I imagine you've all seen this advertisement:
It reminds me of a story. Way back when my son was one year old, my parents bought him a toy remote control tractor. He was much too young to understand about remote controls, or to have operated it in any case, but he liked the tractor so they bought it for him. For about two years, he played with that tractor toy as you would play with an powerless toy car.
So one day, when he was about three, I got out the remote control and stood in the kitchen. I watched him play with it for a while, and then when he backed away to do something else, I had it follow him. As soon as he turned to look, I stopped it.
Then he started forward, and I had it back away. He said, "It did do it!" Then it followed him around the room for quite a while, before I showed him how it worked.
I suspect the rest of his life has been a disappointment after that. We live in a world where there isn't much magic left, and people seem resolutely determined to drive out what remains. These people are blind, and have missed the true story: everything we think we understand is really magic, and is hiding secrets we don't yet dream of behind its mask.
Superbowl Ad
Catholics & Mormons in the Lead
That sounds like the introduction to a joke, but it's the thesis of an article by a jealous evangelical Protestant. He argues that there are two reasons: theology for Catholics, and culture for Mormons.
It's an interesting question.
Dolor Occultus
An article that takes up where the recent expansion of the official list of psychiatric disorders left off: Asymptomatic Depression: Hidden Epidemic and Huge Untapped Market.
The author proposes a binary approach to diagnosis and treatment. If the patient acknowledges depression, he is treated with drugs that have a variety of unpleasant side effects, the severity of which convince him of their power to alleviate depression. If the patient does not acknowledge depression, he is diagnosed with "putative axiomatic biochemical imbalance" and treated with the same drugs, until the side effects induce a more classical presentation of depression symptoms, after which he can be treated as usual for depression.
H/t Maggie's Farm
Wikileaks & Public Service
Although the transfer of secret diplomatic documents to Wikileaks was an act of treason, it is not the only betrayal that the episode has revealed. The betrayal of our British allies by this administration does not quite rise to the level of treason, since we cannot commit treason against any country but our own. Nevertheless, it is shocking to the conscience.
The Obama administration plainly dislikes the British, but the rest of us Americans have warm regards for the mother country. We had our disputes at first, but have been strong allies since coming to terms on our independence. That is reasonable, as the British idea of freedom and human liberty -- not the French doctrine, which served as the root of so many of the early democratic movements -- is the root of the American ideal. We have often fought together in defense of our mutual ideals, across many wars and the entire world.
How Bad is This?
Georgia is my home state, so when I see a political story located here I have to take notice. What a doozy this one is!
Georgia Republican state Rep. Bobby Franklin (of gold-standard-wannabe fame) has introduced a bill to change the state’s criminal codes so that in “criminal law and criminal procedure” (read: in court), victims of rape, stalking, and family violence could only be referred to as “accusers” until the defendant has been convicted.The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee says:
Burglary victims are still victims. Assault victims are still victims. Fraud victims are still victims. But if you have the misfortune to suffer a rape, or if you are beaten by a domestic partner, or if you are stalked, Rep. Franklin doesn’t think you’ve been victimized. He says you’re an accuser until the courts have determined otherwise.It is a reasonable point that the victim of a rape has suffered emotional damage, and the court should give attention to the question of not inflicting further damage. It's fair to ask that the court use language that will not cause insult or offense.
To diminish a victim’s ordeal by branding him/her an accuser essentially questions whether the crime committed against the victim is a crime at all. Robbery, assault, and fraud are all real crimes with real victims, the Republican asserts with this bill.
Rep. Franklin surely is aware that the crimes for which he believes there are no victims are disproportionately committed against women—and are disproportionately committed by men.
Where I differ with the DLCC is here: that interest in protecting the victim has to be balanced against the bedrock legal principle of presumptive innocence. That may be of particular importance in cases where one of the questions before the court is whether a rape did, in fact, take place -- either because of disputes about consent, or questions of whether or not there was really sex at all. The court has to be careful not to prejudice the jury in either direction. If those interests cannot be balanced completely, shouldn't we err in favor of the bedrock legal principle that is protecting someone who is in jeopardy of losing freedom or life?
Perhaps not! There may well be cases when the presumption of innocence is a facade that no one can really keep up; frequently in criminal court everyone is quite sure of the guilt of the accused because of numerous past offenses. In those cases, the court may do the minimum necessary to keep up the facade for the sake of the jury, and no more than is required. Certainly in cases where there is no dispute that a rape occurred -- where the accused is merely disputing that he was the one who committed it -- it would make no sense to force the court to refer to the woman as "an accuser" rather than a victim. In cases where there is reasonable doubt, though, and where the fact of the rape is in dispute, it may be necessary for the court to consider the issue of language to ensure a fair outcome.
The issue is surely a complicated one; it is probably best be left to the discretion of the judge, rather than handled with an across-the-board legislative remedy. I agree that this attempt is clumsy and ill-advised. I'm not convinced that the motivating sentiment is immoral, or that a bill aimed at this matter should be taken as prima facie evidence of bias against women.
Permitorium Hell and Waiver Heaven
"Permitorium" Hell and Waiver HeavenLaws that theoretically allow citizens to conduct their lawful business, but in fact leave the regime's political enemies exposed to the the whim of a bureaucrat who can refuse to grant a permit. Laws that theoretically compel all citizens to adopt an unpopular and ruinous course of business, but in fact leave the regime's political friends a loophole via waivers. None of it is consistent with free citizens co-existing with a properly limited government.
Lottery
A voluntary tax on the stupid, it has been called; but that may be too strong. It is merely a voluntary tax on the innumerate. Just how much this is true is revealed by the statistician who broke the code:
After analyzing his results, Srivastava realized that the singleton trick worked about 90 percent of the time, allowing him to pick the winning tickets before they were scratched.So, in other words, if you're good enough to beat the lottery? You can make more money doing honest work.
His next thought was utterly predictable: “I remember thinking, I’m gonna be rich! I’m gonna plunder the lottery!” he says. However, these grandiose dreams soon gave way to more practical concerns. “Once I worked out how much money I could make if this was my full-time job, I got a lot less excited,” Srivastava says. “I’d have to travel from store to store and spend 45 seconds cracking each card. I estimated that I could expect to make about $600 a day. That’s not bad. But to be honest, I make more as a consultant, and I find consulting to be a lot more interesting than scratch lottery tickets.”
Jerusalem
A new book provides a 'biography' of a city.
Over three millennia people have believed the city to be the bridge between heaven and earth. But it has usually been a dangerous crossing. Jerusalem has inspired courage, sacrifice and chivalry; art, architecture, and music. It has also sunk into persecution, brutality, butchery, squalor and venereal disease. Just to its south lies the Valley of Hinnom, notorious for child sacrifices even in the early Jewish era. As a result, it came to be known as Gehenna: hell. Given Jerusalem’s history, it is appropriate that it should have its own branch of Hades.Jerusalem is surely one of the most fascinating cities in the world, even apart from religious history. Just the question of its relationship to water is fascinating. I have only become interested in it recently, but the more you learn about it, the stranger and more gripping the story becomes.
Historiography
Fox News reports that President Obama botched a Bible verse.
"Those who wait on the Lord will soar on wings like eagles, and they will run and not be weary, and they will walk and not faint," the president said during a speech to several thousand people at the breakfast.The implication Fox wants you to draw from this is almost certainly backwards. Historians normally take an error of that sort to be evidence that someone was quoting from memory, as memory often contains minor errors. For example, Aristotle frequently misquotes Homer; this is usually thought to prove that Aristotle had spent a lot of time reading and thinking about Homer, so that he didn't feel it was necessary to look up the passage he wanted to reference.
But the actual passage, from Isaiah 40:31, states: "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
So, the President's misquote is probably evidence that he's spent a fair amount of time reading the Bible. That's just the opposite of what is being implied, but it's the normal conclusion we would draw from someone who gives a close misquote.
Lost Music Found
Lost Music FoundWhen we were kids, my sister and I listened to a four-record set night and day, full of great folk songs. We lost it long ago and couldn't find it online. Although we could remember many of the songs, we were sure we remembered that it was called the Newport Folk Festival of some year or another. Now and then we'd find a recording of one of these festivals, but never what we remembered.
The other day a synapse tripped while my sister was trolling YouTube videos of old music recordings: the record set was called "Folk Songs and Minstrelsy." With this clue, we found a copy of the boxed set on eBay. It was a Book of the Month Vanguard recording; only the fourth record is marked "Newport Folk Festival." Googling it, I noticed that every few years someone writes an article about how much they remember loving this set and how sorry they are it was never released on CD. Some of the artists, like Odetta, were prominent enough that particular tracks, or similar ones, showed up on CDs. But, oh! this boxed set has everything I remember, and cuts I've never been able to find again:
SIDE 1
- Sumer Is Icumen In: The Deller Consort
- He That Will an Alehouse Keep: The Deller Consort
- Greensleeves: The Deller Consort
- We Be Soldiers Three: The Deller Consort
- Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies: Leon Bibb
- Squirrel: Leon Bibb
- Cotton Eyed Joe: Leon Bibb
- Darlin': Leon Bibb
- Poor Lolette: Leon Bibb
SIDE 2
- The Golden Vanity: Ronnie Gilbert
- Go From My Window: Ronnie Gilbert
- Johnny Is Gone for a Soldier: Ronnie Gilbert
- Spanish Is a Loving Tongue: Ronnie Gilbert
- House of the Rising Sun: Ronnie Gilbert
- East Texas Red: Cisco Houston
- The Sinking of the Reuben James: Cisco Houston
SIDE 3
- Meet The Johnson Boys: The Weavers
- The Wild Gooses Grasses: The Weavers
- Aweigh, Santy Ano: The Weavers
- Get Along, Little Dogies: The Weavers
- The Erie Canal: The Weavers
- We're All Dodgin': The Weavers
- The State of Arkansas: The Weavers
- Greenland Whale Fisheries: The Weavers
- Eddystone Light: The Weavers
SIDE 4: Odetta
- I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain/Water Boy
- Saro Jane
- God's A-Gonna Cut You Down
- John Riley
- John Henry
- All The Pretty Horses
- No More Auction Block for Me
SIDE 5: Odetta
- The Foggy Dew
- No More Cane on the Brazos
- The Fox
- He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
- The Ox Driver
- Another Man Done Gone
- I'm Going Back to the Red Clay Country
SIDE 6: Cisco Houston
- Talking Guitar Blues
- Danville Girl
- Old Dan Tucker
- The Buffalo Skinners
- The Streets of Laredo
- Hard Travelin'
- Bonneville Dam
- Do Re Mi
- The Wreck of the Old 97
- John Hardy
SIDE 7
- The Bold Fisherman: Ed McCurdy
- When Cockle Shells Turn Silver Bells: Ed McCurdy
- Frankie and Johnny: Ed McCurdy
- Lang A-Growin': Ewan MacColl
- Virgin Mary Had One Son: Joan Baez/Bob Gibson
- Wayfaring Stranger: Bob Gibson
- The Hangman: John Jacob Niles
- I Know an Old Lady: Alan Mills
SIDE 8
- Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye: Tom Makem
- The Whistling Gypsy: Tom Makem
- The Cobbler's Song: Tom Makem
- Railroad Bill: Cisco Houston
- The Cat Came Back: Cisco Houston
- East Virginia Blues: Pete Seeger
- Old Joe Clark: Jimmy Driftwood
- The Unfortunate Man: Jimmy Driftwood
Reviewer Jim Clark notes:
One of the frequent memories of those older than about 30 is how free childhood was back then. Most of us went outside in the morning, returned briefly for dinner, and returned to the world until bedtime. Games were organized by the kids playing them, streets were avenues to the far corners of the known world, and parents were arbitrary and bizarre creatures who appeared only to bring bad news. We lived free, had fun, and learned life's lessons at our pace and in our way. And most of us made it.But no longer. No, today's kids are protected from germs, weather, competition, failure, loss, disappointment, and anything distasteful. Who would let their children listen to "The Cat Came Back" today? "They dropped him in the hopper when the butcher wasn't round, the cat disappeared with a blood-curdling shriek, and the town's meat tasted furry for a week."
My neighbor's Christmas present this year included equipment and software for transferring LPs to digital format. If she'll help me digitize this box set, I think I'll even learn how to upload it to YouTube.
Japenese Sword INferor
An account:
Some doubts of the temper of these swords arose in consequence of a playful encounter which happened on board one of the ships, in which a Japanese sword suffered some injury from the cuts of an English one, which had received several cuts from the Japanese sword without receiving any dents...FWIW.
Irish Crochet Lace
Irish Crochet Lace
I've finished my first project from the Irish Crochet Lace book that my sister sent me for Christmas. What fun! This is a christening cap for my newest grand-nephew.
Four Loko = Ethanol
A video by Mary Katherine Ham examines the way that a popular drink -- one people were eager to buy -- has been banned by the government, and is now being subsidized as ethanol.
If the people were really in charge of the government, this would not happen: not because of Four Loko, which is popular only with the young and foolish, but because we don't want ethanol in our gasoline. This wonderful product absolutely destroys small engines, such as those in chainsaws, and turns gasoline into something like varnish in about a month. I lost a chainsaw to it last year; and when I spoke with several small engine repairmen in the course of trying to get it fixed, I learned that the problem is epidemic.
(Another great idea from the EPA: make chainsaw manufacturers craft engines that run on 50:1 oil mix instead of the richer 40:1 mix. The extra oil in older small engines is of great benefit to keeping those engines from tearing themselves apart when run with the new ethanol mix. Pity they're not allowed to make them that way anymore! Environmentalists who are high-fiving each other can take a few minutes to reflect on the additional coal being burned to power the plants that are making new chainsaws, because the old ones are being destroyed and have to be replaced. Meanwhile, for your average American who just wants a small engine that works reliably? Tough luck, buddy. The government's not in the business of considering your requirements. It's in the business of telling you what to do.)
These ethanol subsidies are great for the massive agricultural corporations that dominate the corn industry. They are terrible for the average American who wants to mow his lawn or cut his own firewood. The poor college kids are getting sucked in as well. None of this is about what we want. All of it is about the government having the power to control our personal decisions, and have the power to choose winners and losers in the market. That power means they can readily command the bribes that have come to define the American political and regulatory system, whether those bribes are paid in the form of campaign contributions, plush honorariums for speeches, or generously-paid jobs or consultancies after their political career.
This activity is framed as beneficial, but it is really parasitic.
Gratuitous Gender Wars Provocation
Gratuitous Gender Wars ProvocationA reader wrote to a favorite word-maven columnist of mine with a question about word usage. Because the usage was called to mind by an episode of Laurel & Hardy, he stopped to muse about why women never seem to like either Laurel & Hardy or The Three Stooges. He said that women of his acquaintance found the humor too "mean." The word maven agreed, and extended the principle to the Marx Brothers.
Snow Strategies
Chicago is using a fleet of snowmobiles to transport patients from inaccessible homes or cars to waiting ambulances. The snowmobiles pull the patients on a kind of basket-sled behind them.
The Revolution Will Be Tweeted
The Revolution Will Be TweetedI've been meaning to read this piece at The American Thinker since DL Sly recently included the link in a comment. It's hard to know what to make of the account, but it certainly provides a perspective I haven't been reading elsewhere. The author, described as an Egyptian student, sees the uprising as a popular backlash against moderately capitalist reforms by Mubarak's heir apparent, Gamal, which were never sold effectively to a population used to nanny-state control of the economy and a lot of socialist security. He also attributes the uprising almost entirely to the organizational tools of Twitter. He believes that, although the initial "flash" mobs were exaggerated, they were big enough to panic a crusty old autocracyinto shutting down the Internet. Paradoxically, the populace responded with emboldened ridicule of a repressive government running scared of modern communications.
Monster Storm
Monster StormThis thing was really huge. Even way down here it's giving us several days of hard freeze, with ice and even snow possibly on the way in the next day or two. It's a good thing we prepared for the paradoxical effects of global warmening by wrapping the citrus trees and laying in a supply of firewood.
Not for the Child
"Abortion May Be Less Traumatic Than Childbirth, Study Finds."
Not for the child.
St. Raymond
Dad29 sends this story of a warrior monk.
Apparently St. Raymond was a model monk, for he was elected as the prior of the new monastery of Nienzabas on land granted by the King Alfonso VII of Castile and afterwards became abbot, relocating the house to Fitero around 1150.We might consider doing that with Detroit -- at least, if there remain any Cistercians who think they could make it work.
It is here that St. Raymond’s military career begins. At the death of King Alfonso in 1158, St. Raymond went to Toledo to confirm Fitero’s privileges with the new king, Sancho III, taking with him to court Diego Velásquez, a knight turned Cistercian lay brother. At the same time, the Kinghts Templar had given up hope of holding the stronghold of Calatrava, which sat at the southern border of Christian Spain, and had withdrawn. In desperation, Sancho offered Calatrava to whoever could hold it.