June 29, 2004

August 29, 2005

  • LIVING THE LIE.The Inequality Taboo by Charles Murray: "Elites throughout the West are living a lie, basing the futures of their societies on the assumption that all groups of people are equal in all respects. Lie is a strong word, but justified. It is a lie because so many elite politicians who profess to believe it in public do not believe it in private. It is a lie because so many elite scholars choose to ignore what is already known and choose not to inquire into what they suspect. We enable ourselves to continue to live the lie by establishing a taboo against discussion of group differences."
  • "AMERICANS HAVE NEVER tolerated mockery of battlefield sacrifice, and only morticians have made a successful industry of mourning. The politics of lamentation is not likely to appeal to Americans with a taste for the sunny side of the street. A promise of 'Morning in America' sets off landslides. A lengthening line of Democratic candidates could tell you that 'Mourning in America' is for losers." -- Wesley Pruden
  • If instead of going On The Road, famed Beat writer Jack Kerouac spent the early 1950s as a maverick product development specialist for General Mills, Inc: "Sure, 'Cheerios' sell well. But they're jut just so 1940's, y'dig? Whereas my new 'Daddy-O's!' -- delicious whole grain O's baked through with bits of cannibis and topped with a sweet heroin glaze -- now these would really speak to a new generation, baby"
  • WHEN TERRORISTS TARGET CHILDREN: "... such brutal acts are justified by the perpetrators on ideological grounds because they are part of what is perceived to be a moral struggle. As Antar Soubari, a senior member of Algeria's Armed Islamic Group (GIA), put it: 'I am innocent of those killed because they are associated with those who had to be fought.' In recent times, this sort of argument has found explicit backing among a growing number of Islamist thinkers. They have argued that the prophet Mohammed's prohibition on killing children does not apply if the children being targeted 'knowingly'' participated in combat, or aided the enemy war effort, or even if they only acted to 'encourage'' the enemy."
  • CONFLICT RESOLUTION. Necessary Wars: "Why is this war 'necessary?' Because it prevents World War II in Europe, the Holocaust, and the deaths of tens of millions of people, from the North Sea to the Russian steepe."
  • CAN YOU PASS 8TH GRADE MATH?
  • PETTING ZOE: "Zoe loves when I rub her belly. I call her by name, and she scampers over. She stretches out on the floor, legs up in the air, tail sweeping the ground. Though it feels incredibly corny each time, stroking her fur always puts me in a better mood."
  • IDENTITY THIEF STEALS HOUSE.This Is Not My Beautiful House! This Is Not My Beautiful Identity!: "James Cook left on a business trip to Florida, and his wife Paula went to Oklahoma to care for her sick mother. When the two returned to Frisco, Texas several days later, their keys didn't work. The locks on the house had been changed."
  • CRIME IN MOTION: "The London and Madrid bombings are the most recent examples of attacks on rail and transit systems around the world. Although they represent a frightening escalation, these attacks are only the latest in a criminal history which dates back to the mid-19th century, when railroads in the United States and elsewhere first became attractive targets."
  • ASTRONOMERS, THE PECKING ORDER. When I'm not in prison I'm an astronomer: "There is a weird social hierarchy among astronomers where the more amorphous and abstract the subject, the higher the status of the people who study it. Within the astronomy community the cosmologists rank at the top. Their studies rely almost entirely on mathematics and they rarely bother to look through a telescope because they're too busy trying to use equations to prove the nonexistence of God."
  • THE SCIENCE OF ALIENS : "Scientists, including the Cambridge palaeontologist Simon Conway-Morris, have come up with a number of species including the stinger fan, a plant-like animal, the gulphog, a dinosaur-type predator, and the skywhale, a flying sea monster."
  • MIGHT AS WELL JUMP! World Jump Day: "Join us as we attempt to drive Earth into a new orbit and stop global warming."
  • WHAT COULD BE WORSE THAN A STAR TREK CONVENTION? EschaCon 2005: "the gathering of Eschatonians known as EschaCon."
  • THE HOUSE CAT REPLACEMENT IS HERE. Child-Shaped Robot Set for Debut in Japan: "A child-shaped humanoid robot that can recognize about 10,000 words and work as a house sitter will go on sale in Japan in September."
  • YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART. It's a miracle: mice regrow hearts : "SCIENTISTS have created 'miracle mice' that can regenerate amputated limbs or damaged vital organs, making them able to recover from injuries that would kill or permanently disable normal animals.The experimental animals are unique among mammals in their ability to regrow their heart, toes, joints and tail."
  • THE TIPPING POINT IN THE NEW YORKER : "In another, waiters sharply increased their tips by giving each member of a dining party a piece of candy and then, seemingly spontaneously, offering each person a second piece, too."
  • YES, THE NEW YORKER. Mickey Kaus: "Like many New Yorker policy articles, Gladwell's reads like a lecture to an isolated, ill-informed and somewhat gullible group of highly literate children. They are cheap dates. They won't think of the obvious objections. They won't demand that you 'play Notre Dame,' as my boss Charles Peters used to say, and take on the best arguments for the other side. They just need to be given a bit of intellectual entertainment and pointed off in a comforting anti-Bush direction."
  • CUE TWILIGHT ZONE THEME: Area 51 Panorama taken from Tikaboo Peak on August 7, 2005
  • IT'S ONLY A PAPER TROUT SWIMMING IN A CARDBOARD SEA. Trouts and Seasons of The Mountain Village - Paper Craft 1: "Try to use color paper, paper of stone pattern or wood grain pattern and so on besides white paper if you want to taste different atmosphere."
  • SLEEP? WHY BOTHER? STAY AT WORK FOREVER. Performance and Removal of the Effects of Sleep Deprivation by CX717 in Nonhuman Primates: "CX717 administered to sleep-deprived monkeys produced a striking removal of the behavioral impairment and returned performance to above-normal levels even though animals were sleep deprived."
  • IS THERE REALLY SUCH A THING AS TOO MUCH COFFEE? Overclocking Yourself

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    Posted by Vanderleun at June 29, 2004 4:29 PM | TrackBack
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    AMERICAN DIGEST HOME
    "It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

    Waaaaait a minute... I can't read that fast...

    Posted by: Rapier Witt at August 29, 2005 5:39 PM

    Ahhh. We just brought home our little Lucky today. We had to get a new charger first, though. But yes, he's a big hit with the boy, who has taught him to sit, and lulls him to sleep with a record (that he bought from selling a found box of tissues while they were on a walk). He talks to him and pets him (yes, with the stylus) and has called me in about 20 times. "Mom, mom, you've got to come look. He's soooo cute." "Mom, mom, c'mere. Look, he's going to sleep! Oh no, now he woke up again. Go to sleep, Lucky."


    Posted by: Mrs. Vdl at August 29, 2005 8:56 PM
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