From the monthly archives:

October 2003

Seriously? Yes. Seriously.

October 28, 2003

– There’s a peculiar but interesting interview with Charles Murray in one of the reader reviews of his new book Human Accomplishment. [Scroll down to the Steve Sailer review.]
Here’s the concluding exchange:

Q. You found that per capita levels of accomplishment tended to decline from 1850 to 1950. Would you care to speculate on post-1950 trends?
A. [...]

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Seniors of the World Unite!

October 25, 2003

– I ‘m endlessly amused by this passage from Terry Eagleton’s new book, After Theory. (Taken from this spiked-online review.)
There is far too much change around, not too little. Whole ways of life are wiped out almost overnight. Men and women must scramble frantically to acquire new skills or be thrown on the scrapheap. Technology [...]

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Civics Lesson

October 20, 2003

– Nice little piece on the The Bizarre Math of Elections by physicist Richard Muller.
I think high school kids all ought to learn a bit of social choice theory in high school civics class. Sure, in some sense knowing the truth about democracy can make us a little cynical, but the cynicism is simply [...]

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God is Dead, but Don’t Tell the Neighbors

October 17, 2003

– Shadia Drury, Straussian bete noir, is wonderfully articulate in this interview with Danny Postel at OpenDemocray. Although my Straussian friends have tried to disabuse me of this opinion, I think Drury and Laurence Lampert are right about what Strauss’s philosophy really amounts to. I always try to communicate that the nice thing [...]

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Wake Up Call, False Alarm

October 17, 2003

– According to the police update PJ forwarded to Gene, the gang rape next to the Central Mission was a “false alarm.”
If that’s true, then I’m damn glad. But then, what’s the story? Was the alleged victim, Anne Marie, making stuff up? If so, why? I want to know more.

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Cold Snap Hits Hell

October 17, 2003

– Maybe it was a slow day. Nevertheless, I was stunned and delighted by the efficiency of the District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles. I stopped in to get a DC driver’s license, and, get this, my number was called BEFORE I COULD FINISH FILLING OUT THE FORM! Then the photo guy called my [...]

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Just So Stories and the Future of All we as Americans Hold Dear

October 15, 2003

– The lord knows I love Julian. And I loved his piece in Reason on the libertarian case for Dean (or whoever the electable Dem is). It’s a good argument. Maybe I’ll vote for Dean!
Early on in the essay, while farting in Virginia’s general direction, Julian speaks of the dichotomizing tribalism saturating political discourse. [...]

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Riding the Wave

October 15, 2003

– It seems Joanne McNeil meant to comment on the horrifying recent rape on 14th and R. But she takes…. how to put it?… an insane turn, and lashes out with stupefying ignorance and incoherence at people who sound remarkably like me and my beloved housemates. Let’s look at what Joanne says, bit [...]

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B-rama @ K-rama V

October 14, 2003

– Well, it’s that time again. What was once fresh and exciting is now a DC institution. No doubt at Blogorama X we will present a lifetime achievement award to a superannuated 28 year old blogger, retired due to carpal tunnel and myopia.
Last time, there was a fire across the street. Let us pray for [...]

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Voters ARE Stupid… Even When They Agree With Me

October 10, 2003

– Matt Welch reports on the horrified lefty reactions to the Schwarzenagger election. To sum it up, voters are stupid. Now, Matt’s right to imply that there’s almost certainly some level of hypocrisy here. When the majority agrees with you, you’ll tend to wax enthusiastic about the “mandate” for change established by the unimpeachable legitimacy [...]

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Liberty Island!

October 8, 2003

– This is a hilarious article. It’s about libertarian disenchantment with the republicans. But the funny thing is the small-worldness of it, given that every libertarian in the article, other than the Gene Berkman dude, is more or less part of the same social network. Now, I work with Alina at IHS. Alina and Radley [...]

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