Saturday, February 21, 2004

More to Read

I currently have seven books sitting on my nightstand, waiting, patiently, to be read.  Plus I notice four more alongside my reading chair.  That’s eleven.  Today I find that I’ll be needing to add a couple more to the pile(s).  Here’s the one that will in all likelihood rise to the top of the pile.  Mencken’s America. A new collection of previously uncollected essays.  The link will take you to The Philadelphia Inquirer’s review which was written by Terry Teachout.

Thanks to Greg Ransom for alerting me to this.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/21 at 10:02 AM
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Disconnected

David K. Shipler, in an op-ed for The New York Times titled “Total Poverty Awareness," loses his concentration and misses connecting the dots he is so concerned with connecting.  Shipler mentions the failure of the 40 year “War on Poverty.” He drives this point home with this statement.

"Government is especially bad at connecting the dots."

A tacit admission that the government’s involvement in this issue, is, a failure.

After Shipler turns the corner on the above statement he utters this.

"We need a sweeping national program to create what could be called gateways."

So, Shipler admits that the government can’t connect the dots, but in the next breath calls for more government to connect the dots.  Disconnected.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/21 at 07:27 AM
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Science Fiction Authors and Evolution

Razib at Gene Expression has a post up titled “The evidence against evolution." Razib links to a Montana publication in which the author, who knows the correct “buzzwords,” argues against evolution.  Razib tackles the erroneous postulations within the Montana piece and critiques the "style of science" versus the "reality of science" in certain science fiction writers works.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/21 at 06:56 AM
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Driving Old Vehicles

William McGurn, The Wall Street Journal‘s chief editorial writer has penned a column in praise of what he calls “My ‘Train Station’ Car It’s old, dented, ugly, loud and . . . perfect." I enjoyed reading it.  I drive old vehicles.  My 94 Burb has 120 miles short of 210,000 miles on the odometer.  No 2 to 3 mile jaunts to the train station for this vehicle.  It still makes runs to Idaho, Ohio the UP of Michigan and what not.  My 82 Jeep Wagoneer has 149,800 some odd miles on it and its dented, loud, and is far from ugly in my eyes, though the looks it gets on the streets aren’t cast its way for its beauty.  This is my fishing vehicle.  It burns some oil but I’d run it to Alaska it has so much heart.  I love old vehicles.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/21 at 06:17 AM
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Channeling Benjamin Constant

Brian Micklethwait has posted Book IV, Chapter Two,"The Idea Which Usually Develops about the Effects Which the Proliferation of the Laws Has and the Falsity of That Idea" of Constant’s book Principles of Politics Applicable to All Governments. Portions I found particularly noteworthy follow.

"People normally think that when the government allows itself to multiply prohibitive and coercive laws at will, provided that the intention of the legislator is clearly expressed, provided that the laws are not in any way retroactive, provided that citizens are told in time of the rule of behavior they must follow, the [84] proliferation of laws has no drawback other than cramping individual freedoms a little. This is not the case. The proliferation of laws, even in the most ordinary of circumstances, has the bad effect of falsifying individual morality."

and

"The rule of the just and the unjust is no longer in the consciousness of man but in the will of the legislator. Morality and inner feeling undergo an unfathomable degradation through this dependence on an alien thing, a mere accessory—artificial, unstable, and liable to error and perversion."

Just read the whole thing over at Samizdata, it’s not that long.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/21 at 06:05 AM
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Energy, Source Unknown

Einstein’s ideas and thinking can boggle the mind.  A clerk in a Swiss patent office is still getting it right.  “Measurements Support Cosmological Constant."

Via Google News.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/21 at 05:50 AM
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