Archive for February 2008

I’ll sign. To: All those currently exercising positions of responsibility in the Government of the United States of America, whether elected or appointed, and whether at the federal, state, or local level Whereas the United States Government’s claim to legitimacy is purportedly based on such principles as the consent of the governed, human equality, and the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and Whereas few if any of those over whom you claim authority have ever consented to such governance; and Whereas governments, as claimants to such authority over others, are by their nature inconsistent with human equality; and Whereas your laws, ordinances, decrees, and policies generally stand in violation, directly or indirectly, of the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; We, the undersigned, hereby demand: That you cease to claim to be acting in our name or as our agents; and That you cease all attempts to exercise authority over your fellow human beings, on this continent or elsewhere; and That you work to dismantle the institution or set of institutions known as the Government of the United States of America, in every branch and at every level, as speedily as possible;…

Looks like Kim du Toit’s beloved “We the People” are really dealing him a lousy hand. I can’t see where he has a thing to complain about. It’s moving forward precisely according to his stated principles, which is that the majority rules the minority. Kim is in the minority, now, so one must necessarily question his intelligence, if not his sanity.

The more I look around, the more I wonder. You see, the whole deeper problem with the State as an agent of force is that it conditions people to think only of force as a way to achieve their ends. And that ultimately works both ways when the State becomes intolerably intrusive. It gets thrown off in the same manner in which is was installed: through brute force where people get killed. Do you recall years and years ago when some “entrepreneurial” lawyers began suing tobacco companies on behalf of certain plaintiffs with lung cancer and other ailments reasonably linked to smoking? They sued over and over, only to have their cases dismissed or lost on motions for summary judgment. People thought it was the most ridiculous thing they ever heard, and yet now it’s commonplace. In jest, people predicted that fast food would be next; and of course those lawsuits have already begun. Hey, here’s a ridiculous and crazy prediction: how about a law banning fat people from eating in restaurants and holding restaurant owners responsible to police it? Absurd? You sure? Karen assures us it’s no joke (PDF). I see something like that and I wonder what’s going…

Billy’s still sold on the authenticity of this, and so am I. Just a bit ago, in email: When I saw that, other than the near tear-to-eye something of such human beauty can bring, my immediate assumption was that it’s a bit of an optical illusion because you’re looking at it in 2D. Check the depth of field. Both the airplane and the runway are in sharp focus, which tells me the pic must have been taken far enough from the prime subject so that the lens was essentially focused to infinity. Now, that probably would have had a wide enough angle to where you could see or get a clue on the horizon, and then it could have simply been cropped to remove those optical references. Working in 3D drawing as you do I’m sure you can think of a number of elements that could fool the eye. And following up: Also, look how the exhaust gases blur and obscure the runway markings and tire skid marks, even out to the outer fringes. If that’s a Photoshop, it’s gotta be the best ever. Hey, you could test my previous hypothesis with your Class A drawing app, I’d imagine. Draw…

The lease on my BMW X5 runs out in a few months and so I’ve been thinking about what’s next. I really love the X5; the quality is superb — one needn’t even rotate tires; no discernible adverse wear — and the engineering, while seemingly simple, is quite masterful. I need something that can tow one of the pop-up trailers, but on the heavy end (like 3,000 pounds). Large V6s or small V8s just aren’t going to do it very well, even though my Beemer has a small V8 (4.3L). That’s different. It has huge horsepower. I used to have a vehicle with the Chrysler “high output” 4.7 V8 and it was a complete dog towing a pop-up trailer of half the weight. The X5 tows this much heavier trailer as though there’s nothing back there. I’ve owned a number of Jeeps and have always liked ’em OK, so I’m thinking about the new Grand Cherokee with the 3.0L turbo diesel. I still have profoundly fond memories of that Mercedes turbo diesel I drove for 6,000 kilometers in Europe. It was superb, and that’s a Mercedes diesel in that Jeep. It would cost less new than purchasing my 2006 X5…

I’m not much of a sports fan, which is to say that I’m very much a fair weather friend when it comes to “favorite teams,” if I can even be said to have such things. In large part, I guess I just don’t understand the vicarious nature of the thing. I observe some fan behavior and it strikes me as though their personal esteem rises and falls with the success or failure of sports teams and sports personalities they like. But anyway, I did watch a good part of the game yesterday. I was rootin’ for NY, but really only because I thought it would be so poetic and tragic for a team to go undefeated for the season, only to lose the most important game of all. What a 4th quarter that was, as it seemed expected fortunes switched hands several times. I surely did think it was over for NY as Brady just masterfully executed that flawless drive down the field chewing up what, four minutes on the clock? And mercifully, for this year’s half-time entertainment, it looked and sounded as though Tom Petty & Co. are still competent guitar players, totally unlike Mic’s crew last year.