The Last Ephor

I haven't done this in a while but I thought I'd link to a few things with some thoughts on the matter. Prelude: I had a crap weekend (which I'll detail later) but was relieved that I got out of the house 15 minutes earlier than normal. I got to work early and when I'm the only one there it's quiet and I can get stuff done. I logged in early today and lo and behold my virus software is going bonkers. I have a list of about 50 viruses listed. All of them are critical apps. Scrolling though the list is says none of them are repairable and have been moved to avoid further problems. It's every .exe on my machine. Literally. I find some other hapless soul here at this ungodly hour. He's got the same problem. Seems they modified the anti-virus software over the weekend and the package now thinks that any .exe that is not delivered by Novell is a virus. Whooptie friggin do. So the only thing I can use is the interweb. So, I've now been doing so...

I'm going to post about the election later. My brain is going a million miles an hour and I'm all over the place. Give me some time to get a coherent thought together. What happens when you order a live monkey from a comic book? Wish I had tried that one. Here are some breathtaking pictures of space. The post is a bit dated but the pictures are worth your time. I found the eruption on Io fascinating. Makes me think of Clarke's 2010. Staying with the astronomy theme, here are some fascinating and puzzling things about space that we don't understand. Makes you appreciate the limits of human knowledge. How about a battery powered F1 race? It would be strange to hear a race without the howl of the engines. All rushing air and tire noise. Sure, why not?

This is interesting (read: interesting to me and possibly Paul but nobody else), it seems the Synod of Bishops has voted overwhelmingly to add women to the ministry of lectors. That means that women will be allowed/invited/encouraged to read scripture from the pulpit to the congregation. This appears to be some sort of compromise for the liberal wing of the church. Fr. James Martin my favorite liberal Jesuit (no that's not an oxymoron) has a brief albeit spoiler laden look at Catholicism in Mad Men. The show you should be watching but aren't. Unrelated pop culture/TV show stuff. I like Fringe but can't seem to get into it. I never get the sense it's going anywhere. None of the characters are in any real peril. I like the look and feel. The acting is good and so is the writing. The problem is that the whole thing has a "ship in a bottle" feel to it. There is supposed to be some grand story arc about "The Pattern" but it feels too much lik...

My favorite bunch of crazies at Lew Rockwell have a gem called " Environmentalism is Racism ". Generally I find them to be an odd mixture of excitability and defeatism. The author makes a compelling (if not convincing) case that environmental laws are frequently tied to racially bias laws. Sometimes this is referred to as NIMBY or "environmental racism." This article seeks to simply equate the two rather than use one to qualify the other. One quote stuck out for me: David Foreman, founder of Earth First!: "Phasing out the human race will solve every problem on earth, social and environmental." David? Lead by example, will ya? From the language corner, a list of phrases we need to retire for a while. From the same corner is a list of nearly untranslatable words. I've found that words that convey whole ideas like this give some insight into the cultures that came up with them. Things like that require their own word so it has to be pretty sign...

Struggling McCain debuts comeback speech . This is familiar territory. Not so long ago, he was the dark horse for the party nomination. Romney was all but assured and if not him then Huckabee was the next in line. McCain was in the dustbin like Guiliani, Paul, and Thompson. I still don't know how he went from broke and running at the bottom to nominee. Can he do it again? We'll know in three weeks. Philly fans showing their typical classlessness booed Sarah Palin and her daughters . What else to expect from fans that once booed and pelted Santa Claus with snowballs? Obama supporters have taken to firebombing their opponents. That you have not heard about this aside from Michelle Malkin and/or Instapundit is rather telling. Malkin has a rather exhaustive roundup of political violence perpetrated by Democrats in the last few years. I do not share her view that this is typical or representative of your average Democrat. However, that they've not been loudly excor...

I haven't done this in a while but I thought I'd link to a few things with some thoughts on the matter. Prelude: I had a crap weekend (which I'll detail later) but was relieved that I got out of the house 15 minutes earlier than normal. I got to work early and when I'm the only one there it's quiet and I can get stuff done. I logged in early today and lo and behold my virus software is going bonkers. I have a list of about 50 viruses listed. All of them are critical apps. Scrolling though the list is says none of them are repairable and have been moved to avoid further problems. It's every .exe on my machine. Literally. I find some other hapless soul here at this ungodly hour. He's got the same problem. Seems they modified the anti-virus software over the weekend and the package now thinks that any .exe that is not delivered by Novell is a virus. Whooptie friggin do. So the only thing I can use is the interweb. So, I've now been doing so f...

British anti-Americanism "based on misconceptions" sayeth the Telegraph. Worldly, cosmopolitan Brits thing that polygamy is legal in the US, that we side with non-Muslims against Muslims most of the time and we deny emergency medical care to people who don't pay their bills. Andrea Mitchell as a water carrier for Obama? Can't possibly be! He's one of the good guys so what difference does it make? Hell, even WaPo's ombudsman acknowledges that the MSM is in the tank for him. "Not a good sign" indeed. L.A. Times columnist: "So there's a gusher of hypocrisy here: The state that is the biggest consumer of gasoline in the nation -- but produces less than 40% of what it uses -- is opposed to drilling for more oil off its shores. We're slackers not pulling our weight." "Exxon John" McCain takes less money from Big Oil than Obama. If Obama is true to his principles he will return their money so as not to sully his campa...

The Brits are fond of decrying the US for, well, pretty much everything. We were alternately lambasted or laughed at for our mission orientation during patrols in the Sunni Triangle and elsewhere while the Brits were patrolling the Shia zones with a much lower security profile. The Americans were depicted as bullies and ignorant bulls in the china shop. The Brits were so much more sophisticated and tempered by their experience in Northern Ireland that they didn’t need to wear helmets etc. Now it looks like there may be more to that than meets the eye. This article says that the Brits, at the highest levels, struck a deal with Mookie to keep their own safe. They stayed on the sidelines during the assault on Basra and Mookie’s boys wouldn’t try to kill them. There’s a word for this; betrayal. Our oldest, staunchest ally has cut a deal with the enemy behind our back. To me, the “ special relationship ” has suffered a serious blow. Gordon Brown has hard questions to answer. If ...

When I was in High School I went to some really bacchanalian parties. Rich kids with parents out of town and a credit card at their disposal. I'll let you imagine the rest. I now know that we were a bunch of pikers compared to this crowd. 78 Things to hate about gaming. I think they got about 70 right. Funniest trial transcript ever. The only way I'll ever go to the movie theater again is if the open one of these in Delaware. Why do I love Larry Niven? Niven said a good way to help hospitals stem financial losses is to spread rumors in Spanish within the Latino community that emergency rooms are killing patients in order to harvest their organs for transplants. “The problem [of hospitals going broke] is hugely exaggerated by illegal aliens who aren’t going to pay for anything anyway,” Niven said. “Do you know how politically incorrect you are?” Pournelle asked. “I know it may not be possible to use this solution, but it does work,” Niven replied. “I cannot guarantee I’m go...

Dick Morris declares; "Wright's Rantings Won't Sink Obama" Which can mean only one thing: Wright's Rantings will sink Obama. Best quote on DC vs. Heller: "Although I enjoy making sport of the Justices as much as anyone, the question of whether the 2nd Amendment protects an individual right, including a right to self defense, is not that difficult, at least to me. The framers of the 14th amendment assumed that it was one of the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. And if a right is a privilege or immunity of citizens of the United States, it hard for me to conclude that it does not bind the United States as well as the individual states. Now, as a unreconstructed liberal (I'll show you pictures of my bleeding heart), I don't particularly like this result. But it follows sufficiently strongly from other commitments I have about the Constitution that I must accept it. Global Warmening (TM) is real. Except for the part about th...

Over in Turkey, they're rethinking Islam . Key quote: "This is kind of akin to the Christian Reformation,". This is something for which people on the right side of the argument here have been clamoring. While I have little hope this will gain any traction outside Turkey I would love to be proven wrong. Proving that you cannot be on any side of the argument w/o having someone on your side that you really, really don't want. Here's a coveted endorsement. When asked for a response Mr. Obama was said, "Aw crap." "As chips are progressively able to perform more calculations for less money, and in a package that's continually shrinking, Kurzweil told the GDC audience to look for the price-to-performance ratio of computers to improve a billionfold in the next 25 years. The devices will eventually become small enough, Kurzweil said, that scientists can create fake blood cell-size computers to perform the same functions of natural blood cells....

OK, actually weekly roundup because blogging has been light First up, Peggy Noonan asks if New York's Junior Senator can lose gracefully . I think we're seeing the answer is going to be "no". From the Department of Unforeseen Consequences, Biofuels cause global warming. Mark Steyn speaks to CPAC as only he can. Humor and insight in one package. If any GOP candidate spoke half as well as he did, he's be unbeatable. Everything I've ever needed to know I learned from LOST. I particularly agree with point #4. I think I'm legally bound to mention Berkley's support for the Marines .... If this doesn't amuse you , you must be Vulcan or something. This one is red meat for the Techies out there. Behold, when server cabling becomes art Remarkably, I've had 5 of these and the first four in the list are really awesome. Lambic is, admittedly, like sausage. Delicious but you really don't want to see it made. The uber-hopped IPA's by Dogfi...

I told you they were insane So I locked myself out of my voicemail today. I called the helpdesk for a reset but they were swamped and asked me if they could call me back. I agreed. I walked away from my desk for a minute and heard the phone ringing when I came back. I missed the call but naturally....they left a voicemail. Some days I feel like I'm being drawn by Scott Adams. Sean Hannity has lost his mind. I was in the car yesterday listening to him recant on virtually everything he's been saying for the last 8 years. Suddenly, drilling in ANWAR is a bad idea, Guantanamo Bay is a bad idea, we need to update Conservatism, John McCain is a good, honest guy, a wall on the border isn't the answer. On and on and on. He's either a naked partisan who's sucking down McCain flavored Kool Aid at record rates or he's literally lost his mind. Either way it's not good. The win/win of the Democrat ticket: Hillary wins the nomination there's no way she wi...

First up: George Soros' anti-Americanism in his own words: "I'm not looking for a worldwide recession. I'm looking for a significant shift of power and influence away from the US in particular and a shift in favour of the developing world, particularly China." Game, set, match. He wants to see China ascendant and America pushed aside. Yes, China the bastion of freedom, liberty and meek foreign policy. I will no longer suffer any fool who tells me Soros is not anti-American. Further, anything he funds with his zillions is rightly labeled anti-American. Second; Remember when Russia resumed it's air patrols off the coast of the US and some people blamed Bush ('natch). It was his reckless and aggressive foreign policy that started it all. Now we're seeing Russia making test bombing runs off the coast of Europe . Do we blame Sarkozy or Zapatero? Those warmongering French I suppose. Up next, " Police stumbled upon a bomb-making factory ...

First, some good news: Hamas Leader's Son Among 19 Killed in Israeli-Palestinian Conflicts . Now if we can just keep climbing that ladder... Karl Rove was Satan incarnate. The Evil High Dark Master of dirty politics. So loved is he that now Hillary is imitating him. Lawrence Lessig calls this Clinton Swiftboating. More about her raw, naked ambition. http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/01/we-know-these-p.html For Sen. Clinton, something is true if it validates the myth of her striving and her "greatness" (her overweening ambition in other words) and only ceases to be true when it no longer serves that limitless purpose...What does matter is that she has since altered her position and attempted, with her husband's help, to make people forget that she ever held it. And this, on a grave matter of national honor and security, merely to influence her short-term standing in the Iowa caucuses. Surely that on its own should be sufficient to disquali...

I've not done this one in a while. So...back by (un)popular demand here we go: Sarko beats SNCF unions . A huge, huge win for him. The transport unions are immensely powerful in France. Perhaps even more so than the trucker's union who regularly paralyze France every year. It was an interesting thing to see when I was there. There was always immediate sympathy for whomever was striking. Given that it took all of 9 days for the public to sour on the strikers and the SNCF was willing to cave so quickly is very serious indicator of how things have changed. I believe the ex-urban French have finally had it with the culture of laziness and sloth that has been part and parcel of French culture for decades. Look for Sarko's approval ratings to tank in the short term but rise steadily if he continues on this track. New Pope aware that modern liturgical music is awful. Urges a return to the classics. This note will be of little interest to anyone in the DE Blogosphere w...