PEJMAN YOUSEFZADEH: On Glenn Greenwald, and the Reaction to Benjamin Kerstein’s Article.
Archive for 2010
July 10, 2010
MARKDOWNS ON outdoor lighting supplies.
PJTV: Stephen Green’s The Week In Blogs: Semper Feline! Plus, Give Us Burgers or Give Us Death. Plus, an Obama rabbit attack?
IN MY EARLIER POST about my Lumix underwater camera, I had a couple of underwater pix. But one thing that distinguishes it from the cheaper models is performance in low light. Here’s an indoor pic, sans flash, of the Insta-Wife and one of her high-school friends. Not bad at all. My Lumix LX-3 might do better, but this is quite good.
Also, if you’re using any sort of waterproof camera around water that’s deeper, or cloudier, than a swimming pool you may want to invest in a floating camera strap so that it doesn’t sink if dropped in the drink.
READER IKE ANDREWS WRITES: “Can’t stop reading Instapundit…even in Machu Picchu. On vacation, and still checking in at Instapundit for the best in news (and even the Friday deals at Amazon). Attached is the view from Machu Picchu at sunset, looking down into the Urubamba River valley, taken with the iPhone. What amazed me the most was the fantastic mobile signal present in this remote site, even at the summit of the sister peak, Wayna Picchu. I knew the Incans had an amazing grasp of science for their time, but who would have thought of this?”
WE HAD “BROWNBAGGERS” — FAIL. We had the “Coffee Party” — Fail. (And there was the “Other 95%” — not even enough of a splash to call it a failure!) Now it’s the “One Nation movement.” “Now, to be fair, One Nation is different from the Coffee Party. The Coffee Party was an attempt to copy the grassroots approach of the Tea Party movement. Phony. But attempted. One Nation is a top-down effort. It’s hard to see how it’s much of anything at all other than a cry for attention.” Or distraction.
I wonder, however, how much research went into the name . . . .
UPDATE: A reader writes: “Though this also pops to mind: Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Nation, ein Führer.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Eric Thompson writes: “Don’t forget the eminently forgettable ‘A New Way Forward’.” Ah yes, with the miserable failure at imitating Tea Party protests. Good times, good times . . . .
MOST ETHICAL CONGRESS EVER: Greg Meeks’ Secret Loan. “The Queens Democrat had been refusing to explain why he made no payments on the loan from Ahmad, a local businessman, until the FBI showed up.”
YEAH, YEAH, JOE BIDEN’S AN IDIOT. But before he gets too excited about sending Rush Limbaugh to Russia, he might want to think about what happened the last time somebody tried that with a political irritant. A more educated Vice President might have thought of this. . . .
NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: New Systems of Nanoparticle Drug Delivery Developed.
JIM TREACHER IS GUILTY OF LOOKISM, castigates self appropriately.
A FINGERPRINT-READING BIOMETRIC SAFE? I tend to be skeptical of these things, but the customer reviews are positive.
UPDATE: A reader emails:
I just bought one of these safes, originally intending to install it where it could be quickly accessed as a self defense firearm storage. It’s a neat safe, but they added some really loud beeps when it is working – which means I will probably add another safe unless I can silence this thing.
The fingerprint reading is simple to program and setup, although I haven’t had it long enough to see its deficiencies. You might want to suggest readers program multiple fingers just in case.
I hate un-silenceable beeps in gadgets. And reader Steve Spangler writes:
I have often wondered how something like that deals with people with jobs like mine.
My figerprints can be either sanded away, or cut by sheet metal edges, or blistered, depending on the particular project or my personal klutziness.
I think I will stick with my dial locked safe for now.
Ouch.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Various readers note that the beeping is a security feature, too — just not for a quick-access gun safe, which this really isn’t. And Charlie Martin suggests that fingerprint-reading is a bad idea, since it gives someone an incentive to cut off your finger. I think these safes are more for discouraging casual pilferage than serious theft, though.
REASON TV: Lessons From LeBron: What Clevelanders Should Really Be Pissed About.
Related: LeBron James, Like Howard Metzenbaum, Moved From Ohio to Florida for Tax Reasons. “Mr. James’s net present value tax savings on his salary are between $6 million and $8 million by living in Miami versus his home town of Akron.” High taxes cause wealth to flee.
FLY FREE with a $100,000 jet pack.
L.A. TIMES: Obama may have worn out his welcome on Capitol Hill. “The president’s threat to veto a war funding bill is an ‘unwelcome message’ to House Democrats, many of whom face a tough midterm election after yielding to the White House’s agenda.”
I BLAME THE ADMINISTRATION’S EXTREME AND VIOLENT RHETORIC AIMED AT THE OIL COMPANIES: Wife of Oil Exec Wounded By Shoe Box Bomb.
UPDATE: “Perhaps someone just watched too much Keith Olbermann and lost it.”
Plus, from the comments in the original: “So we’re at the intersection of 1932 and 1968.”
THE STEAMPUNK HOME.
JIM LINDGREN: Serious Questions About the Veracity of Michael Bellesiles’s Latest Tale. “This leads to concerns about the Chronicle of Higher Education. Serious questions have now been raised whether the Chronicle of Higher Education has published claims from Michael Bellesiles that can’t be substantiated. This is unfortunate, as it undermines the Chronicle’s credibility and reputation. Liz McMillen, the editor of the Chronicle Review, therefore ought to check Bellesiles’s story. Fortunately, that’s easy to do. She merely has to contact Bellesiles, find out the real name of Javier (either a first or last name would probably do), examine Bellesiles’s syllabus to establish the timeline, and interview his Marine teaching assistant. With Javier’s real name, it should be extremely easy to verify the date and cause of his injury, his place of treatment, and his date of death. She need not publish Javier’s real name any more than Bellesiles did when he published his story about Javier; indeed, her inquiry would be less intrusive than Bellesiles’s original publication of his story in the Chronicle.”
I GUESS THEY’VE ALL GONE OVER TO PJTV: Broadcast viewership hits record low.
SAYING GOODBYE to the Chrysler PT Cruiser.