A diet of worms

Thinking about the taste of a dirty worm squishing around in your mouth when you bite into an apple, do you think pesticide use should be increased or decreased?

Increased.



Maintained at current levels.



Decreased.

Inspired by Jim Harper

Brandenburg Concertos free downloads

Check it out.

Free downloads of Bach's complete organ works

Free downloads of the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach, recorded by Dr. James Kibbie on original baroque organs in Germany

Here.

Security theatre comedy

We took our shoes off and placed our laptops in bins. Schnei­er took from his bag a 12-ounce container labeled “saline solution.”

“It’s allowed,” he said. Medical supplies, such as saline solution for contact-lens cleaning, don’t fall under the TSA’s three-ounce rule.

“What’s allowed?” I asked. “Saline solution, or bottles labeled saline solution?”

“Bottles labeled saline solution. They won’t check what’s in it, trust me.”

They did not check. As we gathered our belongings, Schnei­er held up the bottle and said to the nearest security officer, “This is okay, right?” “Yep,” the officer said. “Just have to put it in the tray.”

“Maybe if you lit it on fire, he’d pay attention,” I said, risking arrest for making a joke at airport security. (Later, Schnei­er would carry two bottles labeled saline solution—24 ounces in total—through security. An officer asked him why he needed two bottles. “Two eyes,” he said. He was allowed to keep the bottles.)

So the TSA is basically there for the laughs.

Heah me talkin' to ya

Heah me talkin' to ya 03:24
Okeh # 8649 Louis Armstrong and his savoy ballroom five -fox trot - issue date: 12-12-1928.

From The Internet Archive

Thanks for nothing, Al

Former vice-president Al Gore said support for corn-based ethanol in the United States was "not a good policy", weeks before tax credits are up for renewal.

...

He explained his own support for the original program on his presidential ambitions.

"One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee, and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president."

...

"The size, the percentage of corn particularly, which is now being (used for) first generation ethanol definitely has an impact on food prices.

"The competition with food prices is real."

Illinois Will Get Murdered If China Slows Its Imports

$2.5 billion of exports to China last year

363% growth over decade

--machinery (except electrical) worth $508 million
--crop production worth $406 million
--waste and scrap worth $365 million
--computers and electronics worth $330 million
--chemicals worth $239 million

Major state employer Dyncorp might get screwed.

TSA Scans "Won't Catch Anybody"

With regard to our ongoing security theatre, Bruce Schneier says:

You have to be seen as doing something, even if nothing is the smart thing to do. You can't be seen as doing nothing.

HAL was a 'straight' computer

1. How can we be so sure?
2. If "he" was straight, what would his ideal match be? Could "he" have been set up with a "female" counterpart? What would a "female" computer be like?
   

Pain can make you feel better

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) (most commonly in the form of cutting or burning the skin) can lead to feeling better. Research suggests that it's because of the relief that occurs when something that causes acute, intense pain is removed.

Not unlike acupuncture and Beckett's Lemuel.

As long as we know where political contributions come from, it's OK

Top All-Time Donors, 1989-2010

from OpenSecrets.org.

I solved the deficit!

74% savings from spending cuts; 26% savings from tax increases. And here I thought I was against raising taxes.

Do you have your spoon?

Someone has escaped from Jasper Fforde's Shades Of Grey.

85% of Chinese believe in religion or the supernatural

Now, with three decades of prosperity under their belt — the first significant period of relative stability in more than a century — the Chinese are in the midst of a great awakening of religious belief. In cities, yuppies are turning to Christianity. Buddhism attracts the middle class, while Taoism has rebounded in small towns and the countryside. Islam is also on the rise, not only in troubled minority areas but also among tens of millions elsewhere in China.

It is impossible to miss the religious building boom, with churches, temples and mosques dotting areas where none existed a few years ago. How many Chinese reject the state’s official atheism is hard to quantify, but numbers suggest a return to widespread religious belief. In contrast to earlier surveys that showed just 100 million believers, or less than 10 percent of the population, a new survey shows that an estimated 300 million people claim a faith. A broader question in another poll showed that 85 percent of the population believes in religion or the supernatural.

Nothing on Guan Gong or other "Taoist" gods, though.

I laughed out loud

In a discussion of Lisa Murkowski's write-in candidacy, James Taranto writes,

...she has a somewhat difficult name to spell. It's M-U-R-K-O-W-S-K-I, just so you know, and it's very important to get it right. According to the New York Times, even her husband, while voting, asked her, "Hon, how do you spell your last name?" (Her lesser half is named Martell; she uses her father's surname so as to make a statement against patriarchy.)

(emphasis mine)

Carpe diem

flatulence = divine inspiration

It is not the first time that melancholy enthusiasts have taken their flatulence in retrospect for devilish assaults or for divine inspiration

--Friedrich Nicolai, on the 18th-century sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

Great examples of negative externalities

If you're looking for a great example of a negative externality, an act, remember, that comes about because the decision maker doesn't bear a large percent of the cost of his decision, look no further than Bush's Iraq invasion or Obama's "stimulus" package.

The Most ‘Chinese’ Chinese Characters

From here
Characters representing Chinese society & civilization:
耕、禾、农、家、田、丝、工
Characters related to Chinese philosophy, religion, society & thought:
儒、道、佛、悟 (probably concepts like 顿悟)、戒 (三戒 and 八戒 eight precepts¹)
Characters representing Chinese feelings:
中、东、北、土、社、九、鼎、国
Characters representing key Confucian terms:
天²、和 (harmony)、礼³、道⁴、德、仁⁵、义、忠、信
Characters related to Chinese folk culture:
龙、凤、宝、玉
Others: 善、淡⁶、贪

1 The Buddhist "eight precepts" (via Digital Dictionary of Buddhism)

1. not to kill
2. not to take things not given
3. no ignoble (i.e. sexual) conduct
4. not to speak falsely
5. not to drink wine
6. not to indulge in cosmetics, personal adornments, dancing, or music
7. not to sleep on fine beds, but on a mat on the ground
8. not to eat out of regulation hours, i.e. after noon

2 天 “was viewed as a personal entity responsible for various natural phenomena, having control over human affairs, and having emotions and the capacity to act.”
3 礼“originally referred to rites of sacrifice, and later came to be used to refer to rules of conduct governing ceremonial behavior as well as behavior in other social contexts.”
4 道 is not just the Daoist “way” above. It's also any philosophy's “right way.”
5 仁 “attributes as wisdom, courage, filial piety, conscientiousness, trustworthiness” etc.
6 The person who recommended this character meant something like "calm" (淡定).

Warming Mattress Pad

I love my St. Cloud Queen Size Warming Mattress Pad that I got at Aldi last winter. It's great for those of us who get cold legs in the middle of the night. There's a slight problem with the connection between the cord & the pad, so I just duct-taped them together.