Monday, June 30. 2008
As quoted at Evangelical Outpost from an interview with the superb Roger Scruton, titled The Market and Human Nature: MG: What deleterious consequences result from the "free market ideology" you mention? Are there particular economic arrangements that conservatives ought to prefer? Scruton: The free market is a necessary part of any stable community, and the arguments for maintaining it as the core of economic life were unanswerably set out by Ludwig von Mises. Hayek developed the arguments further, in order to offer a general defense of "spontaneous order", as the means to produce and maintain socially necessary knowledge. As Hayek points out, there are many varieties of spontaneous order that exemplify the epistemic virtues that he values: the common law is one of them, so too is ordinary morality. The problem for conservatism is to reconcile the many and often conflicting demands that these various forms of life impose on us. The free-market ideologues take one instance of spontaneous order, and erect it into a prescription for all the others. They ask us to believe that the free exchange of commodities is the model for all social interaction. But many of our most important forms of life involve withdrawing what we value from the market: sexual morality is an obvious instance, city planning another. (America has failed abysmally in both those respects, of course.) Looked at from the anthropological point of view religion can be seen as an elaborate (and spontaneous) way in which communities remove what is most precious to them (i.e. all that concerns the creation and reproduction of community) from the erosion of the market. A cultural conservative, such as I am, supports that enterprise. I would put the point in terms that echo Burke and Chesterton: the free market provides the optimal solution to the competition among the living for scarce resources; but when applied to the goods in which the dead and the unborn have an interest (sex, for instance) it wastes what must be saved.
Hayek's concept of "spontaneous order" is what knocks me out. The world is manifestly full of that kind of mysterious order, from the nature of the cosmos to human nature (aka "design" as opposed to chaos), and I'd love to post a lengthy riff on that enticing topic - but it's too late tonight and I avoid discussing transcendent issues here on Ye olde Blogge. So, instead, I'll post of photo from our men's Bible study group's prayer-and-cocktails-and-sunset dinner-and-cigar outing tonight, down on Long Island Sound. The very existence of our group is an example of "spontaneous order," one tiny example of the order in the universe which I believe to be a manifestation of God. I wish I could post a photo of this cheery, self-disparaging, Christ-centered and humorous group, each one waving a fine ceegar with a glass of wine in his hand - but I wouldn't do that. Nice boat. Thanks, bro, for taking us all out on the water tonight. The sea brings me close to Christ. It reminds me of how much of Scripture takes place on or near the water. 
 Pic: Average student at Dr. Mercury's Computer Bed & Breakfast School For Wanton Women, blatantly stolen from Theo who had a much better picture than I did for last Saturday's computer lesson — that rat!
In the comments to Saturday's lesson on images, a couple of doods mentioned the free GIMP program. From what I can tell, GIMP stands for "Gastro-Intestinal Monetary Paralysis", or the feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you see the $649 price tag for Photoshop.
Actually, it stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program, with GNU being the open-source UNIX-like operating system developed back in the 80's. It and SourceForge have produced a number of excellent free programs over the years and, of the sixty-odd free video programs I have on my own site, probably half of them are GNU or SourceForge.
Bottom Line: While a little odd, GIMP is an excellent graphics program and does all the 'trick' things, like smudging and freehand selection, that big bad Photoshop does. Download it here. Click on 'Downloads' then grab just the program, don't bother with the 'Installer'. Don't panic when it takes forever to run the first time.
On the other hand, you'll probably have a heart attack the first time it opens, so perhaps you'd better take a sec and...
Continue reading "Doc's Computin' Tips: the GIMP graphics studio"
Part 3 of Sowell's The Imitators series begins like this: Some of the people who are most adamant against outsourcing economic activity from the United States to other countries often seem to think we should outsource our foreign policy to "world opinion" or act only in conjunction "with our NATO allies." Like so many things that are said when it comes to public policy, there is very little attention paid to the actual track record of "world opinion" or of "our NATO allies."
In my post on The Centovalli Train, I asked "Where are all the people?" Many of these towns in Italy look neat, clean - but deserted, which adds to the stage-set feeling. Maybe it's the time of day, but part of the answer is No babies in Euroland. 
When reflecting on my re-post yesterday on Lionel Trilling, I realized that I had neglected to reference what is perhaps his most-read work, The Liberal Imagination. It's still worth reading: “The Liberal Imagination (1950) applied the dialectical method to cultural themes by exploring the ways in which literary masterworks deflated the pieties of trendy left-wing politics. Trilling, who identified himself as a liberal, called for a new kind of criticism that 'might find its most useful work not in confirming liberalism in its sense of general rightness but rather in putting under some degree of pressure the liberal ideas and assumptions of the present time.' That statement was almost a blueprint, or prophecy, of the neoconservative creed.” –The New York Times
And my allusion to Jacques Barzun, who as far as I know is still alive and retired in Texas, reminded me to reference his sweeping book, From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500-Present. Via Amazon: From Publishers Weekly Now 92, Barzun, the renowned cultural critic, historian and former Columbia provost and professor, offers much more than a summation of his life's work in this profound, eloquent, often witty historical survey. A book of enormous riches, it's sprinkled with provocations. For example, Barzun contradicts Max Weber, arguing that the Protestant Reformation did not galvanize the capitalist spirit. With feminist ardor, he depicts the 16th century as molded and directed by women "as brilliant as the men, and sometimes more powerful" (e.g., Queens Elizabeth and Isabella). His eclectic synthesis is organized around a dozen or so themes--including emancipation, abstraction and individualism--that in his judgment define the modern era. Barzun keeps up the momentum with scores of snappy profiles, including of Luther, Erasmus, Cromwell, Mozart, Rousseau and Byron, as well as of numerous unsung figures such as German educator Friedrich Froebel, inventor of kindergarten, and turn-of-the-century American pioneer ecologist George Marsh. Other devices help make this tome user-friendly--the margins are chock-full of quotes, while vignettes of Venice in 1650, Weimar in 1790 and Chicago in 1895 give a taste of the zeitgeist. In Barzun's glum estimate, the late 20th century has brought decadence into full bloom--separatism in all forms, apathetic electorates, amoral art that embraces filth or mere shock value, the decline of the humanities, the mechanization of life--but he remains hopeful that humanity will find its way again. This is a book to be reckoned with. First serial to American Scholar; BOMC selection.
Both books well-worth reading, if you haven't. Would either of these great Columbia profs, who knew almost everything about almost everything, be welcomed on any campuses today?
 Squash-style wrist techniques are catching on in pro tennis. Times Online
Sunday, June 29. 2008
These people were always finding water all over their pool deck and furniture every time they came home after being away for a few hours. They thought the neighborhood kids were waiting for them to leave, and using the pool. However, they could never catch them doing it. So, they set up their video cam and left. This is what they found out:
Luskin on Obama, with comments on the Social Security mess Today's Insanities Repubs cannot reply to obvious Leftist intimidation Maternity Prom dresses? How enlightened and progressive. Just give me a dang table gift. Capt. Capitalism A deep thinker? Justice Kennedy's Song of Himself. Related: Liberals collectively pee in their pants. I just want one more guy or gal in there who reveres the Constitution more than their personal preferences. The self-inflicted economic death of Ohio. WSJ. A sad story. I like Ohio. A website about "Creative Capitalism." My view: "Creative Capitalism" is the opiate of the mega-wealthy. If I invest in a business, I want my full share of the profits. I will decide, myself, what to give away, and to whom. Nanny state fest, at Blue Crab. Just read a few of his latest. Related, at Betsy: No scores for games. As she comments, "It's clear that future battles of Britain won't be won on its playing fields." The greatest student prank of all time. Tiger Please remember this 13th Century Law from the City of Augsburg: The selling of bad beer is a crime against Christian love. — Law, the City of Augsburg, 13th Century
Via Free Republic: DURAGI, Afghanistan -- Early morning, and 14 U.S. soldiers stand in a semi-circle for a mission briefing. Four Humvees, engines running, rumble beside them. "We're going to Warshallah today," Army Capt. Sam Karr, 28, of Manhattan, Kan., tells his platoon. "I guess it has, like, 200 bad guys in it. That's nothing, dudes -- we've got 14, so we're good."
Another case for global cooling. Reference Frame
From the ELI's Environmental Forum publication (subscription only): Biofuels and the Prairie Pothole Wetlands
Government mandates for ethanol production are helping to create a perfect storm putting pressure on this vast wetland region spanning the U.S.-Canadian border. Increased demand for corn may be high enough to undercut the Swampbuster program banning price support payments when farmers convert wetlands to production. Expansion of the cellulosic ethanol industry, if implemented on existing cropland in a thoughtful and environmentally friendly way, could be an asset to the region’s economic and ecological health.
It's that good old Law of Unintended Consequences. More: Modern agribusiness is characterized by huge capital investments, large volumes of money, and thin profit margins. There is little room for experimentation — as a rule, change comes slowly to the agricultural landscape of the Prairie Pothole Region. But ethanol fever is sweeping farm country and setting the stage for dramatic changes in land use. Companies have been fermenting corn into ethanol for decades, and many of us have filled our vehicles with a blend of their product. But since the 1970s gas shortages, few of us have given serious thought to weaning our nation off foreign oil. And hardly anyone knew about a plant called switchgrass that, given time and new technology, might be an important ingredient in the recipe for energy independence. But things changed quickly when President George W. Bush referenced switchgrass in his 2006 State of the Union address and called for a national biofuels mandate at seven times current production by 2017. Congress followed with the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which established a renewable fuels standard of 36 billion gallons per year by 2022. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is now a cornerstone of federal policy, and from all indications, biofuels are here to stay.
 We re-post this essay by Gertrude Himmelfarb each year. One quote, on the thoughtful Columbia guy Lionel Trilling's thoughts about T.S. Eliot:
Marxism was not the only thing that Trilling (by way of Eliot) called into question. He challenged liberalism as well. Totalitarianism, Eliot had said, was inherently "pagan," for it recognized no authority or principle but that of the state. And liberalism, far from providing an alternative to paganism, actually contained within itself the seeds of paganism, in its materialism and relativism. Only Christianity, Eliot argued--the "Idea" of Christianity, not its pietistic or revivalist expressions--could resist totalitarianism, because only Christianity offered a view of man and society that promoted the ideal of "moral perfection" and "the good life." "I am inclined," Trilling quoted Eliot, "to approach public affairs from the point of view of the moralist." Trilling hastened to qualify his endorsement of Eliot in "Elements That Are Wanted"; he did not believe morality was absolute or a "religious politics" desirable. But Eliot's vision of morality and politics was superior to the vision of liberals and radicals, who had contempt for the past and worshiped the future. Liberals, in the name of progress, put off the realization of the good life to some indefinite future; radicals put off the good life in the expectation of a revolution that would usher in not only a new society but also a new man, a man who would be "wholly changed by socialism." Marxism was especially dangerous, Trilling found, because it combined "a kind of disgust with humanity as it is and a perfect faith in humanity as it is to be."
A "new man" was all the rage for those who wanted me to be just like they weren't - but who wanted people like me to become some subservient but heroic prole they fantasized about. They were just the new version of the same "old men" of history - self-anointed for "virtue" and "wisdom," and seeking power and perks on our backs and on our nickel while they spun their grand theories. I think they forgot that proles like me learned to read in the meantime. Eliot, and Trilling, knew otherwise. Photo: Lionel Trilling. As demanding a Prof as you could ever have. The equally-great Jacques Barzun was out of that same mold: dignified, formal, remote, but willing to give you two chances to prove that you weren't a complete idiot and just an educated fool. No tolerance for fools, and these guys had a radar for glib assertions, shallow sentiment, and cant - and for out-of-context quotes. Academic boot camp is what these guys offered you.
 I'll begin with the hopeful message of Jeremiah 29:11-14 (which is not from today's Lectionary), regarding the dispersal of the Jews and their 70 years of captivity in Babylon. God does not like false prophets. As Matthew Henry's Commentary on this part of Jeremiah says: "Let men beware how they call those prophets whom they choose after their own fancies, and how they consider their fancies and dreams to be revelations from God. False prophets flatter people in their sins, because they love to be flattered; and they speak smoothly to their prophets, that their prophets may speak smoothly to them."
11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." Here's the reading from today's lectionary, with the context of Jeremiah 28: In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, 2“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. 4I will also bring back to this place King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, says the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.” 5Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord; 6and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord fulfill the words that you have prophesied, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles. 7But listen now to this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. 8The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. 9As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.” 10Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, and broke it. 11And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: This is how I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.” At this, the prophet Jeremiah went his way. 12Sometime after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13Go, tell Hananiah, Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars only to forge iron bars in place of them! 14For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations so that they may serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they shall indeed serve him; I have even given him the wild animals. 15And the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you made this people trust in a lie. 16Therefore thus says the Lord: I am going to send you off the face of the earth. Within this year you will be dead, because you have spoken rebellion against the Lord.” 17In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died. Image: The Prophet Jeremiah (1311, Siena)
Saturday, June 28. 2008
 Leaving tonight for a fishing trip (not for Catfish, however), so I will offer this good pile of items:
What it's like to be a bat. The Englishman appreciates Scalia's historical sense. As do I. Why humans left Africa 80,000 years ago Why men are becoming reluctant to volunteer with kids. Brits harassed for flying their flag The Canadian Human Rights folks blinked. Driscoll is quite right: it was to save themselves. What change does Obama offer us? JC Phillips Americans overwhelmingly support conservative economic policies Swedish nanny state wants to tell you who to invite to your birthday party. They should tell their nanny to go jump in the lake, or fjord, or whatever. More on "I hate practicing medicine." Via Bainbridge: Justice Breyer as culture warrior. Re guns, Surber's Just ask me What's really up with Arctic sea ice? (And do we care? Well, it is interesting.) My view on oil markets. Coyote Time for a Grand New Party? Beijing is ready. Just don't breath the air. I agree that this is stupid. Liberals as enablers of totalitarianism Taliban back to their old ways. Gateway I went to Wiki today to check the history of the Fairness Doctrine I also had to refresh my understanding of the Turing Test. The real question is whether people can think. The value of a practical education: John Hawks. Related, at Villainous, who wonders who should teach From a piece at Dino: The Beltway MSM are historically 12 to 1 for the Democratic ticket, and have said that their favorable coverage is worth perhaps 15 points in electoral results. That’s in a normal year. But this appears not to be a normal year; we sense that there’s payback on the minds of some in the press. The coverage could get pretty out-of-control before November rolls around.
Re "settled science," McQ at Q&O wonders whether Al Gore has read this yet.
I never thought we would see something this good happen for the Everglades: Florida buys 180,000-acre US Sugar tract.
Krauthammer observes that, as the years grow between 9-11 and the present, old-fashioned "sophisticated" doubt returns to fashion and "people with "deeply-held views"" are viewed with suspicion, if not with fear: "Nothing has more aroused and infuriated the sophisticates than the foreign policy of a religiously inclined President, based on the notion of a universal aspiration to freedom and of America's need and duty to advance it around the world. Such liberationism, confident and unapologetic, is portrayed as arrogant crusading, a deep violation of the tradition of American pluralism, ecumenism, modesty and skeptical restraint. That widespread portrayal is invention masquerading as history. You want certainty? You want religiosity? How about a people who overthrow the political order of the ages, go to war and occasion thousands of deaths in the name of self-evident truths and unalienable rights endowed by the Creator? That was 1776. The universality, the sacredness and the divine origin of freedom are enshrined in our founding document. The Founders, believers all, signed it. Thomas Jefferson wrote it. And not even Jefferson, the most skeptical of the lot, had the slightest doubt about it."
Read entire: Click here: TIME.com Print Page: TIME Magazine -- In Defense of Certainty
I wish I had written this piece by John Hawkins, Why Liberals lie about what they believe. It's really quite simple.
Stumbled into this Teddy Roosevelt web site recently. Teddy is a hero and a role model to many because of his overcoming illness as a youth, his adventures in the West, his wide range of interests, his voluminous writings on all subjects from hunting and natural history to policy (he published more books than any other President), his robust approach to life which allowed him to gallop his horse straight down the sand dunes of Oyster Bay and straight up San Juan Hill, and to hike through the chest-deep ice-covered Rock Creek in January as President, often with diplomats in tow. Not to mention his achievements as President, from negotiating the truce in the Russo-Japanese War, projecting American power world-wide, championing conservation, and championing economic justice for workers. The two Edmund Morris volumes tell it all, down to the details of Teddy's wacky tennis game and his remarkable skills as a rifleman, despite poor eyesight. This bird-watching family man with the high squeaky voice, a fine pedigree but chronic money problems, and a giant faith in America, was larger than life. It's well-known that folks from the NY Metropolitan area rarely or never visit their own tourist attractions, but a visit to Roosevelt's relatively modest home, Sagamore Hill, in Oyster Bay on Long Island (not far from NYC) is a good outing. Little has changed there since his death, except, sadly, for the selling off of much of his farm, which originally extended down to the shores of Long Island Sound. Read the Sagamore Hill sites here and here before you go, because tickets sell out. Photo of Teddy as NYC Police Commissioner around 1895.
Think about it for one second - don't you have a little itch somewhere on your skin right now? It's considered poor manners to scratch in public, but sometimes you just have to do it. I am not watching you. Learn all the latest about The Itch.
The Bad News Banks Amnesty International hits bottom The EU goes to ground Why guns are a feminist issue. Class. Values It's just a question of who they're afraid of. Indeed. More on the father of Canada's health care system, and his renunciation of it. It's a basic lesson in how reality works. Why McCain isn't doomed. The New Patriotism will be on display in Denver. Also, no fried food? Good grief. Change we can be shocked at. Rick Moran
 The Wild Swan is a 39' Sparkman & Stephens-designed sloop, built in 1947. Mahogany over white oak. She is for sale, here.
This is a perfect example of why boats are called "she."
This is a weekly Saturday morning feature that will slowly, over time, turn you into a full-fledged computer expert. More info here.
Lesson 12: Images
 You're a real blogger. And you know just what I mean.
A real blogger works only in real-time. His thoughts come to him in a blaze of profound insight that his flying fingers desperately try to keep pace with. If a mixtake is made, so what! Your readers know what you're really trying to say.
Because that's where the honestly lies. That's how they know they can trust you. Because if you went back and corrected every little mixtake and tidied up sentences and made everything 'just so', you'd be no better than the next bought-and-paid-for journalist. Your very integrity rides on your willingness to show the world who you really are, simple mixtakes and all.
Until today.
Today, that integrity was seriously tested when you realized what you had done mere seconds later, yet, because of the blogger's code, you were unable to touch a thing.
And the horrific results are just now starting to drift in.
How unfair, you think to yourself as the screen-grab from your site is spread throughout the blogsosphere and you become a laughingstock in the eyes of the world. Everybody does it with their vacation pictures! You remember watching slide shows as a kid of the family vacation and there was always one that slipped in! These things happen! It's just not fair!
No, it's not, my friend.
Oh, if only you'd thought to take that night school course in blogmastering. If only you'd thought to be a little more careful when adding pictures to the site. And if only you'd thought to...
Continue reading "Dr. Mercury's Computer Corner: Lesson 12 - Images"
Friday, June 27. 2008
John Hatcher's new book on the plague, reviewed in NY Sun. The glowing review begins: This totally absorbing book presents the best account ever written about the worst event to have ever befallen the British Isles. In the hands of John Hatcher, an English medievalist of sober and steady reputation who has for decades been squirreled away in one of the smaller, older, and least obtrusive of Cambridge colleges, the extraordinary tragedy of the great plague — which wiped out as much as 60% of the population of 14th-century Europe and killed an estimated 75 million worldwide — has been brought to life in a manner rarely attempted, and with a level of success even more rarely achieved.
 Related: How Dark was It? A new history of medieval Europe.
I know nothing about Italian gun laws, but it seems timely to post this photo I took of a poster for Delta Firearms Academy last week on a street in Domodossola, while wandering around waiting for the train to Locarno. Our friends in DC should maybe give Inizio a call. 
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Yellow Science.