“To My Old Master”
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“To My Old Master” A letter from a former slave to his old master. An extraordinarily great read.
(Removed embedded iframe, as it messes up the iPad page. Just click the link above for a wonderful reading experience.)
“Do conservatives tend to be less intelligent?”
“Are racists dumb? Do conservatives tend to be less intelligent than liberals?” Short commentary on the dangers of oversimplifying the oversimplifiers.
See: Huffington: Intelligence Study Links Low I.Q. To Prejudice, Racism, Conservatism
Looking at the archive photo of the racist Klansmen, the article is provocative, interesting, even mildly amusing. But I think this study begs the point. The study’s lead author did acknowledge that “less intelligent types might be attracted to liberal ‘simplifying ideologies’ as well as conservative ones.” For every conservative who’s stuck in the rut of social Darwinism, we can also find some other liberal who sounds like a broken record. I think the real point is that (1) thinking isn’t the exclusive domain of hi-IQ types, and (2) embracing ideological principles is never an acceptable substitute for doing our own thinking.
Improving Toaster Waffles
I’ve been buying toaster waffles for years. They’re quick and convenient. But by the time we butter and pour syrup on them, they aren’t very hot, and they don’t have a lot of flavor beyond the syrup. Read how to turn a lackluster food experience into a real treat, in My Notes.
Playing .wmv Video Clips on a Mac
This is for Mac people who want to play those .wmv files we receive … I’m mostly on a Mac platform now, so I didn’t have a way to view Microsoft .wmv movie files on my Mac. Apple uses QuickTime. I had to port the movie over to my PC. I found the solution at Microsoft. See article and link to Microsoft in Computers.
“Occupy:” Say What?
We all dimly remember when some targets of the Occupy movement’s scorn struck some resonant chord with most of us. The popular spotlight on the vast 99%-1% gap was launched by Occupy. Public resentment against the unholy bank/investment bank consortiums who brought the economy to its knees in 2008 was brought into sharp focus by Occupy. So what the hell do they really want? Read our full article in Commentary
Glock Automatic Pistols
For those who don’t follow such stuff, the Glock is a cleverly logical step up from the “G-man .45,” the service sidearm of two world wars – the government M1911 .45 Auto which is now over a century old. For me, reading a posted article about the Glock was also a reminder why I, a paper target shooter (high power rifle and large-bore revolver) never liked automatic handguns. Read full post in My Notes.
The Satanic Vendetta Against Poor, Misunderstood Iran
Iran says an EU ban on imports of Iranian oil is “unfair” and “doomed to fail”, and will not force it to change course on its nuclear programme. — BBC News
OK, we get it. Iran’s enrichment program has far surpassed the needs of peacetime nuclear power and it’s fast approaching weapons-grade uranium stockpiling. Iran can sentence US citizens to death on trumped-up charges of espionage. But when the free world decides to shop elsewhere for its oil needs, that’s “unfair.”
“Please Vote for Me”
I caught part of a Global Voices PBS World special called “Please Vote for Me.”
“Please Vote for Me” examines the efforts of three 8-year-old students running for class monitor in an elementary school in Wuhan, China. The youngsters are shown campaigning for votes and participating in debates.”
If you are class monitor, you get to show off, build your own political organization, and tell the other kids “Quiet!”
One way to win is influence peddling. “If you vote for me, I’ll appoint you deputy class monitor.” It turns out the really smart kids get elected to this prized grade school position by compiling long lists of one’s competitors’ faults, circulating those to the whole class in order to sway the voting.
Their teacher was Chinese, of course, but for this segment of a grade school kid’s education, they could just use American political consultants.
3 New Posts in PHOTOS
New photo from Terry, winter stream, Wales, UK. See post for image. In PHOTOS.
Swan sends macro abstracts of two objects photographed in the Hillwood Museum in Washington DC. Sony DSLR-A100. See post for images in PHOTOS.
6 new photos from Alex, who says: “(6) Sunrise and sunset shots, Atlantic Ocean, North Myrtle Beach SC, Jan 2012. Panasonic Lumix.” See post for text and images. In PHOTOS.
“Social Conservatism”
To my knowledge this term first crept into the news around the beginning of the 2012 Presidential campaign. Everybody “sort of” knows which candidates are “social conservatives,” everybody “sort of” knows what political positions are entailed, and I have yet to see anyone explain to us what a “social conservative” is.
So I looked up “Social Conservatism” in trusty ol’ Wikipedia. Their answer is more explicit than I feared. And it seems to directly contradict the stated GOP theme of scaling back government restrictions on of our lives.
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the national government, or the state, should have a greater role in the social and moral affairs of its citizens, generally supporting whatever it sees as morally correct choices and discouraging or outright forbidding those it considers morally wrong ones …
Commander in Chief?
Wir sind nicht auf der Suche nach Erfahrung. Wir sind auf der Suche nach einer Oberbefehlshaber.” — Rick Santorum, Des Moines, Jan 2, 2012
(“We are not looking for executive experience. We are looking for a commander in chief.”)
BBC: ‘Are the Republican candidates all crazy?’
From BBC’s editorial by Mark Mardell, here’s what the Brits are noticing. (Click link to read the whole BBC article).
Danger: Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
The SOPA bill would allow copyright holders or the U.S. Justice Department to seek a court order which goes against internet providers (instead of just against individual offenders) when websites are accused of enabling copyright violations or counterfeited goods. SOPA would place intolerable enforcement and adjudication burdens on websites and internet providers. SOPA would block U.S. consumers from blacklisted websites, either software or pharmaceutical. By all accounts SOPA is badly written, overly-broad, and vaguely worded. SOPA wouldn’t even accomplish its stated purpose. What it would accomplish instead is justifiably frightening. SOPA isn’t just bad law. It’s a stealth attack on freedom – a very dangerous thing for the country and informed citizens of any political persuasion. Read this article in Computers.
David Brooks on Republicans at Disney World
Watch Shields, Brooks on Iowa Debate, ‘Rattling Sabers’ Over Iran, Iraq War’s Legacy on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
If you didn’t catch the remarks of David Brooks on PBS NewsHour on December 16, or again on Charlie Rose last night, it’s in the embedded PBS news clip, and I excerpted the transcript below:
What’s been interesting to me is the structure of the whole thing. The Democrats want to give the Republicans a tax break — tax cuts for the American people, and the Republicans are saying, no, no. We want more.It’s a bit like a parent going to a kid and saying, we’re going to take you to Disney World. And the kids say, we will agree to go to Disney World if you give us an Xbox and an iPhone. And the parents say, no, but you will love Disney World. Give us the Xbox. And then they say, okay, we will give you the Xbox and Disney World.
Ron Paul, Libertarianism and 2012 Issues
Ron Paul has been called the “godfather of libertarianism.” How did we get from a fringe backwater political philosophy to a serious national candidacy? We survey some snippets of libertarian ideology, and then sample some of what Paul would like to do to implement them. Feature article in Commentary.
