Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Meathead
A Harvard professor, Harvey Mansfield, notes that on Archie Bunker, Archie's son-in-law's college major was sociology. Archie's name for him was Meathead for his "fatuous opinions."
What's on your TV?
Ben Shapiro's book, Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV, looks interesting. But I already knew that.
Where's Jason?
I've been a reader of the Tolbert Report on Arkansas politics. His blog has been down for several days. What has happened to Jason Tolbert?
Monday, May 30, 2011
Jim Tressel resigned
Jim Tressel has resigned as head football coach at Ohio State. He had a tattoo-parlor scandal going on but ignored it so that his players could play in the Sugar Bowl and not suffer any consequences until next year. Ohio State beat Arkansas 31-26.
See also here.
See also here.
Sarah's Rolling Thunder
Sarah Palin's Rolling Thunder pictures. Looking good. What other candidate could have done that?
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Crime decline demographics
The demographics of the great crime decline. Part of it is very simple. We are aging and mellowing out.
Geeks rule!
LAT: What makes geeks outsiders in high school makes them stars in real life. Glenn Reynolds adds this:
If high school is an environment that systematically punishes traits that lead to success in the real world, then why not abolish high school? As institutions, they don’t do a very good job of teaching math and history. If they also punish traits linked to innovation then what exactly are high schools good for?I'm beginning to wonder what college is for?
Unexpectedly shocked!
Michael Barone: The pro-Obama media is shocked, I tell you, unexpectedly shocked, by bad economic news.
Women in combat
Five myths about women in combat. Well, they have been in combat before, even in ancient times. Remember Debra from the Bible?
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Blackbeard's anchor
Blackbeard's anchor has been discovered off the North Carolina coast. His name was Edward Teach (1680-1718) and his ship was the Queen Anne's Revenge.
The end of the mail
The collapse of the U.S. Postal Service is imminent.
The volume of first-class mail is less than junk mail. When that happens I don't know how I will pay bills because I don't like to pay online.
The volume of first-class mail is less than junk mail. When that happens I don't know how I will pay bills because I don't like to pay online.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Why business is not hiring
Stephen Carter explains why his company is not hiring.
The man in the aisle seat is trying to tell me why he refuses to hire anybody. His business is successful, he says, as the 737 cruises smoothly eastward. Demand for his product is up. But he still won’t hire.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t know how much it will cost,” he explains. “How can I hire new workers today, when I don’t know how much they will cost me tomorrow?”
He’s referring not to wages, but to regulation: He has no way of telling what new rules will go into effect when. His business, although it covers several states, operates on low margins. He can’t afford to take the chance of losing what little profit there is to the next round of regulatory changes. And so he’s hiring nobody until he has some certainty about cost.
This is the same problem that caused the Depression to continue for a decade. You can assume that health-care costs are a primary worry.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Have older folks gone Republican? | Arkansas News
John Brummett ponders why seniors shifted their votes in 2008 to the GOP. They have generally supported the Dems because of Social Security and Medicare. But seniors now tend to vote Republican. Why? Brummett has his opinion, but I think the reason was health care reform, which was financed in part by cuts in Medicare. This issue hit seniors hard. One of my continual problems is the need to deal with health insurance issues. Everyone knows that both Social Security and Medicare are in serious trouble, but the Democrats don't seem anxious to agree on any kind of fix. You may remember also that Obama made no effort to hide his dislike for Medicare Advantage plans.
The Democrats have clearly over-sold their welfare state, and people realize now that it can't be maintained indefinitely.
The Democrats have clearly over-sold their welfare state, and people realize now that it can't be maintained indefinitely.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Get paid for NOT attending college
The Thiel Fellowship has paid 24 talented students $100,000 not to attend college. Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, wants to develop the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. They don't need any diversity training or left-wing gobbledygook.
Advice to graduate students: join the Army
Inside Higher Ed give advice to potential PhDs: There are no jobs.
In the previous spirit of making lists, let me then offer the following advice to tomorrow’s potential Ph.D.s:This advice is brutal, but good.
1. Don’t go to graduate school. Because so many young people are seeking sanctuary from the rampant unemployment of the broader job market, the number of graduate students has increased, while the number of jobs for them has withered. You have a better chance of publishing a successful novel than you do of landing a tenure‐track position. Better get to writing!
2. If you do decide to pursue graduate studies, remember that you are playing a numbers game. Like British soldiers sent to Gallipoli in 1915, only a few of you will make it out alive. If you are keen on heroism, perhaps you will have the stamina to stick things out. But never forget — bullets, like the job market, are indifferent to your courage. You had better don some serious armor.
3. Realize that you occupy the lowest rung of the ladder. The real reason research institutions have graduate programs is because tenured faculty don’t want to teach lower‐division courses. Your "career as a burgeoning intellectual" is in fact a barely concealed sham in which tenured fat cats chuckle at your bustling naïveté.
4. Know your enemies. They are everyone. You and your "graduate student colleagues" are a smelly pack of famished mongrels tearing at each other’s throats for paltry scraps; your professors are the bourgeois slave drivers and elites that they themselves warned you about in that class on "Critical
Theory." Begin to suspect that the leftist virtue of the university conceals a system of privilege and good‐ole‐boyism every bit as sordid as the Corporate America you went to graduate school to avoid.
5. Join the Army. You can be an officer, and you’re guaranteed to receive a monthly salary, good benefits, and great deals on car rentals for the rest of your life. The only risk is that you might get killed.
And above all — keep writing. Consider the endless volumes of soporific rubbish that academics produce every year, and focus your energies on writing something that people will actually enjoy reading. You might even get lucky and write a bestseller. Then you can send a copy to those wicked committee members who tried to goad you into suicide.
The humanities is a sinking ship, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
My advice is to strap your life preserver on tight; the ocean is vast, cold, and full of terrible creatures, but better to be devoured by beasts than to drown with crazies.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Herman Cain on His 2012 Chances
Herman Cain believes he is the last person the mainstream media want to see run against Obama.
But he is running for president and believes he can win. I heard him speak on TV Sunday and I liked him.
But he is running for president and believes he can win. I heard him speak on TV Sunday and I liked him.
UFO Crash Roswell N.M. - Annie Jacobsen Area 51 - Popular Mechanics
Popular Mechanics: Was the Roswell UFO in Area 51 a Soviet hoax? PM has done some good investigative article lately. This is an interview with Annie Jacobsen who's new book, Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base was the subject of a recent TV documentary.
I have not read the book but am highly suspicious of the alleged role of the Soviet Union in this story.
I have not read the book but am highly suspicious of the alleged role of the Soviet Union in this story.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Flipping the switch on technology
I came across this book and ordered it from my library: Eric Brende, Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology. But I'm not ready for a full dose of no technology.
Book Review: The Last Gunfight - WSJ.com
The WSJ reviews a new book on Wyatt Earp and the OK Corral gunfight. But final answers remain as elusive as ever. The point that the Old West was not as violent as it is depicted in movies and old TV shots is not new by any means.
I recommend Robert Dykstra, The Cattle Towns. If I recall correctly, he shows that Dodge City and other cattle towns were relative peaceful. The gunfight image is a movie myth.
Since my graduate school past, I've learned that most of what I learned in graduate history courses about the late nineteenth century was nonsense.
With some exceptions, most shootouts did not involve middle-of-the-street gunfights as depicted in movies. Ambushes were more in vogue, naturally. Safer that way, LOL.
I recommend Robert Dykstra, The Cattle Towns. If I recall correctly, he shows that Dodge City and other cattle towns were relative peaceful. The gunfight image is a movie myth.
Since my graduate school past, I've learned that most of what I learned in graduate history courses about the late nineteenth century was nonsense.
With some exceptions, most shootouts did not involve middle-of-the-street gunfights as depicted in movies. Ambushes were more in vogue, naturally. Safer that way, LOL.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Dear Congress: No
Dear Congress: Your credit application has been turned down.
“Our records indicate that your annual income for the 2011 taxable year was $2,170,000,000,000. You have requested a credit limit of $17,000,000,000,000. These figures exceed the American Public’s debt-to-income guidelines for credit issuance.”
“Our records indicate that your annual income for the 2011 taxable year was $2,170,000,000,000. You have requested a credit limit of $17,000,000,000,000. These figures exceed the American Public’s debt-to-income guidelines for credit issuance.”
Friday, May 20, 2011
Krauthammer on Obama's Mid-East policy
Krauthammer on Obama's endorsing the 1967 lines as the basis of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
What Obama did today is something that no American president has ever done, which is to endorse the return to the 1967 lines, which … would reduce Israel to a country with a waist eight miles wide.Now, the reason this is odd is because you would expect it would be at least in return for something. But the Palestinians in the two and a half years of this administration have not offered anything as a concession to the Israelis. [Palestinian leader] Mahmoud Abbas has boycotted the negotiations. And then, a few weeks ago he joins in a government with Hamas, which is dedicated to the extermination of Israel. In return for all of those anti-Israel gestures [by Abbas], Obama makes the biggest concession [to the Palestinians] of the entire Arab-Israeli negotiations in 50 years.
E-book sales beat printed books
Amazon is selling more e-books than printed books. Well, I'm buying both types, but I am beginning to prefer e-books. When you finish a printed book, what do you do with it? Shelve it, toss it, give it away? I don't like to shelve books anymore. That's what libraries are for. I have no room.
Arkansas can end desegregation funding
Federal Judge Brian Miller handed down a huge ruling yesterday. He said the three Pulaski County, Arkansas, school district are sufficiently unified that state desegregation funding, which amounts to $70 million a year, can be ended. The reaction as far as I can tell from press reports is consternation on the part of all parties. Nobody knows what this will actually mean, because the funds were used for all kinds of things besides reducing segregation, which in fact ended years and years ago.
See the ADG's article here, thought the printed paper has more detail. See Miller's ruling here (PDF file).
Judge Miller, who described himself as a middle-aged black man, ruled that the state funding actually provided the school districts with an incentive for not fully complying with the desegregation order. If they did, their extra funding would be cut off. Exactly so. Obviously this was the opposite of what was intended. Typical, right?
Quoting Judge Miller:
See the ADG's article here, thought the printed paper has more detail. See Miller's ruling here (PDF file).
Judge Miller, who described himself as a middle-aged black man, ruled that the state funding actually provided the school districts with an incentive for not fully complying with the desegregation order. If they did, their extra funding would be cut off. Exactly so. Obviously this was the opposite of what was intended. Typical, right?
Quoting Judge Miller:
The problem with this process is that it results in an absurd outcome in which the districts are rewarded with extra money from the state if they fail to comply with their desegregation plans and they face having their funds cut by the state if they act in good faith and comply.Max Brantley sums up comments here.
It seems that the State of Arkansas is using a carrot and stick approach with these districts but that the districts are wise mules that have learned how to eat the carrot and sit down on the job.
Family Circle on the "value" of college
Family Circle: Is college really worth it? Read it on the link or pick it up at your grocery store. If Family Circle is asking this question, higher ed better look out. It reminds me of how flood waters erode a levee from underneath, creating sand boils.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Western Civ courses in decline
Report: Western Civilizations courses are no longer in colleges or universities. I've seen that myself. The course is often called World Civ. or something. We have to be multi-cultural, of course.
The Depression in color
Released: Rare color photographs of the Great Depression.
This is a group of the familiar Farm Security Administration photographs, nothing more.
The color is nice, but remember that in evaluating photographic evidence, they are always subject to selection as is any other kind of evidence. In other words, you can use photos to show whatever you want to show. It just depends on which ones are selected.
This is a group of the familiar Farm Security Administration photographs, nothing more.
The color is nice, but remember that in evaluating photographic evidence, they are always subject to selection as is any other kind of evidence. In other words, you can use photos to show whatever you want to show. It just depends on which ones are selected.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Who's cheaper? Target or Wal-Mart?
A study claims that Target is cheaper than Wal-Mart. I don't know because I don't shop at Target that much. Wal-Mart is closer.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
A chicken in every pot, a laptop for every homeless person
With Newt Gingrich in the presidential race, I can't help but recall his proposal in 1995 that every homeless person should be given a laptop and lifted out of poverty. I thought that was a stupid idea then as well as now. What possible use would they have for a laptop? Never mind that the poor today have cell phones -- they are not homeless. What made people homeless to start with? They'd just hock them for drugs.
And don't assume that the laptops would connect them to the Internet, because the internet was a new thing at that time.
And don't assume that the laptops would connect them to the Internet, because the internet was a new thing at that time.
The link above supports the idea but a quick search shows that this story is making the rounds on the Internet and is embarrassing to Gingrich.
We need better enemies, lol
Here's an off-beat view: America has been in a slump for a long time. We just can’t get our act together and be the shining city on the hill we used to be, and I think a big part of that is terrorists. Not terrorism; terrorists — in that they are our big enemy right now. The fact is, to achieve great heights, America needs a great villain to overcome, and as long as our big enemy is a bunch of primitive thugs servicing themselves in barren compounds, we’re going to be stuck in a rut.
With Huckabee out, voters look for a likable candidate | Byron York | Politics | Washington Examiner
Byron York: A look at former candidate Huckabee.
Monday, May 16, 2011
May 21, end of world
Since the world is going to end on May 21, I think I will put off everything until then.
Ford Crossover Being Investigated for Unintended Acceleration
Fox News reports that the Ford Freestyle, a crossover type vehicle, has experienced unexpected acceleration at low speeds. For example if the air conditioning comes on, engine speed increases to compensate. Last year a similar problem was big news when it happened to the Toyota Prius, but that is not mentioned in this article. Toyota apologized, paid a huge fine, bla, bla.
Trump is out!
FoxNews reports that Donald Trump will not run for president in 2012. He gave no reason that I've heard.
New mysteries
If you are looking for new mysteries and thrillers to read -- and I usually am -- see this Amazon list.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
John Fleming on Anti-Communist Manifestos
Power Line: John Fleming's new book The Anti-Communist Manifestos: Four Books That Shaped the Cold War (2009) is fascinating. One of the books he discusses is Whittaker Chambers' Witness, a book that I read (well, in part, because of time constraints). Years ago, I recall, vaguely, professors who put it down, and I later found out they were wrong. As you may know, Chambers testified against Alger Hiss before the HUAC.
George Will on the 2012 presidential winner
George Will has narrowed it down for us. "'This is the most open scramble on the Republican side since 1940 when Wendell Willkie came out of the woodwork and swept the field,' Will said. 'I think — people are complaining this is not off to a brisk start. I think that’s wrong. I think we know with reasonable certainty that standing up there on the West front of the Capitol on Jan. 20, 2013 will be one of three people: Obama, [former Minnesota Gov. Tim] Pawlenty and [Indiana Gov. Mitch] Daniels. I think that’s it.'"
Note: No Palin, no Gingrich, no Romney. Not even Ryan.
See video here.
Note: No Palin, no Gingrich, no Romney. Not even Ryan.
See video here.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Huckabee won't run
Mike Huckabee announced on his TV show this evening that he won't run for president in 2012.
Morganza Spillway to open
The Morganza Spillway will be opened today, flooding a large area on the west side of the Mississippi River. This action is intended to divert flood waters from Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
This floodway will send water down the Atchafalaya River toward Morgan City and into the Gulf. Flood control measures will then have been taken on both sides of the river.
This floodway will send water down the Atchafalaya River toward Morgan City and into the Gulf. Flood control measures will then have been taken on both sides of the river.
Friday, May 13, 2011
No front runner
Michael Barone: There is no Republican front runner, not even Romney. I certainly hope not.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
They await downstream
The situation along the Mississippi River between Vicksburg and New Orleans is increasingly scary. It seems like that the Army Corps of Engineers will open the Morganza Spillway to reduce pressure on the levees at Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
FEMA: give the money back
AP: FEMA has started to ask people to return the disaster aid they received from the agency. Talk about ridiculous.
Rolling down to the Gulf 2
The flooded Mississippi River continues to roll on down river.
Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez, Baton Rouge, New Orleans.
Memphis, Vicksburg, Natchez, Baton Rouge, New Orleans.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Opening the Bonnet Carre Spillway
Sunday, May 8, 2011
This is going to be embrassing
Your neighbor: “I don’t know how else to say this, but the fogged glass in your shower window isn’t as fogged as you might think it is.”
Rent control woes
Because of rent control, San Francisco, one of the most difficult places in the country to find a place to live, has 31,000 vacant housing units as landlords give up.
Thomas Sowell has long complained about rent control in San Francisco and elsewhere.
Thomas Sowell has long complained about rent control in San Francisco and elsewhere.
It is the same story when housing prices are controlled by government. Rent control has allowed some people to take up more housing space than they would if they had to pay the full price that reflects other people’s demand for housing.I like this line:
The net result, whether in New York or San Francisco or elsewhere, is a lot of apartments with just one person living in each, and lots of families who cannot find a vacant place to move into. Housing shortages have resulted from rent control in cities around the world.
Housing shortages mean that some people are forced to live far from their jobs and commute, and some become homeless on the street. Homelessness tends to be greater in cities with rent control — New York and San Francisco again being classic examples.
Economists have long been saying that there is no free lunch but politicians get elected by promising free lunches. Controlling prices creates the illusion of free lunches.
Not what they used to be
Yahoo Sports: The top 10 sporting events that are not what they once were. At No. 1 is the Kentucky Derby, and based on yesterday's race, I agree. Maybe my horse lost.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Imams taken off Delta flight
Two Muslims were taken off a Delta flights at Memphis, Tennessee. The pilot and some of the passengers were uncomfortable.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Bin Laden's last seconds
New details on the death of bin Laden. The Navy Seals went in with the intention of killing him. They missed the first shot, killed him with the second. He had an AK-47 in the room.
WSJ: What if supermarkets were organized like public schools?
Teachers unions and their political allies argue that market forces can't supply quality education. According to them, only our existing system—politicized and monopolistic—will do the trick. Yet Americans would find that approach ludicrous if applied to other vital goods or services.
Suppose that groceries were supplied in the same way as K-12 education. Residents of each county would pay taxes on their properties. Nearly half of those tax revenues would then be spent by government officials to build and operate supermarkets. Each family would be assigned to a particular supermarket according to its home address. And each family would get its weekly allotment of groceries—"for free"—from its neighborhood public supermarket.
No family would be permitted to get groceries from a public supermarket outside of its district. Fortunately, though, thanks to a Supreme Court decision, families would be free to shop at private supermarkets that charge directly for the groceries they offer. Private-supermarket families, however, would receive no reductions in their property taxes.
Rolling down to the Gulf
The Mississippi River flood is rolling down to the Gulf. The tributaries are flooding as well. The White River is above flood stage in several towns and flood waters have closed a section of Interstate 40, one of the nation's busiest highways. The affected area is located between Hazen and Brinkley in both directions.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Smaller car sales
AP: With gas at nearly $4.00 a gallon or more, people are buying more small, fuel-efficient cars. But some Toyota and Honda models are still in short supply
Geronimo EKIA
AP: In the end, Osama bin Laden, who liked to pose with an AK-47, did not have a gun when Navy Seals shot him in the head. Apparently it was just a stage prop anyway.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Mississippi River flooding
The Lower Mississippi River is facing the worst flooding since 1937 or perhaps 1926. See map here. The Army Corps of Engineers blew up a levee to save Cairo, Ill. from flooding, but the diversion of water threatens farms, crops, and livelihoods in Missouri. As they say, water's got to go somewhere.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Bin Laden is dead
Osama bin Laden is dead, the AP reports.
Would not want to miss that news. My internet was down yesterday, so I had to learn about it the old fashioned way: from a printed newspaper thrown on my porch this morning.
Would not want to miss that news. My internet was down yesterday, so I had to learn about it the old fashioned way: from a printed newspaper thrown on my porch this morning.
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