Friday, October 21. 2005
The Origin of Music Fascinating subject, fascinating review of a doubtless fascinating, speculative book by Mithen on the origins of music: "...late in evolutionary history, as pressures for complex social living increased, our own true, compositional language emerged from Hmmmm. Sentences were now made up of words, which in turn were comprised of infinitely-recombinable segments. Once this transition was completed, what was left of Hmmmm? Primarily, music. No longer needed for daily Hmmmm communication, music developed for others uses, first and foremost in the supernatural realm: “With the emergence of religious belief, music became the principal means of communicating with the gods.” " Read entire scholarly review by King
Bush is no conservative, says Auster Fox hunting returns to England - with owls? FMFT Islam OK in schools. Christianity is not. And I know why - because the Islamic stuff is condescending PC pandering, and the Christianity might be real. Repubs to cut spending? Shocking - what a startling new idea. The Scrapple-Dude version, and the other version. Is Homeland Security Porkland Security? Duh. Mugabe welcome at the UN? Powerline
The definition of "neurotic" behavior is to keep doing the same thing, while each time expecting a different result. Anon.
Thursday, October 20. 2005
What were the Irish Sweepstakes? I know they were a big deal in NY through the 50s - illegal gambling but fully tolerated by the mainly Irish law enforcement of NYC. Answer here.
Malkin with a Miers update. sounds bad. Beirut, Remembered...at Paxety
The War against Bush The Dems have been on a ruthless and relentless campaign to destroy the Bush administration since the first election. As unseemly as it has been, it's not much worse than the shameful efforts to destroy Clinton. In my opinion, there is loyal opposition, and there is war. Politics can be rough, but it shouldn't descend to war, because it is bad for the country, sets an ugly example, and turns people off to the issues. Steyn addresses this ongoing war, and its failures: Any port in a storm, especially after the storm has passed. I said in the Telegraph the other day that the minute Hurricane Katrina hit, the media started scampering around like Munchkins singing ‘Ding Dong, The Bush Is Dead’. They always do, and it always fails. In terms of destroying Bush and the Republicans, Katrina was a total bust. In so far as it has any political impact, it’s likely to make Louisiana less Democrat. That’s it. So the problem remains: how to slay Bush. And if this last week is anything to go by, it looks like Democrats are going to be denied that pleasure...
Read entire.
Gun Control: Truth and Myth The Gun Protection Bill will pass. By Stossel, a fine piece: "I wanted to know why the laws weren't working, so I asked the experts. "I'm not going in the store to buy no gun," said one maximum-security inmate in New Jersey. "So, I could care less if they had a background check or not." "There's guns everywhere," said another inmate. "If you got money, you can get a gun." Talking to prisoners about guns emphasizes a few key lessons. First, criminals don't obey the law. (That's why we call them "criminals.") Second, no law can repeal the law of supply and demand. If there's money to be made selling something, someone will sell it." Read entire.
Sheehan goes after Hillary. Bad idea. The new IEDs in Iraq. Jane's Swimming dinosaur in Colorado Steele scaring Dems in Maryland Carville and Greenberg at a loss: How to leverage Repub weakness into Dem success? Am. Spectator Bush vows to send every illegal home. Let's hold him to it. Here. A history of the saxaphone. I mean saxophone. Wetlands politics in DC. CSM
Tell Ol' Bill
(by Dylan, new unpublished lyrics - used in the movie North Country - but as transcribed by someone with better ears than I have. I think this extraordinary folk-country tune can be found on i-tunes, but not certain.) The river whispers in my ear
I've hardly a penny to my name
The heavens they never seemed so near
All of my body glows with flame
The tempest struggles in the air
And [or: Unto] to myself alone I sing
It could sink me then and there
I can hear the echoes ring
I try to find one smiling face
To drive the shadow from my head
I'm stranded in this nameless place
Lying restless in a heavy bed
Tell me straight out if you will
Why must you torture me within
Why must you come down from your high hill
Throw my fate to the clouds and wind
Far away in a silent land
Secret thoughts are hard to bear [or "bare" would make sense too]
Remember me, you'll understand
Emotions we can never share
Continue reading "Thursday Dylan Lyrics"
Wednesday, October 19. 2005
Jesse Ventura was elected so why shouldn't Argentina elect a cabaret star to their congress. Politicians are actors, aren't they?  (washington post)
Casan's current touring show is titled "The Fund Can Wait," a reference to the International Monetary Fund and its demands for measures to reduce inflation and debt. A Serious Message May Get a Serious Diva Into Argentine Congress
Iraq Summary Excellent summary of the elections, what is really going on there, and why Leftists want freedom to fail in Iraq. No Oil
Colleges to Avoid Mike Adams, Part One and Part Two
Something Sweet from Africa The music of Youssou N'Dour. I own some and highly recommend. Review here.
Newspaper screw-ups Washington Times (Nyhan) and Washington Post (LGF)
I found some interesting statistics: 25% of search engine requests are for porn.
12% of websites are porn sites.
8% of all emails are porn-related (2.5 billion/day)
Number of websites offering illegal child porn: 116,000
Adults admitting to an internet sexual addiction: 10%
Male/female breakdown of porn site visitors: 72%/28%
People admitting to visiting porn sites at work: 20% Alas, no blogger can compete with the power of raw animal instinct, can they? One can only envy their website traffic. More numbers and stats here. Interesting numbers, accurate or not, but can anything be said about them, other than that there are lots of people who are looking to have their sexual imaginations stimulated in a fairly effortless way? Which is a true "Duh." Depending on one's degree of mental inhibition (which is highly variable from person to person), people commonly and routinely experience every sort of sexual fantasy, including the bizarre, deviant, uncomfortable, and immoral, so, in a sense, the brain is the ultimate porn site as decreed by the amoral laws of biology. (As the old joke goes: What is the dirtiest part of a person? The brain. Or the modern version: The brain is the primary erogenous zone.) Is inhibition of sexual thoughts and fantasy good or bad, healthy or unhealthy? Neither - these are just personality differences and differences of choice (in the sense of choice of what thoughts one is willing to welcome and to entertain), generally speaking. There is a lot to be said for "thought control," but only when it is self-administered. Mind you, we are talking about fantasy here - not action. Turning fantasy into action is an entirely different subject, because many, if not most, ideas and images are best left in the mental realm where consequences are few (other than shame or guilt about one's wicked or wierd thoughts, which is also normal), assuming that one has a modicum of post-adolescent judgement, maturity, and self-control. After all, we aren't ordinary animals and we can make choices. But enjoying porn isn't action, really. Do sexual thoughts occupy and distract people's minds more than they like to admit in "studies"? For sure. Is it "sick" to use porn sites as a fantasy aid? No, not intrinsically, but if any human behavior is compulsive, including golf or chess, it could be a problem or a symptom. Can it be a poor substitute for real human interaction? Sure, but not everyone is a South Beach party-gal or -guy - thank God. Is it harmless fun? Probably, except when it's predatory, of course, which is not only evil but can be illegal... and that last group of 20% had better watch out - they could lose their jobs if Big Brother is watching. Is porn a little sad and lonely? Sure. Does it feel a little sleazy? Sure - it feels like slumming to most people. Is porn morally and spiritually pure from a Christian standpoint? Well, that's outside my jurisdiction today, but it's not an unreasonable subject for a lively discussion. (Photo: If I could remember where I found that photo, I'd credit the clever person. All that the keyboard lacks is a Maggie's Farm button.)
Is Bird Flu over-hyped? Some say yes. Thanks, Prof. Bainbridge. Protecting the Internet from the UN: Atlas Wilma update. Most powerful storm ever in the Atlantic. Headed for Florida: Storm Track
Not very quotable, but a powerful and provocative statement from Teddy Roosevelt: "Defenders of the short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things sometimes seek to champion them by saying the 'the game belongs to the people.' So it does; and not merely to the people now alive, but to the unborn people. The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wild life and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method."
Tuesday, October 18. 2005
Europe will spend 15 BILLION dollars and 15 years to finish this railway. I wonder what that kind of money and time commitment could do in Africa for the AIDS program, doesn't matter though as the Americans have assumed that responsibility as well. read further here:http://www.travelwirenews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000061/006161-p.htm "Look Ma I'm on top of the world," read more on the world's tallest railway in China: Click here: http://www.travelwirenews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000061/006162-p.htm Wilma: This is not a misprint, I repeat not a misprint. As Wilma looms, the 20 something hurricane of the season, Marriott announces you can reserve your room at one of 12 hotels in the city of New Orleans on November 1. I suppose the first exciting tourist event will be to watch the locals evacuate again. for more on this strange human phenomenon, read here: Click here: New Page 1
Sarbanes-Oxley It is a settled axiom in common law that “bad cases make bad law”. The same applies today. Sarbanes-Oxley is not only bad law, it will be a handicap to America’s competitiveness in the world markets, just as the hundreds of thousands of EU regulations are strangling European businesses. A prime example appeared in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, in an article titled “Living with Sarbanes-Oxley”. The article said: “Dow started its compliance efforts in mid-2003 by scrutinizing access to computer systems. It then went on to examine inventory-counting procedures at big warehouses and management's ability to question large accounting expenses, as well as profit targets in top offices. Targets that were too high could create pressure for managers to cook the books.” It is clear from the Refco and Wood River scandals this Fall that managers inclined to cook books will cook books for their own reasons – personal civil and criminal liability will deter those they can; the others will not be found by SarBox “controls”. What we have just seen here is that it in now illegal for a public company in the United States to set aggressive profit goals. Isn’t that great? the EU has shot itself in both feet, so in the US we must put on leg-irons with a ball & chain, guilty and innocent alike. The economic implications of that simple prohibition chill the blood.
Hey, Bird Dog, You must think you have some fancy intellectual blog for the elite and deep thinkers, etc., but let me tell you that you are just dreaming. The oppressed, victimized masses of America don't care about E.H. Gombrich or fly fishing or Iraq or chain saws or birds or the Constitution. They just want some free health care and some financial security and some retirement and gay marriage and free organic government food supplies and free gas and electric and cable, while you go on and on about freedom and the wonders of life and creation, in your biased and undemocratic and wacko Christian way. People like you are the problem with this country and the reason America is such a mess while your "evil Cuba" continues to be a wonderful place to live in from what I hear, and it's what we are trying to re-create here in Vermont. When we Dems take over from you Nazis we will tax your types into the stone age, and that will put an end to your enjoyment of "God's creation." You Maggie's Farmers are just a bunch of self-satisfied oil-intoxicated Jesus-loving war-mongering fast-living capitalist pigs. Anonymous, in Burlington, VT Dear Anonymous, Ouch. You got me where it hurts. Give me a few minutes to re-think all of my beliefs and opinions. But, while I am doing so, why don't you get a job? You emailed me at 10:23 this morning...did you just wake up? Sincerely, Bird Dog (Editor Dog-in-Chief)
Dylan Download Of The Day Dylan may have left the most outspoken part of his so-called "born-again period" behind in the early 1980s, but he continued to perform many of the songs from his three most religious albums well into the 1990s. Today's selection from the vaults is a 1994 performance of "In The Garden," off "Saved," an album of explicitly-Christian gospel songs that has been received with everything from harsh criticism to glowing praise since it came out in 1980. Even if you aren't a believer, however, you should still be able to appreciate the sheer naked honesty of Dylan's vocal performance of the song, as moving to my ears as any choral hymn ever composed by Isaac Watts or Charles Wesley. Get the MP3 of the November 1994 performance at the link found here. Buy the original album here. (The Dylanologist should add that readers will never find copyrighted versions of Bob Dylan songs available on Maggie's Farm: everything we provide is taken from audience recordings of live performances or else unreleased studio work. Our hope is that hearing these commercially unavailable recordings will expose the listener to a vitally important side of Dylan's craft and encourage the purchase of albums and concert tickets.)
Drunken Quail Hunting Mix drinking with shooting: an online game, here.
Bad Calls in baseball, and in life From Cafe Hayek: Perfect justice means an infinite number of cameras with an infinite number of umpires conferring for an infinite amount of time to get it right. And you would have to examine every play not just dramatic ones. That is not an ideal, it's a curse. It is the same force that partly explains our litigiousness and regulatory zeal. Every inequality must be redressed. Taken to an extreme, such a worldview inevitably puts more power in the hands of the arbiters (lawyers and politicians and umpires) at the expense of the other participants, including the fans. It also changes the incentives. It encourages participants to put in effort at pleasing or avoiding the arbiters in ways that are unhealthy.
Read entire. He is right, of course, but do not ever discount the enjoyable righteous indignation in booing a bad call. That's part of the fun of the game.
Constitution: Dead or Alive? Balkin has a piece in Slate claiming that no-one really believes in a dead, or static, Constitution. I think he's made a straw man here to make some points, but it's an interesting piece: The specific metaphor of a living, evolving Constitution arose in the 1920s to explain how a broad view of federal power that came with World War I (and later, the New Deal) was consistent with the American constitutional tradition. The Constitution's words, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote in 1920, "called into life a being" whose "development … could not have been foreseen completely by the most gifted of its begetters." Hence we must interpret our Constitution "in the light of our whole experience and not merely in that of what was said a hundred years ago."
Read entire.
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