brooklyn house so as to permit a major reconfiguration of its interior space. Given that our kids have now moved out, and that we are spending more and more of our […]
September 24, 2012 – 7:19 pm
Here’s an outstanding essay by economist Thomas Sowell on widely held misconceptions regarding the historical effects of varying tax rates on the wealthy. An excerpt: The very idea that profits “trickle down’ to workers depicts the economic sequence of events in the opposite order from that in the real world. Workers must first be hired, […]
September 22, 2012 – 11:20 pm
Again, I’ve had no free time for writing today — I’ve been very busy with work, and meanwhile the lovely Nina and I are busy preparing our modest brownstone for a major construction project that begins in just a few days. So for tonight, a repost of some old items: A reminiscence of my salad […]
September 22, 2012 – 12:16 am
Too busy today for any writing — so for tonight, the Irish perspective on Olympic sailing, courtesy of a longtime reader.
September 21, 2012 – 10:56 am
Mitt Romney’s campaign, in the, um, collective opinion of the “mainstream media”, suffered a major setback the other day. As you may perhaps have heard by now, Mr. Romney’s opponents unearthed a video clip in which the GOP candidate, speaking to a private audience (or so he thought), commented on the difficulty of winning the […]
September 20, 2012 – 5:27 pm
A reader brings to our attention a fantastic Google-Maps-based application. Here.
September 19, 2012 – 2:09 pm
Salman Rushdie meets God’s justice (dramatization). Early James Cameron, I think. Here.
September 19, 2012 – 1:23 pm
That was quite a storm we had here in the Northeast last night, coming most abruptly on the heels of a delightful run of gorgeous late-summer days. It brought to mind Mark Twain’s remarks about New England weather: Yes, one of the brightest gems in the New England weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it. […]
September 19, 2012 – 9:50 am
Mohammed as Brigitte Bardot. See here. Anyone out there old enough to remember the Candid Camera theme? ♪ ♫ “It’s fun to laugh at yourself, It’s a tonic tried and true; It’s fun to look at yourself, As other people do!” Maybe instead of another Charles Martel, what we need these days is another Allen […]
September 18, 2012 – 5:43 pm
Here’s another edgy little item: warp drives might be feasible after all. Sharpens up the Fermi paradox even more, if so.
September 18, 2012 – 4:14 pm
Recent events remind us, once again (with a hat tip to James Taranto), of the enduring mystery of the number 47. More here.
September 18, 2012 – 1:54 pm
Here’s a sampling of today’s headlines from Drudge: Chinese General: Prepare for Combat with Japan IRAN DEPLOYS RUSSIAN-MADE SUBMARINE IN GULF Ships from 30 nations sweep mines in Persian Gulf in warning to Tehran Pentagon suspends joint patrols with Afghans after more troops killed Marine Squadron Commander Died in Taliban Attack Libya: We gave USA […]
September 18, 2012 – 1:37 pm
Here’s an attention-grabbing item: an ancient Coptic papyrus fragment referring to Jesus’s wife.
September 18, 2012 – 10:53 am
Still mired in false consciousness? When you look in the mirror, do you still see that same old bourgeois running-dog imperialist lackey looking back at you? If you’re like many Amerikans who still cling bitterly to the misguided policies of the past — you know, the ones that got us into this mess — the […]
September 17, 2012 – 12:16 pm
We can only hope that this sort of thing diminishes reproductive fitness. It may not.
September 16, 2012 – 10:51 pm
OK, a moment of relief from all the dismal news of the day — a tweet by @FunnyFacts. The sentence “I never said she stole my money” has 7 different meanings depending on the stressed word.
September 15, 2012 – 2:26 pm
Foggy Bottom: no more questions about Benghazi, please. CNN: State Department was warned three days in advance of Benghazi attacks that the security situation was deteriorating fast; did nothing. WH press secretary Jay “Baghdad Bob” Carney: worldwide protests “not a case of protests directed at the United States writ large or at U.S. policy…” CT […]