DYSPEPSIA GENERATION

We have seen the future, and it sucks.

Archive for August, 2007

Bill of Rights for Australia?

31st August 2007

Tim Blair is dubious. But he has some suggestions nevertheless.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Bill of Rights for Australia?

A Map of the Internet’s Black Holes

31st August 2007

Read it. Note that almost all of the “black holes” are either Muslim or Communist.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on A Map of the Internet’s Black Holes

At I.B.M., a Vacation Anytime, or Maybe None

31st August 2007

Read it. A trend? Maybe so, maybe not. But not the sort of thing your local small business can indulge in.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on At I.B.M., a Vacation Anytime, or Maybe None

Neurons Grown In Microfluidic Chambers

31st August 2007

Read it. The hits just keep on comin’.

Posted in Is this a great country, or what? | Comments Off on Neurons Grown In Microfluidic Chambers

The Ethics of Book Abuse

31st August 2007

Read it. In case you were wondering. I know I was.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on The Ethics of Book Abuse

Support Illegal Immigrants–Eat More Fiber!

31st August 2007

Read it. A disturbing take on an underappreciated problem.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Support Illegal Immigrants–Eat More Fiber!

Slouching Towards Utopia? The Economic World of the Twentieth Century: Chapter 7.2: The World in 1900: Poverty

31st August 2007

Read it. Funny how much better we’re doing now than we were back in AlGore’s Preferred Environment.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Slouching Towards Utopia? The Economic World of the Twentieth Century: Chapter 7.2: The World in 1900: Poverty

China Says Its Military Not a Threat

31st August 2007

Read it. And if you believe that one, they’ll tell you another one.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on China Says Its Military Not a Threat

Court Rules That Anti-Spyware Companies Can Call Spyware Spyware

31st August 2007

Read it. It’s good to see the legal system stumble into some sense every now and then.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Court Rules That Anti-Spyware Companies Can Call Spyware Spyware

20 percent left behind

31st August 2007

Read it. You can lead a kid to knowledge, but you can’t make him think.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on 20 percent left behind

Taliban: ‘We Have Found This Way to Be Successful’

30th August 2007

Read it. Straight from the horse’s mouth.

Posted in Living with Islam. | Comments Off on Taliban: ‘We Have Found This Way to Be Successful’

Marines’ Trials in Iraq Killings Are Withering

30th August 2007

Read it. That’s what happens when politically-motivated prosecutions run up against a reasonable legal system. Eventually you have to have some proof.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Marines’ Trials in Iraq Killings Are Withering

Funding the X-Prize

30th August 2007

Read it. Sometimes listening to the experts is a bad thing.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Funding the X-Prize

How Doctors Think They Think

30th August 2007

Read it. I’ve got this book on order and haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but this critique seems to be right on the money.

In How Doctors Think, doctors tell us how simply spending more time with patients, asking open-ended rather than close-ended questions, reading “body language,” including patients’ emotions in the picture, etc., improves their diagnostic ability. How much impact do these factors have on diagnostic ability? Do they actually have any impact at all? These questions place Groopman’s book on shaky ground, for his evidence consists primarily of unrepresentative and mostly irrelevant testimonials in which doctors describe various atypical diagnostic adventures they’ve had, and how they think they either emerged victorious or dropped the ball. The problem is, this does not tell us anything about how doctors think, only how they think they think.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on How Doctors Think They Think

How much inequality growth is due to cross-firm productivity dispersion?

30th August 2007

Read it. And don’t let the jargon scare you off; it’s explained fairly well, and an interesting notion.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on How much inequality growth is due to cross-firm productivity dispersion?

The state is not a stable eleemosynary institution

30th August 2007

Mencius Moldbug. Need I say more? Budget some time for this one.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The state is not a stable eleemosynary institution

A brief terminology adjustment

30th August 2007

Mencius Moldbug is at it again.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on A brief terminology adjustment

The quiet revolution: telecommuting

30th August 2007

Read it.

Nick Gillespie of Reason magazine is a big fan: “Maintaining a virtual office has its drawbacks but so does having to see the goddamned people you work with every goddamn day.” I would have to agree.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The quiet revolution: telecommuting

New Comic Strip

30th August 2007

We have a new comic strip, Stone Soup, thanks to the guys at Language Log. See the sidebar.

Posted in News You Can Use. | 1 Comment »

“UAT Instructor Creates Cuneiform and Hieroglyphic Translator”

30th August 2007

Read it. My, how useful.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on “UAT Instructor Creates Cuneiform and Hieroglyphic Translator”

Our Life Expectancy Due To Old Men Seducing Young Women?

30th August 2007

Read it. Everything bad is good for you.

I’m waiting for somebody to do a study about the anti-evolutionary effects of radical feminism.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Our Life Expectancy Due To Old Men Seducing Young Women?

Climate Complications

30th August 2007

Read it. I’ve cited the Dyson article before, making much the same points. I have to join David in being a “humanist” as opposed to “naturalist”.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Climate Complications

People Consume More Calories In Supposedly Healthier Restaurants?

30th August 2007

Read it. Funny how everybody knows what you ought to eat — and how much — except you. It’s like the Monty Python sketch with “the machine that goes Ping!”, where the pregnant woman who is there to deliver a child says, “What do I do?”, and the doctor answers with a smile, “You don’t do anything, dear — you’re not qualified!”.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on People Consume More Calories In Supposedly Healthier Restaurants?

The Big Easy’s Billion Dollar Boondoggle

30th August 2007

Read it. Well, Democrats cost more now than they used to.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on The Big Easy’s Billion Dollar Boondoggle

AFL-CIO and ACLU sue Homeland Security

30th August 2007

Read it. And see if you can make more sense out of it than I can.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on AFL-CIO and ACLU sue Homeland Security

Date With the Executioner for Murder by Someone Else

29th August 2007

Read it.

Well, no. The crime of “murder” is defined by the law. Texas law says that if you’re a perp involved in a crime and somebody dies, you’re a murderer. By participating in a crime that resulted in murder, this guy became a murderer.

This “felony murder rule” has been a part of the Anglosphere common law since the 12th century. Before the socialists took over in Britain, robbers out for a job would search each other first to make sure than none of them was armed, just to avoid this particular happenstance — so the system worked.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Date With the Executioner for Murder by Someone Else

Gov is not Great: How Democratic Fundamentalism Poisons Everything

29th August 2007

Read it. Had I know that economists had this much fun, I’d have studied harder.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Gov is not Great: How Democratic Fundamentalism Poisons Everything

Pentagon Nixes Ray Gun Weapon in Iraq

29th August 2007

Read it. Sometimes you have to wonder which side our government is on.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Pentagon Nixes Ray Gun Weapon in Iraq

London-Based Arab Editor: I’ll Dance in Trafalgar Square When Iran Nukes Israel

29th August 2007

Read it. But where will he dance when Israel nukes Iran back?

Posted in Living with Islam. | Comments Off on London-Based Arab Editor: I’ll Dance in Trafalgar Square When Iran Nukes Israel

Edible Films With Superpowers

29th August 2007

Read it. Wait until they get sued because it isn’t organic and causes ADHD in laboratory rats. Oh, and it probably causes global warming, too. If we can only connect it to the Iraq war, we’ll be home free.

Posted in Is this a great country, or what? | Comments Off on Edible Films With Superpowers

Trying to Connect the Dinner Plate to Climate Change

29th August 2007

Read it. No, telling AlGore “Bite Me” doesn’t count.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Trying to Connect the Dinner Plate to Climate Change

The Return of the Old Gods: A Challenge to Green Evangelicals

29th August 2007

Read it. No, this is not a parody.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on The Return of the Old Gods: A Challenge to Green Evangelicals

Breaching America: A sequel

29th August 2007

Read it. And sometimes “enforcement” doesn’t work.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Breaching America: A sequel

Bartering Up to a Better Life

29th August 2007

Read it. Canadians would be all right if they just got in touch with their inner American.

Posted in Is this a great country, or what? | Comments Off on Bartering Up to a Better Life

A winning argument in la la land

29th August 2007

Read it. I wonder if you have to pay admission to cross the California state line?

Posted in You can't make this stuff up. | Comments Off on A winning argument in la la land

Governor Refuses Blame in 35 Hurricane Deaths

29th August 2007

Read it. The new Democrat party motto: “It’s always somebody else’s fault, probably George W Bush”.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Governor Refuses Blame in 35 Hurricane Deaths

Botox Appointments Faster Than for Moles, Study Finds

29th August 2007

Read it. The simple answer is that dermatologists compete with other specialist doctors for Botox shots, while they only compete with other dermatologists for mole evaluations. Obviously some of them are competing on the basis of service as well as price.

These people wouldn’t know a free market if it bit them in the butt — and if they did recognize it, they’d try to kill it.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Botox Appointments Faster Than for Moles, Study Finds

Illinois: Lesbian Is a Finalist for Bishop

29th August 2007

Read it. Wonder how she’ll do in the swimsuit competition.

Episcopalian, of course. Wonder if they every thought about auditioning for Saturday Night Live? They’ve got the parody of a Christian church part down pat.

Posted in You can't make this stuff up. | Comments Off on Illinois: Lesbian Is a Finalist for Bishop

Ohio: Illegal Immigrants Held

29th August 2007

Read it. I guess enforcement works. Of course, we can expect the usual weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Ohio: Illegal Immigrants Held

CEO pay: 364 times more than workers

29th August 2007

Read it. And so what? If I’m making good money, what do I care that somebody else is making more? Even a whole lot more? I’m not responsible for hundreds of billions of shareholder money, either.

This is an obvious attempt to stir up envy among those (and there are many) who are, in this Self-Esteem Age, just convinced that they’re worth about ten times what they actually are. The Communist News Network strikes again.

Posted in Whose turn is it to be the victim? | 1 Comment »

The theology of popular economics

29th August 2007

Read it. Perhaps you didn’t think that non-fiction books had an implicit theology. Well, you’d be wrong, bookstore breath.

I have a copy of Discover Your Inner Economist, and, although I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet, I’ve glanced through it and look forward to digging into it at some point in My Copious Free Time.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The theology of popular economics

Calorie Restriction Boosts Cell Components Recycling

29th August 2007

Read it. In case you were wondering. I know I was.

The problem with the whole “calorie restriction” thesis is that I don’t see any thin poor people living longer than fat rich people. But maybe it’s just me.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Calorie Restriction Boosts Cell Components Recycling

Dress Like Your Child, and the Terrorists Win

29th August 2007

Read it. You can almost hear the sneer. Unfortunately for The Pinhead William Grimes, he’s wrong and she’s right.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | 2 Comments »

The British Isles Inside Borneo

28th August 2007

Read it. More than you ever really wanted to know about Borneo. But the map is cool.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The British Isles Inside Borneo

Nowak Plans Insanity Defense

28th August 2007

Read it. Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. (And they wanted to send this chick into space? Are there no shrinks on NASA’s staff?)

Posted in Is this a great country, or what? | 1 Comment »

Apple’s locked iPhones the subject of new class-action suit

28th August 2007

Read it. Hey, this is America — don’t like something? Sue somebody.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Apple’s locked iPhones the subject of new class-action suit

Through Analysis, Gut Reaction Gains Credibility

28th August 2007

Read it. So the “Yuck!” reaction to homosexuality may have something behind it. (“No, no, we didn’t mean that…!”)

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Through Analysis, Gut Reaction Gains Credibility

Overcoming Squeamishness

28th August 2007

Read it. Aside from misspelling “squeamish”, he presents an interesting question.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Overcoming Squeamishness

Spies on the Roof of the World

28th August 2007

Read it. These articles appear infrequently but they are almost always, as advertised, damn interesting.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Spies on the Roof of the World

Collaborators in a Quest for Human Perfection

28th August 2007

Read it. I find it curious how quickly the People of the Crust rush to conclude that a brilliant scientist has somehow gone horribly wrong when he does something or comes out with an idea that doesn’t fit their a priori worldview. It never occurs to them that perhaps he was being consistently brilliant and right and they are being inconsistent and possibly wrong.

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