Wyatt's Torch

Cellojourney.com

2006-04-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

Please visit this site and listen to the wonderful music this man has made. If you like what you hear, then "feature" his YouTube videos, drop him a comment, and donate a PayPal dollar to him.

It's things like this that make the internet worthwhile.

Separated at Birth?

2005-10-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

Supreme Court Nominee Harriet Miers and Chancellor Palpatine

Darth Prefabicus

2005-06-16T04:19:00.000-07:00

Like Anikan Skywalker, this blog turned to the Dark Side--by putting up google ads.

And like Anikan, the transition to said Dark Side destroyed the blogs old body, and in order to save it, its Sith Master (me) has left it encased in this pre-packaged, mechanical husk of a body--a pre-made blogger template.

Nevertheless, like Luke Skywalker (also played by me), I will soon redeem this blog from its current state into nicely looking, nice working blog again.

Kiyosaki's Killings in Real EstateA Snapshot, and Vidication, of "Rich Dad's" Portfolio

2005-06-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

Mr. Suleske sent me this link about a critique of Robert Kiyosaki's and his teachings, of whom he and I are big fans. Robert Kiyosaki, the famous author of the Rich Dad series of books, is both famous and infamous in the world of financial advice. His books opened up for me and others a whole new world of looking at finance, with his thesis that you get rich by working smart, being creative and courageous, not just by working hard for the man. But there've been alot of rumors and complaint that his entire portfolio and life story have been made up, and that he's gets rich only by talking about getting rich. People allege that he never owned property where and when he said that he did.

These rumors are false. Any search of online title records show that he was a very savvy investor with a very diverse portfolio, who made very profitable and unorthodox real estate investments.

A snapshot of his feats can be found in the Maricopa County online real estate indexes through the early to mid 1990s. This period represents a transional period in his life, the apogee of his investment career and the start of his writing career, the years he wrote and published his first book, 5-7 years before Rich Dad. Kiyosaki says that he lived in Phoenix for several years and made several profitable investments. And how!

First, Kiyosaki made several purchases in Veteran Association ("VA") properties, apparently foreclosure sales. During 1992-93, Robert and Kim Kiyosaki bought five of these properties: this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one.

The VA also provided financing for this properties, and judging by that financing, they were a steal--between $40,061.00 and $52,468.00. I suspect, but cannot confirm, that Kiyosaki had to pay $4,000.00 to $5,200.00 down for each.

Then Kiyosaki finds inhabitants for the properties, and transacted what is known as an Installment Sales Contract ("ISK")1. Kiyosaki agrees to have the tenant/purchaser pay for the house in monthly installments. At the end of those installments, the purchaser/tenant owns the house. But if he doesn't make the installments, Kiyosaki has the right to kick him out (which, on occasion, he did!). In reality, the arrangement is little more than a rental situation, but it does afford the inhabitant some financial options and additional debtor's rights under the law. Think of it as a rent-to-own situation. (Note that this is a rather big-hearted thing for Kiyosaki to do; he's giving his tenants the opportunity to own their own home, instead of just renting them out, as is standard.)

An good example of the ups-and-downs of his investments is what transpired is his Casitas Bonitas property. It happened as follows

11/24/93--Kiyosaki buys and finances the property from the VA. It's safe to assume something like a 7.5%2, 30-year mortgage, payable in monthly installments of $368.00, plus taxes and other fees.

Between 11/92 and 5/15/95--He finds a tenant names Rose Benally. He makes an ISK with her to live in and purchase the house. The ISK provides for payments of $625.00/mo. Thus, Kiyosaki is earning about $257.00 a month on the deal. But Benally begins to default on the payments. Kiyosaki cancels the ISK and evicts her, and now has about $1,000.00 more in equity than 2.5 years ago.

Between 5/15/95 and 8/96--Kiyosaki licks his wounds and transfers the property to his holding company. He maybe went through another tenant or two, but finally makes another ISK with the Dennis and Elizabeth Lint. This time, Kiyosaki is getting $657.14/mo. Note however that now the house is pretty beat up: The pool pump isn't working, the air conditioning isn't working, and the kitchen stove is broken. Nevertheless, the payoff amount is $74,000.00. Much better than the initial cost. Kiyosaki has made anywhere from $15,000.00 to $20,000.00 from the deal, plus the spread his higher installment schedule compared to the mortgage he's paying down.

8/96 to present--There no more about this property, so we can assume that the condition has stabilized. Kiyosaki is now getting about $290.00 a month cashflow from the investment, which maybe necessitated a down payment of only $6,000.00 or so.

However, this deal was small potatoes for Kiyosaki by this time, much bigger was the office building/hotel he bought from the National Model Railroad Association for about $1,000,000.00 as the initial financing would indicate, then made $28,000.00 in a year when he cashed out the equity in a subsequent mortgage, not to mention whatever rental he was getting. (This may also have been his main offices at the time).

So Kiyosaki's for real! He's done exactly the kinds of deals, with exactly the kinds of peaks and valleys, that he talks about in his books. I wish those people who say that Kiyosaki's full of BS would check their facts first. The internet give no excuse for lack of information.

1 That's the standard legal abbreviation. Don't ask me why "kontract" is abbreviated with a "k">

2 The going interest rates in 11/1993 were around 7.08 to 7.31%.

__________

UPDATE: Greetings, visitors, from The Carnival of the Capitalists

The Second Most Dangerous Book Ever

2005-06-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

Another Evangelical Outpost article on the world's most dangerous book got me to thinking about more deep philosophical issues. Hat tip again to Joe Carter for keeping me blogging and keeping me from sleeping.

The Bible is a little like Atlas Shrugged. the scenario of Atlas was that when energetic, intelligent and productive people are removed from society, the world becomes virtually hell-on-earth. The thesis of the Bible is that when an omnipotent, omniscient and benevolent God departs from earth, the world becomes literally hell-on-earth.

Now Atlas and The Fountainhead are dangerous books! I've heard of people who've left careers, left spouses, left churches because of those books. But Atlas is the darkest and most negative, most dangerous if taken too literaly. In that sense, they're like the Meccan and Medinan verses of the Koran; the former extolling benevolence and human virtue, the latter wanted to see people destroyed who don't tow that line. People can make alot of mistakes when they fail to see the flaws behind her philosophy.

The dirty little secret of Atlas is this: Rand doesn't care that everyone dies and society shuts down--even if it effects relatively innocent parties. She does not think that other people--simply for being people--have any value to an individual, so that she should save them. To her, I would posit that if her housecat were about to jump out of the window of her high-rise apartment, for the selfish reasons of preserving the aesthetic beauty of the cat, and preventing the aesthetic uglyness of seeing it die, she would intervene to save it. If so, would not the aesthetic beauty of a human soul be worth saving, and the uglyness of its death be worth preventing?

Biblical agape love is appraising value to a human being because he is a human being, made in the image of God, and worth preserving. Such love is based just as much on rational self-interest as it is on God's commands.

The Postman Fails to Deliver

2005-06-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

Over at The Evangelical Outpost, I criticize the worse "graduation speech" ever (not) given.

Due to Bar Review and a work situation from hell, I've gotten 2.5 hours of sleep in the past 40 hours. But that didn't stop me from (and may have even aided me in) expressing my disgust over Prof. Postman's cerebral masturbation. I gave the following comment:

Horsecrap! (If I may borrow a "visigoth" term)

You must be an Athenian or a Visigoth. Some philosopher Postman is. His entire speech is based on a logical fallacy--false dilemma/excluded middle. Furthermore, it reeks of the unctiousness that I and many other former college students have come to hate about academia "I'm better than you because I'm smarter. It doesn't matter if you do more or have more."

Oh the glorious Athenians! Never mind the ups and downs of their mob rule, regularly morphing into and out of tyranny. Never mind their popular persecution of the same great thinkers Postman lionizes. Never mind their chauvinistic and perpetual wars, their mass slavery, their sexual perversion, their thoughtless idol worship, and a host of other social ills.

And all the social ills of Athens, and the Greco-Roman world, would eventually ossify into the decrepit, pyramidal, hundreds-years tyranny of the Roman Emperors. This was the most static period of human civilization; there's virtually no technological/artistic/scientific differences between 100BC and 400AD. The only thing that changed was how they prayed. It was this tyranny which was so easily brought down by the plucky Visigoth frontier dwellers who became the equal, then superior, of the Romans.

More fundamental wrong with Postman's speech is his thinly-veiled hatred of success and false hope in nouomenal fulfillment.

To contemplate, to reason, to experiment, to question-these are, to an Athenian, the most exalted activities a person can perform. To a Visigoth, the quest for knowledge is useless unless it can help you to earn money. Why shouldn't the quest for self-fulling theoretical knowledge be superior to materialistic utilitarian knowledge? Are the two mutually exclusive? In fact, can knowledge really be knowledge if it doesn't apply in the real world, or just a complex hallucination?

And a good noble Athenian values social bonds while a mean ole' Visigoth only wants power over other people? What's the real difference? Both are seeking validation from the opinions of other people rather than a reasoned analysis and esteem of their own condition. At least the Visigoths were proactive in getting that opinion.

The northern barbarians, with their materialistic view toward life, now enjoy unprecedented prosperity and knowledge. The Greco-Roman world, with its solipsistic view toward life, peaked with the cruxificion of Christ.

UPDATE: Some people think I'm too tough on the old boy, to which I respond

All you compliments of Postman are valid, but the speech is still B to B- work, not the speech of a great intellect of our time.

He's simplistic. There is the false dilemma he presents, but more ineptly, there is the "package dealing" (to borrow an Objectivist phrase) of some key concepts.

He equates seeking fame to seeking money; but one provides slavery to other people's whims while the other creates independence.

He equates privacy with isolation and solipsism, and social activism to being virtuous and giving. I'd prefer a Communist who kepts to himself and is self-sufficient than to a Conservative Christian who thinks it his life's goal to make me as "conservative" and "Christian" as he is.

In other words, he splits concepts which should be split, and combines concepts which should be combined. And he does so because its a popular archetype to do so, and he fails to think through the premises behind that archetype.

Also, the entire speech reeks of the philosopher's will to power: Postman creates a worldview which puts someone like Postman on top. Yet the janitor who never finished high school, but now runs a multi-million dollar custodial enterprise, is on the bottom. That's not right.

I've read Postman's work before and have not been impressed. Technopoly was a quasi-luddite screed filled with little more than worry to justify his broad conclusions--with a healthy dose of arrogance towards religion thrown in. In a book discussion we had about it back in college, a Chemistry professor said "Your will not find any anthropological evidence of a species--which we would recognize as human--that did not use tools," and thus blasted away the lion's share of what Postman had to say.

Speaking of objectivists, if you want to read a really good graduation speech, check out what Ayn Rand said to the West Point Class of '74. She expressed, with much more thoughtfullness, the ideas which Postman was grasping for.

A philosophic system is an integrated view of existence. As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy. Your only choice is whether you define you philosophy by a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought and scrupulously logical deliberation--or let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap of unwarranted conclusions, false generalizations, undefined contradictions, undigested slogans, unidentified whishes, doubts and fears, thrown together by chance, but integrated by your subconscious into a kind of mongrel philosophy and fused into a single, solid weight: self-doubt, like a ball and chain in the place where your mind’s wings should have grown.

(Perhaps the silliest scenario for a graduation speech was this
sixty-something icon of anti-authoritarism giving a speech, with a
thick Russian accent, to hundreds of young American cadets.
Nevertheless, probably one of the best ones ever given.)

Rejoice! For the World Sucks!

2005-06-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile in bizarro-world, where born-Again Christians are flaming moonbat leftists.

NCC General Secretary claims "these may be the darkest times in our history."

You see, in bizarro world, people smile and are happy when you tell them the world is entering into the new dark ages.

Hat tip to Daimnation!

Episode 27: Attack of the Tree Vermin

2005-05-21T01:06:00.000-07:00

Meryl Yourish blogs about squirrel troubles in Richmond.

I had the same problem. In my apartment, two squirrels started nesting in the living room walls, constantly scratching and burrowing. Our apartment people were delaying sending pest control out. The problem was that they were right where the cable jack was, which they were chewing on. We started losing reception for all our end channels: around 1-12 and 50-72.

At first I tried banging on the walls, which didn't help. Then I got from 7-11 a cigar and a long Big Gulp straw and tried to smoke them out, and that didn't work. Finally, after a very trying friday of a very trying week, I got fed up. I took the hammer and widened the hole they already made. The rest involves a carving fork, a carving knife, a fishbowl, and a scene that resembles what Anakin Skywalker probably did to all the Paduwan children. Killed one, mortally wounded the other after I tore its tail off and threw it off the patio.

These things are a complete nuisance and destroying thousands of peoples' property. I say have one year--just one year--of open season on these monsters. I'm sure the species would survive, and the city's pest problems would be eliminated for 5-10 years.

Your Money's No Good HereDeflating the Legend of the Liberty Dollar

2005-05-15T23:25:00.000-07:00

In my travels in the conservative blogosphere, and the blogads therein, I stumbled across this gimmick.

One universal desire of "The Right" is the return to the gold/silver standard and rejection of fed-issued greenbacks. Be they conservative Christians hoarding up for the end-times, a paleo-conservative Idaho militiamen rejecting the "Zionist" economy, fiscal conservatives worried about deficits/inflation/interest rates, or Rand-worshipping libertarians fawning over d'Anconia's monologue on the glorious nature of money, their common belief is that we'd all be better off trading in silver talents and gold shekels. This is one of the “conservative” viewpoints I don’t agree with, simply because it contradicts logic and observable fact.

First off, the NORFED/Liberty Dollar people are selling silver at $10.00/oz, when its market price is $7.00/oz. To their defense, NORFED/Liberty Dollar admits this markup. Their defense is that it’s selling transferable currency and not metals; they openly tell people to go elsewhere if they simply want to invest in specie. Despite some of the odd claims by "Mr. von Nothaus" on his website and the high possibly this could be an outright scam, I'm going to assume that this is a legitimate business. Any google due diligence shows only positive praise for the company.

However, NORFED/Liberty Dollar claim that their currency is not subject to the inflation that greenbacks are, and that their money will maintain it value while the dollar collapses. True, paper money is decreasing in value. True, our currency could collapse. But gold and silver are inflating just as fast, if not fast. Nor is the collapse of the greenback nearly as certain as the value of “precious metals”.

In 1975, silver was worth $5.25/oz. Now it’s worth about $7.00/oz—falling from nosebleed peaks in early 80s. A 35% return on a 30-year investment is paltry. But the investment is a complete disaster when you consider in the inflation you were trying to hedge against. In 1975, $5.25 would have bought the equivalent of $20.00 in 2005. Now $7.00 will buy the equivalent of what $1.87 would’ve in 1975. You lost 65%!

Granted, the “investment” hedged somewhat against inflation. The $5.25 would be worth $1.40 if you had left it under the mattress. But there’s good reason to believe that gold and silver could become base metals overnight, faster than any currency crash. Consider the famous wager between population-bomb eco-nut Paul Ehrlich and economist Julian Simon. Values for precious metals dropped across the board, even disregarding inflation. The possibilities for more gold and silver are limitless: sea-mining, space-mining, mining at the core of the earth, and sub-atomic generation are all possibilities. These possibilities are made more possible by our exponentially growing technology.

I don’t know the future of our dollar, but I confidently say that goods and services that the dollar chases are becoming more plentiful everyday. Our future will be wealthy one, regardless of the form in which that wealth manifests itself.

So Pretty He's Ugly?

2005-05-13T06:47:00.000-07:00

Jeez! Even then he looked like an animated CGI image!

The Zork of the 2000s

2005-05-08T01:51:00.000-07:00

I just spent the whole day playing this game and don't regret a minute of it. This is one of the best analytical problem-solving games I've seen in a long time.

This brings back alot of good memories of playing the old Infocom text-based adventures and the text/proto-graphic World Builder Mac games. I credit about 10 to 15 of my IQ points in adult life to playing those games between the ages of 4 to 12. (And yes, I've been able to read, write and type basic and not-so-basic english as long as far back as I can remember.)

Since then, I've worried that video/computer games with stunning graphics and complex player controls were going to crowd out these austere, yet complex and challenging games. Instead I see that IT, and those who utilize it, can expand these types of games to ever more levels of complexity. Notpr0n spans not only the game display, but the "gear and sprockets" behind that display. It utilizes not just set player commands, but the basic commands that the player uses to control his computer. It problems require no just interacting with the program, but utilize other files and applications to solve problems on the program.

In short, I'm really optimistic about living in a world with engineers who can create games like these, and make them available for only the cost of (maybe) closing the occasional pop-up ad.

Media Conspiracy Time!

2005-04-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

The AP reports the following:

Bush was also using the formal question-and-answer session with reporters - his first in the evening in over a year - to talk about skyrocketing gas prices. The White House asked television networks to broadcast the news conference, scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EDT in the East Room of the White House.

Th press conference was instead scheduled for 8:01 pm EST. Did the AP get the time wrong?

Or did they say that so that no one would see him speak . . . until he's being grilled by reporters.

IIIIINNNNTERESSSSSSTING!!!!

Crichton Speaks

2005-04-22T23:26:00.000-07:00

Michal Crichton give us a lot to think about in this speech.

Here are some thoughts:

(1) You cannot eliminate religion from the psyche of man

That’s a more literal truth than he may think, especially since there are parts of the brain in which religious fervor is based. An atheist would say that this proves that religion is only a hallucination. A deist would argue that man’s physiological ability to believe in God is proof, and not disprove, of God’s intelligent design of man.

(2) What was that Eden of the wonderful mythic past? Is it the time when infant mortality was 80%, when four children in five died of disease before the age of five? When one woman in six died in childbirth? When the average lifespan was 40, as it was in America a century ago.

I hate it when people have this view of early man as constantly knocking on death’s door. The uniform legends of ancient history and mythology were that people were larger and lived longer in pre-historic times. Anthropological evidence also shows that pre-agricultural, hunter/gathers people were in much better physical condition than their farming, carb-consuming descendants.

(3) Crichton makes the analogy that radical environmentalism = doomsday, blind-faith religion. Yet we’ve seen that both of these phenomena, and other destructive beliefs, have some unknown common root: a philosophy that is anti-life, anti-reason, subjective, cynical, and has a strong aversion toward human virtue and achievement. On paper, the wacko religious nut and the wacko environment nut have extremely different beliefs, but exhibit almost identical psycho-epistemological motivation as they cheer for the world to come to an end. A teenage “goth”, a aging Maoist hippy, and a Hamas jihadi all share that same metaphysical flavor—an unnamed fear and loathing toward the idea of a benevolent universe and the good, happy people who would inhabit it. I don’t know why people end up that way. I also wonder why large portions of mankind choose this course toward extinction.

(4) Environmentalism needs to be absolutely based in objective and verifiable science, it needs to be rational, and it needs to be flexible. And it needs to be apolitical.

Well, this certainly makes my spidey-sense tingle! In other words, we need someone who knows all fact, who’s supremely rational, and with lots of discretion and power . . . without any of those smarmy politicians or judges getting in the way. Would Crichton like to recommend himself for this job?

How Do You Say "Phony Reporting" in Malay?

2005-04-18T03:52:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of LGF . . . .

Notice something odd. . . ?

Why would an Indonesian write a protest sign in English? Complete with rhyming, punctuation and stylizing letters?

I smell a rat over at the AFP.

Hippie Hypocrites

2005-04-18T02:30:00.000-07:00

While were speaking here about entertainers, here's something to chew on:

How could Donovan have written both Universal Soldier and Remember the Alamo? The themes of the two songs are absolutely irreconciable! Compare

Fear not little darling of dying
If this world be sovereign and free
For we'll fight to the last for as long as liberty be

And

And without him, how would Hitler
kill the people at Dachau,
without him Cesar would have stood alone,
he's the one, who gives his body
as a weapon of the war,
and without him always killing cant go on.

He's the universal soldier,
and he really is to blame,
his orders came from far away, no more,
they came from here and there,
and you and me ain't brothers,
can't you see,
this is not the way we put an end to war.

Then again, the sixties were a murky time. Perhaps there were several Donovans? A J-source and Q-source Donovan?

Also, if John Lennon was such a commie, then why the hell was he complaining so much about the Tax Man, or why does he want money so much, even though money can't buy him love?

The Stars in Twilight

2005-04-18T01:50:00.000-07:00

Wel, well, well. I was just contemplating how I was going to end a half-a-weeks worth of blogger's block. I get back to my web browser, hit refresh on Drudge, and get a glimpse of this little chestnut: Land of the Freeloaders.

Rule #1 of Economics: Everything obtained must be paid for!

Something can be paid for with barter, with money, or with work. It can be paid for by you with you're resource, by someone else out of charity, or stolen from a victim. But it will be paid for!

So who paid for all this swag? Ordinary people, albeit through a chain of transitions leading through the multi-media, telecommunications, advertising and entertainment business.

Why do they pay for it? Out of a misguided sentiment for entertainers which can only be described as "idolatry". Yet even the First Commandment doesn't do justice to describe the psycho-epistemological crime being committed, both by the worshipper and the worshipped.

Media consumers are paying money to people portraying the virtues they wish they had (but have not the passion to obtain them), and vices they wish they could commit (but know they can't get away with). Rather than achieve these states of being--through thought, planning and action--they take the shortcut and live vicariously through other people pretending to do these things in unrealistic ways. Meanwhile, the stars gobble up all the perks available in a state of quiet desperation, internally struggling to convince themselves that they're actually achieving what they're pretending to achieve. Supposedly, when she went crazy at the end of her life, Vivian Leigh actually believed she was Scarlet O'Hara. By behaving in the manner described, these Hollywood stars are trying to steal their own piece of Tara.

At least on the production end, the party can't last forever. As the world economy improves, cheap foreign films are getting better in quality. As world techonology improves, "indie" films are getting much better. As IT improves, the humor, genius and passion of ordinary people is more and more vividly on display; the TV is becoming the background noise for the websurfing. As AI improves, all attributes of an entertainer--voice, image, improv and imitation skills--can be replicated by software. In a generation, maybe in this generation, the beautiful people are going to go the way of silent film and AM radio stars.

Separated Reincarnated at Birth?

2005-04-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

Frank J. -OR- Buster Keaton

Turkish Surgeon, Christian Butcher.

2005-04-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

One of these paintings portrays man as heroic, intelligent, and beautiful. The other portrays man as a grotesque monster. One of these painting extols technology as facilitating man's virtue. The other portrays invention and shelter as the tool of the Devil. One of these paintings portrays a benevolent universe full of promise and joy. The other portrays the universe as an ugly, Kafkaesque nightmare.

Guess which one of these paintings was made by a Christian? Guess which one was made by a secular humanist? I'm ashamed of the answer. If Christians are to witness to the world, they need to use the later view of man, instead of the former.

Obligatory Pope Blogging

2005-04-09T04:35:00.000-07:00

Comparing John Paul II to Pius XII is unfair to both of them. (Hat Tip to Damian Penny).

Pius XII made concordants with fascist regimes only to keep Catholics from being persecuted. Otherwise, he was extremely critical of them. Hitler said that Pius XII was "the only human being who has always contradicted me and who has never obeyed me." Pius also hid thousands of Jews in the Vatican to keep them from concentration camps.

If Pius made any mistake, it was underestimating the political influence the Catholic Church could have. From the French Revolution to John Paul II, Popes have let socialists, communists and fascists wreak havoc in Europe with nothing but finger-wagging. John Paul II proved that if the Holy See denounces unjust regimes, the world will listen.

But this much idolazation of John Paul II is getting a little out of hand. They're now openly calling him "John Paul the Great". I doubt he would've approved. And if nothing else, the JPII worship makes it harder for his successor.

Today's Random Binaries

2005-04-07T07:09:00.000-07:00

Today's Random Numbers are the following:

0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1

Brught to you by Random.org

Quick Quiz . . .

2005-04-05T20:06:00.000-07:00

Will the boys pictured in the photo grow up to be:

(a) Bull queers, due to their identification of masculinity with force & domination.

(b) Anti-authoritarin socialist hippies, due to their ingrained fear & loathing of power & authority.

(c) Objectivist/libertarians, due to their repressed desires for individuality and identification of the mystical with madness.

or (d) A stain on a concrete wall?

This piece of Palstianian child abuse brought to you by LGF

Don't Have to Live Like a Refugee . . . .

2005-04-05T07:11:00.000-07:00

Blogger's up this morning, but it's impossible to say for how long. The service is becoming exponentially undependable. Like others, I may have to move this site in the near future.

Problems With Homosexual Marriage

2005-04-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

Jane Galt began writing about Homosexual Marriage, but ended up writing about conservativism and the preservation of institutions in general. She doesn't give much thought to the more "mechanical" problems with letting homosexuals marry. So I took the liberty of doing so.

Consider the following questions:

(1) In the case of divorce, who has custody of the kids when one is the parent and the other is not? (Note that one spouse being the natural parent, while another is not, is inevitable.)

(2) How is the parent/child bond strained when the child is the natural child of one parent, but not the other?

(3) How is the child affected when he knows only one natural parent, but not the other?

(4) How is the non-spouse egg donor/bearer of the child affected if he is locked out of the relationship with the child? What should be his/her legal rights against the other natural parent? Against the step-parent?

(4) Suppose a spouse bears or fathers several children with different donors. How will the half-siblings get along with each other, knowing they have different fathers/mothers.

(5) Suppose both spouses bear or father different children? How will the "siblings" get along, knowing that they are unrelated to each other by blood?

(6) Would the child/natural parent relationship form a bond more close than--and possibly eclipsing--the spousal bond?

(7) In the case of a spousal dispute, would not the siblings be inclined to favor the natural parent over the step-parent? How would this "taking sides" affect the relationship?

(8) Under scenario (5), in the case of a serious "sibling" dispute, would a parent feel more inclined to favor his/her own child rather than his step-child? How would such a situation affect the children?

(9) Under scenario (8) how would such a situation affect the relationship between the two spouses?

(10) Suppose both spouses die, with the last spouse dying without a will. (This happens more often than not in Anglo-American law). What are the inheritance rights of the natural children versus the step-children? (Note that under current law, the majority rule is that step-children have little if no inheritance rights).

(11) Suppose the egg donor/bearer dies without a will. What are the inheritance rights of the natural child, when he has been adopted by and raised in a completely different household?

(12) Suppose the child dies without a will? What are the inheritance rights of the step-parent? What are the inheritance rights of the "siblings," along with "nieces" and "nephews"?

These are all serious questions that need to be answered. Marriage is not just a religious or ceremonial institution but has definite, long-lasting, real-world legal and psychological effects. Same-sex marriage is going to complicate problems with homosexual relationships, not simplify them.

All of these problems will no exist in a situation where (1) all children are raised by both natural parents, (2) all natural parents have custody of their children, (3) the spouses share a common bond with their children, (4) siblings share the strongest common bond with each other, (5) people outside of the family are considered such legally and psychologically. That is only possible in a heterosexual nuclear family.

The Pogrom Begins

2005-04-04T10:40:00.001-07:00

At least one blogger was banned--not for talking about how corrupt the Canadian ruling party is--but for linking to someone living in a free country who did. Damian Penny is also running scared. This is absolutely disgraceful!

The God Who is Not There

2005-04-04T04:30:00.000-07:00

Over at Charlotte Capitalist we have a rather zealous objectivist fisking Rick Warren. No argument here that Warren needs fisking, but atheism is an illogical dead-end by any standard. Even Ayn Rand backed off from her more militant Anti-God stances later in life.

To Andy, I said the following:

You’re way off-base, and I’m ashamed you’d make such weak arguments. You didn’t prove the non-existence of God; you proved that Warren didn’t prove the existence of God. Congratulations on knocking down his strawmen. Now how about we play a big-boy grown-up game of philosophy

Existence exists. I’m glad we have this jumping off point, the benefic of talking to an objectivist. I don’t have to argue this point with some obnoxious kid who thinks he’s Neo and that we’re living in the Matrix.

If existence exists, there are two mutually exclusive possibilities:

(1) Existence is innate. It was not “created”. (An atheistic universe)

(2) Existence was created and is not innate in and of itself. Rather, existence was created by something which (or someone who) is innate. (A deistic universe)

If the first possibly, then we have a perfectly materialistic world. The supreme power is matter and the physical laws of matter. Nothing exists but that which has physical attributes. I admit, it’s a rather beautiful way of looking at the universe: Rather than having a God who commands, which we must obey, the universe is a type of “god”, which to command, must be obeyed.

The problem is that certain pieces do not fit into this universe. Namely you, me, Ayn Rand, every other conscious being in the universe, and the Law of Identification itself.

Existence--in and of itself--cannot cause the identification of existence. Matter cannot cause one to know that matter is present. Nor can lack of matter cause one to know that matter is absent. Nor does your own physical being explain consciousness--the identification of self.

The 9 ball can ricochet off the cue ball. The plant can photosynthesize light and process soil into its cells. An animal can react to a chasing predator or running prey. A person's eyes can absorb the image of a rainbow in the sky, and experience emotional euphoria therefrom. These are all natural phenomena, effects from a cause. But the ability to say “There’s a 9 ball”, “There’s a cue ball”, “Look at that plant grow”, “There’s an animal, and it’s running” “There’s atmospheric water refracting light into multiple colors, and it's beautiful” . . . these are not effects from material causes, but an unexplained, physically unnecessary, mysterious process.

The otherworldly aspects of identification can also be proved in the negative. You can look around and say, “There is no rainbow”. How and why? Such a reaction is not effect from a cause, but an independent identification of a lack of a effect or a cause. The faculty of identification exists independently of the physical world being identified!

You’ve asked why there is no scientific evidence of a God. In other words, you want material proof of someone who exist independent of matter. Rather, you should ask where you consciousness came from. Not from matter, since it would be circular to say that the ability to perceive matter came from matter. Nor is consciousness innate, since it is the object and not the subject of reality. Matter does not make your consciousness and your consciousness does not make matter. Therefore, they both must have an independent third cause, that cause being God.

You believe God doesn't exist. You’re correct. Rather he “hyper-exists” and transcends the material world and our consciousness. Sorry if such a statement is a cop-out, but any attempt to explain God’s “non-being” and “non-perceivablity” is impossible. It’s safe to say that God is the one exception to Aristotle’s law, the one entity which exist and doesn’t exist at the same time, in the same matter. For he created matter.

Springtime in Hell!

2005-04-03T18:31:00.000-07:00

Well, it's good to see that I'm not the only one being driven batshit crazy insane by the ~~spring~~ weather in Richmond. I just hope this won't be another spring/summer of rain and cold.

When I first moved to Virginia, aside from some rare spectacular rainstorm, the weather was constantly great. Yet everyone was complaining about some illusory "drought". Now the place has turned into Seattle, with the occasional flood, hurricane and earthquake. I'm beginning to sense that God wants to see this city torn down and renovated as much as I do.

POS!

2005-04-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

The damn online disk-space thing I subscribed to says that I've "exceeded the bandwidth limits" for the pictures below. So now they won't show.

Meanwhile, I tried looking into gmail, only to find that the thing is a promotional ripoff of Amway/Quixtar proportions. Not only do they not any email service set up yet, you apparently have to subscribe to some paying services to get it. In other words, it's most likely a red herring for other stuff their selling.

UPDATE: Problem (hopefully) fixed thanks to Photobucket. And thanks to Tom at Undercaffeinated for recommending it. Link to him, and read his blog, for he is good.

Prime Real Estate

2005-04-03T00:45:00.000-08:00

For some reason, my site comes up second when you do a search for Brooke Lemke.

Did you hear me? I said Brooke Lemke. Brooke Lemke! That's right, Brooke Lemke.

/linkwhoring

Just hope she doesn't file a restraining order against me.

What the Hell Goes on in Canada!

2005-04-03T00:08:00.000-08:00

I don't know what's more outrageous: That the Liberal Party has been looting the treasury for almost a decade, or that no one in Canada is allowed to talk about it.

I've never heard of, and will never tolerate, such bullshit coming from the Northwestern hemisphere. As for me, I'll link to whomever I want. If I want to link to Nazis and pedophiles, I'll do so. And I'll slit the throat of any apparatchik who tells me otherwise, and laugh with glee as he dies a tyrant's death.

And while were sharing Old Dominion iconography, let's see Paul Martin try to ban this:

Psychedelic Cardinal

2005-04-02T23:16:00.000-08:00

The cardinal resting on the “Virginia” sticker is obviously wondering how it managed to fly to Alpha Dimension X without getting tired.

Brought to you by X-Entertainment

Quadrafecta

2005-04-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

It's a Complicated Story

2005-04-02T06:47:00.000-08:00

Best to let Frank explain . . .

Post-Mortem

2005-04-01T07:12:00.000-08:00

Like alot of people, I'm sick of hearing about Schiavo. The liberal longknives were out for her death, and conservatives didn't have to will to stop it. The end. Ann Coulter's sums up the situation perfectly.

I'll add only one thought: Judge Greer should by hanged by his judge's robe from the nearest palm tree. Hypocritical, you say? Not to kill murders and subverters of justice.

Peep Shows

2005-03-31T02:05:00.000-08:00

here and here

Here's also hot content for hardcore sex addicts

If it were me, I'd need to think about it

2005-03-31T00:53:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, the funniest sentence ever uttered in my lifetime. Perhaps in anyone's lifetime . . . .

I would much rather carry your seed than the seed that would destroy the earth.

--Brooke Lemke playing "Linda", to William Shatner playing "Shane" on Invasion Iowa tonight.

UPDATE: Most of the Iowans get it, but Iowa newspapers, and Mr. Boston columnist doesn't.

What will happen to Iowan Brooke Lemke when she realizes just how awful she truly is in the faux movie -- and that the Spike audience is laughing at her?

She'll probably still be chagrined that she's as good an actor as Shatner ever was.

UPDATE: More Invasion Iowa linkery:

The show's official weblog

The official site for Murph's Bar. With t-shirts for sale.

Supposedly, "InvasionIowaTheMovie.Com" was a dummy site meant to fool people into thinking there was real movie production. Now its in disuse, but registered.

The Funniest Show Ever!

2005-03-30T07:12:00.000-08:00

You must watch this show tonight! It's the funniest thing I've seen since Sifl & Olly went off the air.

Two things to be learned from doing so:

(1) William Shatner is an incredibly strange man. I thought it was just his lengendary propensity for overacting and to take every gig he's offered. But no, he's as weird as as a football bat, eccentric enough to make Michael Jackson look like fucking Prince Charles!

(2) Some Iowa farmhands can act just as well as tenured hollywood stars. It's not rocket science to play make believe for a living.

I Lack Subtlety, and So Does God

2005-03-28T18:59:00.000-08:00

Well, a earthquake the day after Christmas, and now an earthquake the day after Easter. In almost the same place.

[Insert here a witty, deadpan ironic musing that a Christian God is inflicting his wrath, specifically on all the Muslims in the region, and that the end times are near]

Allah Devours His Children

2005-03-25T19:43:00.000-08:00

Some of the folks over at Little Green Footballs wonder where all the supposed moderate muslim are.

Apparently, they're hiding for their lives:

The [Virginia Commonwealth University] professor, Amina Wadud, has been threatened and sharply criticized in many parts of the Islamic world since the March 18 prayer service in New York that was attended by an estimated 80 to 100 people, about half of whom were men. Traditionally, Muslim women do not lead prayers in a mosque, and they pray separately from men.

Wadud called in sick yesterday, according to Pamela D. Lepley, director of university news services. Wadud's home telephone has a security system that permits only calls from approved numbers to go through, and she could not be reached for comment last night.

A conservative can only hope, and relish the idea, that the twin fallacies of Islam and liberal gender egalitarianism will cave in on each other. We have here two dueling memes: "Woman are equal to men in every way" and "Women are subjugated to men by the will of Allah". One can't survive in the other's world. Meanwhile, a philosopher/spectator can curiously observe the two premises duke it out, which strangely enough, are both mutually exclusive and both incorrect. What do they have in common? They're both outside constructs separate from observable reality which make their believers ontologically superior to the rest of us.

The Perverts Next Door

2005-03-23T20:20:00.000-08:00

This guy, this guy, this guy, and this guy are registered sex offenders who live within walking distance from me. The links include their addresses and their pictures.

I'll let you decide which is scarier, that so many sex offenders lives next to me, or that I'm able to pillory these people.

ReductIMAO ad absurdum

2005-03-23T19:50:00.000-08:00

Frank J. makes a modest proposal.

I'd rather die than be born in Haiti, but that doesn't mean I believe in killing all Haitians.

The view that wants Schiavo to die has, as its basis, that her condition cannot be improved. Such a notion is unprovable, but instead proves that euthanasists hold the malevolent view that human fate is unimprovable.

Cry For Help!

2005-03-20T22:31:00.000-08:00

Drudge, on his radio show, just had audio of Terri Schaivo responding to questions from her father about her feeding tube being removed. She is obviously cognizant. This is murder.

UPDATE:

My goodness! Have I been responsible for a thread hijack?! I don't know whether to be sorry or proud of myself.

But seriously, we know this much:

(1) Serious questions exist as to whether Schiavo is cognizant

(2) Serious questions exist as to whether she wanted to be kept alive.

(3) If the federal and state system of law is to be consisent--let along just--then Schiavo should be granted the same deferance toward life that a mass-murderer on death row would get.

I'll add as an aside, if the liberal powers-that-be choose to belligerantly oppose this, it will mean that end of the right-to-die movement in this country. This isn't just about people refusing medical treatment; this is a morbid bloodlust exhibited by the collective left to blank-out undesirable specimens of humanity.

MORE UPDATE:

For those who think that Terri's case is hopeless, I suggest they read this book, another future-shock by Ray Kurzweil.

It's thesis--giving the possible, nay probable, advances in biotechnology and nanotechnology, virtually immortal physical and mental health will be possible within most of our lifetimes. In the next 20-50 years, they're going to come out with stuff that will make the most fabulist stories of science-fiction into commonplace fact.

You can say that again!

2005-03-19T07:38:00.000-08:00

Blogger's being a pain in the ass. Thus the reason for some of the double posts--you'll think the thing froze up and didn't post, then post again. And I'm not the only one complaining here.

People pour their heart and soul into these blogs. It would be like Caesar burning of the Alexandria library if blogger FUBARs their network. Meanwhile, I'll be taking efforts to save the source code on a (hopefully) daily basis.

God Made Wyoming to Train the Faithful

2005-03-17T23:03:00.000-08:00

Out of an obscure state with more cows than people, The Equality State sure makes some brilliant ~~politicians~~ statesmen. First Vice President Dick Cheney, and now Senator Mike Enzi. Drudge reports:

**Exclusive Fri Mar 18 2005 00:50:07 ET** The
Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee, Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) has requested Terri Schiavo to testify before his congressional committee, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. In so doing it triggers legal or statutory protections for the witness, among those protections is that nothing can be done to cause harm or death to this individual.

Members of Congress went to the U.S. Attorney in DC to ask for a temporary restraining order to be issued by a judge, which protects Terri Schiavo from having her life support, including her feeding and hydration tubes, removed... Developing...

You can thank/congratulate Senator Enzi here.

שלןם

2005-03-17T20:14:00.000-08:00

Welcome to all those linked by Meryl Yourish.

Women's Bracelets

2005-03-17T19:05:00.000-08:00

Rachel Lucas assaults a female officer (if you can call her the latter). Meanwhile, Ann Coulter says the same thing with much more empirical evidence, though not with much less vitriol.

Meanwhile, Doug Powers questions why he wasn't wearing handcuffs:

"In Atlanta, Brian Nichols, 6 feet tall and a couple hundred pounds, was being escorted by a female officer, without cuffs, into court for his rape trial. ...
"Why wasn't he wearing handcuffs? Because 'studies' have shown that jurors are 'unfairly influenced' when a person on trial is wearing handcuffs. ...
"Quite often, the level of stupidity in political correctness is so high that it's comical. This time, it's anything but. When PC strikes the college campus, young minds are poisoned. When PC strikes the public sector, including the courtroom, people can get killed. ...
"Leave it to the bearers of political correctness to remove the cuffs from criminals, and tie the hands of everybody else. ...
"Brian Nichols wasn't handcuffed, and he's killed people as a result. ... Brian Nichols now faces the death penalty, instead of 20 or so years for the original crime, and four people are dead. Would making him wear handcuffs to, in, and from court have been better for him, or worse for him?
"PC do-gooders assisted Brian Nichols in ruining what was left of his life, and gave him the means to destroy many others — all in the name of 'fairness.' I'm sure the families of the victims will thank them for caring."

____________

BTW: How this guy got a WorldNetDaily column and a book deal, yet has the same blog traffic as I do, is beyond me. /envy

However, in light of this article, the handcuff controversy appears to be moot:

In a federal case in Atlanta in the late 1990s, drapes around the defense table were used, with court approval, to conceal the shackles on a defendant accused of killing a prison guard. Similarly, stun belts can be worn under defendants' clothes - although the devices have still been cited as grounds for appeal.

____________

There's a dozen ways you could physically restrain a defendant without any prejudicial effect.

However, consider the four possible scenarios:

A passive, handcuffed defendant: The defendant is prejudiced and unfairly maligned in front of the jury.

A belligerent, handcuffed defendant: The defendant is not prejudiced or unfairly maligned; he really is a belligerant person who needs to be restrained.

A belligerent, unhandcuffed defendant: The defendant is not prejudiced or unfairly maligned when he lashes out in court; he really is a belligerent person who would do the unthinkable.

A passive, unhandcuffed defendant: No prejudice.

Thus handcuffs should be a no-no only when the defendant gives no impression of being a pugnacious person. I don't see why this fact can't be fairly determined by a bench ruling. The person wearing the handcuffs--and not the cuffs themselves--should determine whether they should be worn.

Bad Goverment Mandated Art, Part II

2005-03-16T20:28:00.000-08:00

We previously discussed this monstrosity, a six-figure eyesore on the City of Richmond police station that looks like a prop from a Fritz Lang movie. Our Local AM talk-radio Clearchannel affiliate has gathered together more government "sponsored" art.

A memorial to the great Confederate victory over the Giant-Locust People of Regulon 6

"And this, young hobbits, is where Gandalf and our uncle Bilbo turned the trolls to stone"

With safety in mind, the artist designed the holes just large enough for children to get their head stuck in them, so they'll be less likely they'll fall off and suffer multiple fractures.

Mightly Zeus doth ate generously from his divine ambrosia, and as Helios raced over the heavens two hours in length, he sat crouched over Mount Olympus with great agony. And as the god sounded with savage fury, out of his bowels fell the great legendary city of Copropolis.

Arborists flock to Richmond to observe the tridecennial mating cycle of North American Beech, the only time when the tree will bear its physiologically latent testes.

"Dammit! This doesn't look nearly as cool as it did on the cover of my 12th grade calculus textbook!"

___________

Well, off to look for more blogfuel!

More Fun with Math: NY Auto Theft Prevention

2005-03-14T01:55:00.000-08:00

Tom at Undercaffeinated complains the NY state government is pissing away his money. Though I would happily agree, I thought I'd be fun to play Devil's Advocate on the subject.

According to this site, in 2000, there were about 57,160 car thefts in New York State per year: (285.8/100,000 vehicle thefts per citizen) x (approx. 20,000,000 people).

According to this article, the average value of a stolen car at the turn of the millennium was $6,701.00.

Thus the total value of all car thefts in New York per year was $383,029,160.00.

New York had a drop in auto theft 3.5% greater than the national average. [38.5% - 35% = 3.5%]

The total value of money saved due to the additional 3.5% drop would be $18,567,338.53 per year: $383,029,160.00 x 138.5% from before x 3.5%.

New York spent $6.2 Million per year on auto theft prevention between 1997 and 2001: $31 Million / 5 years.

Thus New York arguably profited $12.3 Million per year from the program, and more than doubled their investment.

Of course, (1) the statistics are skewed due to limited data, (2) this is not an objective measurement of how effective the program actually was, and (3) not all auto thefts equal a total loss of the automobile's value (though could possibly exceed it, through loss man-hours and cost of retrieving it). Even then, NY might have broken even on the venture.

Crime prevention spending shouldn't be viewed with the same categorical skepticism as welfare, social-spending, do-gooder pork projects. Government spends it money best by preventing theft, and spends it the worst by facilitating it.

Fischer Lashes Out Against Three-Dimensional, Non-64 Square Reality

2005-03-12T16:55:00.000-08:00

Although missing for years, World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer has popped up over the past decade. He should've kept himself hidden. Fischer's sanity and rhetoric has deteriorated to a point somewhere between pity and disgust. The guy is so unhinged and vitriolic against the U.S. he makes Ward Churchill look like Brit Hume.

Fischer popped up in 1992 to play a rematch between Boris Spassky. The problem? It was in Serbia/Montenegro, which at that time, was run by a genocidal maniac. Not only did Fischer play anyway, he openly dared the U.S. to try and catch him. He was subsequently indicted by a grand jury with charges that could lead to 10 years jail time, and was on the lamb for twelve years after in parts unknown.

However, according to the UK Daily Telegraph between 1999 and 2005, he was been a regular caller/interviewee in a Filipino radio show. His calls consisted the most anti-American, anti-Semitic rants ever uttered in a language not German or Arabic.

On September 11, he said the following:

"This is all wonderful news. It is time to finish off the US once and for all.

"I was happy and could not believe what was happening. All the crimes the US has committed in the world. This just shows, what goes around comes around, even to the US.

"I applaud the act. The US and Israel have been slaughtering the Palestinians for years. Now it is coming back at the US."

The full audio is here. What he quoted above is fairly common moonbattery, but his whole tirade has to be heard to be believed. His sadistic quisling enthusiasms approaches this level.

WARNING:This, and the below links, contain profanity and racial epithets, and linked to an anti-semetic website. The full list of audios, buried deep in a pile of wacko links, is here.

His initial January 14, 1999 sums up everything you need to know about his politics, his prejudices, and his current mental state:

Bobby Fischer: This. all of these things come to less than 4000 dollars. so I was sending him 5 grand a year to take care of all this, plus giving him like a thousand dollars for his trouble. and he was paying it. But then he got the words from the dirty Jews. fuck Fischer's ass. sell his memorabilia. This was in conclusion. this was in collusion with this Bekins storage company in Pasadena. You know. what the hell am I gonna give away all of the stuff which I have taken years to accumulate and to preserve over 400 dollars. I've got 300 million dollars in Switzerland. I got dough here in Hungary. They did it all behind my back. Nobody contacted me. nothing. They didn't contact my lawyers. nothing. the fucking Jews want to destroy everything I've worked for all my life. There as no Holocaust. The Jews are liars. it's time we took off the kid gloves with these parasites.
Pablo Mercado: All right. with all of these things Mr. Fischer. what do you intend to do now?
Bobby Fischer: I intend to do what I'm doing right now.
Pablo Mercado: What?
Bobby Fischer: Which is to expose the Jews for the criminals they are, the parasites they are, the liars they are, the thieves they are, the niggers (?) they are.
Pablo Mercado: You speak like an Arab.
Bobby Fischer: .. You ask the Palestinians. I was just listening to the BBC. the horror story that come out of there when you get into an Israeli prison. the way they torture you . it's unheard of. I was listening to a Palestinian woman, a Christian woman from Palestine, not even Muslims, Christian women who were anti-Israel. They got picked up by the Israeli police, taken down to the jail, and then the Israeli police tried to get information -- Who do you know among your friends that's anti-Israel? Give us all the names of your Arab, Christian friends who are anti-Israel. When they refused, they put the women in a cell, these are mothers, these women, mostly. They put em in a cell, and then they start playing, in Arabic, on the loudspeaker, 24 hours a day, "Mommy, come home, Mommy, we miss you" in Arabic. They played it over and over again until the women just collapsed.
Pablo Mercado: All right, do you have any.
Bobby Fischer: This is the Jewish mentality. These are a criminal people. They torture their prisoners in the worst way. It's even illegal! They don't even deny it hardly. Jews were always bastards throughout history. They are liars, they are the worst pieces of shit in the world. They mutilate their own children.
Pablo Mercado: all right.
Bobby Fischer: Fuck the Jews.
Pablo Mercado: ok. you don't plan any legal moves against them? against those who sold your memorabilia?
Bobby Fischer: What is this he said?
Pablo Mercado: Legal moves, like a case in court.
Bobby Fischer: You know, the Jews control the courts. What is your name, Mr. Mercado?
Pablo Mercado: Yes, Pablo.
Bobby Fischer: Yes, the Jews. Pablo, yeah Pablo. The Jews control the courts. It's just a charade they go through. It's Facade City, you know - Facade City. I've been involved in a number of law suits in America. Never got a penny, never got a stop order, never got nothing. I've been involved in about 5 or 6 lawsuits, about 5 cases throughout the years, never got a penny, never got any property back, never got a stop order, never got nothing man. I spent a lot of money, and I have all the documents, and I have all the justice on my side. It's a joke. The United States is a farce controlled by dirty, hook-nosed circumcised Jew bastards.
Pablo Mercado: Bob, uhh, I have no other questions. Maybe Eugene, he has a few questions for you.
Bobby Fischer: Ya ya, Hi Eugene.
Eugene Torre: Hi Hi Bobby. Well, uhh, not much questions. I think you have expressed, uhh, quite good your side, and exposed these people, you know? *laugh*
Bobby Fischer: Hey Eugene, what's the difference between a good Jew and a bad Jew?
Eugene Torre: Yeah. What's the difference between a good Jew and bad Jew?
Bobby Fischer: The good Jew fucks you slower.
*All laugh*

(full audio here)

Silver Lining: Fischer is now being detained fo U.S. Extradiction in a Japanese prison. The Japanese penal system, shall we say, rather strict by western standards.

- You are only allowed to speak when taking a walk, and half-hour walks are only allowed three times a week. Apart from those times speaking is forbidden.

- You are usually alone in your cell and are not allowed to walk in it, to lean against a wall, to wash your face at any other time than the morning, to look out of the window, to sing or whistle, to talk to yourself, or to lie down outside of the appointed times. Playing any kind of game is also forbidden except during appointed times.

- In your work place you have to keep your eyes fixed on your hands, which have to be placed on your workbench. You cannot look right or to the left.

- You can only go to the toilet at the appointed times.

- When you move from place to place in the prison, you have to march in step. If you do not walk correctly during a recreational period, you have to spend the period marching around the courtyard.

That ought to calm Fischer down, but it might hurt his game. Give him a few months in there before extradition to the U.S. and he'll come out singing Yankee Doodle Dandy begging to enjoy his cherished Fifth Amendment rights in a plush American prison. This is assuming our Asian friends remember to fill out the paperwork. Due to Japan's marvelous absence of habeas corpus privileges, he can rot in there for years.

On a final note, Ayn Rand had this guy pegged years ago. In a 1974 letter to Spassky, deriding him for overindulging in the merit/logic based world of chess as an evasion of Soviet barbarism, she also gives the following criticism of Fischer:

Bobby Fischer's behavior . . . is a clear example of the clash between a chess expert's mind and reality. This confident, Disciplined, obviously brilliant player falls to pieces when he had to deal with the real world. He throws tantrums like a child, breaks agreements, makes arbitrary demands, and indulges in the kind of whim worship one touch of which in the playing of chess would disqualify him for a high-school tournament. Thus he brings to the real world the very evil that made him escape it: irrationality. A man who is afraid to sign a letter, who fears any firm commitment, who seeks the guidance of the arbitrary edicts of a mystic sect in order to learn how to live his life--is not a great, confident mind, but a tragically helpless victim, torn by acute anxiety and, perhaps, by a sense of treason to which might have been a great potential.

Please keep in mind the above, those under the misguided impression that Rand left no room for pity of human weakness.

(Hat tip to Skippy for find this story and for apparently preparing the transcription. It makes it so much the harder to again give a WARNING that his site has lewd/pornographic material.)

UPDATE: Whoa! Someone get grandpa his Wellbutrin!

funny

2005-03-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

Sgrena's Mystery Machine

"Zoinks Scoob, Miss Sgrena said she was shot at by a hail of bullets," said Shaggy. "But there's no bullet holes."

"Rhosts Raggy??"

. . . . .

Of course, nothing beats Family Guy's parody:

FRED: You're right, Scoob, we're dealing with one sick son of a bitch.

The Federal Stone Sanguinity Act of 2005

2005-03-09T21:18:00.000-08:00

The recent proposed bankruptcy reforms in favor of credit card companies have the blogosphere talking about the nature and justification of bankruptcy. Prof. Reynold's got an email questioning "Isn't present Bankruptcy law (the fundamental purpose of which is to allow a party who freely entered into a contract to repudiate their obligations under the contract) contrary to basic libertarian values?".

No. Bankruptcy is an admission of reality. The debtor is not going to pay his debts. He does not have the will and/or means to gain the money, and you don't have the means to make him get it. No amount of asking, begging, pleading, arm-twisting, nastygrams or legal threats will get him to pay. You can ask the debtor to pay and he won't. You can threaten the debtor to pay, and he still won't. You can garnish his wages, and he can refuse to work, if he was ever able to in the first place. You can put him in prison, and he can still refuse to pay you. You can force him into slavery (arguably excepted to in the Thirteenth Amendment), and he can still refuse to work. You can kill him, and he can definitely refuse to pay you. Even if some degree of duress or torture will get your money back, that degree may be too unconscionable or impractical to inflict.

Bankruptcy is legal acknowledgement that (1) certain duties to another are too onerous or degrading to oppose on a human being, (2) certain rights are too precious to a human being to be given away, (3) the law cannot effect all verbal affirmations into reality, like a god or magician. In this sense, bankruptcy does not punish irresponsible debtors who think the government will bail them out of their poor spending decisions, but irresponsible creditors who think the government will bail them out of poor business decisions.

For this reason, the proposals to except credit card debt may be unwise. As one NC attorney said in this WaPo article "People would be better off if they stopped paying. They may harass you, but your balance doesn't keep rising. That's the irony." In the end, no matter how many laws the creditor has on its side, a debt from a deadbeat is nothing more than a false hope that he will actually pay.

Who'll Be the Lucky Winner!

2005-03-07T07:13:00.000-08:00

Drudge reports that a blogger will be admitted in the White House Press Corps. It doesn't say if it's a day pass like Gannon has.

Maybe I'll call up and see if I can get in!

UPDATE: Oh please! I never even heard of these N00Bs. This is nothing but a further example of meida self-congratulatory circle-jerkery. This site appears to be nothing more than a temp agency and/or Moose Lodge for journo good-ole-boys. (Notice, however, this doesn't stop the NYT from calling these people bloggers, setting up for themselves another strawman they can feebly knock down.) Instapundit, LGF have much higher traffic and have put a much bigger dent in the body politic. Where the hell is their press pass? Not that they'd even need one. In the 21st century, news is made on the field with real-time reports and digital photos, not by getting pre-prepared quotes from Scott McClellan.

Screwtape Interviews Wormwood

2005-03-06T12:40:00.000-08:00

LGF has up a shameful interview between Bill Maher and Ward Churchill. I feel degraded for even knowing these people exist.

Some observations:

(1) I'm beginning to seriously think that Ward Churchill is a Bipolar Schizophernic, or has some similar mental disease. His whipped demeanor in this interview has little in common with the fiery rants he's given in his "lectures".

(2)Maher seemed like a cross between Bill O'Reilly and Al Frankin: boorish, unfunny conversation-monopolizing, attention-monopolizing, exhibiting poorly thought-out opinions, showing no respect to those around him, and exhibiting a ideology which has loathing of human virtue as it's primary basis. I'm having trouble believing that a grown, sober adult would actually converse with someone in this manner.

When Nerds Relax

2005-03-04T22:01:00.000-08:00

How did I spend a friday night after a long week's work? By correcting Simpsons' trivia on IMDB, of course.

IMDB trivia for The Simpsons said that Springfield is supposedly both 678 miles from Mexico City and 2,653 miles away from Orlando, Florida. However, it is impossible for both of these facts to be true, since the radius of the distance from Mexico City would be wholly contained by the radius of the distance from Orlando--i.e., there is no possible intersecting point. If Springfield is 678 miles from Mexico City, then in order to be a part of the Continental U.S., Springfield could only be in Texas, south of Austin.

I learned how to make these calculations from a webpage about geographic two-dimensional trilateration on this site's information about GPS receivers.

"Balance of Terror"

2005-03-03T00:16:00.000-08:00

Bigwig ponders why, if the federation was so smart, do the Klingons and Romulans have cloaking and they don't.

I posted the following:

I suppose its a reflection on 1950s-60s paranoia about the US/USSR space race. They got in space first. They got a man in space first. They had space ICBM while we only as atmospheric weapons.

Sometimes totalitarian, marshall societies can have technological developments above free ones, but those accomplishments are esoteric, fleeting, and only for show. It takes businessmen to take byzantine scientific knowledge and present it to society at large in paltable, useful forms.

But is it art . . . ?

2005-03-01T18:06:00.000-08:00

I don't know about that, but it's excellent parody.

Three Tries for $1.00 and the Winner Gets a Giant Pink Teddy Bear

2005-02-28T19:13:00.000-08:00

Welcome to all those linked from The Carnival of the Capitalists.

Musicians: You Are Now Obsolete.

2005-02-27T01:32:00.000-08:00

A new (and apparently a rather dark) blogger named Abner Gromble has brought to my attention that computer-generated music is no longer a pipe dream in Ray Kurzweil’s fertile imagination.

What does a Post-modern composer do when he hits a bad string of writer’s block and can't come up with any new tunes. Why, he makes a computer program that makes up music for him! David Cope has actually created software that can compose music in the form of artists like Bach, Beethoven, or Ragtime in the form of Joplin.

A list of his free mp3 computer compositions can be found here. As you'll listen, you'll notice that the music get progressively worse as you go down the list. This is not due to bad programming, but rather due to Cope's rather strange musical style. "Innovation" could easily be confused for 18th century Bach. The faux Beethoven is an obvious ripoff of the moonlight sonata. The Ragtime is nice; ironically and frighteningly reminiscence of a tune a player piano would make. But the rest sounds like Bjork singing to the theme from Planet of the Apes, or rejected cuts from a Tangerine Dream jam session.

Cope's programs are fantastic and show the extent that software design is going to revolutionize society. However, it helps to keep this innovation in context. The program merely takes apart and puts together existing musical patterns. It cannot (yet) make unique music with its own style.

Of all the sounds imaginable, a computer cannot pick on out and say "this is a nice tune". Software cannot discern beauty. More fundamentally, software cannot make the identifications necessary for creativity. Computers cannot say "This exists!", let alone "This is like that", or "This is a sound. This is good music. This sound is the same as good music." In the end, computers still only can know the information we tell them, the initial identifications we make. Or if you're a believer in meme theory, you would say that computers are breeding grounds for memes to replicate, but not for their creation or significant evolution. I don't believe in meme theory, so I say that computers are still nothing more than tools which fashion what the human mind originally envisions.

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day--2/26

2005-02-26T18:28:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day is

The Chewbacca Defense

Internet Bunny Blackmail

2005-02-25T21:24:00.000-08:00

This guy raises some interesting questions. Note that he's holding the rabbit blackmail for $50,000.00, and has already raised $15,000.00.

The tiny libertarian who sits one my left shoulder says "Let him threaten to kill the poor bunny. He's only harm an unconscious creature and parting fools from their money."

Then the tiny social conservative on my right shoulder says "He's threatening to kill an animal, for no good reason, which has some worth in God's scheme of things. Any money he's getting is by duress. Even by objectivist standards of that dead old hag you fawn over, this guy is a 'second-hander' living off the resources of other people, by threats of force."

Then the little libertarian says "You tedious little prick! This guy will encourage a hundred guys do that a hundred times. Then the effect is gone, all without any legislative oversight into the internet or our cooking habits."

Then the little social conservative says "You near-sighted, bomb throwing anarchist! That kind of jadedness will only up the ante on what people will do for money. Next, pregnant women will threaten to abort their kids for payoff money. Meanwhile, those who actually value life will pay through the nose to stop it. It's a transfer of resources from the virtuous to the malicious."

And that's about as far as the conversation proceeds before I scream "Get out of my mind!!" and crawl into fetal position under the desk. That's what you get for trying to think without caffeine.

Hatin' Life about Now

2005-02-25T02:16:00.000-08:00

Here's why I haven't been blogging:

Late last Wednesday night, I woke up and vomited.

Since the vomit was particularly dark brownish, I determined that it was caused by too much soda. So, until I hear from the doctors, I swore of anything carbonated.

I don't drink coffee, so my caffeine intake went down the toilet with said vomit.

That day, waking up from what was left of my fitful sleep, I went to work and came home. Went to sleep again Wedsnesday 7:00pm.

Slept for 11 hours. Woke up at 6:00am and went to work again.

Was beat when I got home again. Went to sleep at 8:00pm for 3 more hours.

Woke up, mulled around a bit, now I'm blogging before sleeping some more.

Life sucks without caffeine.

It also hasn't helped that the weather here sucks. Too far south for beautiful snow, I've instead had days of a slate gray sky pissing on me.

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day--2/23

2005-02-23T01:05:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day is

Reductio ad absurdum

A trickier, but even stronger reduction from the philosophical point of view, because it does not rely on A's accepting that D's opinion is wrong, would be the following.

A — You should respect C's belief, for all beliefs are of equal validity and cannot be denied.
B —

1. I deny that belief of yours and believe it to be invalid.

2. According to your statement, this belief of mine (1) is valid, like all other beliefs.

3. However, your statement also contradicts and invalidates mine, being the exact opposite of it.

4. The conclusions of 2 and 3 are incompatible and contradictory, so your statement is logically absurd.

Ezzo and the Immoral Baby

2005-02-23T00:26:00.000-08:00

Post-Modern Clog talks about Tulipgirl talking about a rather intriguing ~~nutcase~~ child care expert named Gary Ezzo.

From what I can gather, Ezzo’s guide to raising kids is this: don’t feed them whenever they want, spank them liberally, and leave them alone a lot. Anything less will turn them in “selfish” heathens.

I can write pages (and have!) on the use and abuse of the term “selfish”, but Ezzo raises a more fundamental point. In his worldview, nature is unrelated, and may even be antagonistic, to that which is “good”.

A baby is the closest that a human will ever come to being an animal. A baby knows no right or wrong beyond that of its own biological survival. For a baby, that which feels good is good, and that which feels bad is bad. For a baby, there is no search for knowledge or truth—it lacks the capacity for forming that goal, let along obtaining it. For a baby, there is no search for self-esteem—it knows nothing but self.

Of course, a baby can’t survive like this forever. Eventually, he will be exposed to phenomena that feel good, but are detrimental to his well being. Eventually, his wants and cries alone will not be able to provide those wants. Eventually, he will have to interact with others by providing his own wants without interfering with the wants of others. Such is mortality and maturity. Many of us are still working at it. But for a baby, without mind or ability, wants = good. A baby's morality runs on autopilot.

Whether by evolution or intelligence design, we expect, and hope, that such programming is the best way for a child to survive. But this is not the case in Ezzo’s world. One can draw one of two conclusions from Ezzo’s childcare: (1) Babies are “broken” and must be “fixed” by the proper training, or (2) morality has nothing to do with comfortable preservation.

If (1), then children are innately bad, the people they turn into are bad (at least, up until GKGW was published), society is bad, and nature is bad—since that is the root of a child’s desires. Such a message is the broadest view a Christian could take towards original sin—that everything and everyone is evil. That view produces the most misanthropic of Christians and the most virulent criticisms of Christianity. It’s a conclusion that is a stretch far beyond what Genesis 3 says: That man is estranged from God because he tries to be God.

If (2), then quite literally, morality has absolutely no earthly purpose whatsoever. You’re reward for being moral is that you’ll die sooner and go to heaven. Meanwhile, sinful “opportunists” who strive to improve their situation on earth will be rewarded with damnation. This is the other hated school of Christianity: self-loathing flagellants who preach that suffering = good. This view is easily contradict by proper biblical translation and cross-interpretation. “Suffer” in the bible can easily translate in “endure” or “wait”, i.e. keeping focus during bad times. But when “suffering” is used as we use it today, it is always and exclusively used to denote suffering at the hands of unbelievers—persecution and martyrdom. Also, such an enthusiastic view of suffering easily contradicts Jesus’ necessity for love and peace, which each Christian should enjoy liberally. I hate using this metaphor, but in a moral state, a Christian’s worldly station would resemble that of Ned Flanders, highly blessed and loved, but constantly goaded by the Homer Simpsons of the world.

Any way you look at it, Ezzo sees only a malevolent universe, and babies as part of that malevolent universe. In a very real and ontological sense, Ezzo hates newborns. Jesus teaches us to “suffer the little children”. Ezzo, seems determine to invert the word order.

Cut off His Bar Tab, Throw his Coat Outside, and Call Patrick Swayze if He Still Won't Leave

2005-02-22T20:50:00.000-08:00

Maurice Hinchey is no longer fit to be a member of Congress.

His rhetoric has cease to be merely partisan and now borders on paranoid delusion. Despite garnering some headlines or applause from the DU/Kos axis, Hinchey is going to be marginalized and may not win the 2006 primary, let alone a challenge against a Republican.

Th real question now is what his own party is going to do about him. The Democratics are heavily in need of some inter-party discipline. It's quickly becoming the party known for wild conspiracy theories and genetic hatred for anything and anyone conservative or patriotic. Granted, it's common for a minority party to demonize the opposition. To this day, there are many conservatives who consider it undeniable that the Clintons had Vince Foster killed. But with the 21st century Dems, a unique phenomenom is occurring: They're conspiracy theories are becoming their platform. Their moonbats are becoming the party's ruling class, leaving sensible Democrats with nowhere to go but right.

The Democratic leadership needs to make an example of Hinchey. The best they can do is move to expel him from Congress. Also redeeming would be to give him Jim Traficant treatment: deny him any committee seats and disown him from any meaningful role in Congress.

Of course, this won't happen. Even already, the Dems are slow to recognize his behavior. We've seen this play out before; First the blogs speak out, then Drudge, then Fox News, then everybody in the media, then Republicans speak out, while the Democrats put the head in the same hole in the sand they reserve for islamofascism threats.

If this keeps up, they'll be nothing left for the Democrats to build on. If the Republican show weakness, and some charismatic Democratic neo-JFK comes along, he'll lose even in the primary stages by not placating the insane prejudices of moonbats now drunk on power. However, this process may be inevitable. The entire liberal/democratic ideology is based, in one form or another, on reality-aversion. They've worn out the patience of the American people, and after decades of being high on socialist utopian fantasy, their Dems are now starting the DTs.

No Wikipedia Watchword

2005-02-21T23:35:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia is down. For your arcane knowledge needs, try reading a book or calling an old relative.

UPDATE: The Wikipedia appears to be back up.

The New Epidemic

2005-02-21T23:33:00.000-08:00

Democracy is Contagious

"Agnosto Theo"

2005-02-20T23:18:00.000-08:00

The Good SarahK has chosen a rather profound verse for her weekly bible posting.

I said to her:

Those who think that Christianity is somehow backwards, regressive, or superstitious must seriously consider the paradigm shift that Paul offered to the world. Before Jesus, people would earnestly worship stone, wood and metal statues as their gods. Only the Jews knew better (although some Greeks, and maybe some Buddists, were on the right track). Jesus, through Paul, gave to some people the first glimpse of metaphysical truth they’d ever seen in their lives.

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day--2/20/2005

2005-02-20T22:48:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day is

Hygiene

Overheard in Conversation, Part IV

2005-02-20T17:46:00.000-08:00

I’ll bet when you’re flippin'like that, it almost seems like eternity.

---Overheard from a commentator on the Daytona 500 after the 15th lap to go accident.

UPDATE: There was just another crash with 13 laps to go.

Music That Goes On Forever

2005-02-19T20:20:00.000-08:00

Today I listened to Telemann on my way to do some weekend work. I've listened to classical music since I was 16 years old, and before that, there was no music I liked. Hated grunge, hated alternative, really hated (c)rap.
In time I also grew to admire also jazz, bluegrass and classic rock (leaning toward Dionysian, lyrical musicians like Floyd, Zeppelin, or ELP). As a rule, I don't like music if it was made in my lifetime.

Listening to classical music is one of the most profound forms mental liberation you could commit. There is an entire super-culture out there telling you that "if you are ___, then you like will like ____", and that you are an outsider if you do not. With classical, you completely shun the jihading memes of modernity which try to form your being. You say to the world "This music was made by people who lived thousands of miles away, hundreds of years ago, in a culture completely different from mine. It has no words, no image, nor does it emanate from some near-naked teenager or foppish thug whom I'm suppose to ogle or admire. It's mere music produced by human genius, and I listen to it because it is a product of genius, and I'm human enough to recognize that genius. It will sound just as wonderful 1000 years from now as it does now, because human genius is eternal."

Telemann is an especially dirty pleasure. Everyone knows what Mozart or Beethoven sound; they typify their time. Telemann sounds old also, but also has a strange air of modernity to it, like something a computer would write if Ray Kurzweil has his way.

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day--2/19

2005-02-19T19:20:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day is

Riboflavin

Ha ha ha! That's a funny word!

Holy Bloody Crap!!

2005-02-18T19:10:00.000-08:00

I took off of work early due to physical illness. Not "I'm not feeling well. May I have the rest of the day off?" ill, but "Oh my God! What the hell is going on? I need to see a doctor!" ill. Here's a hint for you: It happened in the bathroom, and it's the first time in awhile I've seen that much blood come out of me.

Thankfully, I was able to schedule a doctor's appointment that afternoon. Had bloodwork done, and now have a, how do you say, "evasive procedure" scheduled for two tuesdays from now. I would have thought it the lamest of jokes if someone had woken me up that morning by saying "Don't forget to schedule your colonoscopy with plenty of time the night before for the prescription-strength laxitive to take full effect."

Well, I say we have some fun with this. Let's start a betting pool on what medical condition I have, exactly. To enter, you have to send me $10 paypal dollars. If no one gets it right, I keep the pot to pay for medical expenses. Choose an illness below, or add your own:

Gastroenteritis
Colitis
Food Poisoning
Inflammaory bowel disease
Polyp
Ulcers
~~Anal Sex Injury~~
Crohn's disease
Celiac
Diverticulitis
Cancer
Intussususception
Gastritis

Silver Lining: Since I got the afternoon off, to listen to Rush today.

UPDATE: Bigwig thinketh I protest too much. Hey, if I'm going to have the best blog possible, then I've got to have to hold nothing back, justlike the best writers or talk-radio hosts.

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day--2/17

2005-02-17T21:12:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia Wathcword of the Day is

Beekeeping

Wedded Bloggy Bliss

2005-02-17T20:54:00.000-08:00

Good news over at TIFI: Mr. Suleske has taken a wife (and a rather fine catch, if I dare say so myself).

I've been married for two years and a month, and I love her more than ever. All the sterotypes about marriage have proven to be complete BS. If you love each other and you're each committed to being a good, nice person, then you'll have a happy life. It's the a-holes, who live life with unrealistic expectations of a world they hold in contempt, who get divorced. All the people you can't stand in your public life--those people got to go home to someone.

The Ed Wood of Automobiles

2005-02-17T19:37:00.000-08:00

Damian Penny has an expose on the curious career of Malcolm Bricklin.

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day--2/16

2005-02-16T19:52:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day is:

Bastille

The Parisians released only seven prisoners — four forgers, two lunatics, and a dangerous sexual offender .

Fake Cop Wards off Real Ones

2005-02-16T19:32:00.000-08:00

This ugly-ass giant bust now dons the Police Station of the City of Richmond, Virginia.

(Make sure to see the full slideshow.)

A Richmond columnist proffers the following comments:

I believe the policeman's head would perhaps look better on a giant Pez dispenser and placed in front of the new Shockoe Bottom ballpark.

-AND-

Some words that just jump out upon viewing Headquarters Head are 'sinister,' 'hollow,' 'schizophrenic,' and 'Orwellian.'

Ascethetic atrocites like this are made possible by an obscure city ordinance which says that 1% of city building funds have to be spent on art. This is the law despite the fact that the city is chronically short on money and has a socio-political/economic condition resembling Monrovia, Liberia. Nevermind that the money spent on this thing could've paid for ten real cops who are much more active and nicer looking.

Hopefully, the bust will improve in beauty once the bird start to roost in it and crap all over the thing.

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day--2/15/2005

2005-02-15T07:12:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day is

The Cimmerians

Note the etymological similarities between "Cimmerian" and the biblical "Gomer" (גמר): Gutteral to begin and an "r" to end. Note also the similarities between "Gomer" and "Crom" their god. Perhaps their founder became their deity of worship?

[Insert wordplay on "Drudge" here]

2005-02-14T22:07:00.000-08:00

I just saw Matt Drudge on Hannity & Colmes, Fox News. I was surprised at how disheveled & utterly asymetrical the man looks. His collar was undone and his tie was crooked. He was constantly leaning in to his left, and his hair was parted weirdy to the right. His ears and nose were disproportionately large to his already bulbous head. If you didn't know him, you'd think he had scoliosis or something. He looked like he was rehearsing for Richard III or I, Claudius.

More Mathematical Antics

2005-02-14T21:32:00.000-08:00

Add the following:

111111 x 111111

The answer is surprising:

123454321

Give the Gift of Bandwidth

2005-02-14T19:29:00.000-08:00

Lucky Then, Lucky Now

Happy
Valentine's Day, Ginger. You're the best, most wonderful wife a guy
could ever have. In me, you saw what no one else saw. In you, I saw
what I never knew existed. Since I've met you, you've brought me joy
every day of my life. And for every day of that life, I will happily be
your valentine.

Rabbits are Good, but Lizards are Better

2005-02-14T00:46:00.000-08:00

The site meter tells the story. On Friday, I get linked by Bigwig links to me and I get over 100 links. On Saturday night, I post a simple link on LGF's Open Topic thread and I get over 200 links. Thank you both, and to viewers from both for caring.

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day--2/14

2005-02-14T00:43:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia Watchword of the day is

The Silk Road

Few people travelled down the entire length of the silk road. Instead traders moved products much like a bucket brigade. . . .

Space Cadets on Board Columbia

2005-02-14T00:37:00.000-08:00

"This is the most unbalanced university I have come across when it comes to issues related to the Middle East."

Columbia, when Alan Dershowitz thinks you're too liberal, you've got a problem.

Digital Augury

2005-02-13T02:32:00.000-08:00

This is really fucking creepy. I'm skeptical, but nonetheless intrigued.

Hat Tip to "reader" commenting on LGF

Fun With the Number 9

2005-02-13T02:16:00.000-08:00

I hope this isn't a sign that I'm running out of blog material, but the best thing I can think about writing is some fun (?!) mathematical tricks.

Consider the following:

All ten digits, from lowest to highest:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

All ten digits, from highest to lowest:

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

What do you get when you put them together;

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Multiples of Nine!

Even weirder, when you add up all the digits of a multiple of nine, you get a multiple of nine.

For Example:

9 x 14 = 126. 1 + 2 + 6 = 9

9 x 4258 = 38322. 3 + 8 + 3 + 2 + 2 = 18

9 x 2156754862 = 19410793758. 1 + 9 + 4 + 1 + 0 + 7 + 9 + 3 + 7 + 5 + 8 = 54

Now I got to go wash out my pocket protector for the big D & D game tomorrow. Bye.

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day--2/12

2005-02-12T19:01:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day is

Harper Lee

Hrakalanche!

2005-02-11T22:37:00.000-08:00

Apparently, the radiowaves I've been beaming over North Carolina have been working. Silflay Hraka saw fit to link to the post below, due to the ever so subtle mental cues in my email to him. Since this morning, links to this sight have been in the hundreds! Three-figures I tell you!!

In return (1) He's now on my blogroll, and (2) I'll keep the below promise

Watership Dune: A dissent group of rabbits colonize the desert planet Arakis and are exposed to the psycho-stimulative drug melange, which gives them power to formulate their own language and communicate with seagulls and giant sandworms. Their leader, Hazel Atreides, then wages a relentless jihad against the infamous Baron Woundwort to both seize his female does and monopolize the intergalactic spice trade.

Enough fooling around. I've got to print up more "campaign material" to ship to Ukraine.

UPDATE: My God! What have I begun!!!

How to Brainwash Your Co-Workers (. . . maybe)

2005-02-11T01:10:00.000-08:00

Having trouble at work? Want your colleagues to like you? Do you want to make ornery co-workers become your bidding slaves? The follow these easy instructions to send subliminal messages to your co-workers:

(1) Open Microsoft Word

(2) Go to the "Watermark" feature, usually in the "Format" menu of the latest versions of MS Word.

(3) Choose "Add Watermark". Then type in the subliminal message you want to give, e.g. "GIVE RAISE". I prefer using all caps, and one-syllable words.

(4) Custom change the color of the watermark to a very faint gray. I find that (253,253,253) is the safest, yet most latently visible.

(5) Print out a few hundred copies of these "blank" pages which have the faint watermark -OR- Print out groups of 20-30 pages several times over the course of the day.

(6) Put the blank pages back into the printer tray. NOTE: Depending on how your printer rolls off documents, you may have to put the watermark in face down so that the watermark is face up.

(7) Now, whenever your co-workers print out a document, their subconscious will absorb the phrase.

___________________
Opinions vary on the effectiveness of subliminal messages, or if this form of subliminal messaging works. The best empirical evidence of subliminal messaging I've seen comes from the new book Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell, where he cites the successful efforts of a professor to make his test subjects feel old, polite, or rude by carefully placed words in a red-herring test. However, this form of subliminal message takes a completely different form the kind I suggest.

However, I knew a guy who did the experiment. For a week week, in the above described process, he placed the subliminal message "WEAR ORANGE" on everyone's paper. Before he started, he noticed virtually no one wearing orange. Later, some of his co-workers wear orange, or colors like orange, such as certain browns or yellow and red together. For me, it's evidence, but not conclusive evidence. Personal observations could be biased, or the phenomena may be explained by an upturn in the temperature that week.

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day--2/10

2005-02-10T01:05:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day is

Logical Fallacy

Next Up: Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig Colonize Planet Arakis

2005-02-09T23:58:00.000-08:00

To this list, they need to add the following:

Ender Shrugged: A race of collectivist aliens threatens to
destroy Earth as all our Earth's finest starfighters go on strike
against the world's emerging socialist order, latently ruled by 10 year
old Peter Wiggin. His plucky younger sister, railroad mogul and
conservative ideologue Valentine, seeks our her long lost brother and
"strike leader", the rumored Ender Galt. Will Ender be man's destroyer
or liberator? Will Valentine destroy the company she loves, or join
forces with the boy she has sworn to destroy?

Wahh Wahh!! 9/11!! Give Me Money to Spend!!

2005-02-09T17:51:00.000-08:00

Baltimore Mayor Compares Budget Pork Cuts to 9/11 Attacks

Later, Mayor O'Malley issued this statement:

Years ago, terrorist smashed a plane into the World Trade Center. They did that because that was the best way to take away what gave us pride. Today, the car company repossessed my Cadillac for failing to make my car payments. And with a tow truck of terrorism, GMAC is dragging away what gives me pride. They are impounding the very core of my being!

UPDATE: Now it's "Wahh!! Wahh!! Now the vast right wing conspiracy is targeting me for supposed infidelity, all because I demonized the President's budget plans as terrorism."

Over at FreeRepublic, one poster did indicate that blog discussed the mayor's infidelity . . . about 8 months before the current story broke! Hmmm. If I had to guess, the mayor is now using this window of opportunity to clear the air about the infidelity by blaming it on conservaive rumormongering and those damn undependable weblogs.

BTW: Get a load of the picture, too. He sure has the Bill Clinton pity look down!

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day--2/9/2005

2005-02-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day is

Epistemology

Plato's Theaetetus defined knowledge as justified true belief.

The Weakest Links

2005-02-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

See the dissonance between these two graphs?

-AND-

Apparently,when I registered with Pro Life Blogs a bunch of sites automatically linked to me, which I didn't know would happen. I visted a sample of them. Some were unimpressive, others had been dead for months. I see no reason to republish that same blogroll; I only link to sites I personally visit frequently and/or find interesting. If I ever get unlinked by them because of that, then so be it.

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day--2/8/2004

2005-02-08T01:39:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day is

Declension

rex, regis, regi, regem, rege, reges, regum, regibus, reges, regibus

/showing off

Godblogging Homework

2005-02-08T01:26:00.000-08:00

Pursuant to Mr. Devine's advice, I took some time tonight at Barnes & Noble to read ~~Satan's Necronomicon~~ Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen to see what the fuss was all about. Although I still don't know that, I got about fifty pages into Pastor Osteen's book and skimmed through the rest (which continues in the same vein as the beginning), and now have some solid basis for an opinion on the man and his teachings.

First, his books appears to be intended for those already Christians, rather than those who are not. Otherwise, his multiple references to God and scripture would be premature and irrelevant. Thus you could defend Osteen's saccharine preaching as being the result of an overestimation of his audience; he thinks that they are already saved and that they now need uplifting and encouragement. Arguably not a bad evangelism strategy, considering that most Americans (and Texans!) think of themselves as Christian in some sense. Rather than say "You're not a Christian, and this is what you have to do to be one," he's saying "Since you're a Christian, this is what you're entitled to". I'll repeat, since I don't know what other teaching goes on in his 30,000 member church, I'm in no position to judge his doctrine or his evangelistic methods in totality. Yet it's very likely, nay probable, that Osteen's televised books and sermons may very well be a sweet appetizer to prepare his parishioners for a meatier entree.

But if Osteen is going to be legitimately criticized for anything, it's the "mind or matter" conclusions you can draw from his teachings. You can criticize the Kantian trend that has most plagued modern Christianity, that somehow faith, good thoughts, good will, and/or prayer alone will cause blessings for the believer. You can look at positive thinking two ways: (1) God created you, and if you think the right thoughts toward God, he will create for you a universe where you are happy, or (2) God created you, and God created the universe for you, and if you think the right thoughts towards both God and His universe, then you will operate in that universe the way God intended, and you will be happy. Put more bluntly, we come to Ayn Rand's old question--Are man's thoughts the subject or the object of the universe around him? Not surprisingly, Osteen doesn’t answer that deep philosophical question in his easy-to-understand book with lots of encouragement and simple sermon stories. But that question must be answered if a Christian is to have a true, healthy understanding of God and his world. That Osteen wouldn't answer that question, and would leave some of his flock to believe that they could simply wish away their problems with no overt action, is genuine grounds for criticism.

Yet Osteen's mistakes, if any, are omissions and not errors. They're ground to build on, rather than reasons for reproach. If Osteen has 30,000 parishioners and thousands more TV viewers believing that God is good and wants to bless them, its a huge achievement and not grounds for complaint.

When Enough Monkeys Seize Frank J.'s Keyboard for Enough Time

2005-02-07T19:27:00.000-08:00

So - and I'm not saying this is necessarily true - it looks like humanity is just a byproduct of an elaborate sting operation on the devil. Pretty heavy, huh?

Frank J. is the classic example class clown who hides extreme intelligence behind piss-in-your-pants humor.

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day--2/7/05

2005-02-07T07:14:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia Watchword of the Day is

yogurt

Adventures in Canadian Cyberspace

2005-02-06T18:17:00.000-08:00

Quotulatiousness noticed me trolling around Damian Penny's blog and liked what I had to say. Since he's into quotations, maybe someone should tell him about my Overheard in Conversation series.

Overheard in Conversation, Part III

2005-02-06T18:08:00.000-08:00

Smiley Preaching Provokes Scowling Criticism

2005-02-06T17:57:00.000-08:00

Internet Monk really really doesn't approve of Joel Osteen. He's the pastor of Lakewood Church, one of the Southern/Texas "magechurches" which claims a congregation in the thousands. I use to watch John Osteen on TBN, have seen Joel a few times. I thought them both good preachers, though not necessarily great. In other words, I'm knowledgeable, but not an expert, on Osteen.

Internet Monk asks the blogosphere to "devote at least one substantial post to outing Joel Osteen." In response, I offer the following:

(1) Internet Monk seems to be complaining about sins of omission, so to speak: Osteen is not a real pastor, he's not preaching a complete gospel. I'm skeptical that he's actually doing or teaching anything apostate.

(2) This church has supposedly 30,000 people. In my experiences with televised megachurches, alot goes on behind the scenes that isn't on TV, bible studies, cell groups, Sunday schools, etc. which nurture a congregation in more "meaty" doctrine.

(3) Internet Monk gives away alot by his collateral criticism of TBN, "Faith Movement" evangelist. This struck a chord with me. I came to the Lord by watching these shows and learned volumes of sound Christian doctrine and apologetics through these preachers. Yes, they preach prosperity doctrine, but there's alot more that they teach. Salvation by faith doctrine, indwelling of the holy spirit doctrine, bible-based morality doctrine, are all products of their teachings. In time, I included prosperity doctrine with other philosophical and spiritual principals: i.e God has created a benevolent universe for us, and can and will bless his children, but not without their objective recognition of and action in his universe; God prepared the conditions for our prosperity, and will prepare us to attain it and receive it, but God will not directly cause our prosperity.

(4) Although Internet Monk distinguishes between Osteen and "faith movement" preachers, his criticism of the latter appears to be based on the same animus. To Internet Monk, Osteen's doctrinal omissions, or perhaps slight mistakes, make him apostate. From what I can tell from his churches fundamental doctrine--found on his website--I'm not prepared to call him apostate.

(5) It's also suspect that Internet Monk is spending time critiquing a church to which he does not belong and which does not affect him. Granted, most blogosphere discourse is based on subjects with which were not directly involved. But with Internet Monk, it seems personal

I want to challenge the Christian Blogosphere to devote at least one substantial post to outing Joel Osteen. Why is a man who doesn't preach the gospel the most popular preacher in America? Are we going to take note of what kind of message is going to be identified as building the largest church in America? In short, who in the blogosphere is willing to stand up and say "Joel Osteen's message of positive thinking as a way to God's favor isn't the Christian Gospel."

Internet Monk wants Joel Osteen to change or go away. Why? If he's not explicitly contradicting what I believe, why should I stop him? If he's preaching an incomplete gospel, doesn't that give other evangelists a chance to complete it? There's a real puritanical, bridgeburning jihadist tone to what Internet Monk is proposing, that other people's beliefs affect the quality of his own spiritual world. Respectful to my brother in Christ, I take a different tack.

UPDATE:

Mr. Spencer's claims that he does not want Joel Osteen to "change or go away". He has a very odd way of showing it.

Suppose you're a regular bible-believing Christian. You hear a preacher whom you believe to be a "Christian", not preaching incorrect doctrine. Yet you find his preaching to be milquetoast, not focusing enough on morally guidelines or non-subjective Christian principles.

Most of you would acknowledge that preacher's ministry, but favor another preacher instead, and use the Wall Street Rule/Vote-With-Your-Feet Principle: i.e. don't listen to the sermon. But not Mr. Spencer, who literally believes it is his God-given mission in life to criticize other Christians. He insist that we all start a blog-campaign criticising Pastor Osteen for what he's not doing, and that what he's not doing is somehow watering-down Christianity.

He says of Osteen: He will represent evangelicalism with his big smile and a message that would make Screwtape shout "Amen! Preach it brother." . . .It makes me angry and I want to do something." If he wants to do something, then why doesn't he rent out the Compaq Center and preach it the right way?

I, for one, am not going to criticize great people, who do great things, for not doing them greater. I'm not going to nitpick the soul-saving preaching of God's word
with Adrian Monk obsessive-compulsiveness. Nothing but good can come from 30,000 people attending non-heretical Christian church on Sunday morning, even if it isn't as much good as Mr. Spencer would prefer God to produce for him.