Month: January 2006

Intelligent Design contest

So with all the talk of Intelligent Design versus evolution — as if the design decisions we all live with show any intelligence at all — why not try your hand at this yourself?

I’d be interesting in reading descriptions of redesigned homo sapiens with the odd bits left out. For instance, the old joke about the Designer being a civil engineer, as who else would route sewage pipes through the pleasure grounds: how would you solve that problem?

I often wonder why the brain is located in a large protuberance at the furthest point from the ground. Why not in the chest somewhere? And those knees . . . what’s that all about?

Daring Fireball: MWSF ’06 Predictions

Daring Fireball: MWSF ’06 Predictions:

New Macs based on Intel processors: I say no. Everyone who’s
calling for this announcement seems to be taking stance that it’d
be cool for everyone involved if Apple has managed to get
Intel-powered machines out the door a few months earlier than
expected. But it wouldn’t be cool for developers who took Apple at
its word at WWDC, when they were told that Intel-based Macs could
be expected in the spring or early summer.

Releasing Intel-based Macs now might be popular with the keynote
crowd and the tech press, but it would come at the expense of a
bit of Apple’s credibility with developers. As late as September
20, Steve Jobs said the following regarding when Intel-based
Macs would ship: “We said we’d be shipping by next June and we are
on track to have that be a true statement,” said Jobs. As was
pointed out recently in MDJ, if Apple were to release Intel-based
Macs now, in January, the next time Apple tells developers they
have a year to get on board with something new, developers will
feel like they’ve got to drop everything and do it immediately.

If I’m wrong, and Intel Macs are announced today, I expect to see
only Mac Minis, not iBooks or PowerBooks.

Result: Wrong. But at least the MacBook Pro has FireWire.

Well, dammit. I was betting the same way and just bought a 17 inch iMac 2.0 GHz. Wouldn’t I like to do that over again.

And I agree: MacBook is the worst product name I have heard in ages.

clarification

In response to the revelation that the DoD — the people who feed, clothe, and equip the army we have, not the army we wish we had — skimped on body armor, resulting on hundreds of unnecessary deaths.

Body Armor? But You’re POOR People …:

… to reiterate my position: I don’t criticize this Administration because I’m a progressive, or I hate Bush, or I Want the Terrorists to Win ™. They are objectively bad at their jobs. This is so far past Conservative vs. Progressive that we’re in Wonderland. Never mind the whole “The President gets to break the law as long as we’re at War and we’ll be at War for the foreseeable future” inanity. That aside, these people are Just. Not. Getting. The Job. Done.

Half-Assed, I believe I said, and I stick by it.

You support the troops by making sure they have all the equipment they need, they are executing a well-thought-out strategy with accomplishable goals, and then taking care of them when they get home. This Administration has failed on all three counts. Objectively.

And then we have this: some Freeper wrote to his local paper, details of which are available at the link. But look at his motivating principles: hatred, bloody-minded hatred, for anyone who challenges his simplistic worldview.

I work as a Computer Routing Specialist for Supervalu. A former Army Infantryman, I am a political junkie and passionate George W. Bush Supporter. I have reached the end of my tolerance for the absolutely criminal behavior of the Hysterical Left in this country. What the Left seems unwilling to grasp is this simple fact. No amount of money, peace vigals or encouter groups are going to keep them safe from people who are convinced their god wants all Americans dead. There are no ground for “peaceful coexistence” with the Islamic Terrorists. We have three choices, kill them, convert to Islam or die. Since I have no desire for the last two, the first is my choice.


(His letter claimed that Democratic congressional members also drank at the Abramoff fountain, but the paper rebuts that claim in a later piece — without linking to or from the original!)

Now playing: 2_4. Finale. Allegro moderato by Sir Colin Davis & the Boston Symphony Orchestra from the album “Complete Sibelius Symphonies No 2, 5” | Get it

hypocrisy

PZ Meyers, the inveterate stirpot — more power to him — finds a study that looks at where the state break out on women’s right/abortion protection. It’s not a pretty sight. This comment resonated . . .

Pharyngula::The red is for blood:

PZ, when you wrote “I suspect that there are many hypocrites in the Dakotas and Iowa and Wisconsin who would willingly legislate the morality of the poor underclass of their state, knowing full well that if their daughters have a little ‘accident’, they can just slip across the state line for a weekend in Minneapolis” it reminded me of Dan Barker’s book “losing Faith in Faith: from Preacher to Atheist”

On page 210 he writes the of the following exchange:

I was talking with a Catholic attorney recently who said “Dan, this abortion issue is so emotional that no one is ever going to change their mind”
“I did” I answered
“Well, I was raised to respect the sanctity of life” he said “And I will always vote with my church”
“And that’s why I changed my mind – I respect the sanctity of the woman’s life”
He looked at me for a moment, and in hushed tones said “Butyou know what? I don’t know what I would do if my fourteen-year-old daughter got pregnant”
“You would get her a quick, quiet abortion and worry about the morality later” I offered. With a guilty grin, he nodded his head in agreement. “You have the money and you have the contacts,” I continued “but if you keep voting wrong you may not have the option.” He didn’t know what to say, the big hypocrite.”

The entire book is well worth a read.

Continue reading “hypocrisy”

let’s get this straight

Mark “The Decemberist” Schmitt nails it:

Please, Don’t Say “Lobbying Reform”:

This is not a lobbying scandal. It’s a betrayal-of-public-trust scandal. Lobbyists have no power, no influence, until a public servant gives them power. That’s what DeLay and the K Street Project was all about. What they did was to set up a system by which lobbyists who proved their loyalty in various ways, such as taking DeLay and Ney on golf trips to Scotland, could be transformed from supplicants to full partners in government.

Abramoff did lots of terrible things and should go to jail, but never forget that every single criminal and unethical act of his was made possible by a public official. On his own, Abramoff had no power. At another time — say, 1993 — he would have been a joke.

But every time we say “lobbying reform,” we reinforce the idea that it is the lobbyist who is the wrongdoer. Sure, many lobbyists are slimy and aggressive. (Others, in my experience, can be helpful and informative, as long as you understand that they represent only one side of an argument.) But no one forces any legislator or staffer to accept lunches, trips, or favors from a lobbyist. And the reason not to do that is that the legislator risks surrendering some of her power, which is a public trust, to these private interests.

I was thinking about this as well. Abramoff is not the only culpable party here. No one made these corrupt public servants take his graft. They were willing to be bought, and he took them up on it. Criminal, yes, but relatively less so than the creatures who took his money, his trips, the various perks he proffered.

Think the Democratic leadership will take this up and call it what it is? I’m not holding my breath.

what it means to be a conservative

An interesting review of the conscience of the conservative creed (hint: there isn’t one). I recommend reading the whole essay: I have excerpted a lot of it here but there’s some more context and background available. The bottomline? Conservatives are the nattering nabobs of negativity, an army of anti-this, -that, and the other types. They fear change, they fear new ideas, especially but not exclusively furrin’ ones, and they fear knowledge, especially when it undermines belief. I’d heard Hayek was a smart guy (I think I tried to read “The Road to Serfdom” but my stamina for books I don’t have to read is gone now. I found it dated in some parts and repetitious or boring in others.) but I didn’t know he had this nailed so long ago. Institut HAYEK :: Why I Am Not a Conservative:

Let me now state what seems to me the decisive objection to any conservatism which deserves to be called such. It is that by its very nature it cannot offer an alternative to the direction in which we are moving. It may succeed by its resistance to current tendencies in slowing down undesirable developments, but, since it does not indicate another direction, it cannot prevent their continuance. It has, for this reason, invariably been the fate of conservatism to be dragged along a path not of its own choosing. The tug of war between conservatives and progressives can only affect the speed, not the direction, of contemporary developments. [ . . . ]

Continue reading “what it means to be a conservative”

paying your way

This bears looking into. This is a great way to scratch the itch of needing to use a car but wanting some way of mitigating the effects of that. I can’t not drive but that doesn’t mean I have to be complacent about it.

What you get | TerraPass: Fight global warming, promote alternative energy:

Your TerraPass purchase supports clean energy
projects. When you buy a TerraPass, you sponsor a guaranteed reduction in
carbon dioxide emissions.

For example:

  • An entrepreneurial wind farmer receives funds to expand his plant.
  • A small dairy farmer gets capital to install digesters on his farm to control methane emissions.

Bumpersticker

I’d like to find out more about what they fund and how popular this is.

Now playing: They by Jem from the album “Finally Woken” | Get it

snowshoeing

:: WinterTrails :::

Winter Trails® Day 2006 will did occur on January 7, 2006, at more than 100 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
Winter Trails Day, now entering its 11th year, offers children and adults NEW to snow sports the chance to try snowshoeing and cross country skiing for FREE, and to discover the great fitness and social benefits with these easy-to-learn winter sports.

My Eight-Year-Old and I took a drive out to Snoqualmie Pass to try this today. Loved it. Lots of fun and I don’t think it’s the last time we’ll try it.

The Mountaineers, a local outdoor sports club ending its inaugural century, were our hosts and it looks like they are doing some good work and having fun at the same time. They have rustic lodges in several prime outdoor recreation areas and did a great job getting us started today.

I’m sure I’ll be sore in places I haven’t thought of in a while tomorrow, but I’ll deserve it.

Now playing: Cowboy’s Got To Go by Jerry Harrison : Casual Gods from the album “Walk on Water”