Author Archives: Anton

Of course! Why didn’t we think of that?

The second-weirdest argument for statism that I’ve heard is: “We are social animals!” … implying, I guess, that if not for the constant threat of force we would not behave according to our nature. The weirdest (which I’ve only heard … Continue reading

Posted in politics | 1 Comment

privilege, my foot

A Mother’s White Privilege To admit white privilege is to admit a stake, however small, in ongoing injustice. It’s to see a world different than your previous perception. Acknowledging that your own group enjoys social and economic benefits of systemic … Continue reading

Posted in race, security theater | Leave a comment

cinema 2012

This week I watched two movies that coincidentally opened in the same week in 2012. Neither delighted me. In Looper, the terrible threat to be averted is a gangster bent on — gasp — wiping out a group of retired … Continue reading

Posted in cinema | Leave a comment

get off my lawn

Saturday I missed a birthday party because I’m not on Facebook. So it goes.

Posted in general | 1 Comment

unapologetically one-sided

My newest design on Shapeways is a model of the Lawson-Klein surface : a stereographic projection of ( cos(u)cos(2v), cos(u)sin(2v), sin(u)cos(v), sin(u)sin(v) )

Posted in mathematics, merch | 2 Comments

about that sex thing

I recently read the uncut Stranger in a Strange Land (having read the shorter version long long ago, probably before puberty). It contains the phrase “she’s as female as a cat in heat,” which also appears in the same author’s … Continue reading

Posted in prose | Leave a comment

faith-based voting

Fred Pohl two years ago: None of the four leading Republican presidential candidates is acceptable, because none has a plan to deal with global warming. Obama “is the only remaining hope we have”; he has no plan either, “but his … Continue reading

Posted in politics | Leave a comment