Archive for January 2007

The news is not good. It was a room full of bright, scientifically literate people—molecular biologists, anthropologists, physicists, engineers—and yet, three days were insufficient to force agreement on whether or not there is any conflict between religion and science. While at Salk, I witnessed scientists giving voice to some of the most unctuous religious apologies I have ever heard. It is one thing to be told that the pope is a great champion of reason and that his opposition to embryonic stem cell research has nothing to do with religious dogmatism; it is quite another to be told this by a Stanford physician who sits on the President’s Council on Bioethics. Over the course of the meeting, I had the pleasure of hearing that Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were examples of secularism run amok, that the doctrines of martyrdom and jihad have nothing whatsoever to do with Muslim terrorism, that people can never be argued out of their beliefs because we live in an irrational world, that science has made no important contributions to our ethical lives, and that it is not the job of scientists “to take away people’s hope”—all from atheist scientists, happily trading in the most abject…

Cars on icy streets carnage in Seattle.

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. […] but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dart of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when…

I’m not going to get all worked up about 2008, no matter what happens. I know I said that last time, and I actually held out pretty long until my loathing for Kerry just became too great to bear. But what can one do? My loathing for the guy sitting up there now, though of a different kind, is nearly as great (but to reiterate: different in some crucial ways). Now comes this news item; and additional commentary. Paul has been in and out of Congress since the 70’s and is universally hated by the Republican elite, who routinely back Democrats against him just to try and get him out of office. Well, if that’s true, then my reaction is that Paul is to be accorded some measure of respect and admiration on that basis alone. Anyone “universally hated” by any political elite, from any corner, has got to be doing something right. Such as it is. In plain truth, it is impossible to be a politician at any level and uphold the principles of individualism. Politics, at its core, is about determining a least-common-denominator set of values and imposing them on everyone at everyone’s expense. Nobody gets what they…

I work at home, most mornings, while the market is in play, and then head off to the office around noon, or later on an active day. Since my office is in the loft area, and since it’s “winter,” here (California), heat collects up here, so I like to keep things a bit chilly. Can’t stand being hot. But the two Rat Terriers are not big fans of my thermostatic proclivities. At times when I do have the gas fireplace on, they love to lay on the hearth, which heats up rather nicely. Here’s what else they like. At mid morning, when the sun gets around to the southern-facing wall, I’ll open the Venetians on the side of the bedroom wall and drench the place in solar radiation. Then they’ll lay around wherever they can find exposure. But this morning was different. I opened the shades far earlier than I normally do, and the sun is not yet in position. Rather, it’s shining on the wall. Rotor is old enough that I suppose he knows better, or he’s just too lazy to move, but the 18 month old Nanuka, the female who eats like a horse-pig, but won’t put on…

I’m sure you heard about it, but did you see the video? Click on the iPhone Introduction. Now, here’s the thing. You’re probably going to roll your eyes at Jobs’ self congratulation and on and on about how great Apple is. Keep watching. With respect to this device, he grossly understated how cool it is. “You had me at scrolling.” Watch for that, and just see if you don’t nod your head.

Very simply, here are three charts. They are all charts of the same thing, the S&P 500, widely regarded by professional traders to be the most accurate view of the market. But, you may ask, “if they chart the same thing, over the same period of time from 2000 to the present, then why are the graphs different?” I’m glad you asked. See below the chats for the answer. Each chart graphs the S&P 500 according to a different unit of measurement. The first one uses U.S. Dollars; the second uses the Euro; and the third uses gold. I’ll leave you to ponder the implications.

The other day I published a bit of a request, but got no takers, either in comments or via email. I also said that my reasons for this would reveal themselves in the fullness of time. Here’s a small piece of that “revelation.” Check this out, and those of you who know who you are will find it interesting, I think. The author’s biography (Yasuhiko Kimura) is certainly not the sort of thing you’d expect to see where someone is writing of Western philosophy. What’s most striking is that I cannot find a single thing where he misrepresents Rand in even the tiniest slightest way, yet he thinks her philosophy is incomplete — a view I have had some sympathy for for a long, long time. It is an entirely different thing to say that she was wrong, than that she was incomplete. Besides, it’s silly to think that anything of such a profound nature represents all possible knowledge (complete). I have read over this a couple if times, and will do more, but I find it intriguing. Yes, of course; I immediately bristle at talk of the “oneness of Being,” and so forth. Then, when I get my own…

Just got another one from my brother down in Houston. This time, it’s a special-education student. Twelve years old. There seems to be some dispute as to whether she wet her pants at school on purpose, or because she was afraid of the principal. Naturally, in such a circumstance, you do the only thing you can do. You call the police, who then charge her with disorderly conduct. I’m so fucking proud to be an American.

Well, with the Second Coming of Christ® happening any time this year, man am I happy my wife got me an XBox 360 — which, let me just say that the HD graphics on a 50″ HD set are Christlike — for Christmas. Since it seems entirely likely that I will be Left Behind, perhaps I can now properly prepare myself.

Looks like I missed one, though this one isn’t by Radley Balko. This one is one-out-of-four people you’re likely to meet at random making the prediction — though I’d imagine it shakes out something like 2 of 4 in the South and 1 of 4 in the North, or something generally along those lines. Given that a bit over half of all Americans believe Jesus is Coming Again, sometime, then it’s about half that who believe he’s coming this year, in 2007! That shakes out to somewhere around 75 million Americans. Now, we’re talking about a telephone survey of 1,000 people, which means that 250 people said “Jesus is coming again in 2007.” The statistical margin of error is 3%, but hell, even if it was a 30% margin of error and went this way instead of that, that still leaves 170 people out of a thousand — or 51 million Americans — who think he’s coming back: as flesh & bone, in the sky, to dramatically conduct a rapturous “spiriting” away of the redeemed — within the next 360 days. It could happen at any time. Maybe tomorrow. Better get ready. Astounding. But I guess it serves no good…

My comment, just now, posted here, in reference to one of my previous entries. “The cops were equipped with deadly force but they weren’t trying to prevent an act of suicide with deadly force.” That’s exactly, fundamentally, what they were doing, and they succeeded. They did not have to do anything. They forced the situation. The bottom line and my meta-point is that it does not matter the context of the circumstance — whether a murder investigation or a traffic stop. The police employ the explicit or implicit threat of deadly force, and you will ultimately submit to their demands, whether right or wrong, or you could be killed. The moral issue is whether you have done anything to harm anyone else, or are reasonably likely to do so. If you have not, and — logically excluding the police who have now injected themselves into the situation — are not, then what makes the moral status of the police any greater than that of a common mugger with a gun? This is not about the law; it’s about right and wrong; and if you in any way believe that one equals the other, then you ought to consider this country’s…

There’s a trading blog I follow, manned by Tim Knight, founder and CEO of one of the web’s best charting platforms, Prophet.net. Tim regularly comes up with the most obscure things on the Internet I’ve yet seen. A lot from the 70’s. Anyone remember Gene Gene The Dancing Machine? An entry back in November. Then, there was this one; no comment needed. And who of his readers can forget September’s Engrish resson? Now, if you considered that the least bit amusing, then prepare yourself for the riotous. Be advised: that last one is unsuitable for children or farm animals. Under puritanical pressure from some prudish readers, he ultimately felt compelled to remove that one. But as an act of pure heroism, I have resurrected it from the past. But what got me started on this, motivating me to search back for all that stuff, was today’s entry. Laughing out loud. I mean, are there any circumstances you can think of, under which you would design an album cover like that third one?

Ready for a shock, those of my regular, cherished, God-sent, wonderful readers? I’m undertaking a study, of sorts, of Eastern Mysticism. Now, I’m not completely unfamiliar with it, having perused some of Ken Wilber’s works in the past, widely regarded as a non-idiot, non “New Age” Eastern philosopher. While I always want to rebel, citing a Hellenic Tradition, I find Wilber strangely appealing in some ways. It’s a “heart in the right place” kind of thing. Completely aside, there is one thing that strikes me about the difference between Western and Eastern religious traditions. Western monotheism is geocentric, an inescapable limiting condition, as its tenants assumed and integrate Earth as the center of the Universe. It got as far as it could possibly go a five-hundred years ago, when Copernicus changed everything. Conversely, Eastern pantheism or perennialism seems to me to have no such limitation, and thus, I must conclude is far better suited as a lasting religious tradition going forward; not that I’m thinking of converting or anything. I don’t want to get into the why, just yet. That will be revealed in the fullness of time. What I’m looking for is a good critique from an individualist, rational,…

If you’ve got the time and want to read about a tragic modern-day shakedown by a Mafia-like organized-crime ring in Manassas Park, Virginia, I’ve got your story, and you can begin right here. Unfortunately, though not really surprising, all efforts to get the local police to help have been futile, to say the least. For the whole background so far, see here (the entire collection of posts on the topic), and for updates on the continuing saga. You can also see here. I sure hope the police can help this guy.

Radley Balko, in his regular Fox column, has a whole list of dire predictions for 2007. I daresay that “if” any of these come to pass, “then” we’ll be in really deep doodoo.

Today marks out 10th day up at our cabin in Arnold, CA, snuggled into the gateway of the Sierras at 4,500 feet elevation. Sadly, we’ll be heading back Friday morning. But New Year’s Day, we headed up Highway 4 about 25 miles and 2,500 vertical feet to Bear Valley Village and the ski area. It’s a bit early in the season just yet, but within a few weeks the skiing should get pretty good and stay good into April. We stopped in at the Bear Valley Lodge, enjoying once again about the largest fireplace I’ve ever seen. A detour into the Grizzly Lounge rounded out the excursion. So, I thought I’d bring you back a few photos. Click on images for the larger version. Of course, it’s completely appropriate to be driving a vehicle designed by Bavarians. And finally, I call this one the ski lift to enlightenment.

Now comes the story of Army reservist James E. Dean, a 29 yr-old Cpl. who had already served 18 months in Afghanistan and was suicidally despondent over leaving his new wife and returning, this time to Iraq. His family, over concern for his welfare, took understandable action, but one that proved to be a fatal error. They notified the Sovereign Authority of the land. St. Mary’s County took the notice, but apparently not the reason for it, to heart. Man, did they ever take it (14 photos) to heart (7 more). Now, I can just imagine: had the County not seen fit to use all of the toys, fashions, and guns at their immediate disposal, and had the Cpl. gone through with his threat to harm only himself, would then a parasite — otherwise known as a “plaintiff’s lawyer” — have induced the family to file a lawsuit against the county? So, I dunno. The constant threat of legal action for every little thing under the sun kind of creates the meta-standoff, from which a whole lot of other standoffs emerge, and people get killed. There’s other reportage here, in the WaPo. And here’s blog analysis from Trevor Bothwell at…

A comment (edited) I just threw up on one of my own posts. The subject matter is an examination of the practical benefit of compromising liberty and its underlying and derivative ideas in a political or social context: “Collective politics is a pointless waste of time. Fortunately there’s no need for me to waste my life on it.” Indeed. My own activities, including this blog, are an exercise in engaging the philosophy, politics, culture and religion of our time for my own understanding and edification. If that process delivers meaning, understanding, or clarity to a few others that’s great, and I’m happy for it. But compromise can only mean that one is acting under the delusional belief that his ideas and actions will actually have some real, meaningful and lasting effect on society — or, dare I say it: civilization — as a whole. John and John are right. People are not going to be moved to new ways of thinking unless and until they see some real and tangible benefit to doing so, which, I might point out, can be negative as well as positive. That is to say, the day may come where the positive benefit of thinking…