welcome brothers Volokh

Hey, a blog by a law professor.
I refer of course to Eugene Volokh, who last week hung up a joint shingle with his brother Sasha, a student at Harvard. (Sasha recently made the news by organizing a gun club there, and folks said hm, is he related to Eugene? Now we know.)
I’ll be watching, just as if it did not already take me six weeks to cycle my “sites to watch” list.

E.V.’s remarks on the “I don’t know any people like that” phenomenon remind me of something that happened to me.
On a Sunday in 1996, as I blasted away at a defenseless paper target with my Ruger KP90D, a shell bounced off the wall and was caught behind my glasses, burning off a bit of skin. Next day, of course, a coworker asked what happened; once word got around, another said “I didn’t know they scatter shells about”; another asked what caliber; and yet another said, “I’m thinking of trading in my rifle; what caliber do you think I should use for elk?” —
Five years later, getting ready for a trip to Front Sight, it was the elk guy that I asked to sign for my good moral character.

And of course E.V. says exactly the right thing about nail-clippers on airplanes.

Posted in blogdom, weapons | Leave a comment

blog vector

Angela Vierling is a grad student, studying algebraic geometry; and she has a blog. Sadly, it’s not very active.
August 2003: It’s a lot more active than it was.
October 2004: it’s gone, but she saved some archives.

Posted in blogdom, mathematics | Leave a comment

travelling gamblers cautioned

Bias for heads in euro coins? More study needed.

Posted in mathematics, technology | Leave a comment

do you remember the night

I dreamt I was listening to Tom Lehrer sing one of his standards, with an extra verse I had not heard before. Of course it was (seemed) brilliant, and of course I could not remember a word of it come daylight.

Posted in me!me!me!, music+verse | 1 Comment

l’affaire du Pen

Mark Steyn argues:

If the political culture forbids respectable politicians from raising certain topics, then the electorate will turn to unrespectable politicians — as they’re doing in France, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and elsewhere. Le Pen is not an aberration but the logical consequence.

(Link from Vodkapundit)

Posted in politics | Leave a comment

orthoepy

Anybody in France: Is Le Pen pronounced like pin, pan or penne?

Update: François Velde writes, “The last; it rimes with haine . . .” [‘hate’]

Posted in language | Leave a comment

Dear sir, I am the widow . . .

The Economist reports:

In an out-of-court settlement between Nigeria’s government and the family of the late Sani Abacha, $1 billion that the military ruler looted from the central bank and stashed in banks worldwide will be returned to Nigeria.

You know what this means? They’ll have to smuggle it out all over again, and helpful foreigners will have another opportunity to cash in!!

(If you don’t know what I’m on about, look up “419”.)

Posted in spam | Leave a comment