search
Thursday, 2002 February 21, 12:35 — blogdom

do blogrolls matter?

Poll time: How often do you click on the column of “other blogs” links in other blogs?
I don’t; if I wanted a long list of cryptic links, I have my own bookmark file to go through.

Thursday, 2002 February 21, 12:30 — California, security theater

Tom, Dick and Harry II

Eventually it occurred to me that by publishing my conversation with ‘Tom’ (here and on several libertarian mailing-lists) I spoiled its evidentiary value. Dammit. I’ll never be Nero Wolfe (though I surpass him in one respect).

I have the impression that, to the police, whatever they do to you is “no harm no foul” so long as you’re not wrongly convicted, no matter what inconvenience and discomfort you’ve suffered meanwhile. But that impression comes largely from television shows sympathetic to the police.

Thursday, 2002 February 21, 12:27 — arts

need I say more?

Frodo Blackadder

Thursday, 2002 February 21, 12:08 — politics

not so fast

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

Thursday, 2002 February 21, 10:52 — economics, militaria

guns, butter

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.

Wednesday, 2002 February 20, 21:22 — language, politics, prose

bhorh nazgu

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.

Wednesday, 2002 February 20, 21:15 — history, politics

Abraham the Afghan

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?

« Previous PageNext Page »