Strange Doctrines

Stupid is the New Brilliant

I wonder what Sarah Palin thinks about her decision to renege on her promise to the people of Alaska as a way to show her commitment to the people of Alaska now that she's had time to read all of the news sources.

Oh well, at least she was able to dominate the news cycle.

Oh...

Eight Pawns Scheu of a Gambit

Shorter Michael Scheuer:

The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States.

Actually, that's not "shorter" Scheuer - that's just Scheuer. He really said it. (Click the link and watch the clip.)

To be fair, though, Scheuer really only means that bin Laden's deployment and detonation of a major weapon in the United States would be better for us on balance. (One must be charitable.)

You Are Not Alone*

Being a free will skeptic is a lonely business. So it's good to know who your historical friends are.

*And - God no - the title is not a veiled homage to the awful Michael Jackson song of the same name.

Bloggingheads.tv

Looks interesting:

Joshua Knobe & John Jost: Percontations: System Justification Theory

John argues that we seek to justify our own oppression…... ...and responds to objections against his view... What would evidence for racial self-hatred look like?... Explaining George W. Bush’s success... Our mistaken stereotypes of political activists... Advice for advocates of social change...

Essentialism

essentialism [i-ˈsen(t)-shəl-ˌli - zəm], noun: 1. The mistaken belief in the strangeness of kinds.

Bare Particulars

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

A former mayor found sitting naked and holding a beer at a Rabun County campsite told police he wasn't the same naked man seen walking around earlier.

Like Heraclitus said, the same naked ex-mayor could not twice step into a river. Or something like that.

(Via Talking Points Memo.)

One of the Classic Blunders

Wallace Shawn writes about why he writes about sex:

One reason is that sex is shocking. Yes, it's still shocking, after all these years - isn't that incredible? At least it's shocking to me. And I suppose I think it's shocking because, even after all these years, most bourgeois people, including me, still walk around with an image of themselves in their heads that doesn't include - well - that. I'm vaguely aware that while going about my daily round of behaviour I'm making use of various mammalian processes, such as breathing, digesting and getting from place to place by hobbling about on those odd legs we have. But the fact is that when I form a picture of myself, I see myself doing the sorts of things that humans do and only humans do - things like hailing a taxi, going to a restaurant, voting for a candidate in an election, or placing receipts in various piles and adding them up. If I'm unexpectedly reminded that my soul and body are capable of being totally swept up in a pursuit and an activity that pigs, flies, wolves, lions and tigers also engage in, my normal picture of myself is violently disrupted.

The whole thing is brilliant, witty and fascinating, but I think I especially liked this:

It can only be seen as funny that men buy magazines containing pictures of breasts, but not magazines with pictures of knees or forearms. It can only be seen as funny that demagogues give speeches denouncing men who insert their penises into other men's anuses - and then go home to insert their own penises into their wives' vaginas! (One might have thought it obvious that either both of these acts are completely outrageous, or neither of them is.)

RTWT.

(Via Sign and Sight.)

UPDATE: This made me think of a classic scene in "Heaven Help Us" that features Wallace Shawn as Father Abruzzi, giving a commencement speech for the inaugural coed high school dance. The theme: Lust - the beast within you.

BTW, one of the commenters on the youtube thread notes that Shawn has "been around alot. He was in a Chaka Khan Video called "It's My Night" and he also played a friend of Cliff on The Cosby Show."

Better Not To Tell You Now

Mike has a question. Go help him. (Some preparatory study materials are available here.)

Census and Sensibility

Turns out I should have given it a lot more thought before I went and mailed in my census questionnaire yesterday. First, it was incredibly tedious to fill out. Second, they'll probably use it to steal my vote and send me to a concentration camp.

Sudden Celebrity Death

Has been good to Mark Sanford.

Blue & Green

The "blue" and "green" spirals in this picture

are actually the same color. (Turquoise.) Pretty cool. (H/T Richard Wiseman <-- Abbas Raza.)

Polyphonic Pitch Change

Amazing. (For those who already know about monophonic pitch correction, start at 0:59)

For the record, I am a fan of both pitch correction and musical competence, though I suspect the equilibrium they will jointly arrive at is not going to be aesthetically optimal.

(Via Dry Creek Chronicles, via Stuart Buck.)

Get Real

Recently, I attended closing arguments before a notorious federal judge (whose name is subtly, imparsably encoded in the title and body of this post). I'd heard the legends, but this was my first time seeing the Real thing.

Early on, it became clear that the judge would more than live up to his billing. More than that, though, his performance confirmed my long-standing suspicion that court transcripts are ridiculously insufficient instruments for appellate courts to assess the fairness of trial court proceedings. Consider one exchange as it will have been recorded in the standard format; the scene begins as the prosecution has concluded opening argument, and defense attorney rises to address the court:

Defense Attorney: Your honor, may I have a moment to prepare my easel and chart?
Judge: You do not have authority through this court for that.
Defense Attorney: I'm sorry your honor, I received permission from Mr. Clerk.
Judge: You do not have authority through this court for that.

Alright, nothing to see here. But now consider the same events supplemented by pertinent detail:

Defense Attorney: Your honor, may I have a moment to prepare my easel and chart?

Judge looks at defense attorney, gives no verbal response, but momentarily flexes his Mentalis and shrugs his eyebrows, in an apparent expression of acquiescence. Defense attorney accordingly repairs to the side wall, against which his easel and chart rest.

And just as Defense attorney touches the easel, the Judge suddenly barks:

Judge: You do NOT have authority through this court for THAT!
Defense Attorney: [Pausing to turn back toward and address the court.] I'm sorry your honor, I received permission from Mr. Clerk, and thought...
Judge: [Barking more loudly] You DO NOT HAVE AUTHORITY through THIS COURT for that!!! [Looks away from Defense attorney and toward jury, with an expression of exasperation tempered with disgust.]

Let's just say it didn't go any smoother for Defense attorney once he started with his actual argument.

Frdnslp

Today I saw the following license plate tag

CRPEYDM

and immediately parsed it as 'crappy diem'.

All too revealing.

A Simple Plan

Shorter Charles Krauthammer: We should leverage our success in Iraq to bring about regime change in Iran so that we can be greeted as liberators.

What is Spanish for "California"?

I learn from Kelefa Sanneh's review of "Shop Class as Soulcraft" in this week's New Yorker that Victor Davis Hanson is the author of a book called "Mexifornia," which relates "the dangers posed by immigration."

Yes, that's right.

The Bitter Truth

Last month, the Los Angeles Times discussed "post-traumatic embitterment disorder." According to the article, the clinically embittered "feel the world has treated them unfairly":

Embittered people are typically good people who have worked hard at something important, such as a job, relationship or activity . . . . When something unexpectedly awful happens -- they don't get the promotion, their spouse files for divorce or they fail to make the Olympic team -- a profound sense of injustice overtakes them.

Sounds like garden-variety embitterment to me. But anyway, here's an observation that has proved therapeutic for me: If the world actually lived up to your very high, meritocratic standards, you'd probably be even less successful than you are now.

(Via Psychology Today, via Arts & Letters Daily.)

Shop Class Warfare: Hard Work as a Waste of Time

Last Sunday I had to fix an electrical problem on one of my semi-hollowbody guitars. Determining the problem, finding a store that had the part, and doing the replacement - all told, it took me about four hours.

"Soulcraft"? I'd rather have spent the time practicing. Or even reading a book-length version of a dubious argument.

Murder Most Unfair

An interesting tidbit I ran across today, from a Latin American pleading (translated [somewhat unevenly] from the Spanish), setting out the aggravating factor of "unfair advantage":

SO THAT IT IS MET, THERE SHOULD BE REQUIRED THAT THE PERPETRATOR IS AWARE OF HIS SUPERIORITY OVER THE VICTIM (LEGISLATION FROM THE STATE OF SAN SALUDOS*). Article 512* of the Criminal Code establishes there is unfair advantage when the defendant is stronger than the victim and the victim is unarmed; when the defendant is stronger due to the weapons, instruments or objects he uses; by his greater skill with those weapons or due to the number of [weapons that [?]] accompany him; when the defendant by any means, weakens the victim's defense, or when the victim is unable to move or fallen and the defendant is armed or standing. Due to the above, [when] it is deduced that the aggravating circumstance of unfair advantage is met in any of the circumstances specified in the criminal law [i.e., as above], it is required that the perpetrator is [found to be] aware of his superiority over the victim.

*Fictionalized to protect the dignity of the region.

It's a Family (Ex)Tradition

Reading up on the law on extradition, I came across this tale of woe:

[Victor Manuel Tafur-Dominguez] has recovered from a near-fatal plane crash in 1999 in Colombia while working for that government's anticocaine program. After moving to the United States to recuperate at his mother's home near Philadelphia, he was jailed in 2000 on accusations by Colombia that he played a role in the largest cocaine shipment ever seized in that country. He successfully challenged Colombia's extradition request based on a treaty written two decades ago by his father, who was subsequently assassinated, a crime that was never solved.

Whoa.