Pajamas media has found an excellent quote from Richard Feynman, which skewers every global warmer: “The Pleasure of Finding things out†by Richard Feynman, page 187 We have many studies in teaching, for example, in which people make observations and they make lists and they do statistics, but they do not thereby become established science, …
Month: July 2010
No democratic solution
Doctor Zero has a carefully thought out proposal to get 50% of the voters plus one behind the measures necessary to save America, behind measures that are carefully pruned to be the minimum possible measures that could save the country, measures that are as “moderate†as possible, which is not very moderate at all.
No way Jose. Democracy is doomed, or the country is doomed, or, quite likely, both.
“Diversityâ€
What academia means by “diversity†is people of all colors and all sexual preferences chanting their master’s words in unison. Steve Sailer found an interesting paper on admissions policy.
If you are not at the government’s table, you are on the government’s menu
Vox Populi: While the economic value of anything depends on sellers and buyers agreeing on that value as civil equals in the absence of force, modern government is about nothing if not tampering with civil equality. By endowing some in society with power to force others to sell cheaper than they would, and forcing others …
The ruling class
Today’s ruling class, from Boston to San Diego, was formed by an educational system that exposed them to the same ideas and gave them remarkably uniform guidance, as well as tastes and habits. These amount to a social canon of judgments about good and evil, complete with secular sacred history, sins (against minorities and the environment), and saints. Using the right words and avoiding the wrong ones when referring to such matters – speaking the “in” language– serves as a badge of identity. Regardless of what business or profession they are in, their road up included government channels and government money because, as government has grown, its boundary with the rest of American life has become indistinct. Many began their careers in government and leveraged their way into the private sector. Some, e.g., Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, never held a non-government job. Hence whether formally in government, out of it, or halfway, America’s ruling class speaks the language and has the tastes, habits, and tools of bureaucrats.
The death of science
“Scientists†complain that the government is interfering in “science†by denying them regulatory authority over other people’s economic activity. Nasa’s primary goal is to make Muslims feel good about Muslim science.
The politics of Hit-Girl
The politics of Hit-Girl For a long time the left has controlled the gates for movies, books, and comics, in part because of the government control of television. Lately, however, I have been seeing more and more politically incorrect stuff. As you probably figured out if you watched the movie Kick Ass, Hit-Girl is a …
Real GDP growth
GDP is an ill defined quantity, for it counts cars produced, official credit ratings produced, and regulators producing regulation. With the best will in the world, it is hard to say how it is changing, and lately we have been seeing some pretty bad will. Attempting to calculate GDP is worse than adding apples to …
“ethicsâ€
The Washington post complains about unethical science in China. Zhao is turning his attention to a topic Western researchers have shied away from because of ethical worries: Zhao plans to study the genes of 1,000 of his best-performing classmates at a top high school in Beijing and compare them, he said, “with 1,000 normal kids.†…
Financial Reform
TheMoneyIllusion nicely summarizes the financial reform legislation. He misses, however, the biggest failure of the financial reform legislation – that the NRSROs are still in business, rather than in jail.