DYSPEPSIA GENERATION

We have seen the future, and it sucks.

Archive for December, 2007

Synthetic DNA on the Brink of Yielding New Life Forms

18th December 2007

Read it. This could be very weird.

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Bolivia Breaks Into White And Indian Pieces

18th December 2007

Read it. Devolution — with a vengeance.

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The right to keep and bear adjuncts

18th December 2007

Read it. Parsing the Second Amendment. Who knew there were so many obsessive-compulsive grammarians out there?

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Illegal Immigration and local government finance

18th December 2007

Read it.

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Desperately seeking the Jerusalem Syndrome

18th December 2007

Read it.

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Deirdre McCloskey Endorses The Wisdom of Repugnance; or, Too Many Damn Steves!

18th December 2007

Steve Sailer has the sort of enemies that make a man proud.

Personally, I’d consider my life a raging success to be mentioned in the same group with Stephen Pinker. But that’s me.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Deirdre McCloskey Endorses The Wisdom of Repugnance; or, Too Many Damn Steves!

Virtual Cable nav system superimposes route guidance on your windshield in 3D

18th December 2007

Read it. I believe Asimov wrote about this in on of his Foundation novels.

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Killings of Journalists Hit a High In 2007

18th December 2007

Read it. Note that the only people complaining about this are journalists.

Perhaps we could juice up the numbers by offering a bounty.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Killings of Journalists Hit a High In 2007

For Men, Luxury Regains Its Edge

18th December 2007

Read it. A proper gentleman is shaved by his valet, of course, not by some grubby tradesman.

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FBI, CIA Debate Significance of Terror Suspect

18th December 2007

Read it. And this discussion is happening on the pages of the Washington Post.

I wonder what it’s like to live in a country where law enforcement and intelligence agencies actually have a clue?

And your tax dollars are paying for all this. Enjoy.

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The Top Ten Stupid Criminals of 2007

18th December 2007

Read it. Where Jonah Goldberg finds this stuff I have no idea.

Posted in You can't make this stuff up. | Comments Off on The Top Ten Stupid Criminals of 2007

Google Embracing Unintentional Crowdsourcing

18th December 2007

Read it. No, I don’t understand it either. But it sounds important.

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Wave power to be put to use in California

18th December 2007

Read it. This is actually a very clever idea.

Posted in Is this a great country, or what? | Comments Off on Wave power to be put to use in California

We Already Suffer From The Paradox Of Choice, Now We’re Paralyzed By The Ubiquity Of User Reviews

18th December 2007

Read it. In case you didn’t have enough to worry about already.

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Cartoon Jihadis Attempted Mass Murder

18th December 2007

Read it. My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.

Posted in Living with Islam. | Comments Off on Cartoon Jihadis Attempted Mass Murder

U.N. Finds Fraud, Mismanagement in Peacekeeping

18th December 2007

Read it. I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked.

I wonder when the people of the world are going to wake up to the fact that the UN is just a sort of international Tammany Hall?

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on U.N. Finds Fraud, Mismanagement in Peacekeeping

This Is Not Your Land Anymore

18th December 2007

Read it. And ponder that there is no conceptual difference between this and what Democrats want to do to your wallet through taxation. “Well, we think it would be more useful doing something else, so we’ll just take it.”

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On The Market Dominant Minority Revolt In Bolivia

18th December 2007

Read it. Once again, a case of the world turned upside down — or, at least, it’s upside down from the viewpoint of the current mythology.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on On The Market Dominant Minority Revolt In Bolivia

A Stanton For the Saudis

18th December 2007

Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post reacts to the Saudi woman who was sentenced to be whipped after getting gang-raped.

“A court in country X sentenced a black man who had been severely beaten by white men to six months in jail and 200 lashes.” How would you react if you read that in a newspaper?

Presumably not with the sort of well-after-all-that-is-a-different-culture vaporings that permeate the People of the Crust.

Posted in Living with Islam. | Comments Off on A Stanton For the Saudis

The consequences of outsourcing

18th December 2007

This, from a colleague of my wife’s:

I got depressed last night so I called a hotline.

I was connected to a call center in Pakistan.

I told them I was feeling suicidal.

They got all excited and asked whether I could drive a truck.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The consequences of outsourcing

Gays Living in Shadows of New Iraq

18th December 2007

Read it. And, of course, that’s the most important issue of the day.

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1999 A.D. Controversy

18th December 2007

Read it. This is very interesting. I would not have thought that people in 1967 could be that prescient.

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The Language Indicator: If You Want To Stay On Top Of Technology, You Need To Speak Chinese

18th December 2007

Read it. An interesting perspective. I must confess that I have no clue as to how one would go about doing a “search” in an ideogrammatic language, but I suppose there must be some way of doing so.

Which brings up another thought: Since Chinese characters are ideograms rather than syllabary, it ought to be possible to read and write “Chinese” without actually knowing one of the (mutually unintelligible) “Chinese” dialects. Hmmm.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The Language Indicator: If You Want To Stay On Top Of Technology, You Need To Speak Chinese

Nanosolar begins shipping “world’s lowest-cost solar panel”

18th December 2007

Read it. While AlGore postures and the socialists attempt to return to a pre-industrial world, there are some who are actually trying to solve the problem.

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Death Cult Child Abuse in Britain

18th December 2007

Read it. My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.

Posted in Living with Islam. | Comments Off on Death Cult Child Abuse in Britain

Against Moneyball Medicine

18th December 2007

Read it. Perhaps doctors aren’t as knowledgeable about the practice of medicine as they’d like us to believe.

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Terrorism and the Times: What’s Not Fit To Print

18th December 2007

Read it.

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Navy Notches a Win in War on Pirates

18th December 2007

Read it. Probably just Presbyterians trying to make a living.

Posted in Living with Islam. | 1 Comment »

Why Do Serial Killers Vastly Outnumber Vigilantes?

18th December 2007

Read it. Perhaps because the Left thinks of serial killers as victims and thus objects of pity, whereas it reacts to “vigilantes” (i.e. anybody attempting to defend himself against, say, a serial killer) with shock and horror?

That’s just a guess, of course.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Why Do Serial Killers Vastly Outnumber Vigilantes?

‘God’s Basic Training’ Coming Under Fire

18th December 2007

Read it. Now, if they spoke Arabic, they could get money from the UN.

Considering the anti-religious bias evident in most aspects of modern culture, I’m surprised it took this long to surface.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on ‘God’s Basic Training’ Coming Under Fire

Twilight of the Books

18th December 2007

Read it. Is reading dead? If you think so, what are you doing here?

The unspoken assumption of this article (and who would think anything else of the New Yorker?) “reading” means “reading literary fiction”, in which (of course) Brahmin rags like the New Yorker have a natural interest.

But the reading needed to operate computers is in fine shape; in fact, the Internet has led to a great revival of reading among those who would otherwise be sitting slack-jawed in front of the Toob.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Twilight of the Books

At the Body, Mind, and Spirit Expo

18th December 2007

Read it. It’s good that we have these things to get all of the flakes in one room where they can be identified.

Posted in You can't make this stuff up. | 1 Comment »

Researchers create light-based quantum circuit that does math

18th December 2007

Read it.

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Intelligence Failure

18th December 2007

Read it.

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Demand curves slope downward, even in the humanities

18th December 2007

Read it. Market incentives work, even in the most unlikely places.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Demand curves slope downward, even in the humanities

Ex-CAIR Member Forms New Group to Suppress Criticism

18th December 2007

Read it. The one talent Muslims seem to have is the ability to wind up the usual useful idiots like a cheap watch.

Posted in Living with Islam. | Comments Off on Ex-CAIR Member Forms New Group to Suppress Criticism

Massive Terrorist Windfall

18th December 2007

Read it. Just in case you were wondering where your money is going. I know I was.

Posted in Living with Islam. | 1 Comment »

The best sentence I read today

18th December 2007

Tyler Cowan makes his pick.

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Dark Ages Moment of the Day

18th December 2007

Read it. Your future, if we keep on the way we’re going.

Posted in Living with Islam. | Comments Off on Dark Ages Moment of the Day

Your future, if things don’t change

18th December 2007

Read it.

Posted in Living with Islam. | Comments Off on Your future, if things don’t change

Academic Intimidation

18th December 2007

Thomas Sowell hears the sounds of chickens coming home to roost.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Academic Intimidation

Spending bill shrinks border fence

18th December 2007

Read it. Millions for earmarks, but pocket change to control illegal immigration. Thanks, Democrat Congress.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | 1 Comment »

‘Megan’s Law’ killer escapes death under N.J. execution ban

17th December 2007

Read it.

The man who raped and killed 7-year-old Megan Kanka — the 1994 crime that inspired “Megan’s Law” — is one of eight men whose sentences were commuted to life in prison this week as part of New Jersey’s new ban on execution.

So what happens when he gets out on parole or work-release or some technicality and rapes and murders some other kid? Will any of these legislators apologize? Of course it doesn’t matter — they had the best of intentions, and (as we all know) intentions substitute for effective action on a 10-for-1 basis.

They will now serve life in prison without parole, according to the governor’s office.

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

Timmendequas had twice been convicted of sex crimes — on 5- and 7-year-olds — before he murdered Megan.

Well, that’s all right then.

“It’s a day of progress for the state of New Jersey and for the millions of people across our nation and around the globe who reject the death penalty as a moral or practical response to the grievous, even heinous, crime of murder,” Corzine said.

Yup, that it is, that it is.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | 1 Comment »

When Judges Get Generous

17th December 2007

Read it. Statism creeps in on little cat feet….

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on When Judges Get Generous

A Civilian Partner for Our Troops

17th December 2007

Read it. It has bipartisan support, so of course it will go nowhere, because it doesn’t favor an identifiable interest enough to build a constituency to ensure funding. (Except the common good, of course, but you see how few are interested in that.)

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Getting rid prepositions

17th December 2007

Read it. More fun Language Log.

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What have you done with God’s ear?

17th December 2007

Read it.

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Thoughts on Religion and Politics

17th December 2007

Rod Dreher shows up every now and then to give us his views.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Thoughts on Religion and Politics

Dimensions, metaphors, and prepositions

16th December 2007

Read it. More preposition week at Language Log.

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In the car, on the bus

16th December 2007

Read it. It’s apparently preposition week at Language Log.

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