Archive for February 2007
Email From a Nephew
I've been doing email since all I had to do it with was a command-line Compuserve account in 1992. Then Prodigy; then Compuserve went graphical with a release for Windows 3.0; I tried AOL. Then I discovered the Internet under the "internet," as served up by all these services and used whatever email client and USENET newsreader I wanted -- and later a web browser. But I'd been writing in journals, writing long letters to…Read More
Differentiation, Not Separation; Integration, Not Dichotomization
[An email out. Just another in a discussion going back years.] P: > "They are simply abstracts of reality that you and others have > come up with." This is the post-modern idea that there is no truth. On the contrary. Truth is real and absolute. Nonetheless, all concepts are abstractions. You understand this; recall the "dissecting a brain to find ideas" analogy. You can't dissect it and find truth, either. I'm not saying there's…Read More
Never Going Back
Warren Meyer puts a finger on something I've been thinking about a lot, lately. Unfortunately, Mr. Gore's only goal last night was not just to rally the TV audience to change its lifestyle. The more important goal was to increase the likelihood that government will compel Americans to do what Mr. Gore wants. And this is what makes me cringe nowadays when I hear the term "activist." I don't want to cringe, because passionately advocating…Read More
Your Government
Your government. Your government on drugs.Read More
“Liberty” vs. Liberty
Got it? It was less than a year ago that Virginia lawmakers admirably outlawed red light cameras, citing--believe it or not--"liberty" as their reason. How fleeting liberty can be. Yesterday, the state senate gave the okay to traffic cameras. This is the sort "liberty" most everyone deals with. This is the sort of "liberty" you exercise, dear voter, every time you cast. Your "liberty" goes only so far as the next election cycle or legislative…Read More
Kill the Dog
Get your kicks. We'll, I can't argue that it's the same as murdering a human being. It's not. On the other hand, what it is is the destruction of a highly prized value; a value that someone has pursued, acquired, nurtured, loved, admired, enjoyed, and reflected upon countless times. We don't have kids. We have dogs, and I'd not presume in a million years to assert to someone that our dogs are on any level…Read More
Kind of a Mess
If you can get through the maze of this post by Balko, here's really the only thing that comes close to the point. Medved is also misguided in stating that for one to subscribe to natural rights theory, one must believe those rights are conferred by a deity. Kant most famously arrived at natural rights theory without acknowledging a creator. But even Locke, while not a deist, showed that one could arrive at natural rights…Read More
Well. That’s Cool.
It seemed a bit uncharacteristic of him, so one morning when I opened my email to find this, I thought it might be in my interest to pay attention. So I did; and it was. You can see how nicely it fits in one hand, and all operation is with the thumb. Here's the Sanyo Digital Movie C40 roundup & specs. To sum it up, though, this shoots amazing 640x480 video at 30 frames per…Read More
Good Doggie News
Since the fire and strife of New Year's day and since, we've been concerned not only about Dave & Nancy, but about their dogs. Especially Ruby, our Rotor's only offspring. There's a small "issue" with Ruby's stance, so Nancy decided she would not be shown or bred, and decided to find a good home. Very picky, these pros. Bea & I went to the Horseman's Association fund-raiser for Dave & Nancy the other night. I…Read More
The Ethics of Omelet Making
I'm starting to think "how many more people have to die" is the wrong question. I fear that pondering how many of these deaths it will take to spur people into seeing the perversity of our drug laws and their enforcement, and demanding reform is the wrong way to look at it. I'm starting to think that we're now moving in the other direction -- that these stories fatigue people. Numb them. Each one gets…Read More
Journeys
We're outta here. Just about to load the X5 and split for SoCal, San Diego area, to visit the wife's parents for a few days. Then it's right back north, over the Grapevine and up 99 all the way to Stockton, heading east on 4 to finish out the week and next weekend at the cabin. But I'll be in the loop mosta the time.Read More
PoP! Goes My Heart
Kicking and screaming. That's right; when my wife drug me out to see Music and Lyrics on Friday evening. Truthfully, other that those awful Bridget Jones roles, I like Hugh Grant. Yea, he's stuck in a genre, alright, but at least he pulls off the formula quite well and always manages a few lines that just crack me up. I really have no idea if others find them as funny as I do. So, he's…Read More
The God in the Machine is You
Without citing a bunch of past posts, I've been on a bit of a quest, lately, to investigate some of the Eastern religious traditions. I still am -- but increasingly as a skeptic and less as an honest inquirer. That's inevitable; once you're informed enough to begin making honest judgments, you do. There are still interesting aspects I haven't fleshed out, and this quest is driven by a couple of things. First, I see a…Read More
Tired
Well, that's a "fine title," after mulling over various alternatives all afternoon of what to call this latest apparent outrage. Daniel Castillo Sr. said his son, Daniel Jr., was awakened by pleas from the teen's sister asking officers not to shoot her in the Tuesday morning incident, during which law enforcement agencies were executing a narcotics search warrant. [...] The elder Castillo said his son was awakened by the pleas of his 20-year-old sister, Ashley.…Read More
$7 Million Stolen from The Rolling Stones
That's really the whole essence of this story, via email from my brother Stacy. The Rolling Stones has taken advantage of the Netherlands tax structures for the past 20 years, with the help of Dutch accountant Johannes Favie, who runs Promogroup, a financial consulting firm. Promogroup has helped the Rolling Stones pay just over $7 million in taxes on earnings of $450 million over the past two decades. In 2005, the rockers paid a tax…Read More
Then, and Now
Then: Now: In the second one, that guy is holding a spin, which is what you have to do in a flex wing. Hold it. Relax, and they will auto-recover. The rest is a series of "wangs."Read More
Adversity
It's said that it's only through adversity that we grow to new levels, learn new things, find and explore new opportunities; and I believe it. In fact, I would say that I can think of no other attribute of the human condition that I count as more true. "What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger." There are some kinds of adversity in life that one ought to be left to bear alone, especially in…Read More
Values
I would like to note that Obama is wrong, Malkin is wrong, and Balko is wrong. They're all wrong, and so are you, and everyone else pretentious enough to assert that the loss of a serviceman's life in Iraq, or anywhere else, is yours to value or disvalue in contradiction to that serviceman's own proclamation. Those lives aren't yours. What those servicemen do or do not themselves value may correspond in ways to what you…Read More
Children At Play
Or, "Your Tax Dollars At Work;" take your pick. Or choose both. Dear [the mayor] shouted: "She hit her right in the eye! Stop that woman from leaving the room! She struck the woman. She should be arrested. This is unbelievable. ... We're going to call a doctor." Judge for yourself: Now, what part of that scene doesn't look like kiddies in a playground? And these are some of the same kinds of people you…Read More
Moving Forward
Richard Dawkins has penned a no-pulled-punches Forward to Sam Harris's Letter to a Christian Nation, UK edition. More importantly, the world’s only superpower is close to domination by electors who believe the entire universe began after the domestication of the dog, and believe that they will be personally ‘raptured’ up to heaven within their own lifetime, followed by an Armageddon welcomed as harbinger of the Second Coming. Even from this side of the Atlantic, Sam…Read More