East Coast Hatchery and Conditioning Centre

Shhhhh......it's Darfur

2006-03-18T09:06:00.000-05:00

I am trying really hard not to think about the genocide in Darfur. I know that's wrong. As a Jew I have a responsibility to jump up and down and scream "Never again!" everytime there's even a hint of genocide in the world. And if for a moment I thought that jumping up and down and screaming would actually do anything, I'd be right out there on the sidewalk.

It's just that I don't know what can be done. In an ideal world, the US, allied with other developed nations, would invade Sudan, lift the regime in Khartoum by the collar, and demand its milk money -- and a cessation of all genocidal activities. It worked in WWII. An extended aeial bombing campaign worked in Kosovo. But because of Iraq, and the looming crisis with Iran, I don't think the US has the resources, or even the will, to do that.

The most we seem willing to commit to is paying neighboring African nations to "peacekeep." Except that it looks like they're just standing around "keeping" Sudanese people in refugee camps.

Embargoes, divestments, and boycotts are not going to work. Paying proxy armies is not going to work. Sending in our own army is just not going to happen. Sending the people of Darfur food they can eat while they sit in concentration camps...er....I mean refugee camps.....is not working.

So here is a modest proposal: arm the Darfur villagers. Instead of food-drops, do AK-47 drops. Keep going until either the balance of power has shifted against the Janjaweed or until Khartoum halts the genocide.

Purim thoughts

2006-03-14T13:05:00.000-05:00

I ran into a professor on the way to tea and offered him a hamentaschen. He had never heard of Purim, so I explained why I was carrying a giant container of cookies. His response: you just keep pourin' 'em. HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!

Verses 4:13-4:14 of the Megillah (book of Esther) never fail to move me:

13 and Mordechai said to relay to Esther, "Do not think that you will escape [the fate of] all the Jews by being in the king's palace. 14 For if you will remain silent at this time, relief and salvation will come to the Jews from another source, and you and the house of your father will be lost. And who knows if it is not for just such a time that you reached this royal position."

During services, I couldn't help but notice that the Rabbi's black suit and fedora made him look vaguely sinister. It seemed sort of wrong. Turned out he was dressed-up as a hitman for the Purim schpiel.

More hamentaschen thoughts: it looks like pumpkin and banana hamentaschen were a clear winner this year. Neither the pumpkin nor the banana were available in ancient Persia. Traditions must change.

Hebrew school tends to gloss over parts of the Megillah: the exact reason the king divorces Vashti, the "beauty" contest, the pretext Ahashverosh uses for killing Haman, etc (nudge-nudge wink-wink know-what-I-mean). Yet even as adults, we never seem to talk about what happens after Esther saves the day. Plot synopsis: Haman tricks the king into issuing a decree to kill all Jews in Persia on the 13th of Adar. Esther risks her life to ask the king to annul the decree. He says "ok," and hangs Haman from a 70ft gallows. And they all live happily ever after. Not quite. The king does not annul his decree; instead, he issues permission for Jews to defend themselves. So on the 13th of Adar, Jews banded together and killed roughly 75,000 of their enemies. I've always found this passage a little strange: why does the king need to give permission for people to defend themselves? And what good does it possibly do? If somebody is about to murder you, your family, and all of your friends and neighbors --- what have you got to lose by fighting? I can't imagine anyone deciding not to protect themselves and their families because it is illegal.

Rights vs. Responsibility

2006-03-08T17:18:00.000-05:00

Classical Values examines what it means to say "Education is a right." I strongly believe that every person has the right to have access to a good education. I also believe that in the long run, society as a whole benefits from public education. Educated people usually become law abiding, responsible, tax-paying citizens.

All rights come with responsibilities. I agree with Eric's statement that if all children have the right to an education, then this means they do not have the right to prevent others from getting an education. In other words, they are responsible for behaving in school.

If a child is not ready to excercise his right to an education, maybe that right should be postponed until he is? We, as a society, have agreed to pay for 12 years of schooling for every child in this country. This social contract should be modified to pay for 12 years of schooling at any point in a person's life. If a 13 year old boy refuses to behave in school, then he should be expelled and get the option to resume his education when he is ready. Who knows, maybe a year or two working might teach him some discipline and give him the motivation to actually learn.

A push for civility

2006-02-27T11:12:00.000-05:00

I recently learned from a guy working at Kinkos that nothing is more alluring about a woman than what's written on her health insurance claim. Even if this irresistible piece of paper is safely hidden in my purse, men must be able to sense its nearness. That's the only explanation for the hoots, whistles, and car honks I frequently get. (The later I don't get: what am I supposed to do, run after the car screaming, YES! YES! I WILL be the mother of your children!).

So with mixed feelings I present Holla Back NYC. Women (and a few men) who take pictures of New York's Don Juans and post them on the internet, so that women all over the world can admire their wit, charm and stunning good looks. That's what these men want, right?

Generally, I don't approve of violating people's privacy. I don't like it when people post pictures of other people on-line without their premission. I don't like when people feel free to discuss their friends by name on their personal websites. That's why I publish under a pseudonym.

But think of it this way, Street Don Juans humiliate women in public. Holla Back humiliates them right back. The men are just as anonymous and exposed as they were on that street corner. In some sense, it is the perfect libertarian response. If you act like a pig in public, well, some individual around you might decide to make sure it really is in public. And then other individuals who know you might decide they don't really need Porky Pig in their lives.

Shaming and Shunning: works for Puritans, Cheerleaders, and now, Internet Users. It's almost quaint.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the etymology of Holla Back.

Abandon all cars, ye who enter here!

2006-02-24T09:54:00.000-05:00

One of my friends spent a summer living in Central Square, Boston. The parking situation there was insane. When she moved into her apartment, she had to go to the police with a proof-of-residence. They assigned her three blocks on which she was allowed to park her car. So every evening, she would have to circle her three blocks to find a parking space. No-one else was allowed to park in the area, day or night.

Such a system is inherently self-contradictory. If there are just enough parking spots for residents, why not assign people an actual spot? If there are not enough, some people will have to park illegally every night. The latter is more likely because the town's policy of offering pseudo-parking is bound to encourage residents to collectively own more cars than there is space to put them. Tragedy of the commons, anyone?

Oh, and did I mention that it is nearly impossible for a visitor to park *anywhere* in Boston? And no, public transportation does not solve the problem because the commuter rail and busses run infrequently and stop early at night.

The situation becomes only worse during snow storms. Plows can't clear the entire road because cars are parked there. Therefore, it is up to car owners to dig themselves out. Except that they have nowhere to park when they return, unless it is back in their original spots. This leads to asphalt squating.

Providence does not have the same problem because of the overnight parking ban. Car owners are forced to find their own parking; if you can't afford parking then you can't afford to own a car in Providence. This really annoyed me when I moved to Providence. But I find Boston even more annoying. It is annoying for residents. It is annoying for visitors. It is annoying for anyone who has to drive on a half-plowed street.

Providence, I forgive you!

You WILL be assimilated

2006-02-23T14:20:00.000-05:00

Dean Esmay posts:

Because so much science these days is funded by the U.S. government (i.e. the taxpayers) it is outright obscene to suggest that scientists shouldn't answer to our elected leaders. You do not have a right to demand billions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers, then slap a label on your chest and say, "We are scientists! You are not allowed to question us! Just give us your money and accept whatever we tell you!"

But we still insist on the right to publish our results using the scientific We.

Save the serfs!

2006-02-22T22:41:00.000-05:00

Interesting post at Classical Values on affordable housing. An expanding hospital is buying up adjacent cheap rowhouses (I think that means multi-family houses) for $300,000 a pop. Apparently, the hospital is exerting no pressure, except dangling bigger and bigger bags of cash in front of the owners.

Critics complain that there will be no more cheap houses left in the town. This is a problem because people like teachers and firefighters will not be able to afford to live, and more importantly, work, there.

Something doesn't add up. The teachers and firemen who don't sell their houses get to stay where they are. The ones that do sell, should have enough money to buy a much better house somewhere else in the community. The only way the town would lose teachers and firefighters is if all of them sell their homes, move to cheaper neighborhoods, and use the money they gained when the value of their houses doubled to pay their kids college tuition.

There is a simple solution for averting the above tragedy: poor people who sell their homes for large profits must be heavily taxed to ensure they stay where they belong.

I am such a girl

2006-02-19T13:04:00.000-05:00

I love earrings. Yesterday I discovered a new brand I really like: Silver Forest of Vermont. I'm such a girl.

Meversity

2006-02-18T13:13:00.000-05:00

The university derives its name from "all things discussed," the idea being that the purpose of a university is to let its students discuss everything, thus increasing the scope of human knowledge, exposing ideas to rigorous argument, and eventually arriving at The Truth. And all at a reasonable price.

Mark Oppenheimer, at Opinion Journal suggests a fascinating alternative to the modern big box university:

There are thousands of under-employed Ph.D.s in America who could be paid to offer college-level courses in your living room. If 10 students banded together and put up $10,000 each--students who, say, couldn't care less about football, don't need a Women's Center and have no urge to join Delta Delta Delta--they could hire two high-end intellectuals, pay them $50,000 each and get personal instruction.

If all goes well, in the next 2 - 3 years, I will have a Ph.D. in computer science. What would it take to get me to teach at this private university?

First of all, $50,000 is too low. According to this CRA report, the minimum average starting salary for CS academic positions is $60,000. After 18 years in academia, I would expect to earn at least $80,000, but more likely $100,000. So if these ten hypothetical students actually wanted an experienced private tutor, they would have to double their costs.

However, what really matters is the cost per class. At Brown University, computer science professors teach 2-3 classes per year, usually 2. But Brown is a research university. If you take colleges into account, the average is 5-6 classes a year. Therefore, if students are willing to learn from shiny new Ph.D.s who don't do any research, the market cost is $10,000 per class. Split among 10 students, that's $1,000 each. However, if you want to learn from the best in the field, the cost can be as high as $40,000 for a single class - $4,000 per student. If the students hire their tutors to teach 8 courses a year, the annual tuition can range anywhere from $8,000-$32,000 per student.

This brings me back to my favorite subject: me. I might be willing to teach at this private university for $60,000 a year for a few years after grad school. But I would want to do research as well. This means I would teach at most 4 classes a year. But then my partner (humanities?) teacher would pick up the other 4 classes, so that's ok. We're still running a $120,000 a year university, so that's $12,000 per student.

Or are we? Now we get into the heart of the problem: to do my research, I need certain things that a university provides (besides colleagues).

Access to all the publications in my field. For example, Springer-Verlaag offers a yearly subscription to the Journal of Cryptology on-line for $419.00. That's just one of the journals I would need. Assume between me and my colleague, we subscribe to only 10 journals, that's an additional $4,000 per year.

Travel money for conferences: with registration, transportation and room & board, it comes to about $1,000 a conference. Three conferences a year for each of us is reasonable, so $6,000 per year.

Office equipment: computer, furniture, etc. Let's be conservative and say $1,000 a year between the two of us.

Now I'm out of stuff. Honestly, the increased cost is only $11,000, which is not too bad. Tuition becomes only about $12,000 per year per student. This is comparable to in-state tuition at most state universities.

Oh, and if you haven't guessed by now, Meversity gets its name from "all things discussed by me."

Gun Control

2006-02-16T21:45:00.000-05:00

Some people may argue that Cheney's hunting accident demonstrates the need for stricter gun control. I say that it proves just the opposite: one of the reasons we allow people to bear arms is to protect them from government. Guns don't kill people, government kills people! If Mr. Whittington had a bigger gun, and better armor, he might have been able to defend himself against the tyranny that is Vice President Cheney.

I would also like to add that there is a silver lining to this tragic event: most news anchors are calling Harry Whittington "Mr. Whittington," rather than "Harry," or "H," or even "Whitt-diddy." This is a heartening sign of a return to civility in the public sphere.

Interacting with women and other human beings

2006-02-10T16:41:00.000-05:00

While randomly surfing the web, I came across HOWTO Encourage Women in Linux, a how-to guide for men who want to talk to women about Linux. The guide has wonderful advice, such as don't ask women out on dates because "every time [a woman] gets an email asking her on a date, she is reminded that she isn't viewed as part of the group." The authors also cannot make up their minds whether men should avoid talking to women about Linux because they probably aren't interested or whether men should talk to women about Linux because women are just as intelligent as men. The later question is addressed numerous times in different guises (for example, talking to single women about Linux vs. talking to married women about Linux or talking about the technical aspects of Linux vs. talking about the political aspects of Linux).

Folks, this is a serious problem! I offer the following advice not only as a human being touched by the pain of these lonely male Linux users, but also a woman in computer science with a Linux machine on my desk:

Don't talk about Linux socially. The majority of women, like the majority of normal human beings, don't care. Linux is not that interesting. Plus, most people don't want to talk about work when they're supposed to be having fun.
Don't kidnap people. Just because every intelligent person is bound to agree with you once he (or in the context of this guide, she) knows all the facts, which fortunately you have at the tip of your tongue, does not mean you should spend the next hour lecturing. This is especially true if the topic concerns Linux (see rule #1).
Shower. Daily. Ok, this has nothing to do with Linux, but it's still a good idea.

e-Book

2006-02-06T16:11:00.000-05:00

Just saw this on InstaPundit: Sony just came out with an e-Book. It's like an iPod, only it's for books. (Though I see no reason why it shouldn't come with a head-phone).

The difficulty with making a computerized book is that people's eyes get tired faster when they look at a computer monitor than when they look at a book. That is because the monitor projects light onto your eyes, while the book absorbs ambient light. Sony fixed this problem by essentially making an electronic etch-a-sketch.

I would love to have an e-book, and not just for books, but for research. It would be really nice to download a paper into a small screen. It would have to be searchable - keyword, author, title, abstract, date, etc -- maybe by theorem and definitions. For big books and thick papers, it would be nice if I could add book marks (so not just the most recent page I was on, but places I might want to go back to in the future). Most importantly, when there is a reference - either in-line or in the bibliography - I would like to be able to jump to that paper if I have it.

What features would you guys like?

Free speech in America

2006-02-06T13:03:00.001-05:00

The 12 Mohammeds are on the loose. Wikipedia has an excellent history of what's been going on. The latest big news is that rioters burned the the Danish embassy in Syria to the ground (technically, an act of war).

Many European newspapers have responded to the increasing violence by publishing the 12 cartoons, but American media, while commenting on the controversy, has declined to actually print any of the cartoons. Until now. This Saturday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reprinted the most offensive of the 12 Muhammed cartoons. Classical Values has a snapshot of the actual page.

It's about time. America should have been first.

Free speech in America

2006-02-06T13:03:00.000-05:00

This Saturday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reprinted the most offensive of the 12 Muhammed cartoons. Classical Values has a snapshot of the actual page.

Paradise Now

2006-02-03T19:52:00.000-05:00

I don't watch the Golden Globe Awards. I don't really care about the Golden Globe Awards. Or at least I didn't, until the other day when I learned that the terrorist propaganda film Paradise Now has won the Best Foreign Language Film award.

The movie is a sympathetic portrait of two Palestinian terrorists who blow themselves up in Tel Aviv, killing lots of people, most of them children. Supposedly, this movie is "a bold new call for peace" and one of the movie's slogans is "sometimes the most courageous act is what you don't do". Except that the protagonists are not at all peaceful, and they fail to not do the most courageous act.

I've looked at the many positive reviews this movie has gotten, and the same theme stands out: this is not an apologia for terrorism because both sides are presented equally. Excuse me? Both sides are equal?! AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! But that is ultimately the point of a movie like this. To make mass murder appear like one of the many equally acceptable ways for people to air their greivances. It's like posting to a blog vs. going postal: both strategies have their ups and downs. This movie is just one more disgusting flick from the Palestinian propaganda mill.

Anyway, to me this is really just a matter of academic interest.....some idiots I don't know honored a film I don't intend to see. But to the father of one of the victims, it's personal.

Free SCOTUS

2006-01-31T11:26:00.000-05:00

Samuel Alito was just confirmed to the Supreme Court 58 to 42. As expected, the vote was almost completely along party lines.

We need a Constitutional Ammendment on abortion. Until then, all future Supreme Court appointments will be based on whether the new nominee supports Roe vs. Wade. The fact that this is such a contentious issue is a sign that it should be resolved by the legislative branch.

As far as I see it, the problem is thus: the Constitution ensures the right to life to all people (which cannot be denied without the due process of law) but does not define what exactly is a person. In Roe vs. Wade the Supreme Court made that decision and 30 years of bitter controversy followed.

I propose the following draft of an Ammendent:

Any human being is considered a person with the rights granted to all people by this Constitution from the moment of his or her birth. Congress and the individual States may extend some or all of those rights to the unborn in whatever way they see fit.

Danish free-speech project

2006-01-30T14:00:00.000-05:00

This is now sort of an old story, but I thought I might post it. A while back, a Danish newspaper, Jyllands Posten, heard that a publisher was having trouble finding a person willing to illustrate a children's book about Islam because Muslims consider images of Mohammed to be blasphemous. Jyllands Posten responded with a contest asking artists to submit cartoons of Mohammed. It published 12 of them. The response was immediate: Islamist groups around the world threatened to kill the newspaper's writers and the artists (the editor is currently hiding in Miami) and several Muslim countries plan to boycott Denmark. But.....Jyllands Posten refuses to apologize and the government is standing by their right to free speech.

What prompted this post is that I finally got to see the
the published cartoons. Some make fun of terrorists (or even equate Islam with terrorism, which is not completely fair), two are the sort of illustrations of Mohammed you'd expect in a children's book about Islam, and several are clever statements about the contest itself. My favorites are the ones by Annette Carlsen (a Mohammed police line-up) and Bob Katzennelson (a Mohammed stickfigure).

Which ones do you guys like?

UPDATE: Just hours after I wrote this post, Jyllands Posten apologized:

On 30 September last year, Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten published 12 different cartoonists' idea of what the Prophet Mohammed might have looked like. The initiative was taken as part of an ongoing public debate on freedom of expression, a freedom much cherished in Denmark.

In our opinion, the 12 drawings were sober. They were not intended to be offensive, nor were they at variance with Danish law, but they have indisputably offended many Muslims for which we apologize.

Thank you to the anonymous commenter for pointing this out!

What's in a name?

2006-01-30T09:47:00.000-05:00

I went to dinner with my family last night and want to make a wine recommendation: Mirassou Pinot Noir (2004).

UPDATE: I was thinking some more about the Mirassou website and Google censorship. To visit the website, you need to enter your birthday, thus "proving" you are over 18. Then, if you want to search to see what liquor stores carry Mirassou, you must enter your zip code. The website refuses to return results for some states - such as Rhode Island - because it violates local laws. Todd Ziwicki covered this issue in his multi-post Wine Wars series at the Volokh Conspiracy.

2006-01-29T11:57:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to comment on the recent Hamas election victory in the Palestinian Territories: Wednesday, Hamas won 74 of 132 seats in the Palestinian parliament. Many of my favorite websites have been trying to put a positive spin on this, but it all somehow rings hollow:

Dr. Pangloss says: this election was actually about domestic politics; it was a vote for more freedom and less corruption. I say: it was also a vote for an Islamic theocracy. Hamas has already banned a music festival (because it would involve "mingling" of men and women). It plans to impose a special tax on all non-muslims (i.e. Chrisitians) in the territories. Besides being a terrorist group, Hamas is the Palestinian equivalent of the Taliban....call 'em the Paliban.
Dr. Pangloss says: this is the first free and fair election in the Palestinian Territories and is a sign that the Palestinians are embracing democracy. I beg to differ: there has been violence both before and after the elections. The voting itself may have been free and fair; the decision as to who gets on the ballot probably wasn't. And we still haven't seen a peaceful transfer of power.
Dr. Pangloss says: Hamas runs schools, and youth groups, and camps, and other charitable institutions. Maybe it will use its new governmental power to continue the good work. I agree: because that's just what we need, more terrorist indoctrination camps. Let's keep the Arab-Israeli conflict going for another generation!
Dr. Pangloss says: Fatah was also a terrorist group, but, unlike Hamas, it was funding terrorism covertly. I respectfully point out: the Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade wasn't that covert. Besides, we were better off when Arafat was funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to his personal bank account -- because each million Mrs. Arafat spent on her wardrobe was a million unavailable to purchase bombs or rockets.
Dr. Pangloss says: international pressure would force Hamas to moderate its stance towards Israel. For example, President Bush pledged to to cut off the $400 million a year the US sends to the PA and some members of Congress are promising they don't expect Israel to negotiate with Hamas....yet. I say: let's see how long this lasts. At the moment, Hamas is pretending that it has unilaterally declared a cease-fire last year. (I say pretending, because while the number of successful terrorist attacks has plummeted, the number of attempts has remained constant). Eventually, the "International Community" will claim that this is good enough and resume giving money to the PA -- assuming it bothers stopping it in the first place.
Dr. Pangloss says: Now that Hamas is the government of the PA, Israel will be able to view any terrorist attacks as an act of war and respond accordingly. Israel will use its superior military strength to obliterate the Palestinian army, while miraculously avoiding any telegenic civilian casualties, and the International Community will approve because...........all the Jooos in Israel will miraculously transform overnight into French Socialists of African American descent, thus giving them 10 more victim points than the Palestinians. Then Palestinians and Israelis will sit down together to feast on flying kosher pigs and sing Kumbaya.

In the end, the only consolation I can think of is this: everything is for the best, in this best of all possible worlds.

Hypocrisy

2006-01-25T11:13:00.000-05:00

Google has just decided to open up a Chinese language portal....in China. While this would speed up the response time of its server for Chinese users, Google had to agree to censor its results.

Journalists who face censorship have an important obligation: they cannot let themselves become simple propagandists for a regime while pretending to be independent observers. CNN made this mistake with Iraq...and for all I know is continuing to do so in countless other dictatorships. In it's defense, CNN claims that:

"it was about one thing and one thing only -- saving lives of innocent people. It had nothing to do with access. Washington Post

But in the end, it is about access. Because if all a regime has to do is threaten a journalist (or his local co-workers) to get its way, then that is exactly what it will do.

Google has made one principled decision: whenever it censors content (such as Nazi links in Germany and France or democracy/freedom links in China) it plans to post a notification that it did so. To a degree, this is a decent compromise. It allows Google to provide information to Chinese people while reminding them that it has been censored. Any journalist, news agency or information provider whose output is censored owes his readers at least that much. I think I would have even respected Google's decision....if it hadn't fought tooth and nail against the US government in a similar case. I agree with Google that it should not be forced to disclose data, but if it chooses to fight only one battle, shouldn't it be against China?

UPDATE: Example of a much more principled stand against censorship in Cuba.

Please make the pain stop

2006-01-20T13:10:00.000-05:00

Supposedly Osama bin Laden issued a new audiotape. I agree with Donald Sensing's take on it.....assuming the black knight is even still alive. We haven't seen any of his famous videos since the assault on Tora Bora.

No pain, no gain?

2006-01-19T13:57:00.000-05:00

So the constant-hand-pain thing is over and the world will once again be able to benefit from my keen insightful analysis.

The biggest problem facing the world at the moment is Iran's nuclear program. Germany suggests diplomacy. I'm not sure what this means. As far as I understand it, diplomacy is when diplomats from one country offer either a carrot or a stick to diplomats from another country. According to Germany, the UN Security Council is off the table - so no stick.

So what's the carrot?

Free Martha

2005-03-04T18:30:00.000-05:00

Unjustly imprisoned Martha Stewart left Federal Prison today. Unfortunately she still has several months of house arrest remaining. Hopefully she can start to rebuild the business and life that was destroyed by overambitious prosecutors, envious jurors, and a public that delights in tearing down those who create things of value. Good Luck, Martha.

justify your existence

2005-03-02T10:20:00.000-05:00

I don't know what amazes me more: that the UN finally did something in the Congo (besides little Congolese girls) or that the "peacekeepers" let things get so bad. I wonder how the oil-for-food and sex scandals affected the UN's decision to act. (Or were the Pakistanis just mad at the ambushers).

Life Imitates....Monty Python?

2005-02-24T11:41:00.000-05:00

Marginal Revolution had a great excerpt from a Globe and Mail story about an upset pet owner:

An indignant Israeli is suing a pet shop that he says sold him a dying parrot, reports the Ma'ariv newspaper. Itzik Simowitz of the southern city of Beersheba contends the shop cheated him because the Galerita-type cockatoo not only failed to utter a word when he got it home, but was also extremely ill. Mr. Simowitz adds that the shop owner assured him the parrot was not ill but merely needed time to adjust to its new environment.

(Shamelessly stolen from here)

Signs of desperation

2005-02-22T22:43:00.000-05:00

or of defeat?

Diary of a chocoholic

2005-02-21T10:37:00.000-05:00

I'm already addicted.

Loans for Disaster Relief

2005-02-18T10:31:00.000-05:00

From the front page of yesterday's Wall Street Journal:

Like many Sri Lankans in refugee camps, Ms. Maheshwaren first tried to tap the international aid through the government. Nobody got back to her, she says. So after more than a month, with still no livelihood, she took a nine-hour train ride to the offices of a Sri Lankan company called Ceylino Consolidated. Two hours later she walked out with a borrowed $700, which she'll use to buy fish at wholesale and a motorcycle to transport the fish to local markets.

Since the government is being innefficient at distributing aid (the government is innefficient? I'm shocked!) the private sector is picking up the slack. Ceylinco lends at 6% for small loans with no collateral to rural customers looking to rebuild their lives.

Ceylinco thus began offering tiny loans to budding rural entrepreneurs. The experience convinced Mr Kotelawala[Ceylinco's chairman] that the struggling poor, accustomed to being gouged by loan sharks, and appreciating being given a chance, can be counted on to repay if humanly possible.

"The poor person is a better credit risk than the rich person," Mr Kotelawala says. "To break out of poverty, he is totally focused."

The interesting thing of all this to me is that corporations, often demonized for taking advantage of the poor in the Third World, are the ones actually delivering the necessary means for folks to pull their lives together.

Your turn

2005-02-16T20:50:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a blogging break. (My hands hurt from too much typing.) Wildabeest is also not actively posting for his own reasons. So I'm counting on our mostly silent co-bloggers to keep us informed & entertained!

Martyrs

2005-02-16T08:22:00.000-05:00

Martyrs have a bad name nowadays. You casually mention that St. So and So was a martyr and people automatically assume he was a frothing at the mouth sociopath. With poor hiegine and a haircut that was so last milennium.

But today the world has a new martyr in that old never-murdered-anybody sense of the word. Syria has been occupying Lebanon - er, "Greater Syria", since 1975. Syria also has the world's last remaining Ba'athist government (Ba'ath is based on socialism, secularism and pan-Arabism). In otherwords, it is not the nicest country.

Two days ago, the Syrian government assassinated the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, a gentleman by the name of Hariri. Most people (like me) had never heard of him before. But yesterday, his name was written in big letters on the front page of major news website. The US recalled its ambassador from Syria. Today there are hundreds of thousands of protestors marching in Lebanon. It is the later fact that astounds me.

Who would have imagined a mass protest in Lebanon? (By protest I mean a grass-roots organized demonstration against the government, not a government organized demonstration against the US).

Arabs like dictators, censorship, secret policeman, knocks on the door in the middle of the night.....

Sort of the way we Ruskies did....

Who knows - maybe this martyrdom will end an occupation in a way certain other oh-so-famous "martyrdoms" never will.

Excellent News

2005-02-16T08:11:00.000-05:00

I just learned some excellent news and I am very excited to share it with everyone. I opened a new box of tissues today. It was one of those cute cubical ones with printed flowers to make it match my uber-feminine room. Inside was a small piece of folded paper.

Must be a coupon, I thought.

It said More Kleenex!

Must be a coupon for more Kleenex! I thought. I was very excited. I unfolded the paper. It was divided into little panels, and each panel said:

More Kleenex!

You can just imagine the anticipation. How much would I save? 10 cents? 15 cents? I continued to unfold the paper.

Now every box of Kleenex has 15 more tissues!

This is better than coupons! I'm so glad I spent thirty seconds of my life unfolding that piece of paper. Not to mention the time I spent blogging this and you the reader spent reading this post. Isn't this exciting!

It's just as well it wasn't a coupon. I save all my coupons in a little drawer until they expire. It makes me feel thrifty.

The Emperor's New Clothes

2005-02-16T08:09:00.000-05:00

This is a story about the emperor's new clothes. Though in this story the little boy is the emperor and the little boy who finally says "dude, he's naked!" is a gentleman from Rumford.
A little background from the always eloquent Mark Steyn:

when Chariho Regional High School art teacher Lynn Norton set her pupils the task of expressing an idea three-dimensionally, Jeffrey Eden immediately thought of a diorama comparing Bush to Hitler.... draping a swastika on one side and the Stars and Stripes on the other, and putting in little plastic soldiers -- Nazi and American....

....Well, Jeffrey's 17. One day, with a bit of luck, he'll realize Bush isn't Hitler.... But what are we to make of everyone else in this sorry story? The art teacher who gave him an A. The 15 judges in the Rhode Island Scholastic Art Awards who awarded him their ''silver key.'' The proprietor of Alperts Furniture Showroom in Seekonk where the winning ''art'' work is proudly on display. Are there no grown-ups left in Rhode Island?

There's at least one: a gentleman from Rumford writes in the Projo:

It frightens me that anyone would suggest censoring Jeffrey Eden's Bush-Hitler political diorama....What offends me, however, is its classification as "art." Presumably this juvenile mess, which has not a hint of skill, displaced the effort of a student who had real talent in art or design.

I suspect that the teacher was afraid to give it a bad grade, the judges were afraid to reject it and Alperts' did not dare backout of its promise to display the winning piece. If any of them did, there would have been screams of censorship.

UPDATE: Sorry for italicizing the whole page! I fixed it now.

UPDATE: On second thought, it was Art and you (and by you I mean Wildabeest) have no right to criticize it! You clearly are unsophisticated and know nothing about symbolism! I taunt you! You have no appreciation for multi-dimensional thinking. There, I have taunted you a second time! Go away you silly man!

Freedom of Association vs. Freedom From Associations

2005-02-14T21:52:00.000-05:00

Time for another round of Projo blogging. There is a nice piece about how Harvard uses its virtual monopoly on land in Boston to enforce its vision on the city. Harvard has amassed so much power because it is tax-exempt (thus giving it a competitive advantage) and has been around for a long time. Concievably, a private association could gain an equal amount of power without government granted privileges. (Though power tends to snowball; a monopoly on any scarce but needed resources gives the owner leverage over the government).

It's hard to say exactly how much land Harvard owns. This Boston.com article from 2004 has an estimate of around 600 acres - a huge amount in an urban area. Boston is not pleased:

When Harvard, then led by the neurasthenic, ungregarious Neil Rudenstine, revealed in 1997 that it had anonymously acquired significant commercial land in Allston, Mayor Thomas M. Menino was infuriated. "That's absurd," he told the Globe of Harvard's explanation that buying land openly would have driven prices up. "Without informing anyone or telling anybody? That's total arrogance."

As a libertarian, my gut reaction is that Harvard should not have to seek permission to buy property, nor reveal its plans to do so. On the other hand, after acquiring this much land, Harvard gains extraordinary power over Boston. Harvard effectively becomes an unelected government. Libertarianism puts individual liberty as the ultimate social good. Normally, the biggest threat to individual liberty is the government. That is because the government has the power to prevent individuals and associations of individuals from gaining power, including power over others. How can a balance be struck?

Maybe widening anti-monopoly regulations is the solution. This would require a host of regulations: preventing monopolies in land, employment, network channels, cable channels, newspapers, banking, and anything else that a creative individual might try to monopolize. How can monopolies be defined? Is it 100%, 50.01%, or 33%? We need to decide between individual laws for each type of monopoly (leading to both law-glut and loop-holes) or a blanket law (leading to possible government abuse).

I don't know how to really solve this problem. One of my favorite authors, Neal Stephenson addresses this libertarian nightmare in his books Snow Crash and The Diamond Age. This interview in Reason has a pretty good summary of his view. I leave you with a quote:

Reason: Snow Crash is almost a parody of a libertarian future. Do you think the affinity-group-based societies you outline in that book are on their way? ....

Stephenson: I dreamed up the Snow Crash world 15 years ago as a thought experiment, and I tweaked it to be as funny and outrageous and graphic novel–like as I could make it. Such a world wouldn’t be stable unless each little “burbclave” had the ability to defend itself from all external threats....

Totalitarianism

2005-02-13T21:39:00.000-05:00

I just came across this Yahoo News
article on Salman Rushdie while reading Dean's World:

Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards said Salman Rushdie still faced eventual execution, 16 years after revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini imposed a death sentence on the British novelist.

Naturally, I find it disturbing that a British citizen has to go into hiding in Britain because a foreign government sentenced him to death for exercising his right to free speech. But I'm not going to blog about that. Instead, this particular quote from an unnamed source in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards caught my eye:

"The imam's historic fatwa, issued in the days when the infidel leaders who champion liberal democracy and Zionism devoted all their energies to fighting Islam, is testament to Muslim greatness and the revolutionary dynamism of Koranic and Islamic thought"

Now compare this to:

"The Secretariat's historic proclamation, issued in the days when the capitalist leaders who champion liberal democracy and Zionism devoted all their energies to fighting Communism, is testament to proletariat greatness and the revolutionary dynamism of Leninist and Marxist thought"

The isms vary while the people stay the same.

Axis of Evil

2005-02-09T21:55:00.000-05:00

So I've been thinking about the Axis of Evil. To begin with, it was never really an axis, so much as a triangle. Now that Iraq has quit the club, the Axis of Evil at least has the benefit of being axis-like. The line from Iran to North Korea runs through Afghanistan (no longer evil), Pakistan (evil, but working on it), India (not at all evil), China (moderately evil) and the Yellow Sea (neutral).

The question before us is: what are the 3 most evil countries on Earth?

I have a hard time thinking of a country as evil as North Korea. Nazi Germany would beat it hands down, but it's no longer in the running. Sudan, with its on-going state sponsored genocide of Darfur blacks runs a close second. (Somehow I think North Korea is worse; maybe it's because Sudan is really puny). I can't decide on a third country. Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Cuba, and China are all very evil. But are they evil enough?

I guess I'll follow my usual rule of thumb for these situations: when in doubt, blame Canada.

You have elected the way of PAIN!

2005-02-09T08:37:00.000-05:00

FoxNews has an article about how "anti-racist math" is hurting math education in Newton, MA. This might be a hoax (though it says alot about public schools that people believe it so readily). I'm going to focus on a different aspect of the article.

The Russian School of Mathematics is a private, after-school math institution for kids grades K-12. Iness Rifkin, founder of the school, told FOXNews.com that of the 700 kids now enrolled in her school, 400 of them are from the Newton district; 120 of them are middle schoolers. She began the school out of her home seven years ago with her two children and a few of their friends. Clearly Newton has some sort of problem with math education.

Everybody knows Russians are good at math. Besides the fact that we're naturally superior to the rest of the human race (that's a joke), we also have a unique approach to learning (not a joke). Let's read the friendly introduction on the RSN homepage:

We believe:
* Everybody can learn
* Learning happens in an individual way and at an individual pace
* Every student can and will succeed

Sounds nice. Every student will meet his/her full potential, blah blah blah. But how? Well, like all modern educational institutions, RSN has a
vision statement:

...A considerable amount of homework is assigned and a test is given at the end of each class. The results of the tests help the teachers adjust their lesson plan. Teachers use these tools to determine the pace of the class and so make sure that nobody falls behind....

And this, my friends, is the secret to the Russian method of teaching.* Little Ivan (that's Johnny in Ruski!) will learn because he doesn't have a choice. If he doesn't figure it out the first time, he's sure to figure it out the 50th time....or the 500th time....or however much time it takes with a Russian Education professional glaring at him. In fact, I've seen this method used by unlicensed Russian educators known as Russian Mothers. In fact, I suspect it is practiced by a variety of uncertified instructors, such as Chinese Mothers and Indian Mothers.

It's cruel, but it works. Now discuss!

*Disclaimer, I've never actually attended the Russian School of Math or know anyone who does. This post is based on some 20+ years of experience of being Russian.

Fighting Islamofascism with Theology

2005-02-08T19:53:00.000-05:00

If this actually works it is terrific.

Name a New Species

2005-02-08T17:49:00.000-05:00

Yet another thing you can buy on auction these days. At least it wasn't on ebay.

"The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), in partnership with Bolivian protected area authorities, has announced a one-of-a-kind international auction for the right to name an entire species of monkey, recently discovered in an exotic South American national park. "

http://www01.charityfolks.com/charity_auctions_WCS.htm

Let's chip in and name it the "East Coast Hatchery and Conditioning Centre" though I guess after a while they would just shorten it and call the monkey echcc.

Surreal conversation

2005-02-06T21:30:00.000-05:00

EF: Are you planning to do the dishes tonight?
Roomie: Why?
EF: We only have one fork left.
Roomie: But it's my silverware!

Where do I find these roommates?!

Turn the page

2005-02-05T11:26:00.000-05:00

I am astounded. While reading Iraq The Model this morning, I came across A Magnificent Day for Iraq by Dr. Mohammed T. Al-Rasheed on Arabnews

Bravo Iraq! For history, Jan. 30, 2005, is one magnificent day for Iraq and the Arab nation. Regardless of who won and who lost, the day should be a permanent fixture on the Arab calendar forever. I don’t want to talk politics; I simply want to celebrate history....It took the Americans to conduct it and force it down the throats of dictators, terrorists, exploding deranged humans, and odds as big as the distance between the USA and the Middle East....On Sunday America vindicated itself to all doubters, including me....

Why is this astounding? Because it came from Arabnews.You see, I have a long history with Arabnews. My highschool Global Studies teacher Mr.Buxton, whom I appreciate more and more every year, made us read 5 newspaper articles about international news from 5 different newspapers every week. Since my parents did not subscribe to 5 different newspapers, and I was too lazy to schlepp to the library, I decided to read newspapers on-line. This opened up a whole new world. I could read news about a foreign country as it was reported in that country. As a result, whenever I knew something interesting was happening in the Middle East, I would type http://www.arabnews.com, and learn why the Zionist Entity was at fault.

So I decided to do an experiment: I went to the Arabnews homepage this morning. Here are the top stories:

Security Tightened At Conference Site
Meet To Focus On Anti-Terror Cooperation
Protect Youth From Advocates Of Terrorism
Iraqi Gunmen Seize Italian Journalist
With Islam We Fight Terrorism
Tasks Before Riyadh Conference
Saudi Who Rode 'Satan's Horse' Tells His Story
US General Admonished Over Remarks"

So now you know about Arabnews. So who is this Dr. Mohammed T. Al-Rasheed? This is interesting enough, that I think I might do some google research and post a profile later.

Niche Studies

2005-02-04T13:00:00.000-05:00

Are niche studies departments a good idea? On one hand, it makes sense to have a department to study the histories & cultures of various groups because those groups existed, did stuff, and we should know about them. On the other hand, for all the talk about using these departments as a form of racial or gender reconciliation, the result is often the exact opposite. Maybe the solution lies in the argument: a department created out of a genuine desire to study results in scholarship, while a department created out of a desire to change the campus/world results in politics. It's a fine line, and with human nature as it is and academic freedom as it should be, it's a line that's guaranteed to be crossed. (Via The Puppy Blender).

Projo blogging

2005-02-03T22:45:00.000-05:00

I love reading Froma Harrop's articles in the Providence Journal. She's intelligent, an excellent writer, and makes me think - i.e. I tend to disagree with her. Today's topic is college admission.

"It is very difficult intellectually to justify giving a break of hundreds of points on SAT scores to the daughter of upper-middle-class, highly educated blacks and giving nothing remotely similar to the daughter of poor white high-school dropouts," Froma quotes Ruy Texeira, because she agrees with him. Very well, I agree with him too.

Affirmative action based on class rather than race has caught fire in some liberal quarters. As a cause, this one is long overdue. As a good cause, I'm not so sure. On one hand you have kids who aren't as good at math, writing, science, etc because they had to work after school and didn't have educated parents who could help them with their homework. On the other hand you have kids who are good at math, writing, science, etc. Who do you admit?

I've heard this particular argument before, but only from conservatives. I can't help but wonder, how many white liberals are suddenly upset about the evils of race based affirmative action because their kids are having trouble getting into college? Interestingly enough, the solution is not to end discrimination, but to conveniently change it in favor of another demographic. Which demographic? Theirs, of course! You see, the problem with legalizing any form of discrimination is that eventually the people in power will ensure that the discrimination is in their favor.

Downe with the terrorists

2005-02-03T19:05:00.000-05:00

Now we know why the Iraqi "insurgents" want our All American Toys so badly. They're retarded. Literally:

The suicide attack that was performed on an election center in one of Baghdad's districts (Baghdad Al-Jadeedah) last Sunday was performed using a kidnapped "Down Syndrome" patient. Eye witnesses said (and I'm quoting one of my colleagues; a dentist who lives there) "the poor victim was so scared when ordered to walk to the searching point and began to walk back to the terrorists. In response the criminals pressed the button and blew up the poor victim almost half way between their position and the voting center's entrance".

This story comes from my favorite Iraqi blogs, Iraq the Model. It is run by two brothers and was one of the first blogs in free Iraq. At first they posted somewhat anonymously out of fear of retaliation. Then they started the Iraqi Pro-Democracy Party and one of the brothers ran for office in the recent election. Himself. With no mentally handicapped men to hide behind.

Corporate & State Theft

2005-02-02T11:09:00.000-05:00

The town of Norwood, OH has declared a bunch of folk's homes "blighted" in order to force them out and give the land over to a developer. Whole thing at Hit and Run.

Trouble in Nepal

2005-02-02T10:06:00.000-05:00

In today's Washington Post:

Nepal's King Gyanendra unveiled a 10-member cabinet under his leadership on Wednesday, a day after he dismissed the prime minister for failing to hold elections or end an escalating civil war with Maoist rebels.
...

Life carried on as normal on the streets of Kathmandu, but the revolt-racked country remained largely cut off from the rest of the world a day after the king dismissed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and assumed power himself.

Gyanendra declared a state of emergency, suspended civil liberties, including press freedom, and placed many leading politicians under house arrest. He said his new government would aim to restore multiparty democracy within three year

I'm not sure what to think of this. While it is clearly bad to have the King seizing power and suspending civil liberties, a representative government that refuses to allow elections is not much of a representative government.

Happy Birthday Ayn Rand!

2005-02-02T10:00:00.000-05:00

I gather from various discussion from around the web that today would have been her 100th birthday. Since her works have had a great effect on my thinking, I would be remiss in ignoring this day. I'm just gonna throw a bunch of things I have seen out there, stuff by Cathy Young at Reason, Alex Tabarrok and Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution, and Andrew Stuttaford at the New York Sun. In the New York Times, Edward Rothstein discusses her Romantic artistic ideal. Just to round it out, here is Whittaker Chamber's famous review of Atlas Shrugged. Here via Project Gutenberg is Anthem, which as Andrew pointed out to me the other day is ironically in the public domain.

Getting tough on terrorists

2005-02-01T17:41:00.000-05:00

Those bastards have captured one of our beloved action figures and they're threatening to execute him with a little plastic rifle if we don't give them back their My Little Pony (TM)! The Jihadis have indicated that they're willing to go as far as stomping their feet, holding their breath until they pass out, and "not be your friend anymore." It's a tough decision - especially when a Real American Hero is in danger - but if we want terrorists to believe us when America says "You're grounded!" we have to be firm.

Oh, and here's a question: imagine for a moment you're a newspaper editor. A terrorist group contacts you and tells you that they have a hostage. They might even provide some proof - like a picture of a G.I. Joe. What is the ethical thing to do? Publishing spreads fear and plays into the terrorist's hands. (Also, I'd hate to learn someone close to me is in danger while reading my morning paper). The information could also be wrong. On the other hand, it's a newspaper's job and duty to inform the public about the true state of affairs. And shouldn't reporting on terrorist's atrocities turn people against them? 9/11, Beslan and the Madrid train bombing affected alot of people's opinions and emotions, even if it didn't affect them personally.

My solution: 1. tell the authorities immediately but 2. wait a few days before printing unless this event immediately affects the majority of my newspaper's readers.

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

2005-02-01T13:03:00.000-05:00

Welcome all to yet another blog. You might ask why the world needs another blog. After all, there seem to be quite a lot of them out there. However, they are free to start, and no one seemed to be using this name. It seems remiss to let something free go unclaimed, and let a blogspot domain name remain unoccupied. Hence we have started East Coast Hatchery as a place for several of us of differing opinions to debate various things, from politics and philosophy to cooking and computers.