Saturday, April 03, 2004

This is My Hand

A short Saturday morning read regarding Moore’s proof of external objects, posted at the blog Minority of One.  The proof.

"1. Here is a hand. (Holds up hand.)
2. Here is another hand. (Holds up other hand.)
3. Therefore, there are external objects.

For the analysis, click the link.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/03 at 04:43 AM
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Friday, April 02, 2004

Your Papers, Comrade, For Your Safety - Yeah, Right

While talking with a close friend, who had been ticketed back in December, I found out I was unaware of just how deep the state wants to dig into your pocket.  The individual, who had been pulled over for speeding, 5 miles per hour over the limit in a 55 MPH zone, sheesh, could not locate the most recent proof of insurance document that is normally in the glove box.  The person had multiple copies of expired proofs of insurance, the most recent had expired two days prior to the stop, but not the current proof of insurance.

The individual was ticketed; a warning ticket for the 5 miles per hour over the limit, and for not having a valid proof of insurance in the vehicle.  No problem, right?  Go home, locate the most current proof of insurance and fax it to the court.  All taken care of in less than 24 hours.  No harm, no foul.  The court accepts the document and there are no fines assessed.  Whew.  Wrong.

This week, a letter arrives in the individual’s mailbox.  From the state.  It informs the individual that because the proof of insurance was not in the vehicle, even though the vehicle was insured, the individual must remit to the state of Michigan a $150.00 “driver responsibilty fee,” and must also pay the same $150.00 fee next year.  So, because this individual did not have the current proof of insurance document in the vehicle, even though the vehicle was insured, a total fine of $300.00 dollars has been charged.  Asinine.

The fine is assessed per MCL 257.732a. Specifically, the applicable portion reads,

"(iv) Section 3101 or 3103 of the insurance code of 1956, 1956 PA 218, MCL 500.3101 and 500.3103."
"(c) Upon posting of an abstract that an individual has been found guilty for a violation listed in this subdivision, the secretary of state shall assess a $150.00 driver responsibility fee each year for 2 consecutive years for any of the following offenses:"

That’s not as bad as the Nevada Supreme Court ruling that comrade citizens must show their papers on demand, even if they are not doing anything wrong.

"By a 4-3 vote, the Nevada Supreme Court rejected Mr. Hiibel’s appeal, ruling any privacy right guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is “outweighed by the benefits to officers and community safety” by allowing police to force people to provide ID, anywhere."

Link to Nevada asininity via somena’s Journal.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/02 at 01:40 PM
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Just Think About It, For a Change

"To my Loyal Readers who have followed me this far, I very much appreciate the years of support. I realize this may lead to something of a rupture with some of you, at least for a time. But do me a favor. Think about this stuff. Just think about it."

From a post by Jim Henley, expressing his “second thoughts” in regards to taking the war to terrorists.  As Jonathon Wilde says “There’s a reason I consider Jim Henley the original anti-war blogger.”

Update: Evidently, it’s a joke. Har, har.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/02 at 07:19 AM
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A Member of the Supremes?

In a post titled “All things racial," Allison, at Allison Lives, notes that Jay Nordlinger has been following the travails of Donna Mills, Supreme Court Justice in New York.  From Nordlinger’s Impromptus column.

"As my co-workers know, one of my favorite stories in recent weeks has been lovingly related by the New York Post, that great City tab. It concerns that old devil, race. There is a supreme-court justice in New York named Donna Mills — no, not the dreamy actress from Knots Landing — and she is on trial for drunk driving.

Boy, was she drunk. Justice Mills slammed her dad’s vintage Rolls-Royce into two parked cars; she was so drunk, she couldn’t get out of the Rolls. When the cops came, she said — of course, because this is America! — “Are you arresting me because I’m black?”

No, they weren’t. They were arresting her because she was drunk as a skunk and had plowed into two cars.

But here’s the beauty part (or a further beauty part): The two cops arresting her — a man and a woman — were themselves black.

But that doesn’t matter: The justice’s principal defense at trial is still racial.

Post columnist Andrea Peyser has been on the scene. She reports the words of Mills’s lawyer, Paul Gentile: “They [police commanders, apparently] selected two officers to handle the case. They chose the most inexperienced person on the scene . . . That person was a black female. She’s partnered with a black male.” My goodness, it sounds like a science program.

And why did “they” do this? According to the lawyer, they did it “so that one day . . . they could put people of color on the stand.”

Peyser asks, “Will this laughable ploy work?” It might. It might. Stay tuned.

But remember that classic phrase: “Are you arresting me because I’m black?” So American, and so sad."

Allison’s concluding comment.

"Somebody call Jesse Jackson. Civil rights are surely being violated!! It’s bad enough that we have people in this country who refuse to accept responsibility for their idiotic actions. Do they really have to be Supreme Court justices?! How sad."

How trite!

Posted by John Venlet on 04/02 at 05:08 AM
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Voltage Rustlers

Does the term, above, invoke images of guys in bucket trucks, with huge spools of wire and cable, furtively lassoing high tension power lines?  It didn’t for me.  But it also didn’t invoke an image of some poor chap needing power for his laptop, sitting in a bus station, by an electrical outlet, typing on his laptop, which is plugged into said electrical outlet, being arrested for "voltage rustling."

Via Michael Jennings, at Samizdata, in a post titled “The new wild west of voltage rustling." Jennings’ post also offers some suggestions to private enterprises in regards to the need for juice for your electronic devices.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/02 at 04:29 AM
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Barry, They're Private Firms, They Don't Need Government Nannies

I did not realize that private security firms, such as Blackwater USA, were as viable a private enterprise as they seemingly are, as this statement supports.

"Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution, who wrote a book on the private military industry, says it brings in about $100 billion a year worldwide."

Evidently Barry Yeoman, a frequent contributer to Mother Jones and Discover, is worried about the safety of the private individuals who are employed by such private enterprises.

"So far, the Pentagon has failed to prove it can take responsibility for either the actions or the safety of its private-sector soldiers."

Evidently Barry doesn’t understand that the safety and responsibility for these private employees is not part of the Pentagon’s purview.

From a NYT op-ed, written by Barry Yeoman, titled “Need an Army? Just Pick Up the Phone."

Update: Alex Taborrak looks at the British version of private military entities in a post titled, appropriately enough, “Private Militaries."

Posted by John Venlet on 04/02 at 04:07 AM
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A Nine Month Alarm, Four Months Late?

“Scientists Predict Major SoCal Quake Within Five Months."

"In the vicinity of each such chain, we look backward and see its history over the preceding years—whether our candidate (for an earthquake) was preceded by certain seismicity patterns,” said lead team scientist Vladimir Keilis-Borok. “If yes, we accept the candidate as a short-term precursor and start a nine-month alarm."

Via Drudge.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/02 at 03:58 AM
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ANSP 21350

What comes to mind when you look at the title to this post?  An interstate trucking company’s licensing number?  An industrial solvent?  A part number?  If you thought any of those mentioned, you would be incorrect.  ANSP 21350 is a designation given to an unknown animal,

”...an ambush predator that used its limbs to hold itself steady in the current of a shallow stream until prey came along."

At least that’s the best guess, so far, based on an arm bone found along a Pennsylvania highway.  An arm bone which has been christened with the distinction of ”...could be the earliest example of an arm bone."

Could be, I guess.

From a BBC News article titled “Fossil may be earliest arm bone."

Via Fred Lapides.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/02 at 03:46 AM
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Thursday, April 01, 2004

Ancient Opinion on Titles Still Reverberates

Plurtarch, speaking in regards to Antigonus and Demetrius being given "for the first time, the title of kings."

"The men’s sentiments about themselves were disturbed, and their feelings elevated; a spirit of pomp and arrogance passed into their habits of life and conversation, as a tragic actor on the stage modifies, with a change of dress, his steps, his voice, his motions in sitting down, his manner in addressing another."

Plutarch, Plutarch’s Lives, Demetrius, pg. 1082

Posted by John Venlet on 04/01 at 06:39 PM
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In Praise of Self Interest

Interesting paper, long read, written by Stephen R.C. Hicks titled “Ayn Rand and Contemporary Business Ethics." In the paper, Hicks defends self interest and, interestingly enough, notes that many arguments against self interest were first propounded prior to the rise of science and industrial production when scarcity was a more pressing concern for most, 90% is postualted in the article, individuals.  A couple of excerpts.

"The result of good thinking – knowledge – resides in individual minds, and it can be put to productive use only by the initiative of an individual. Only individuals know things, and only individuals can put their knowledge into practice. Several individuals may have the same item of knowledge in their minds, or several individuals may decide to work cooperatively on a project that utilizes their different items of knowledge. But the initiation of the group project requires sustained initiative by the individuals involved. Groups don’t do things; the individuals in the group do."

And this.

"But the particular question comes back: Why stick by the long-term commitment to production if a short-term commitment to thievery will yield you more?

The issue is being able to separate the short-term parasitism from the rest of one’s life. One’s life is a long-term commitment, and it requires a set of long-term principles to guide it and give it meaning. Who one is and what one achieves depends on one’s long-term commitments. A thief, by contrast, thinks short-range: I can get away with it. Maybe he can, and maybe he can’t. That is not the primary issue."

The second to the last sentence of the conclusion.

"Only a moral defense of self-interest, combined with an understanding of free market economics and classical liberal politics, will advance the free society and business, its economic engine."

Good paper.

Via Kernon Gibes who blogs occasionally at Not Ready for InstaPundit.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/01 at 10:06 AM
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Think Fast

Don’t contemplate the following question, just hit me with a comment/answer, quick like, to the following.

What’s the first thing you know?

Pfeif, you’re disqualified.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/01 at 05:30 AM
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Permit, I Don't Need No Stinkin Permit

"The first person ever to apply for a permit to build something on his own land should have been shot for treason.”

Lifted from Musings from America’s Outback.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/01 at 05:26 AM
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Wax Your Surfboards, In Space

"Titanic waves - seven times as high and long as those blown up on the Earth’s oceans - may swell on the sludgy seas of Saturn’s moon Titan, suggest new computer simulations."

This news could make north shore swells look like gentle waves breaking on the beach.

“Titanic waves break on Saturn’s sludgy moon."

Via the Modulator.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/01 at 04:51 AM
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Mutant for Nuclear Power

Though nuclear accidents can be devastating, think about Chernobyl, and see this link, which I’ve pointed to previously, I sometimes have to chuckle at individuals’ visceral fear of nuclear power.  One of the ways in which I expressed this chuckle, while in the submarine service, was by wearing a t-shirt with the phrase “Mutant for Nuclear Power” emblazoned across the front of it.  I’d wear this t-shirt in Hong Kong, or wherever I happened to be aware that protestors would be be protesting the boat’s presence because of its reactor power.  Safe nuclear power is possible and it gives me a glow.

With that little story out of the way, I point you to a NYT article, which informs that there is talk of building a new nuclear power plant here in the U.S. It’s about time.  It might even be time to resurrect that t-shirt.

NYT link via PrestoPundit.

Posted by John Venlet on 04/01 at 04:14 AM
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