Gloat!
Geoff Beck has uncovered a truly fiendish Jewish conspiracy. It's called American Protestantism:
Furthermore American Protestants are sloughing-off any attachment to culture & soil and focusing in on: language, apologetics, and scriptural codes and such. This is pure Judaism, in my opinion.
Some of the commenters are even nuttier. According to “wintermute”:
As for the main post, yes, the massive devolution of American Protestantism into rabidly philosemitic variants, like Christian Zionism, or outright Judaic forms, such as the Seventh Day Adventists, Sacred Name, Hebrew Roots, Messianic Yahvists, Dominion Theonomists, and so forth, must be accounted as one of the greatest religious failures in history.
Given such a broad front of Judaizers, the slippage of many Protestants back into Judaism is not surprising at all.
It’s not like Catholicism is much better, of course. On many occasions, the Church has confirmed that the original covenant - foreskins for land, in case any have forgotten - is still in full force. This, in the teeth of abundant scriptural evidence to the contrary. Really, given the steadfastness with which Catholics and Protestants have held the line against Judaizers, Jesus might as well not have bothered coming at all.
God has granted us control over American Christians.
Addendum: Wintermute's theory is also known as the Marcionite heresy.
A Jewish Proverb and The Onion, Part II
I recalled a quote possibly relevant to Part I from The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps by Marshall T. Savage:
The power output of the sun is 380,000 billion billion kilowatts. A true K2 civilization with average per capita consumption of three kilowatts, would number over 100,000 billion billion people. The population in the solar system will probably never climb to such staggering proportions. But a population of five billion billion within a thousand years is a real possibility.
It's hard to imagine such a population. For every man, woman, and child alive today, in a thousand years, there will be a population the size of China's. Just the descendants of the people in your carpool will be enough to fill an entire world. While the vision of your neighbor Ed—a guy who wears plaid ties and tells ‘knock-knock’ jokes—as the patriarch of a billion descendants is indeed chilling, there is an upside. Albert Einstein is the kind of human genius who only comes to us once in every ten billion births. That's about the total number of human beings whoever existed, living and dead. In the world of the future, at any given time, there will be 500 million Einsteins! There will be millions of Michelangelos, billions of Beethovens, trillions of Tennysons. Such a civilization will be awash in art, music, poetry, and science—all of immortal quality.
Remember Whose Birthday It Is
It's Isaac Newton's birthday.
Merry Newtonmas!
By the way, why is there more controversy over the trivialization of Christmas than over the greater trivialization of the far more important Christian holy day of Easter? After all, a large percentage of people, even in today's society, get born but hardly anybody has been resurrected so far.
Addendum: This is going too far.
Save the Cockroach!
This is not a joke (at least not intentionally):
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A team of international scientists have found new fish and insect species, including a monster cockroach, living in caves in Indonesia's remote East Kalimantan province, the group announced Wednesday.
Led by the U.S.-based organization The Nature Conservancy, the team said the area where the new species were discovered was threatened by environmental degradation, and called for the government to protect it immediately.
Talk about unnecessary actions …
A Jewish Proverb and The Onion
There's a famous Jewish proverb: “Whoever saves just one life saves an entire world.” The latest issue of The Onion explains what that meant:
Last week, jurors recommended that Scott Peterson be sentenced to death for murdering his pregnant wife, Laci. What do you think?
………
"What about Laci's fetus' potential children, and those childrens' children? Folks, this was way more than a double-homicide."
Some people are accidentally funny. At The Onion, they're accidentally serious.
I Hate Using This Analogy But …
… I couldn't help noticing that the following Planned Parenthood tactic:
It's an ingenious idea. Create a no-win situation for anti-choice protesters — the more picketers who demonstrate outside a Planned Parenthood clinic, the more donations the Planned Parenthood clinic receives.
A number of Planned Parenthood affiliates have created different versions of this scenario. Here's how it works at Planned Parenthood of Central Texas (PPCT) in Waco, where the Pledge-a-Picket program is going strong: Each time a protester shows up at the clinic, a donation is made to PPCT. This campaign makes lemonade out of lemons by allowing Planned Parenthood supporters to pledge between 25 cents and one dollar per protester.
Despite the low pledge cap, which is designed to encourage donations, the money adds up, especially since the picketers never go away. Every month, participating donors get a short update on activities and a monthly billing for their pledge. It's like sponsoring a runner in a charity marathon.
Once a week, PPCT puts a sign outside its clinic that says, "Even Our Protesters Support Planned Parenthood." To date, the Pledge-a-Picket program has raised $18,000 for PPCT. While not a significant chunk of its overall revenues, Pledge-a-Picket contributes greatly to PPCT's patient assistance fund, which helps clients who don't have resources get the care they need.
resembles an earlier tactic by the Ideology That Must Not Be Named:
A point worth remembering in this regard is what happened in the Netherlands. There were more protests by Dutch bishops than anywhere else in Western Europe, and as a consequence the Nazis came down really hard on the Jews in Holland (even those that were Catholic). A larger percentage of Jews in Holland were lost than anywhere else in the West. Some 100,000, or 80% of the entire Jewish population in the country, were killed by the Nazis.
I suspect that the Nazis in the Netherlands were encouraged by the silence elsewhere in Europe. More recently, the Groningen protocol or the murder of Theo Van Gogh might have been based on the idea that “It shut 'em up last time …”
Republicans Should Repeal Zoning Laws
According to Steve Sailer, one of the best predictors of Presidential votes in a state is the rate of increase in housing prices. (States with a high rate vote Democratic.) For some reason, he then jumped to the conclusion that Republicans should oppose increased immigration on the grounds that immigration increases housing demand and, therefore, prices. I find that hard to believe for two reasons:
If increased demand were all-important, we would see that states with a high population-growth rate would have a high housing-price-increase rate. We don't. Letting in more construction workers increases supply and that should decrease prices.
I've been arguing with stasist liberals for years over very similar points and it's easy to apply the same arguments to stasist conservatives.
It's probably better for Republicans to increase the housing supply instead by trying to repeal restrictive zoning laws.
They're Not as Senile as They Look
Natalie Solent reports on an effect of the acceptance of euthanasia in the Netherlands:
However, here is an anecdote, told to me first-hand, which demonstrates that legalised euthanasia on the Dutch model affects the quality of life of old people in ways that the "beautiful death" campaigners did not anticipate.
A decade or so ago a member of my family was living in Holland and working as a care assistant at a Dutch old people's home. (She speaks Dutch.) She told me that when the time came to give some of the old men and women their medicine they would occasionally react with terror. "No, no," they would cry, "not the pill!"
What some cried aloud many more, particularly those whose minds were failing, must have feared in silence.
The recent move to allow involuntary euthanasia shows such fears aren't baseless.
Some American elderly are starting to have similar suspicions. I don't think the following incident is evidence of dementia:
My only personal experience with family members losing their minds is when my great-grandmother slipped off that slippery precipice. She was lying in the hospital bed and called my mother over. She then proceeded to whisper to her in a conspiratorial manner, saying and I quote, "You have to get me out of here. This is an abortion hospital."
Normally you are stuck in "real life" where the abortionists aren't going after ninety-one year old women but slap a little degenerative brain disorder and a whole new world opens up. Anything can happen. That sounds like the science fiction version of virtual reality that's being touted so much these days, but you can have it RIGHT NOW!
There's enough similarity between the arguments in favor of abortion and those in favor of other forms of euthanansia for the above to make a little sense.
Judean People's Front vs. People's Front of Judea?
The following story:
December 17, 2004One of the Hasidic men arrested in a brawl outside the headquarters of an Orthodox Jewish sect offered a simple explanation of the fight for outsiders who can't tell the warring factions without a scorecard.
"The Rebbe is Superman and [Rabbi] Yehuda Krinsky is Lex Luthor, you understand?" Meyer Romano, 23, told The Post yesterday as he left Brooklyn criminal court after a night in jail.
Romano was one of a crowd that was busted Wednesday for trying to interfere with Krinsky's placement of a plaque honoring Rebbe Menachem Schneerson, the founder of the Lubavitch movement who died in 1994.
Krinsky's congregation placed the plaque on the cornerstone of the Lubavitchers' Crown Heights headquarters.
But Romano is part of a faction that believes Schneerson is still alive — and will one day reveal himself as the Messiah.
reminded me of Life of Brian:
Brian: I am NOT the Messiah!
Arthur: I say you are Lord, and I should know. I've followed a few.
Will Rogers Was Wrong
Contrary to advice from Will Rogers, now they are making more land:
HULHUMALE, Maldives - Life can be cramped when you live on a remote cluster of tiny coral islands in the Indian Ocean, so the Maldives has plumped for a novel if seemingly extreme solution -- build a new island from scratch.
Emerging from the sea where a turquoise lagoon used to sit, man-made Hulhumale is springing to life as an overflow to the congested capital, Male, a short boat ride away.
Around 1,500 people now live in a first cluster of housing erected on the 188-hectare (465-acre) island, a giant building site to which the government hopes around 15 percent of the country's 300,000 mostly Sunni Muslim inhabitants will opt to migrate over the next 15 years.
It's even ocean-front property.
A Suggestion for Creationists
There is no reason some who believes “in the biblical account of Creation” has to reject the fact of evolution. The biblical account is a case of the Author of the Universe including a preface that said the work took six days to write. There's no reason why a actions in a literary work must take the same amount of time as it took to write it. For example, the action of the Foundation Series took centuries but it didn't take that long to write.
While I'm on this topic, I've noticed an interesting characteristic of a substantial number of both creationists and atheists on Usenet. They'll start out with plausible-sounding talking points but, when someone argues against those points, they won't have any counterarguments and will fall back on bluffs and insults.
On the other hand, maybe that's a characteristic of Usenet …
The World's Fastest Elevator
According to Forbes:
Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp. (TELC) today announced installation of the world's fastest passenger elevator in the world's tallest building, Taipei 101, in Taipei, Taiwan. This elevator, developed by TELC, runs at a speed of 1,010 meters per minute or 60.6km per hour and has been officially certified by Guinness World Records in its 2006 edition.
In possibly-related news, the world's slowest elevator (at the Archer-Avenue side of the Jamaica station on the Long Island Rail Road) was closed a few months ago as part of the reconstruction project. If the speed of light is the absolute standard of fast, that elevator was the absolute standard of slow.
Bill Donohue Didn't Get the Memo
Bill Donohue recently ranted:
"Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It‘s not a secret, OK? And I‘m not afraid to say it. That‘s why they hate this movie. It‘s about Jesus Christ, and it‘s about truth. It‘s about the messiah.
Hollywood likes anal sex. They like to see the public square without nativity scenes. I like families. I like children. They like abortions. I believe in traditional values and restraint. They believe in libertinism. We have nothing in common. But you know what? The culture war has been ongoing for a long time. Their side has lost.
You have got secular Jews. You have got embittered ex-Catholics, including a lot of ex-Catholic priests who hate the Catholic Church, wacko Protestants in the same group, and these people are in the margins."
Bill Donohue did not get the memo (under the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy letterhead) that said Jews, especially those in Israel, are to be defended as part of Judeo-Christian morality.
Addendum: On a second thought, it looks like he's more anti-Protestant than anti-Jewish. He made sure that the Jews in question were distinct from Judaism, but made no such distinction when it came to Protestants.
A Strong Reason Not to Have a “Hanukkah Bush”
From the book of Jeremiah (Chapter 10):
| 1 |
Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
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| 2 |
thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
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| 3 |
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
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| 4 |
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
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| 5 |
They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
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On the other hand, maybe that last verse means I don't have to make too much of this.
Of course, this verse also means Christians shouldn't have Christmas trees. After all, the first thing Jesus saw was almost certainly not a decorated tree. … Maybe Christians should have a menorah instead. He might have seen that.
In possibly-related news, I was recently asked what we Jews think about one of our relatives being worshipped by billions of people. I suppose we should be pleased, but we really wanted him to be a doctor.
Speaking of Mad Scientists …
Okay, we have reason to be suspicious of Mad Scientists. On the other hand, there haven't been nearly enough Mad Artist villains. There was a memorable Mad Artist in early 20th century Germany but not that many fictional supervillains are artists.
Explaining the Frankenstein Complex
I'm sure science-fiction fans have heard of the Frankenstein Complex—in which people have an apparently irrational fear of robots. There's an actual reason to fear artificial persons.
Let's look at the original speculation about artificial persons from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes:
NATURE (the art whereby God hath made and governs the world) is by the art of man, as in many other things, so in this also imitated, that it can make an artificial animal. For seeing life is but a motion of limbs, the beginning whereof is in some principal part within, why may we not say that all automata (engines that move themselves by springs and wheels as doth a watch) have an artificial life? For what is the heart, but a spring; and the nerves, but so many strings; and the joints, but so many wheels, giving motion to the whole body, such as was intended by the Artificer?
This looks like it's leading up to a description of either a robot or Frankenstein's monster but Hobbes is actually comparing the State to an artificial being.
Art goes yet further, imitating that rational and most excellent work of Nature, man. For by art is created that great LEVIATHAN called a COMMONWEALTH, or STATE (in Latin, CIVITAS), which is but an artificial man, though of greater stature and strength than the natural, for whose protection and defence it was intended; and in which the sovereignty is an artificial soul, as giving life and motion to the whole body; the magistrates and other officers of judicature and execution, artificial joints; reward and punishment (by which fastened to the seat of the sovereignty, every joint and member is moved to perform his duty) are the nerves, that do the same in the body natural; the wealth and riches of all the particular members are the strength; salus populi (the people's safety) its business; counsellors, by whom all things needful for it to know are suggested unto it, are the memory; equity and laws, an artificial reason and will; concord, health; sedition, sickness; and civil war, death. Lastly, the pacts and covenants, by which the parts of this body politic were at first made, set together, and united, resemble that fiat, or the Let us make man, pronounced by God in the Creation.
So … a real Mad Scientist would construct a totalitarian State. It would be immensely strong and a creature of sheer malevolence …
Come to think of it, Lenin even looked like a Mad Scientist, from the Lex Luthor hair style to the Beard of Evil …
The Good Side of Environmentalism
The basic metaphysics of environmentalism is rational. Environmentalist statements are of the form “This is true,”not “This is what we want to be true.” Imagine if the metaphysics of the rest of the left were applied to the environment. Could you say “dioxin is poisonous for you but not for me?” Does it make sense to say “nobody really knows whether global warming is dangerous, so we can believe whatever we like?” Unlike most pro-choicers, for example, environmentalists usually assume that there is a real world. Pointing out that they are wrong about many of the details almost seems like quibbling.
We still have the problem that many environmentalists used to be subjectivists and they project their former attitude on anyone who tries to correct them.
An Alfred Hitchcock Moment
Recently, while walking from my office to the local bus stop, I sometimes find myself surrounded by a flock of pigeons. They follow me until I cross the street. Very odd.
I suspect I resemble one of the local pigeon feeders. So if I see another fat man with a beard distributing bread crumbs around there I won't be astonished.
Clarification: At this time of year, I should specify that I don't wear red suits and my beard is not yet white.
Everything Is Being Trivialized
December. Tis the season to be reminded of how Hanukkah is being trivialized, Christmas is being trivialized, and even atheism is being trivialized.
Odd Search Request
Someone on this site was looking for “arnold schwarzenegger + world domination + antichrist”
I have no comment.
Yesterday Was the Anniversary of a Day That Will Live in Infamy …
… and I completely forgot about it!
If Consuming Oil Helps to Fund Terrorism …
… when you eat latkes, you're dining with Osama.
Another Religion Quiz
I have taken another Religion Quiz and received the following results:
I didn't know I was that Orthodox.
Are Martian Microbes Dangerous?
According to an article in the London Times, they might be:
EARTH must take precautions to avoid contamination from lifeforms that must now be presumed to exist on Mars, leading scientists gave warning yesterday.
Potentially deadly microorganisms could be returned to Earth on a probe which is being planned to collect samples from the Martian surface.
………
The risks are twofold: probes sent from Earth may contaminate Mars with terrestrial bacteria, wrecking future studies of Martian life; or, more important, bacteria brought back from Mars may contaminate the Earth with unpredictable effects.
I doubt if Mars bugs are that dangerous. For one thing, as the same article mentioned:
We've probably been exposed to Martian microbes already.
Jews and Christian Missionaries
From a reader of The Corner:
Another point about faith. When I lived in Texas in the mid-1980s, I was frequently asked about my faith. When I identified myself as Jewish, many people responded with a moment of silence followed, not by an anti-Semitic remark or social withdrawal, but by an earnest request to reconsider finding Jesus. I was always flattered by this, rather than offended, since I felt it stemmed from a genuinely kind impulse to have me join the ranks of the saved, rather than a hatred of my Judaism.
My response is: “I not only believe in Jesus, I believe what Jesus believed…that God is One Person.”
If I'm a Crawly Amphibian in the TTLB Ecosystem …
… should I start going “brek, kek, kek, kek, kek, kek, kek, kek, koax, koax”?
Speaking of Religion …
Would religious ideas be Henkin sentences? (Henkin sentences are sentences that assert their own provability.)
Yes. I know that sounds like the Inspirational Divine Institute Of Total Salvation, but Henkin sentences can be rigorously analyzed.
They Got That Right
After taking the Religion quiz (seen via Accidental Verbosity), I got the following results:
| Result
of Quiz :: Religion |
| Author |
danielleprinces |
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| Result |
You scored as Jewish. |
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You are a Jew. You understand that there is something basically missing in the teachings of religion and so-called "spirituality" today. The continuity in time and dedication of the Jewish faith make the most sense to you. You may be drawn to Judaeism out of a jaded opinion of the world today, but hey, it can't be a bad thing to be one the chosen people. |
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Jewish
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80% |
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Catholic
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70% |
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Christian
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50% |
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Buddhist
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50% |
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Anarchist
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45% |
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Cult
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10% |
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Diet Pepsi
In case anybody was wondering, I only had a can of Diet Pepsi at the blogger get-together.
Speaking of Diet Pepsi, many of the arguments used by Catholics and Fundamentalist Protestants against artificial contraception should also apply to artificial weight loss (e.g., saccharin, nutrasweet, sucralose, etc.). The purpose of sex is procreation and the purpose of food is nourishment. There's even a clear Biblical quote (Isaiah 55:2) against diet foods:
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
If cannibalism were a way to lose weight, we would have an analogy to abortion.
I once made a similar point in the other direction.
Hilbert Curves, Continued
I have put a sequence of approximations to the Hilbert curve on XBM Graphics.
Does Anybody Mainline Cheese?
There's evidence thatcheese is as addictive as morphine.
I'll believe it when I hear of pizza parlors being held up by addicts eager for a fix.
Update on Computer Troubles
The problems were caused by the mysterious deletion of /usr/bin/X11 from the PATH. I added the necessary directory to .bashrc, but I'm not sure how to add it on startup.
I'm using a two-year-old Lindows—now it's Linspire—system. It used to start up and load KDE by itself but now I have to start it in text mode and then type startx.
Stem Cells and Circumcision
Question: Can useful stem cells be extracted from foreskins?
More on Sharks
There's a possible clue about what a vegetarian shark might symbolize:
First came the fish bumper stickers, imported from the United States and pasted on cars by members of Egypt’s Coptic minority as a symbol of their Christianity. Before long, some Muslims responded with their own bumper stickers: fish-hungry sharks.
………
Emad, a Muslim, laughed when asked about the competing symbols but was unapologetic about the two shark stickers on his car.
The Christians had the fish so we responded with the shark. If they want to portray themselves as weak fishes, OK. We are the strongest,” said Emad, who would give only his first name.
They're so strong he won't give his name.
Would it make sense for the United States to adopt a speargun symbol?
Uh Oh
I tried installing the latest Firefox last night and broke the kde program. Now it's complaining about DCOPserver and I don't even know what DCOPserver is.
I have to post this using Lynx.
Update: I think the attempt to install the latest version of libgtk caused the problem.
This Is a Test
I'm trying to see if I can put graphics inside html. The following should be the TeX lion:
I have since moved the image to XBM Graphics.
Hey! It worked!
Next Alternative Lifestyle Sighted
According to Dear Abby, teenage girl is claiming to be a demon. Sure everybody else thinks she's nuts but that's merely evidence of society's intolerance. A century from now, Demon-Pride Parades will be regular events.
Spellling Kownts
I noticed a sign at a nearby supermarket announcing a series of lectures on healthy foods. One of the lectures will be about “Living with Celiac Disease (Glutton-Free Foods).” I suppose “glutton-free foods” are those not eaten on Thanksgiving.
A Common Right-Wing Cliche
There's a common right-wing cliche that people in “red” states understand the “blue”-state viewpoint better than the other way around simply because they've been exposed to Hollywood propaganda. I disagree with my fellow loons on this issue. One way to check that is to see if equivalent movies on the right and left are equally well distributed.
Let's take two films that are works of fiction that were intended to be documentaries: Fahrenheit 911 and The Passion of the Christ. According to a a graph in The New York Times, all of the 50 highest-grossing theaters of Fahrenheit 911 were in blue states whereas the 50 highest-grossing theaters of The Passion of the Christ were in both red and blue states. It looks like the blue states are better exposed to red-state ideas (at least borderline nutty ones) than vice versa.
Lopsided Politics, Part II
While reading the paper on lopsided politics at Berkeley and Stanford, I noticed that assistant professors were less politically skewed than associate professors. That argues against the claim that the skew is due to discrimination. If it were due to discrimination, it would have gotten worse once the left had become more entrenched.
John Derbyshire had a visitor.
If this “swelling wave of knowledge” resembles an earlier environmentalist wave, we can expect:
A large number of soundly-established facts which require only trivial changes … most of which would have occurred anyway. (We probably would have gotten public sanitation, for example, even without epidemiology. After all, people prefer to move away from smells.) An even larger number of apparent facts causing lifestyle changes which turn out to be baseless. (For example, much of what passes for modern morality was based on supposed Malthusian necessity.) An enormous amount of preposterous cliches. The cliches are most firmly believed by people distant from science. Some of them are picked up by real scientists, who think that they're just using common sense.
Hmmm… I wonder if it's worth becoming the Julian Simon of this “wave of knowledge”…
Hilbert Curves, Part II
Last month, I blogged the following:
One standard to change is that of using scan lines in TV. If the electron guns scanned the tube in a Hilbert curve, either the broadcaster or the receiver could double the potential resolution while remaining compatible with the old resolution at the other end.
Since that isn't very understandable to non-mathematicians, I'll try to translate it into English.
In the normal scan-line method, the electron beam will go to the end of a line before starting on the next. As a result, if the transmitter doubles its resolution, it will go through each line in half the time. That means the transmitter will broadcast the far edge of screen while the receiver is ready for middle. The receiver will show two copies of the screen, each half width.
If the screen is scanned by a Hilbert curve, the transmitter will broadcast a pixel from near the point the receiver is prepared for even if the resolution doubles. Doubling the resolution will not produce any large-scale distortion.
When the resolution is doubled, the order of the curve increases by one. Each order Hilbert curve (the top illustration here shows the first few orders of the Hilbert curve) has double the resolution of the preceding one. The curves from the second order onward will go through each quarter of the square in the same order; the curves from the third order onward will go through each sixteenth of the square in the same order; etc.
We Reactionary Crackpots Are Getting Too Paranoid
A review of Shark Tale claims that it has a pro-gay agenda:
(AgapePress) - It is an axiom for many parents that, when it comes to teaching kids what they need to know, "It's never too young to start."
What happens when Hollywood applies the same axiom to teaching young people -- even children -- to accept homosexuality?
That appears to be the case in the DreamWorks animated film Shark Tale, released in theaters in October. While it won't take in the money of last year's Disney/Pixar hit Finding Nemo, the DreamWorks story of life under the sea netted almost $119 million in its first 17 days in theaters.
………
Lenny, however, just doesn't seem to get it. At a public restaurant with his two boys, Lino tells Lenny: "I don't know how else to say this to you, Lenny. You see something, you kill it. You eat it. Period .... That's what sharks do. That's a fine tradition. What's the matter with you?"
A shark who isn't a killer is not "normal," and this deficiency in his son is starting to embarrass Lino. "I'm hearing things," he tells Lenny. "You gotta understand, when you look weak it makes me look weak."
The above sounds more like a Palestinian going against family pressure and refusing to be a terrorist than anything else.
Lopsided Politics on Faculties
I'm sure most of blogosphere has heard of the New York Times article on the extreme political skew of some university faculties. The two most common explanations are: 1) that right-wingers don't have the mental capacity to be a professor; 2) that hiring committees are discriminating against conservatives. I find both of those hard to believe. On the one hand, we see much less skew in people with advanced degrees who aren't professors. On the other hand, I haven't heard of enough examples of discrimination against conservatives.
Speaking as a Ph.D. who's not a professor, I think this is probably because leftists are more likely to be attracted to shaping “young skulls full of mush.” If you're going by “They say” instead of “It is,” it's of utmost importance to influence what “They say.” If you're going by “It is,” such influence is of secondary importance.
Local Funding of Embryonic Stem-Cell Research and Animal-Rights Activists
I doubt if localities that fund embryonic stem-cell research will gain that many scientists. The same type of politics that produces the funding will also attract animal-rights and anti-genetic-engineering activists. The activists will probably repel more scientists than the stem-cell bribes will attract.
Another Abortion–Terrorism Link
Dawn Eden points out that the abortifacient used by Women on Waves is extremely dangerous. I'm not surprised. The pro-abortion movement can blame any post-natal fatalities on abortion being illegal. I'm reminded of a comment from Dick Aubrey, one of Instapundit's readers:
I once observed, while in Central America with such a bunch, that if dead civilians were necessary to discredit US policy, dead civilians would be provided. Part--I speak as one with some formal training in hearts-and-minds--of the lefty war manuals deal with how to deke the government into killing their own people. The lefties always knew that if they killed civilians, all would be forgiven, if it were even noticed.
I have made a similar observation to my own church (PCUSA), modifying it to, "If dead babies are useful to Saddaam, dead babies will be provided." The point is that the folks who made such a big deal about the sanctions are directly responsible for making dead babies so valuable to Saddaam. Blood is on their hands. The blood of innocents.
If dead adolescents are needed to repeal abortion laws, dead adolescents will be provided.
Blame Canada!
One of most striking changes between the last two Presidential elections is the swing to the left of areas near Canada. (See the map at Patrick Ruffini's web site.)
There's a simple explanation. The stasist wing of my fellow reactionary crackpots has been warning about the possibility of Democrats registering illegal aliens to vote. They were right about that but they were wrong about which border to watch. It looks like Canadian illegals have had far more effect.
To quote from Canadian Bacon (directed by Michael Moore back when he was still funny):
The Canadians. They walk among us. William Shatner. Michael J. Fox. Monty Hall. Mike Meyers. Alex Trebek. All of them Canadians. All of them here.
Think of your children pledging allegiance to the maple leaf. Mayonnaise on everything. Winter 11 months of the year. Anne Murray - all day, every day.
Like maple syrup, Canada's evil oozes over the United States.
My Cat Is Planning to Register Republican …
… now that the Democrats have adopted a Pro-Puppy Platform:
The new platform eschews all attempts at walking the line on potentially controversial issues, and instead attempts to connect with what Democrats suggest are a set of "values all Americans can agree upon." This includes, and indeed is entirely limited to, a broad statement of support for "puppies, rainbows, and flowers."
On the other hand, that's clearly due to her racist prejudices against dogs.
I Know You Are but What Am I?
I usually use the above phrase while talking about leftists but right now it's more useful in response to Mark Krikorian:
The Wall Street Journal has a story today on a new report that finds that the tight labor market for nurses has eased because of a higher pay drawing more people into the occupation. Now how do you think that would have worked out if the president's proposed guestworker program had been up and running? He has called for opening every occupation in every part of the country to an unlimited number of foreign workers willing to work at any wage. Would nurses' pay have gone up or down? Would hospitals be giving nurses more flexibility in setting their schedules or less? Hospitals know the answer, which is why they are perennially at the forefront of efforts to increase the number of nurses imported from the Third World. As Adam Smith said, "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."
Isn't he advocating a conspiracy to raise the price of American nurse's labor?
A Suggestion for Mel Gibson, Ben Stein, Patricia Heaton, etc.
Meghan Cox Gurdon has suggested that some of Hollywood's token conservatives produce an anti-abortion film. One plausible plotline is two parallel movies: one in which somebody is aborted and the other in which the same person is born. You can think of It's a Wonderful Life (“One man's life touches so many others, when he's not there it leaves an awfully big hole.”) as an example. There are other anti-abortion techniques that could be used (portraying abortionists as cold-hearted or showing the visibly-human dead late-term fetuses) but I doubt if they can carry a film by themselves.
There's an objection we pro-lifers should deal with first. Saddam Hussein was almost aborted. We can deal with this on the sound-bite level (“Preventive execution? No thanks.”) or we can deal with this on the speculative level. (If Saddam Hussein had never existed, we might be in a nuclear war with Iran today.) We must be prepared for it.
Overconfident Leftists
Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing and BoingBoing's fans are getting paranoid about the right of pharmacists to refuse to dispense birth control pills, sometimes even accusing the pharmacists of violating Constitutional rights.
At a first look, that's a pointless complaint. It's not a violation of the Constitution for a pharmacist to refuse a pill. Pharmacists are not normally government agents and it's always possible to go to the next drugstore.
At a second look, it's not so pointless. If the left gets into power and pushes through a single-payer medical program, pharmacists will be government agents with a monopoly. Apparently, the left is already planning what they'll do after they take over the country.
Explaining New Hampshire Election Results
According to Dale Amon, the fact that New Hampshire went Democratic shows it has been colonized by New York City. I disagree. If you look at comparative maps, you can see it's the rural northern half of the state that tipped from Republican to Democratic. It's actually been colonized by either Vermont or Canada.
Another Kosher Blog Bash
Meryl Yourish is making plans for another kosher blog bash on November 28th.
Which Regions Swung the Most?
After examining the data from Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections, and comparing it to The 10 Regions of US Politics, I found that the two regions with the greatest swing were Northeast Corridor (where the Democratic margin decreased by 7.38 percentage points) and Appalachia (where the Republican margin increased by 5.59 percentage points).
Addendum: More complete data here.
Odd Phrase at the Dawn Patrol
I noticed an interesting phrase in Dawn Eden's discussion of the resemblance between the Theology of the Body and Jewish tradition:
At the wedding reception, I approached the rabbi and complimented his sermon. Then, remembering Dennis's optimism in the Theology of the Body's revolutionary power, I told him about the theology—and how impressed I was to see that there was a parallel in Jewish teaching.
In the course of describing the theology, I used the word "pro-life." As a result, the rabbi thought I was asking him about abortion—so he responded with his interpretation of Jewish law on that subject. (A detailed exploration of the topic is available on aish.com.)
The phrase “ his interpretation” sounds like it was excessively pro-choice. She couldn't even use my standard response.
Behind Enemy Lines
I just realized that much of leftist rhetoric we've seen lately: insulting “red” states, taking about secession, exaggerating the liberalism of the “blue” states, etc. will have the effect of convincing us blue-state conservatives that we're behind enemy lines. I suspect they think that will make us surrender.
Some of them might have manipulated the exit polls on election day for a similar reason. They thought they could win if they could just make us despair. On the other hand, I followed the reactions to the polls at The Corner and the polls just made us right-wing crackpots put even more effort into getting out the vote. The exit polls might have even helped Bush carry Ohio.
The Two Maps Explained
Sensory Overload has a couple of maps that purport to show the True Nature of Bush Voters. On “the Pre-Civil War Map, the red areas were slave states and the brown areas were territories open to slavery, while the green areas were free states and territories.” In a map of the 2004 election, the red and brown areas went for Bush whereas the green areas went for Kerry.
There's another explanation besides racism. American politics require a multicultural society to work right. The arguments of The Federalist Papers were originally intended for a multiregional society but they apply even more strongly to a multicultural society. Unicultural societies tend to become socialist.
In the mid-20th century, immigration was restricted. That meant the normally multicultural port cities (the heart of the green areas of the Pre-Civil War map) congealed into a white majority. That, in turn, produced powerful labor unions and runaway government spending in green areas. In the same era, the red areas had large black minorities and the brown areas had Native American minorities. That enabled them to retain their multicultural nature.
There is hope for the Democratic states. Immigration has revived and that might account for the swing to the right that we currently see in areas as disparate as Beverley Hills or Flatbush.
If the “Blue” States Secede …
… what would keep parts of said states from seceding from them?
One of the reasons for the proposed secession is that the blue states send more to the red states than they receive. I supect that it's only a few parts of the blue states that are responsible for that and they might secede in turn.
What would keep Wall Street from seceding from New York or Beverley Hills (where the Republican vote doubled in the past four years) from seceding from California?
There's a better solution to the money leak out of blue states. We can vote for politicians who will push through tax cuts for the rich. As Lacey Davenport's husband once said (as reported by Gary Trudeau): “Try not to forget we're rich.”
A Scandal Is Coming
The last three Republican Presidents to be reelected were damaged by scandals in their second terms. Reagan had Iran–Contra; Nixon had Watergate; and even Eisenhower had Sherman Adams. I see a pattern. I think the press might try for a repeat.
Judging by the Election Results for New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, etc.
We reactionaries are …
MOVING INTO YOUR BACKYARD!
BOOGA, BOOGA, BOOGA!
I know it's childish but I couldn't resist.
Did Team America Nearly Carry Hawaii?
After all, Hawaii is closer to North Korea than the continental U.S..
Which States Swung Most?
After examing the data from Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections, I made a list of the ten states where the Republican margin increased most (or the Democratic margin decreased most). They are:
| State | Amount of swing |
| | Alabama | 10.8% |
| | Tennessee | 10.5% |
| New Jersey | 9.6% |
| Hawaii | 9.6% |
| Oklahoma | 9.3% |
| Rhode Island | 8.4% |
| New York | 7.7% |
| Connecticut | 7.2% |
| Louisiana | 6.9% |
| West Virginia | 6.5% |
The list includes quite a few “blue” states.
Now let's look at the opposite: the ten states where the Democratic margin increased most (or the Republican margin decreased most). They are:
| State | Amount of swing |
| | Vermont | 10.3% |
| | Montana | 4.5% |
| | Alaska | 4.2% |
| | D. C. | 3.9% |
| | Oregon | 3.5% |
| | Maine | 2.9% |
| | New Hampshire | 2.6% |
| | Colorado | 1.9% |
| | Washington | 1.7% |
| | Idaho | 1.4% |
|
It looks like the Northeast Corridor and Bible Belt swung right and the Northwest (both Pacific and Mountain) and northern New England swung left.
If Democrats Imitate Their Idea of Republicans …
… they'll be muttering about black helicopters and wearing aluminum-foil hats.
Michael Moore's Influence
I have reason to believe Fahrenheit 911 carried the cab driver vote for the Democrats.
One Reaction to the Election
Advice for Democrats seen on Boing Boing:
Do not accept.
Do not waver.
Do not shut up.
Do not give comfort with your distress.
Be an unrelenting irritant.
Be a dumbass.
Right now, attitude is everything.
Isn't that the attitude that nearly lost the Republican edge in the House in 1998?
James Lileks has '70s derangement syndrome.
Actually, I wish it were possible to send a copy to myself in college in the 1970s. “Soon this horrible period will be over and people will laugh at the ‘former wave of the future’.”
The Nonsequitur Award Goes to …
Desmond Morris for the following example of inspired smugness (in an article discussing the recent discovery of the remains of miniature hominids):
In theory, the existence of Mini-Man should destroy religion, but I can already hear the fanatics claiming that he has been put on earth by the Devil simply to test our faith.
Errr… Why? Can't God create anything (or anybody) He wants?
It might be due to the supposed incompatibility between this discovery and atheist's fantasies about what religious people believe about souls:
They stubbornly continue to insist that we are some kind of special creation.
The arrival of "Mini-Man" is going to give them nightmares.
How can he be "semi-special"? That won't make sense. He can't very well have a semi-soul.
Why not? I already believe that fetuses have semi-souls. Why can't this be another example?
That Explains It!
If you wondered why the exit polls didn't seem to make sense, there's an explanation. (Seen via Fark.)
Indecision 2004
Should I vote for a far-right ideologue? Or should I vote for a nuanced pro-“choice” candidate?
In other words, should I vote for the Republican Howard Mills or the Conservative Marilyn O'Grady for Senator from New York. (It looks like Schumer's a shoo-in so I don't have to vote strategically.)
On the one hand, I agree with O'Grady and disagree with Mills on abortion.
On the other hand, the pro-abortion movement did not pop out of nowhere. Part of it came from the idea that United States is “full,” which also led to immigration restrictions. As a result, I'm reluctant to vote for an anti-immigration candidate.
On the gripping hand, O'Grady's website only mentions immigration laws as an anti-terrorism measure. I think that's forgivable. So … it's O'Grady for Senate.
As for the Presidential election, all I have to say is: Vote for the pinhead; it's important.
Look at What I Missed!
I'm on the Fabiani Society's mailing list and received an invitation to a round-table discussion last Wednesday but I didn't feel up to going. (I'm starting to suffer from election burnout.) According to Ace of Spades:
In attendance were Kathryn Lopez of NRO, Robert A. George of the New York Post (I believe), and John Fund of the Wall Street Journal.
………
But the real news was Fund's report of a conversation he had with a Democratic consultant, whose name, he said, we'd all know. He didn't say the guy's name, but he said he had spoken to him in the green room during the taping of a recent show.
Fund asked what he thought of the election, and this man said, "Off the record, I think Kerry just might lose." But he then continued (paraphrased): "That doesn't mean it's over, though. Democrats will protest and fight so strongly that Bush won't have a win even if he wins. We will obstruct so much that this country will be ungovernable by Christmas."
I'd like to know how they can manage that. Most of the privately-owned guns are in “right-wing” hands and, come to think of it, most of the publicly-owned guns are as well. They can try calling a general strike but the working class is no longer overwhelmingly-Democratic and unions are increasingly toothless. (In other words, there will be plenty of strikebreakers.) They can try calling a strike of upscale professionals but some professions are more liberal than others.
I suspect we can survive a strike by artists, actors, humanities professors, and lawyers.
Besides, they already promised to disrupt the Republican Convention and failed.
Addendum: I just remembered that Democrats were predicting a “long hot summer” full of urban riots if Reagan was elected. Somehow, the riots never materialized.
How Should We Think of Early Embryos?
I have encountered some skepticism about whether an embryo immediately after conception should be regarded as a separate human being. On one hand, it is preposterous to think that a fetus is an inanimate object a minute before birth but a full human being a minute after birth. On the other hand, some people cannot believe that a single cell can have rights. On the gripping hand, there is no clear dividing line.
The question of whether a fetus is a human being can be divided into two separate questions:
Is the embryo part of a human body?
The answer is clearly yes. Which body?
This is less clear. Fuzzy logic might be appropriate. You can think of the mother and child as two different beings with a fuzzy boundary in space–time. If you cannot believe that an embryo 1 second after conception is not a separate human being but an infant 23 million seconds later is a separate human being then maybe the embryo could be considered 1/23,000,000 part of a human.
In that case, it would clearly be inexcusable to destroy over
23,000,000 one-second embryos.
Guess Who's against Bush!
It's David Duke:
The election is right around the corner and guess what, the American people once again have no real choice for President of the United States of America. No candidate is really worth the vote of one American but I can say without the least hesitation that no candidate deserves defeat more than George Bush, who is the clearest example of a traitor to the American people since the time of Benedict Arnold. The only President who I would say had out-treasoned George Bush was Franklin D. Roosevelt who, completely controlled by his Jewish supremacist advisors and financers, worked so intently to foment the Second World War, the most disastrous and terrible blood-letting in the history of European mankind in o, and the seminal event that has directly led to the rise of Israel, Zionism and Jewish supremacy over our government, media and culture in the postwar years.
You know you've entered Bizarro World when leftists and neo-Nazis are nearly indistinguishable.
Odd Author at the Math Archive
I noticed the following at the mathematics arXiv:
Title: Branch Rings, Thinned Rings, Tree Enveloping Rings
Authors: Bilbo Baggins, Laurent Bartholdi
Categories: RA Rings and Algebras (GR Group Theory)
Comments: 29 pages
Abstract: We develop the theory of ``branch algebras'', which are infinite-dimensional associative algebras that are isomorphic, up to taking subrings of finite codimension, to a matrix ring over themselves. The main examples come from groups acting on trees. In particular, we construct an algebra over the field of two elements, that is finitely generated, prime, infinite-dimensional but with all proper quotients finite, has a recursive presentation, is graded, and has Gelfand-Kirillov dimension 2.
From: Laurent Bartholdi [view e-mail at the arXiv]
Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2004 10:52:08 GMT (36kb)
Does George Soros Observe the Sabbath?
The “bear raid on TradeSports was apparently on hold for the past day.
On the other hand, maybe we reactionary crackpots are just paranoid and it's only a coincidence.
Why American Jews Still Vote Democratic, Part II
If the “missing Republican problem” among Jews is due to Republicans converting out (as I theorized earlier), that might explain the increasingly pro-Zionist nature of American Christianity. They might have forgotten that God is One Person, but they haven't forgotten Israel.
How Did They Run Ventilation Systems in the Old Days?
James Lileks wonders:
I had to buy air filters for the house this weekend. There's a central fan that moves the air around. Why, I have no idea. When the house was built 90 years ago, people had to move the air around the old-fashioned way, perhaps by filling balloons upstairs and emptying them in the basement. Or they hired neighborhood kids to be "zephyr boys," running around the house flapping leather wings.
I thought they used draft animals back then.
Disclaimer: The same pun can be found in Tatja Grimm's World by Vernor Vinge.
Red Sox Technologies?
Start up your fusion-powered aircars! “Wait 'til next year” is no longer needed.
Is It Racist to Say That Bush's IQ Might Be Higher Than Kerry's?
John Tierney (one of the The New York Times token conservatives) recently reported on Steve Sailer's analysis of the candidate's IQs. Apparently, there's evidence that Bush's IQ is slightly higher.
The really fascinating reaction comes from leftists. According to Captain Normal:
Dubya is Smarter than Kerry---and he don't cotton to no race mixin', neither
………
Normally we'd just dismiss this as typical neo-con "Everyday is Opposite Day" bullshit and move on.
………
Steve Sailer writes for a rabid xenophobe website, and Prof. Gottfredson is bankrolled by an organization dedicated to "race betterment" for those "deemed to be descended predominantly from white persons who settled in the original thirteen states prior to the adoption of the Constitution."
That is the true face of the far-core right, the Taliban wing of the modern GOP---white power assholes and their willing thralls in government, media, and the blogosphere.
Had Captain Normal actually looked at Steve Sailer's site, he would have seen numerous criticisms of Dubya and his neo-conservative allies:
Am I writing this because I am biased against one candidate?
No. As a conservative Republican concerned by the President's Invade-the-World / Invite-the-World policies on Iraq and immigration, I've certainly criticized Bush more than I've attacked Kerry.
It must have been a strain for Steve Sailer to admit that someone who supports increased immigration could have a high IQ. In any case, racists have had a long-standing antipathy to the Bush family.
Why Are There Signs Saying “Bush Song”?
And why are they all in German?
I can't think of any other reason why they say “Bush Lied” …
Liberals and Abstinence
Some liberals believe that abstinence can help solve problems:
MONTEREY, Calif. (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Monday that his speech backing President Bush at the Republican Convention in August resulted in a cold shoulder from his wife, Maria Shriver, a member of the famously Democratic Kennedy family.
"Well, there was no sex for 14 days," Schwarzenegger told former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta in an on-stage conversation in front of 1,000 people.
Idiots vs. Idiots?
Which side of the political spectrum has stupider supporters?
It appears to be a tie.
On the other hand, the intelligent people on our side can explain why the questions are irrelevant.
Update: There's more commentary from David Bernstein and Kaimi Wenger.
Seems Like Old Times
I haven't encountered reactions like this since the days when I walked out on pot parties … in the 1970s … at Stony Brook.
Two Theories on Why American Jews Still Vote Democratic
David Bernstein at the Volokh Conspiracy is asking (here and here) why American Jews still vote Democratic. I have two theories about that:
First, the two mysteriously persistent Democratic ethnic groups (blacks and Jews) were reliable Republican in the late 19th century. It might simply be a matter of “They won't fool us again.” Second, according to this study (Exhibit 7 on page 27), only 13% of both religious Jews and agnostics of Jewish descent are Republicans but 40% of Jews who have converted to other religions are Republicans. They have been subjected to the propaganda campaign that there's something Jewish about modern liberalism and they have responded. This isn't even limited to the United States.
A Theory about Theories
As a general rule, any theory that is explained with many words in all-caps is probably worthless.
Come to think of it, I didn't see any other entry in that blog with more than one word in all-caps outside of titles.
Stereotyping Conservatives
Dawn Eden is criticizing the tendency of leftists to sterotype conservatives—in particular, the “religious right.” I'm most annoyed at the tendency to assume that the religious right is limited to Christians.
I have frequently found that I'm mistaken for a Christian. I am not the only Jew to have encountered this. This is particularly serious since the supposed unanimity of Jews on the topic of abortion is a way to evade the Holocaust analogy to abortion and is a way to pretend that a pro-life policy violates the First Amendment.
I suspect that the most important reason for this apparent unanimity is that many pro-life Jews have left Judaism. I have read of an analysis of pro-life activists which found that far more were raised as Jews than are still Jewish. There are also the actual examples such as Dr. Laura, Lew Lerman, Bernard Nathanson, etc.
There's a very simple way for Dawn Eden to help remedy this …
Is the Left Trying to Stop Medical Research?
If the Left succeeds in nationalizing medical care, it will probably shut down private medical research. There is a strong possibility that the Left might also try to shut down public funds for alternatives to abortion. After all, abortion will look horrible after it becomes obsolete.
This might seem completely paranoid, until we consider Dawn Eden's encounter with James Watson:
I was introduced to the gaunt, aged legend by another scientist, who proceeded to tell Watson about his biomedicals company, which funded work in the genetics field.
Watson interrupted him: "Is your company geared towards research or service?"
The scientist paused for a second, taking in the unusual question. "Research," he answered.
"That's the problem with these companies today!" the Nobel laureate erupted. "Everyone's doing research in genetics and nobody's doing service. Because it's too controversial"—he sneered—"to help mothers so that they can give birth to healthy babies."
This is a truly odd attitude for a researcher. Apparently, it's much better to keep killing defective unborn children in the name of good health than to find other ways of ensuring healthy babies.
Two More Notes on Sukkot
According to the prophet Zechariah (14:9):
And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
In other words, Trinitarianism has to go. The only way for it to survive is if it's watered down into something resembling the Musaf Amidah on Rosh Hashanah. (During that prayer we Jews pray to God as king of the universe, to God as the recorder of all deeds, and to God as revealed by miracles and prophecies.)
The description of Jesus entering Jerusalem in the New Testament looks interesting to us Jews. According to St. Matthew (21:8-9):
And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
Cutting down branches? Shouting Hosanna? That's what we do on Sukkot. Do Christians celebrate Easter at the wrong time of year?
Did Palestinians Kill Christ?
A few years ago, I wasted lots of time arguing with antisemites on Usenet. They would first claim that Jews killed Christ and then complain about the plot for Jewish world domination detailed in the Book of Deuteronomy. Many of them sounded like ignoramuses trying to imitate fundamentalist Christians and failing. In retrospect, it looks like they were Muslims out to stir up hatred between Jews and Christians.
We can play a similar game. We can look at the major Jewish communities of 2000 years ago and try to identify their descendants. The Jewish community of Mesopotamia became the ancestors of the Jews of the Muslim world. The Jewish community of Rome became the ancestors of the Jews of Europe. (Digression on Roman Jews: The Jewish prayer Nishmat has been attributed to Saint Peter. At the time Christians were merely an eccentric Jewish sect similar to Chabad.) A large part of the Jewish community of Palestine stayed in the area and eventually converted to Islam.
In other words, the descendants of the crowd shouting for Jesus's blood in the Gospels are Palestinians, which means … Palestinians Killed Christ!
Well … yes, that's preposterous but it's no more preposterous than much of their propaganda.
But wait, there's more. If Muslims try reminding Christians of traditional Jew hatred, they might also remind them of traditional Islam hatred. For example, in 1213, Pope Innocent III declared Mohammed to be the Antichrist. (Mohammed might be deceased but his soul goes marching on, so to speak.) If they succeed in reviving Christian bigotry, it won't stop with Jews.
Magic and Larry Niven Stories, Continued
I had somehow forgotten that Niven had written a couple of stories (“What Good is a Glass Dagger?” and “The Magic Goes Away” in The Time of the Warlock) about an evil magician using necromancy to acquire magical powers from murdering people.
Should Cathode-Ray Tubes Use Hilbert Curves Instead of Scan Lines?
Since the following idea has attracted favorable attention, I'll repeat it here:
One standard to change is that of using scan lines in TV. If the electron guns scanned the tube in a Hilbert curve, either the broadcaster or the receiver could double the potential resolution while remaining compatible with the old resolution at the other end.
A Brief Note on the Afghanistan Election
It looks like the minor parties in Afghanistan have studied us. They know precisely what buttons to push to get sympathy from American liberals.
Hmmmm… Are they trying to influence our election by driving up the moonbat turnout?
Judaism, Magic, and Larry Niven's Science Fiction
In Deuteronomy 18:9–11, there's a mysterious set of injunctions:
- 18:9
- When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
- 18:10
- There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.
- 18:11
- Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
This brings up two questions: 1) What do they mean by “magic”? 2) Why are they associating it with human sacrifice?
It's a well-known principle that any sufficiently-advanced form of technology is indistinguishable from magic. We should instead examine the question: Under what circumstances should sufficiently-advanced technologies be prohibited? The Deuteronomy quote clearly means that technologies that require human sacrifice should be prohibited. (I recently blogged about a pre-technological example of the same phenomenon.) In particular, organ transplants that require somebody to be killed (instead of dying naturally) are out.
Larry Niven wrote numerous stories and novels in a society in which condemned criminals are used as a source of transplant organs (e.g., “The Jigsaw Man” in the collection Tales of Known Space, the novel A Gift from Earth, and the collection Flatlander). That might not sound like such a bad idea … except that the slippery slope produced a society in which exceeding the speed limit became a capital crime or organs could be taken from someone who hadn't been convicted yet.
Embryonic stem cell research is another example of this. The restrictions on publicly-funded stem-cell research authorized by the current Administration is an attempt to ensure that no fetus is aborted for the purpose of providing stem cells.
Another example of banning “magic” technology
There's a well-known Biblical passage (Exodus 22:18) usually translated as: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” It can also be translated as: “Thou shalt not suffer a poisoner to live.” Apparently, it bans a type of poisoning that most people would not classify as murder because otherwise the law would be unneeded. Selling abortifacients fits.
Is Yucca Mountain Safe?
There's a discussion in the comments to this post on Assymmetrical Information on the safety of nuclear waste depositories. In order for a waste depository such as Yucca Mountain to be unsafe the following assumptions must be true:
There is no safe dose of radiation. We should consider the effects for the indefinitely-long future. Currently-impermeable barriers cannot be trusted.
If all of those are true, we must use up dangerous natural uranium as soon as possible. Each uranium atom will eventually release 50 MeV of radiation if it isn't split. The fission products will release half that.
There's another reason to use nuclear energy. It will save oil that should be reserved for the far more important purpose of tarring and feathering environmentalists.
Addendum: I just realized I blogged this before. On the other hand, there's P.D.Q. Bach's motto: “If something didn't sound right the first time, say it again louder.”
Science Fiction and Islam, Continued
Warning: the following will only make sense if you've read Gordon Dickson's Childe cycle books
Last month, I mentioned that today's Muslims resemble the “Friendlies” in Soldier, Ask Not by Gordon Dickson. Yes, I know they sound like Fundamentalist Protestants but they act like Muslims. (On the other hand, Dickson was the co-author of “Undiplomatic Immunity” in the Hoka series which mentioned that the planet Bagdadburgh was an originally-puritanical Scottish–Arabic colony and presumably involved a merger between Calvinists and Muslims.)
In particular, the character Jamethon Black was not a fanatic himself but he was reluctant to believe that his religion was led by fanatics. A generation later, the non-fanatics had learned to distinguish themselves from the fanatics. Right now, moderate Muslims are just starting that process.
But wait, there's more. In Soldier, Ask Not, the character Tam Olyn comes to the same conclusion as Anne Coulter—that those fanatics must be eliminated. In The Final Encyclopedia, the Friendlies that Tam Olyn tried to destroy turn out to be essential to resisting the takeover by the Others. I suspect that Muslims wil be essential in the future although I'm not sure how.(Maybe they'll be last-ditch resisters of a tyranny that hasn't been invented yet.)
My First Pro-Life Demonstration
Today, I spent over an hour holding a sign at Stand up for Life, part of Life Chain Sunday (seen via Meira Online (seen via Jews for Life)).
A few comments:
When I mentioned that I'm Jewish, some of the other participants seemed impressed. (The bad news is that means we Red-Sea pedestrians are rarely found at these events.) Some of the drivers in the cars passing by honked in support. I noticed several of them giving a thumbs up. On the other hand, I saw at least one driver giving a thumbs down. To my great disappointment, I did not see anybody give us the finger. The average age was older than I had expected. I thought that more people who might have been legally aborted would show up. The signs were in both English and Spanish. Theocons are not paleocons.
The Curmudgeon Must Live in a Jewish Neighborhood
The following incident was probably caused by the first day of Sukkot:
There’s a flat, straight stretch of divided highway, starting not far from my house, which is part of my commuting route. Long Island being the traffic nightmare that it is, even at the early hour at which I travel (5:30 AM), that road is usually quite full. Hundreds of cars go clipping along at 65 MPH while their drivers attend to such last-minute needs as shaving, toothbrushing, or checking their investments in the Wall Street Journal.
Not today. By some coincidence, everyone in the area slept late this morning, except for your humble Curmudgeon.
There was no one else on the road. The darkness was a blanket of peace. By another coincidence, the road had been resurfaced only a few days before; the humming of the tires against the asphalt was a perfect, smooth hum, a single low cello note played by a bow of infinite length. I was doing what I was meant to do, in an appliance perfectly mated to its application, under conditions that could not have been better.
You don't have to be Jewish to benefit from Judaism.
Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow.
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