not so fast

Posted on Thursday, 2002 February 21 by Anton

I am usually of two minds about capital punishment, but when a story like this comes along – and this is not the first – it’s a bit easier to decide where I stand.

I suppose it’s too much to hope that the hangman might simply refuse to do the job.

Update 2003 May 06

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guns, butter

Posted on Thursday, 2002 February 21 by Anton

Steve White scores a good one:

Can someone explain to us why we expect the military budget to scale linearly with the GDP? Isn’t it the whole idea of a federal government that it will scale sub-linearly?

Are we just being mathematical and picky here, or do we detect an area in which it would be sensible for Big Brother to give us back some of our stolen lunch money? Hmm?

A scatter-chart of budgets around the world might be worth making. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to find that the relation is super-linear at the high end, and sub-linear at the low end.

Posted in economics, militaria | Leave a comment

bhorh nazgu

Posted on Wednesday, 2002 February 20 by Anton

Lalaith offers:

Bhorh nazgu burdatuluk. Bhorh nazgu thrakatul.
Bhorh nazgu dupatuluk agh Lúthrongdush-shi krempatul.

Five Rings to lure them all. Five Rings to bring them.
Five Rings to dope them all and in Salt Lake City deceive them.

Posted in language, politics, prose | Leave a comment

Abraham the Afghan

Posted on Wednesday, 2002 February 20 by Anton

Victor Davis Hanson, in an otherwise splendid defense of Americanism and the melting pot, says:

Mr. Karzai needs something like the U.S. Constitution and an Abraham Lincoln a lot more than he needs $15 billion.

Would this be the same Lincoln who said violent secession was legitimate but peaceful secession was not, whose lifelong dream was to complete American unity by deporting the Negros, who turned what might be friendship (as between us and Britain) into generations-long resentment? Or some other Abraham Lincoln?

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boobs

Posted on Wednesday, 2002 February 20 by Anton

I caught myself staring at a stranger’s cleavage, and averted my eyes, because nice boys don’t stare. Then it occurred to me that, as the shirt around the breasts in question was emblazoned HUSTLER, she probably didn’t mind. But by then she had turned away.
(Let’s see what searches this entry brings!)

Posted in California, eye-candy | Comments Off on boobs

Tom, Dick and Harry

Posted on Tuesday, 2002 February 19 by Anton

This afternoon I went to South Hayward BART station. When I reached trackside, a train was stopped in the station, and a handful of Hayward police were present (more soon showed up; but, I think, no BART police).

A large Black man in handcuffs was objecting on the grounds that he had not been on the train, and appealed to me to confirm that I had just seen him outside, and that we talked about my umbrella.
Continue reading →

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inscrutable

Posted on Monday, 2002 February 18 by Anton

A shirt with a cheerful message. See Engrish.com for caption. Does the yellow sign say “two for ¥2k” (about $15)? Just the thing for couples, and such a deal! To think they say prices are high in Japan!

Posted in humanities | Leave a comment