JIM TREACHER lets his fantasies come a little too close to the surface.
Archive for 2010
July 13, 2010
“DOWNGRADING” voter intimidation.
CRUNCHING CANCER with numbers.
THIS CAN’T BE GOOD: Desperate Addicts Inject Others’ Blood. “Desperate heroin users in a few African cities have begun engaging in a practice that is so dangerous it is almost unthinkable: they deliberately inject themselves with another addict’s blood, researchers say, in an effort to share the high or stave off the pangs of withdrawal.”
DAVID LAT: In Defense Of Going To Law School. Worth reading, as a counterpoint to all the higher-education-bubble posts here at InstaPundit, if nothing else . . . .
HOW MICROBES defend and define us. “We have over 10 times more microbes than human cells in our bodies.” Plus this: “Obese people also have a different set of species in their guts than people of normal weight.”
THE DEATH OF NEMESIS, and a new cause of mass extinctions?
FIVE UNDERRATED literary cephalopods.
UPDATE: Jim Bennett emails: “I was most disappointed not to see any mention of Squidward Tentacles.” Yes, a shocking omission.
FROM “LIBERALTARIANISM” TO LIBERTARIAN CENTRISM? Liberaltarianism always seemed to me more a case of BoBo class solidarity than an actual political movement. It was convenient for the Dems from 2006-2008, though. But if libertarians are to be as influential as we’d like, getting over BoBo class-solidarity hangups is pretty important.
TO REPEL MOSQUITOES, use a house fan? “A fan dilutes and disperses the carbon dioxide you exhale. Carbon dioxide is one of the major chemicals that attract mosquitoes. The wind from a fan also cools you off. Sweat, lactic acid and body heat attract mosquitoes — factors that a fan can help minimize.”
FROM ANN ALTHOUSE, legal writing advice, with particular application to bar exam essays. As a guy who’s grading law review write-on comments — at my law school, for some bizarre reason, faculty do this — all I can say is yes, yes, yes.
On the larger issue of abolishing the bar exam because, as Elizabeth Wurtzel argues, it suppresses the free-thinkers, I have to ask — is that a bug, or a feature? At least, one of the things that keeps the legal academy better-grounded than, say, the humanities, is that our graduates have to pass a fairly difficult exam that is independently administered. The bar exam has its problems, God knows, but I think education in general would be improved by a requirement for independent certification of graduates.
Meanwhile, from the comments: “If you went to Yale and failed the bar, it’s because you didn’t study enough and thought you could get by on your natural genius.” Well, people fail the bar for all sorts of reasons. It’s unbecoming to try to turn it into a virtue, though.
FEELING GUILTY ABOUT having a “traditional marriage.”
AT TOM MAGUIRE’S PLACE, it’s close-reading Tuesday. “So contra the Ambinder summary, Serwer now admits that the Obama people were just where the critics said they were in time to do what they are alleged to have done. For whatever reason, that new post is not getting as much play.” Plus, bonus Olbermann embarrassment.
A CONGRESSMAN, held accountable.
FREEDOM ADVANCES: Arizona shuts down speed cameras.
I DID NOT KNOW THIS, but reader Jon Shore emails that Amazon is offering free Amazon Prime for students. Given that Amazon has entered the textbook market — and given that shopping in stores can be hard for the carless and campus-bound — this seems like a good idea.
PICKUP ARTISTS: The Girliest Of Men?
Of course, sometimes they get married. But the interesting thing, really, is the discussion in the comments to the first item. Plus, some related Paleolithic thoughts, from Charlotte Allen.
VIA LIKETOTALLY80S.COM I see that it’s the 25th anniversary of Live Aid. I watched a lot of that while studying for the bar; I still have videotapes somewhere. Freddie Mercury put on the best performance of his life, as I recall. I remember that it seemed so high-tech at the time. . . .
UPDATE: Reader Kate Purzycki writes:
You are so right about Freddy Mercury and Live Aid. I was a few months pregnant with my daughter at the time and suffered from horrible morning sickness. I remember being stretched out on the sofa for hours on end during those days and on that particular day watching Live Aid. When Queen came on and Freddy began to sing, I forgot about my morning sickness and was mesmerized by what I believe was his greatest performance ever. I can still see the fans in Wembly Stadium clapping in time to Radio Gaga. I will always be grateful to Freddy for those few moments of respite.
Time does fly. And I have on occasion done the spike-mike trick while speaking, though not to the same effect as Freddie. . . .
IT’S THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY of Etch-a-Sketch.
IN THE MAIL: From Charles Stross, The Fuller Memorandum.
KEITH HENNESSEY: A decade of spiraling deficits. “Am I making too big a deal out of one phrase? I don’t think so, because President Obama’s economic and political argument centers on redefining the entire Bush tenure as an economic failure.” Most folks would be happy to go back to pretty much any of the Bush years, economically.
ANN ALTHOUSE: “Here are some more things I want to see from you to prove that you really believe in global warming.”
Al Gore’s already in trouble with #1: “Your weight should be at the low end of normal, indicating that you are not overconsuming the products of agriculture.”
Related: Climate Crisis Narrowly Averted: Missing Heat Found in Gore’s Second Chakra. Whatever you do, don’t “release” it.
KIND OF A BAD START IN LIFE FOR THE KID: Mom Tries to Flush Newborn Down Airplane Toilet. The good news is, things pretty much have to look up from here. . . .
MORT ZUCKERMAN: Obama Is Barely Treading Water. “There is a widespread feeling that the government doesn’t work, that it is incapable of solving America’s problems. Americans are fed up with Washington, fed up with Wall Street, fed up with the necessary but ill-conceived stimulus program, fed up with the misdirected healthcare program, and with pretty much everything else. They are outraged and feel that the system is not a level playing field, but is tilted against them. The millions of unemployed feel abandoned by the president, by the Democratic Congress, and by the Republicans. The American people wanted change, and who could blame them? But now there is no change they can believe in.”
Jeez, not long ago Zuckerman was writing Obama’s speeches, now he’s writing his political obituary. Dan Riehl notes that he shoulda thought things through sooner.
UPDATE: A reader who works in Human Resources and requests anonymity writes:
I would be hysterical, if it wasn’t so sad and frightening, that all of these supposedly intelligent, perceptive, savvy CEOs, e.g. Mort Zuckerman, have come to the conclusion that the President has no demonstrated competency in leadership or execution.
If in my role as the HR guy at their respective organizations I had presented the President for an executive position which required managing for any sort of productive, value added outcome I suspect I would have been told to clean out my office.
Some jobs require you to DO more than talk.
It does seem that the President was inadequately vetted pre-election. So we’re doing the vetting now, instead, which is somewhat more expensive.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Stephen Clark writes:
“The Democratic party is the vehicle through which, after a populist interlude, the governing classes are proposing to take their country back. Obama is a restoration candidate but that doesn’t mean he has a plan. “ So wrote Christopher Caldwell in the last two sentences of his piece in The Spectator dated 29 October, 2008, Describing Obama as the restoration candidate for the governing classes may well capture a large part of the motivation behind a whole swath of people like Zuckerman.
Zuckerman, Bloomberg, and a very long list probably understood that Obama did not have enough experience. So much the better! Naturally, Obama would turn to the likes of them to help manage the country; except, it doesn’t look as if Obama and the people around him feel a great need for their help. If there is any shock to poor Mort, it’s that Obama, if only out of a sense of self-preservation, hasn’t recognized his need for the likes of him.
I would say that not listening to them is a mark in Obama’s favor, but the results suggest he should have taken any help he could get . . . .