Pseudo-Polymath

So, my daughter got me using (with her “my fitness pal” a phone/web app/site) so that both of us can lose some weight and get fit. I’ve “configured” it to get me to lose .5 lbs per week for a year or so to get to a nice weight … and I’m getting back to biking and still swimming. I’ve gone to it being hard to eat as little as needed to the other side of the coin, on  a good (exercise) day it’s hard to eat enough. But enough about me … links?

1. A look inside the liberal echo chamber (aka mainstream news media).
2. I’d say the surprise would be if it was otherwise.
3. Mr Bundy’s recent remarks are loudly touted (on the left). Why? As a distraction is the probable cause.
4. That rising tide, which liberals wish to slow to foster inequality … and why that’s a bad idea.
5. Obama contra Obama (yet again).
6. Of church and society (or the Ratzinger/Habermas debate resurfaces).
7. Fine advice, oddly enough.
8. Bureaucracy and self-discipline.
9. Hope (apparently) springs eternal.
10. Some things have always been important.
11. As a general rule, none (and drop the “other” variants as well). Look at War and Peace or the Brothers Karamazov and see how much of any sort they had.
12. Too bad the state department’s main export isn’t slapstick comedy.

Bright week, halfway done.

1. Yur friendly neighborhood faux-Cherokee is “surprised”. Yah, right.
2. This is not unrelated.
3. Some maths for your entertainment.
4. Feels good vs actually looking at the data. Someday soon the same crowd will do the same thing with all the climate noise.
5. So what’s that mean? Gender was kind like pirate rules, i.e., guidelines or that they don’t have earlier data?
6. One pointer at dark matter.
7. Who pays, well the victim pays more it sounds like.
8. Conventional wisdom puts fascism on the far right and communism on the far left. Conventional wisdom, historically speaking, is usually wrong.
9. Government, as Mr Schraub noted, is uniquely situated to make fair judgements. Alas, more commonly they are uniquely situated to make stupid decisions have dire consequences, which by dumb luck didn’t actually transpire here.
10. Judging not by the content of your character … but the color your skin or the contents of your pants.
11. This it seems is a pattern.

G’day.

1. Ambrose lives on.
2. So, we’re all failing to see the strategy here.
3. Trying the “I’m not trying to make money, I’m just delusional” gambit.
4. Not unrelated to the above.
5. So. Will that support evaporate or not? If you were Ukrainian would you bet on more support than we gave Hungary in the ’56?
6. Temperature fluctuations show correlations with … hmm, solar output.
7. All of course explained by recent fluctuations in gun control legislation … oops … what do you mean there haven’t been any changes!? Never mind then.
8. The response should have been, “Dear, data entry is not math, that is preschool level arithmetic.”
9. Yikes.
10. Looks like a place for those with money to burn.
11. Doesn’t look “irreverent” to me. It looks like a darn good time is had by all … and quite festive.
12. What we used to call “binge eating” has a new euphemism.
13. So why aren’t math professors sociopathic … but why on the hand, do we find that Disney writers are?

So … Christ is Risen!

1. Hmm. I’ve heard a not-unrelated joke. How many inscrutable persons (pick group known for subtlety) does it take to screw in a light bulb? Answer, is three. One to screw in the light bulb and one to confuse.
2. Portland Oregon is apparently either innumerate or flush with cash (or both).
3. Well, apparently Johnny can’t read or do maths … and this offers an unfortunate comparison (see also prior link).
4. Kids and their games …. soooooo, which game might that be?
5. A special creek in that woods yonder.
6. Thoughts? You mean past … “pretty pretty, must pat down”.
7. Short answer: yes.
8. Fun in the sun.
9. The left and affirmative action.
10. Character building, kids not always exactly on board.
11. One warm country and taking advantage of that.
12. Veterans and ice.
13. A song (you probably haven’t heard) for Easter.

Holy week moving right along.

1. In my reading inbox.
2. Call a spade a spade. It’s racism and from the left.
3. This behavior is not unrelated.
4. Heh.
5. We’ve all experienced this.
6. So which is the extremist. Seriously I think the word “extremist” is ill defined. It might mean those in a particular group that hold strong opinions furthest from the center of that group. It also might mean those who hold opinions farthest from the center of groups to which I belong. For example, terrorism seems to be a mainstream middle of the road standard operating procedure for Palestinians in/near Israel. Yet terrorist from there are called “extremists”. Seems to me if your actions and opinions are median in the group to which you belong you aren’t an extremist.
7. Carbon based not-quite life-yet forms.
8. Yap, you know … you can figure out what drugs they took in at those all night binges, and so on … or maybe not quite.
9. And you started out so well, and then had to go … there. Look I realize a lot of Protestants think there is a big horrible heresy by the Roman Catholics regarding works and faith. In reality it’s not an issue. Protestants say you need to have faith in order to be saved. Catholics too say you need to have faith to be saved and that the Bible says if your faith lacks works it isn’t real. Logically then you need works to demonstrate that you actually have the faith which will save. What I don’t understand is why they don’t understand that.
10. On the other hand, this is the sort of things you say when your notions of salvation aren’t from any Christian tradition at all.
11. Our government executive branch proves that stupid isn’t getting scarce anywhere in their midst. Or putting it less mildly.
12. A reminder for those in foreign policy.

So. Tonight was the last of the bridegroom matins. This one has the Hymn of Cassia, which is a beautiful liturgical poem. Links?

1. Mr Obama’s assassination insurance still on the job, the bombing was “worth it” indeed.
2. Some cuteness. On the other hand, I recall returning from a business week-long trip to my 3-4 month old #1 daughter when she was at an age when strong emotions (both good and bad) evoked tears. She was sitting in the living room, not looking at me because it caused her to cry.
3. How Congress would unload trucks.
4. Torture noted.
5. Yes. I’ll go with “too paranoid.” Much of our supply lines to Afghanistan is via Russia itself. If they wanted to obstruct things, be easier shut that pipeline off by just say’n “nyet.”
6. But … it’s for the children!
7. Coincedence? I’d offer … probably not.
8. That can (usually doesn’t) cost upwards of (gasp) $50 … says a guy who apparently doesn’t ever buy a tank of gas, or take a family to the movies.
9. The libertarian choice discussed.

Hey. Holy week!

1. So. Growing up and the seeds of who you were where there from very early. A theme found here and here. I saw this film when it had 4 segments. Now it has 7.
2. Getting there (HT). A pet peeve of me is the dislike especially in cinema that people “are just born talented” and it isn’t a combination of talent and (the missing) hard work that got them to a level of excellence.
3. In case need a laugh.
4. Grumbling in the wings.
5. A book noted.
6. Using a shotgun to do maths.
7. “transplant” seems to be a word that would be far more colorful to describe what is being done in the vernacular.
8. Larmarckian vindication?
9. And to close … a word of warning.

So … my sweet wife informs me that the “yellowing” of my pillowcases is due to “overactive sebaceous glands”. To which I replied (mindful of Franklin), “Oily to bed, oily to rise ….”

1. Technology advances.
2. So, the “wage/gender’” thing is being discussed in the beltway. Here’s a place to start, Ms Althouse has a key quote at the bottom of her link to it. But you can find un-serious discussions on left (and likely the right). Look, if you dispute this “The part of pay disparity driven by sexism is so small that it will be very difficult to detect in any given case, or even in aggregate.” then you have to substantiate your reasons for why you dispute it. If you accept that point, then there is nothing to do, nothing to fix.
3. The White House responds, heh.
4. The global warming credibility gap. Science News admitted the other week there’s a problem which needs explaining. Kinda makes the “science is settled” argument go by the wayside.
5. For those partaking in the Eastern Lenten fast.
6. I don’t buy the premise. The time between the two 20th century world wars was about one generation and the time between the big war of the 19th (Napoleon’s adventures) and WWI was much greater than suggested in the premise. The Crimean war wasn’t very big.
7. Speaking of which.
8. Narf narf narf narf. Slurp.
9. Now that is very cool.
10. Next we will find the canals had water too.
11. A lecture.
12. And finally a note on the Ali/Brandeis kerfuffle from a non-Ali fan. From which which we can glean a description of government in general and our government in particular. From the “it’s turtles all the way down” we can add and in this case, “turtles” represent incompetence.

Spring is sort of creeping in, snow is still however in some weekend forecasts and the trees are still bare.

1. Worried? There are reasons to worry, I doubt that is near the top of the list (HT).
2. Women not liked on the left. Is the dangerous girl an aspect to that? You’d think the whole “truth to power” thing would strike a positive chord.
3. Asses in church.
4. A suggestion for a development that we’d all applaud. How about knocking down our protective trade barriers too while we’re at it?
5. What the heck?
6. Putting the Elane case to a point.
7. So, need a pick-me-up? You’re feel good moment.
8. Evil made possibly by euphemism, an example.
9. Nothing could go wrong with that, eh? Training and supporting bin Laden worked so so well.
10. Giving restaurant reviewers a bad name … or a wake up call.

So, what’s out there today, eh?

1. Well, there was a study it seems which in part showed that highly politically partisan did worse at objectively evaluating data the better at maths they were. So, birds of a feather, for example … here and here. Flock off.
2. And on the subject of Obamacare, an study in miniature.
3. I have to say, my #1 daughter when she was that age. Absolutely loved lemons. So much we had to limit them as we thought they’d ruin her teeth.
4. That mythical plan rears its ugly head. I think calling Mr Obama’s “plan” for Nuclear Zero a, well, plan, insults everything else that might be termed plan.
5. So, liberals have a “plan” for cleaning up elections, apparently it involves burning the Constitution. The other “counter” plan the libs bruited involves full disclosure of donations for political groups. ‘Cause that would have worked really well in the McCarthy era … and gosh why not suggest full disclosure of votes as well? Hmm.
6. For your efficient triple tap.
7. Liberal Mozilla reaction apparently illegal. Woops.
8. Grist for your discussions on unions an NCAA sports.
9. Geometry and Saturn.
10. Of elections and numbers.

So. Spring seems to be slowly springing.

1. Spartacus is on form. Woo!
2. I’d imagine so, if you thought liberals were consistent. Heh.
3. The Mozilla fallout continues, noted here, here, and here.
4. Of course, things could be worse.
5. If that’s the story, more stupidity in our educational system.
6. Of ignorance and politics.
7. Insurance (and un-)  rates.
8. Going with the Sarge, “not awesome”.
9. Our President and liberal press, disloyally serving the cause of disinformation, alas, effectively.
10. Dodd-Frank and obvious yet apparently unintended consequences. One (should) wonder how, if a consequence is clearly going to happen how it is not intentional.
11. No. The “idiots” didn’t win, the idiot has a talk show.
12. Now there’s something to celebrate.j
13. Ghostbusters and real science.
14. A lesson for the President.

Thor’s day?

1. Somebody gets it.
2. Somebody else doesn’t.
3. A Lutheran crosses the Bosphorus.
4. Good news vis a vis the NSA.
5. Demographics may drive our near future.
6. Well, that’s a simple trick.
7. So, who knew? The African slave trade of the 18th century was just recapitulating geology.
8. Two? Two different ways?! Imagination failure is clearly present. There are probably 20 different ways, easy.
9. That’s just silly.
10. Miffed? Miffed at whom? Obama miffed at self apparently. What a maroon.
11. Not getting the whole first shall be last thing.
12. Jesus remarked that the poor will always be with us … fools will be too I guess.
13. Yah, in the late 1950′s my dad worked his way though college with they money from his summer job.
14. So, Mr Clinton is to blame in a large measure. Bet you didn’t know that.
15. The ludicrous position the left has put itself with respect to the first amendment highlighted here.

Yo!

1. Cry Havok! And let loose the (false) accusations of racist!
2. Our Brave New World, it has such creatures in it … and good reasons for concealed carry.
3. Your (sort of) feel good story for today.
4. Given that most of the very rich are liberals I don’t understand their objection to these kinds of results.
5. Now the TPM (a very strictly liberal blog) has been holding a stupidity seance and has attempted to trawl news feeds for any and all mentions of misuse of firearms. Odd then that they seem to have missed this story. Oh, wait. He’s a Democrat, that must lead to some confusion on their part.
6. Half of a conversation about climate. The questions seem reasonable as do the responses.
7. Liberal responses to bread lines is confusing. They seem to envy the shortages and lines of the Communist era countries. I’m confused why long lines forcing to people to get stuff they don’t really want is seen as a good thing.
8. Because it is very important that the working poor fund the arts and not rich donors.
9. More liberals waxing stupidity and intolerance. It’s like a theme or something.
10. Location location location.
11. So, one of important “cause cutting” measures in Obamacare was to curtail and penalize re-admissions because they were a sign of … oh, what? Oops. Oh. I see, it’s a sign of people making unwarranted assumptions.
12. A man and his lies, exposed.
13. Well, to be honest, not just Democrats are stupid. Take modern dating trends, how’s that for dumb?

And so it goes …

1. So, why might one suggest that the US put troops alongside the Poles in Poland, so “can” becomes part of the equation.
2. Why I prefer rural roads.
3. One of the more imaginative posts for the first.
4. I enjoyed this one too.
5. Another April first suggestion, with a tweak at Neville Obamerlin.
6. One more.
7. Death and Mr Obama’s healthcare, if true, just the first of many.
8. Why global warming will take a long time to die.
9. A stitch in time may save a brain or three, given time.
10. Now there’s a election campaign strategy we will not see again for sometime …. hopefully.
11. Yer feel good story of the day.
12. Of political demographics and the evil rich. Woops.

G’day. I’m back in the saddle (bike). Woooo!

1. Well, I’ve been listening to a WWII history on audible. It’s a shame our President is so clueless when it comes to history. So … are we asking the Poles if we can move troops to assist their preparations? Or not? If not, why not?
2. Lent and the endurance athlete.
3. This is a common American conceit. Mr Sandefur also noted the uniquenes of America as founded on ideas/ideals with the Constitution. This book offers another example of such a nation, if I read it rightly. This one might counter the linked post.
4. The mouse that roared (at the snake).
5. If true, yet more academic malpractice.
6. Families love.
7. Nerd power.
8. Armored up.
9. A lawyer asks “Can I show everyone how stupid I am, or should I just sit in the corner quietly, … alas”
10. Hmm. I think of these things more symmetrically, especially in the beltway. How about “D” for duplicitous and “R” for rascally? Any more suggestions can go in the combox.
11. I wonder how Mr Schraub and other liberals defend the indefensible?
12. Proof positive that God exists. Heh.

Well, the on-site work last night went past midnight, hence my cunning plan for a post from the hotel didn’t quite work out.

1. Some four months ago or so, I read that book on recommendation by an acquaintance. I’d recommend this one too. I was joking that my reading that was the unintentional cause of the Putin/Crimean adventure, and that I’d better be careful about reading World War history in the near future.
2. So, “how you hold your drink” apparently is making the rounds. A rebuttal (without mentioning beer helmets … wine helmets anyone?)
3. Saint Gregory Palamas on the Zen Koan “Does a dog have Buddha Nature?”
4. A man remembered.
5. Whew!
6. What happens when you misread “Hetpa” as “Herpa” … and go into a post thinking it’s about snakes.
7. A whole winter’s worth for a continent is not “weather”, it’s getting close to being “climate”, eh.
8. Or to put it more succinctly, you should be going to, not running from.
9. Why check? Who has standing to sue?
10. Aristophanes revenge.
11. Mr Obama misses Tom & Jerry.
12. This will make news.

G’day

1. So, how does a liberal conscious of the Black slavery history think gun control a good idea?
2. Alas, it is indeed pretty much a guarantee of diversity.
3. Bracket madness of a ‘nother sort.
4. Actually, neither of those resemble science. Actually science more resembles hunting for problems or experiments that are interesting and feasible, doing/solving them. Rinse and repeat.
5. The modern mirror.
6. What we want vs what the our beltway masters think we want.
7. What throwing away information gets you.
8. Not 19th century, alas. Those ignorant of history, doomed to, well, look ignorant at best.
9. The term “Oriental” is Not Racist. The loony left notwithstanding racist terms are not “accidentally” insulting or racist.
10. So, a study finds drug to be ineffective. Which wins, the study or the drug?
11. That invincible scientific consensus. Policy momentum (like the above) will ignore that for quite some time to come.
12. So, the liberal echo chamber has been pushing that one reason to ignore the Koch brothers (on energy matters) is their investments in oil sands. Hmm. I guess this means one reason to ignore Mr Gore and the like are their investments in alternative energy and carbon offset providers. Consistency is one of those rare things.
13. Noah and some good signs.
14. High drone.
15. Hobby Lobby. Read the brief, note the lack of counter argument from the left of the aisle that actually address the points made.
16. Or as the demotivational poster puts it, “None of us is as dumb as all of us”.
17. It’s called, “education” for a reason ya knucklehead.
18. Word migration.

Well, 6 day work-week. Woo! Five down, one to go.

1. Feminists seeking a clue. And a counter opinion from other women here (see esp. #9).
2. More liberal feminist cluelessness here.
3. This, on the other hand is what real feminism looks like.
4. A one liner to live (and vote) by.
5. Mr Obama’s FDA, screwing things up one day at a time.
6. Parental obvious observation.
7. Liberal icon dies. Nobody living or dead has done more to raise the opinion and consciousness of gay social issues than he has. Odd that.
8. Climate, extreme weather and cost.
9. Here’s what liberals will ignore or dismiss, and it will cost us all a lot of money.
10. 8 questions and the Ukraine.
11. Some Noah cinema thoughts. For my 2 cents, if Noah is seen struggling with the tiller to keep the boat safe against wind and wave … that’s not Noah, that’s Gilgamesh. The Noah and Epic of G. narratives both had a arc-like boat as key elements in the story. The essential difference highlighted by the latter story (Noah) was that Noah’s arc had no tiller, God not man saves is the lesson. So, a litmus test for this film is this the story of Gilgamesh or Noah, is Man or God your source of salvation? You can tell by asking if the boat has a tiller.
12. Lesson regarding Mr Obama and political speeches. Look at the statement in 2008. Look at the subsequent cuts. The statement in 2008 is a bald faced lie.
13. Well, if you want proof that the NSA has cracked https. Here it is.
14. “Humans can …”, hah! Not me! I’m only good for about 6 to 8, well realistically maybe 100.
15. Horrible headline. What? The Earth gave a hip fake to the Sun and did what? Slipped past the blockers on the left? Riiiiight.
16. And to end this list for today, something to help you smile.

Woops, sorry. Missed yesterday.

1. Government stupidity, example number (big number)+1. Don’t they have, you know, useful things to do with our money?
2. Explaining one of the recent Obamacare court challenges.
3. Liberals seem to not a fans of “pass it so we can find out what’s in it” either.
4. Fun with art.
5. This headline made me wonder if there is a hockey player with a name almost but not exactly Fermion.
6. A lesson for you parents who try to tell your kids Santa isn’t real (hint: he is real).
7. That squares with my intuitions on that.
8. Pre-information age org-chart.
9. Bureaucrats should be shot more often for malpractice.
10. I’ll be we all know colleagues like that.
11. Liberal icon rips women and minorities for not cracking books open and studying hard, … oh wait.
12. And come to think of it …. examine some of those assumptions.
13. Yikes.
14. That “historic” drought in Southern California. Odd that same years they had their previous drought years the Midwest had record cold and snow. Hmmm.
15. Interesting.

Ok. ‘Nother week, ‘nother dollar

1. Mr Obama’s sanctions invoke replies, such as this and this. Few typically note that we are using Russia for supply lines to Afghanistan operations when they remark on the weakness of said sanctions.
2. Purple-ness brings to mind the Bulwer-Lytton contest, which if I was more clever I’d know when the 2014 results were to be out … and if I was even more clever I’d enter.
3. Gosh, lots of uses for this, few of the licit or moral.
4. Chicago and St. Patrick’s Day.
5. Yah, if you believe that, we’ve got submarine pens in Arizona to sell you.
6. This book looks interesting.
7. That “more open” Presidency, yet another promise not kept, eh?
8. Insanely cool … and he’s right.
9. A modern analogy for Lent.
10. Solzhenitsyn and the Crimea. Last night I had a chat with a Romanian friend. He put a large part of the onus on Yeltsin, for drunkenly allowing the “split up” to follow Stalin’s division of state boundaries and not suggesting regions work it out for themselves or to use more rational historical/ethnic boundaries. The Crimea just an outworking of Stalin’s assigning the Crimea (vast majority Russian, some Tartar, and finally Ukrainians) to Ukraine. Errors along the southwest boarder with Moldavia, Ukraine and Romania were mentioned as well.
11. Our liberal teaching establishment, getting the hind end foremost.
12. The other side of being part of GM, i.e., Government Motors. But the government won’t be to blame just as they skipped out on the BP disaster. It’s always the other guy’s fault, except when you are in a extremely regulated industry it’s the ultimately the watcher’s fault.

Links?

1. Regarding Mr Obama’s latest cunning jobs plan.
2. Something to keep in mind regarding “putting pressure on Russia”.
3. Oh. I see. Never mind.
4. Not. A. Science.
5. Someone not following the football/concussion discussion.
6. If they don’t know, how exactly is the IRS going to assign penalties?
7. There’s a cute instrument.
8. So, apparently, a New York paper released a map of gun owners. Texas follows suit.
9. They know they are precursors because they found their fossilized plane tickets.
10. Your RNA on/off switch discovered.
11. This is the part of Jules Verne’s Voyage to the Center of the Earth that was overlooked in the cinematic renditions, all the participants had gills. Mr Verne forgot that that water, unlike air, is in-compressible.
12. Yikes.

G’day

1. Don’t end it, fold spindle and mutilate.
2. Some grist for when feminists praise prostitution, ’cause they do.
3. Politics would be more appropriately garbed.
4. Journalism and some thoughts on cuddling with monsters.
5. Efficient? At what?!
6. The starlet and responsibility.
7. Immoral use of highway law.
8. So, the question arises, is that the pro-abortion fringe … or is it mainstream.
9. Dads.
10. Yet another person who needs to read the Gulag Archipelago.
11. Bubbles are complicated.
12. Bars in thar woods.

Woo. Two days in a row. Cooking with, err, steam?

1. Some grist to counter Che chic. And what looks like a good book for the inbox to boot.
2. Speaking of the inbox, here’s another.
3. Two posts on freedom of speech, here in the US it is apparently falling out of favor and in Russia where one thinks the press has little freedom, this might be a counter-example of that notion.
4. A project.
5. I wonder at the use of the adjective “hopeful”. Not what comes to mind for me at least.
6. Zap, snarf snarf.
7. This post brings to mind the remark I noted by Mr Schraub a few weeks ago that government was uniquely situated to act fairly. Yah, right.
8. They should eliminate Asian quotas for schools, five years after the elite schools become 60+ percent asian … the majority whole slacker student attitudes would do some disappearing. Do us all some good.
9. Yah, that makes sense. Historically speaking that means, they would be seeking damages from West African nations, Spain, and the Dutch.  Good luck on that.
10. Apropos of the above.
11. Cheap but cool.
12. Fracking did not drive Texas economic boom.
13. No reason I can think of.
14. Which means it probably isn’t true.
15. The administrations remains stuck on stupid.

Well, I’m back to exercising regularly, and when I added the Clean Week (first week of Lent) services-every-night to my schedule, blogging went south. Which means it is likely that Holy week will suffer similarly at this spot. Links are backed up. So … without further ado

1. One post on the Ukraine.
2. Moral lessons for other countries in similar situations.
3. A question posted to the left of the aisle.
4. At hourly wages … that’s a lot of money for little business. In the “real world” they’d be bankrupt. Alas, they’re working for the government so the bankruptcy is just moral.
5. And for their anticipated not-profits, a 5 billion dollar bailout already planned.
6. Heh.
7. This is not “a truly appalling story”, if true, a whole passel of school administrators should be rotting in jail after having the crap beat out of them. If I was that girl’s father, I’d be on the warpath with my new life’s purpose to ruin the lives of a bunch of idiot.
8. Speaking of which, a little more “taking of law” in to own hands leads to this nonsense.
9. Creativity? or not.
10. A homily.
11. An anti-drug campaign.
12. Drones, fun for everyone.
13. Blech!
14. A dad grows up.
15. On death panels.
16. An unintended consequence of Obamacare, many more doctors running for the opposition party.
17. So, the IRS scandal “nothing to hide” which is why emails are not being passed on and Ms Lerner (having been fired) takes the fifth.
18. Tech and teaching.

So, Lent has begun (and will begin tomorrow for y’all in the West … and some suggestions). I would suggest for any in the Western tradition would be, in the next few days (through Thursday night) to look up a local Orthodox parish and see if they are doing the Canon of St Andrew (in English). Nothing exemplifies the spirit of Lent more than that service.

1. So, the Ukraine is in the news. Alas for the administration as noted here and noted here.
2. Guns in Crimea. One of the interesting things I learned reading this book, was that the “Charge of the Light Brigade” contrary to popular conceptions was not the failure it was pretended to be.
3. More we can learn from the Crimea.
4. Whales, not Wales, and the significance of “White”.
5. Global warming, 17 years and counting.
6. Walmart and Logistics.
7. Them beaches.
8. Noting the obvious.
9. Folding tech.
10. Hammurabi and Middle Eastern Courts.
11. Archaeology and tooth decay.
12. For Christians allergic to, uhm, Christian tradition. Why invent “31″ days?
13. So, why complain about gay marriage, marriage is already broken?
14. Well, one “time to stop correcting” it is when “it” is grammatically correct.
15. For the Palin fans.
16. Publish or perish, or perish the thought?

G’day.

1. Shakespeare.
2. A book for your Lenten journey.
3. So the latest Obamacare lockstep talking point is “where are the people badly harmed if it is o bad” (which seems to me a really really low bar to set). Well, they asked.
4. Information and state vs people.
5. Afghanistan. I think multicultural “Star-Trek” thinking is what is (was) hurting us most in Iraq and Afghanistan. We were too afraid to be American’s and walk in and ask what American’s usually ask, how can we make a buck here (and in exchange you make a buck too). We should be going in like Poul Anderson’s Falkayn or Van Rijn, not like Picard.
6. Gay activists remark on the Collins/Sam coming “out” and that is on side of the coin. What is missed by all of these remarks is the other side. How Collins and Sam are barely-in-the-game (Collins a 12th man and Sam a late round draft possibility) by their “brave” action getting national attention and SI covers. How brave is it to do something which yields fame and fortune?
7. So, much has been made of the Thomas/Tobin not talking during oral argument things, e.g., here. Here is from an observer post-remarks. It’s interesting that the negative remarks by Tobin get lots of talk and coverage, but the more damning negative remarks of racism and the North-East elites by Justice Thomas get so little. Could he liberal east coasters be in denial about their own racism?
8. How not to think about stand your ground.
9. Oooh, hate crime?
10. Hypocrisy, for those who are confused on what that term means.
11. Mr Walker, so liberal attention is making me like him more. Is that their intent I wonder?
12. And no, brother-sister normally means they share parents. If you share one parent, there is a different word for that. I’ll bet you knew that already though.
13. Goverment unfairness.
14. Truth and advertising.

Well, now I’m in South East California (Visalia).

1. When I saw this, a question occurred to me. If it is (allegedly) illegal to refuse a same sex couple on top of a cake if you run a cake shop. Can you refuse to put a stripper pole on a wedding cake? If you can, … then I’m afraid I don’t see the reasoning behind the first being illegal. If you can’t, that’s also wrong it seems to me.
2. Tactics and Ukrainian resistance.
3. Alas, more politicians in the beltway don’t do this.
4. Wisconsin liberals show their liberal colors.
5. Conservative vs liberal notions of diversity.
6. In answer to the question, no it doesn’t insult the child or the mother, it indicates the speaker is either misogynistic moron or is trying to shock the listener with the how the pro-abortion crowd sees things.
7. Just remember, an elephant is just a mouse that the government spec’ed and built.
8. Of sport and danger.
9. Yes, it might be best, but the FDA has no mechanism for approving a treatment like that.
10. Punny.
11. McCain puts his mark on where Obama stands in the stupid vs evil choice. Liberal outraged that McCain called Obama stupid, apparently they prefer willful evil.
12. Mr Holder has apparently gone on record telling prosecutors to stop prosecuting gun laws like background checks and what types of gun are allowed and how/when you can carry, oh wait … it was a different law. If you’re a liberal cheering his “not stopping SSM in states where it is not legal” … how would you feel if it was about not holding to your states gun laws?
13. Yet another racist liberal.
14. Progress.

Moving the week right along. With Links!

1. From where I come from, “black bodies” brings to mind not racial politics but Planck’s constant and black body radiation. ‘Tis a better place I deem.
2. Death comes to all men.
3. Law and international relations, part one and two. In which it is admitted that all attacks on civilian objects not in time of war is an international war crime. Drone fans take note.
4. Mr Kerry is anti-science.
5. Wolves and their large scale construction projects.
6. Oh, that’s going to play well with the grandchildren.
7. A well played reverse fisking.
8. The intrinsic problem with the “GOP war on women” tactic. ‘Tis feminists and the pro-abortion left which war on women.
9. Apparently in outer space mass is not conserved. Who knew? Perhaps however there is another hypothesis.
10. Tourism and the Black Sea.
11. Curling participation apparently involves more than beer.
12. Cinema. If the Ark has a rudder, the Noah being portrayed is Gilgamesh with a pseudonym.

And so it goes (as they say … whomever constitutes “they” is not something I understand).

1. So, you want to commit horrible crimes?
2. Playdough law.
3. Cui bono. I’m still confused on who benefits from this law.
4. Re-design .. the axle?
5. Say it ain’t so Joe, err, James. (but note … new blog)
6. The hair makes the man, holds for other species.
7. Snerk.
8. A wordy math proof.
9. Oh, joy.
10. Gosh, I haven’t heard the President using the bully pulpit to denounce this. I’m thinking I didn’t miss it.
11. That’s really cool.
12. This may be a little offensive (which is kinda the point) but it does make good point about PC speech.
13. Going off the deep end (in two ways) … the writer finds someone who went off the rails … and the does so himself. Seriously, when you write “is now how quickly adults are willing to shoot teenagers” … re-read that. Then … count the number of adults in this country. Count how many of those adults actually “quickly shoot teenagers”.  How many is that? Then make your decision, write stupid things or shut up. Alas …..
14. Putting the IRS in its place.
15. How the beltway will doom us all with its good intentions.

So. More snow was apparently what someone influential in the Mid-West ordered. And we got it.

1. Exploiting God and other notions.
2. Speaking of snow and ice.
3. Actually, untrue. Chicago’s “paper of Record” page 2 columnist (Kass) had a page 2 column at the beginning of the Olympics in which he went to the Stalin residence. Well, let me correct that, he didn’t ignore it, but he also noticed that the Olympics and the rest of the crowds were mostly ignoring the site noted.
4. Yikes.
5. The world’s ugliest equation on record.
6. 10 bullet points on Orthodoxy for Western protestants.
7. Reverse colonization.
8. How to watch those Olympics.
9. Speaking of the Olympics and those graceful ice artists.
10. Losing or gaining freedoms and pedagogy.
11. The only way to construe this statement as reasonable, is to be clever about what you mean by “largest”. He must mean by volume, not be any count of deaths or damages.
12. A dangerous marine noted.
13. What science has to say to the feminist.
14. Yah, yah. Valentines day was last week, but heh.

Well, I got home last night. Woo.

1. Government intrusion into market, what could go wrong after all it can be “more just”?
2. So the courts have some gun control rulings, a few remarks here and here and … here.
3. Bad metrics matter.
4. Speaking of economic metrics.
5. Our balanced Olympics coverage.
6. Zoom.
7. Obsession.
8. In the “do as I say not as I do” department.
9. And the First Lady follows suit … w.r.t. “what to eat”. I have to say that “12k” dress wasn’t worth $10. Looks horrible.
10. Following the IRS matter.
11. Say it ain’t so!
12. Codes of the Vikings.
13. An hypothetical question.

Ok then. Links? I guess the NorthEast is up for another helping of snow now that they’ve got a slap in the face the cold weather we just had. We’re predicted to have the first “above freezing day” in quite some time … but I don’t believe it will quite happen. The last four days the temperature predictions have all been about 4-5 degrees (F) on the high side.

1. So there’s a study (probably needing verification) that mammograms don’t help statistically. So some jump to policy. Others ignore this side of the equation, the Queen of Hearts had it apparently (“Off with their heads”) … she missed by a foot or so.
2. The knee jerk liberal economist apparently forgot that interest rates remain toxic low level, why? Oh, the debt is why. With that much national debt worldwide if we had healthy 5-7% interest rates loans, nations never ever make their interest payments.
3. More on the knee jerk effect.
4. Shania Twain and medical science  .. It only breaks when it’s beating.
5. What teachers don’t do. Why? This makes no sense when you think about it. But when you do, it’s obvious.
6. I don’t get the “courage” allusions. Look a year ago (?) a basketball player came out and became nationally famous. Turns out he was a 12th man and would never have a spot of mention anywhere without “bravely” coming out (to unexpected national fame). Now an “expected 4th round pick” comes out and gets the same national fame and every team is talking about it. Brave to face fame and fortune? Please.
7. Breaking news! NOW spokesmen fail literacy tests! Please. I read the column too. Here’s an out of context (for maximum misunderstanding) of what they misconstrue: In theory that means, as FIRE notes, that “if both parties are intoxicated during sex, they are both technically guilty of sexually assaulting each other.” In practice it means that women, but not men, are absolved of responsibility by virtue of having consumed alcohol. So how does NOW read that, … that Taranto is “enhancing a rape culture.
8. Speaking about intentionally misunderstanding. Seems Twain missed one. Twain said that there are “lies, damned lies, and statistics”, to which we can add “and progressives practicing journalism”. Or should I say “mal-practicing”.
9. Well, yesterday we had “scary bad aunt” and today we have a good uncle.
10. Liberals misbehavior on display. People who have manners, all know not to speak ill of the dead. And on this matter, WTF anyhow?
11. So, the Obamacare scorecard … 1 million more covered at a cost of 120 billion a year and 2.5 million jobs. A little more aid for the needy like that and we’ll all be underwater. And … now we have a recipe to dismantle it.
12. Affirmative action noted. The film (and the historical) Tuskegee Airmen disproved the (flawed) assumption behind affirmative action. If you make things hard on a group that group will become elite. The reverse is true as well. If you want to make them substandard, make things easier for them. Works every time. The only choice then is that supporters of aff action are either stupid or evil (they don’t realize how to make an group better or … they do and want to harm the group they pretend to help).
13. What not to play soccer while wearing.

Yo!

1. So, monkey-boy thinks he’s safe in the trees eh? Crocodile says … not so fast!
2. If you have the big bucks, you can(!) get the girl, err, the photo.
3. Somebody else isn’t a fan of the FDA monopolizing choice with respect to risk.
4. Horrible, if true, … but it is interesting to note the dichotomy between studying and practicing ethics.
5. Sanity scarcity.
6. Words fail me, I mean I think he’s spot on but … geesh. I mean I know the standard trope is that lib/progressives think conservatives are evil and conservatives typically on the other hand think their counterparts are merely naive or misguided. Perhaps the evil thing is a better fit, but that presumes intention.
7. On a lighter note, speaking of evil.
8. Continuing (the lighter note thing) … oh no! Don’t do that! If you’re going to use American Football teams just do some variation of the current Superbowl champs with a local twist, how about “SteppeHawks” for this year. And change the name every year, that’d be fun.
9. On a not-lighter note, uhm, that description of the “romantic aunt” sounds a lot like like incest-ridden pedophilia (two words you just never ever ever want to see together, incest and pedophile). Just replace “aunt” with “uncle” … yech.
10. Well, that combination will torque the tail of the atheist.
11. Obamacare, screwing the middle class by design. Just google “Doc Shock” if you don’t believe it.
12. Unneeded legislation … I mean, what airline in their right mind would voluntarily allow that? Why, oh why, would Washington think it needs to pass laws against things nobody is doing or would do?
13. Who was the knucklehead who thought Cuban health-care was better than that of the US?
14. Kinda like this guy who forgot Caesar was a Tribune.
15. Global warming models and their results. Climate scientists can now slink to the back of the room and shut up for a while. Please?
16. All right thinking people abhor female genital mutilation right? But they also (apparently) praise voluntary sex change (genital mutilation as well) and other voluntary body modification. Coherence? Not!

Well, a busy weekend … working Sat & Sun. 5 more to go for a break.

1. Food and community under stress.
2. Arabian anarchy.
3. Government overreach. But don’t worry, government is uniquely situated to more fairly apply justice … or not.
4. Here’s one reason why, the big brained guys running things … aren’t (hint: aren’t as smart as they pretend).
5. Turning down a lot of money … for what?
6. Things break more often when subjected to more stress. Who knew?
7. Art criticism … is based on something  called an aesthetic basically a criteria which you establish and then use to judge artistic merit.
8. Speaking of art and beauty, the rarity of beauty in modern art gets remarks like this to be offered. This is a topic I’ve ranted (or mentioned) before. One reply is that much of the beauty that remains in our culture is encased in in things like the SR-71.
9. Speaking of aesthetics … one might be suggested here, eh?
10. I haven’t seen the movie … so did have that joke?
11. Knowing God … what I was taught is that has a Trinitarian answer, you cannot know the Father (except through the Son), specifically the Father is unknowable.
12. Thankful for my alma mater at which more often then not, we read the whole damn book (including for example “read War and Peace for next class, which fortunately was after the one week Spring break … and more fortunately for me I had two about 24 hour train rides in which to easily do that reading).
13. Smoking may be illogical, but addiction is psychological and chemical.
14. For your valentine.