links without comment

Barlow v TSA (password-protected) (thanks Sunah)

Tasteless Screeners Awards

Gun Grabbers Say the Damnedest Things!

School as prison

What is Too Human? The ethics of human-animal chimeras

An Indian’s Thanksgiving Proposal

Give ’em what they want: more government

Posted in drugwar, futures, medicine, security theater | Leave a comment

Protestant music?

One of my correspondents made a joke that could be read as implying that J S Bach (1685–1750) was a Protestant. Which got me to wondering: who was the earliest Protestant composer whose name I’d know? Henry Purcell (1659–95) comes to mind, but who was big in Elizabeth’s reign?

Posted in music+verse, religion | Leave a comment

if only you believed in miracles

Travis found a choice rant by Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek:

But the bluest blue-state left-“liberal” atheist oughtn’t be too quick with the self-congratulatory praise of his or her own rational faculties. Most left-liberals are pure creationists when it comes to society and social order. For them, government is the creator of order . . . .

Posted in economics, politics | Leave a comment

guess what

Travis doesn’t like “bioethicists” either.

Posted in luddites, medicine, politics | Leave a comment

okCupid

I trust you sha’n’t be shocked to know that my social life is dead enough to drive me to sign up on a matchmaking website. It’s rather entertaining, actually.

I am amazed (and a wee bit dismayed) that only two or three of my top twenty matches are over thirty. And now it strikes me that the criterion questions don’t mention age. Not that I have any objection to squiring a lass of 19 summers, but if she has a problem with 25 years’ difference it would be good to know in advance.

The profiler says of me:

Compared to males his age:

  • He’s more scientific
  • He’s more mathematical
  • He’s more capitalistic
  • He’s more introverted
  • He’s more independent
  • He’s more progressive
  • He’s more literary
Posted in me!me!me! | 2 Comments

there are things I’d rather have than WiFi

Matt Smith on confused telecoms policy in San Francisco. So that’s why I so often get bad connections there!

Posted in California, politics, technology | Leave a comment

Randome

Dick Fischbeck has a new website for a kind of structure that he calls Randome, formed of overlapping shallow cones.

Posted in mathematics | 1 Comment