Michael Bates: December 2008 Archives
An Ace Of Spades New Year's PSA: Hangover Myths And Facts
From the experts.
Internet Archive: Details: Disneyland Dream
This is the Disneyland my parents visited as young people. "In July 1956, the five-member Barstow family of Wethersfield, Connecticut, won a free trip to newly-opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California, in a nationwide contest. This 30-minute amateur documentary film tells the fabulous story of their fun-filled, dream-come-true, family travel adventure, filmed on the scene at Walt Disney's "Magic Kingdom" by Robbins Barstow." The Internet Archive has the whole film available for viewing and downloading. (Via Mark Evanier, who reports that this film has been named by the Library of Congress to the National Film Registry.)
Column One: The 'realist' fantasy | Columnists | Jerusalem Post
Why do foreign policy 'realists' insist on ignoring the very real threats voiced by the leaders of rogue states? "On Tuesday, Hamas legislators marked the Christmas season by passing a Shari'a criminal code for the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, it legalizes crucifixion. Hamas's endorsement of nailing enemies of Islam to crosses came at the same time it renewed its jihad. Here, too, Hamas wanted to make sure that Christians didn't feel neglected as its fighters launched missiles at Jewish day care centers and schools. So on Wednesday, Hamas lobbed a mortar shell at the Erez crossing point into Israel just as a group of Gazan Christians were standing on line waiting to travel to Bethlehem for Christmas.... This week North Korea's official news agency threatened to destroy South Korea in a 'sea of fire,' and 'reduce everything treacherous and anti-reunification to debris and build an independent, reunified country on it,' if any country dares to attack its nuclear installations."
PreservationNation » Blog Archive » I Say "In With The Old!"
A great New Year's resolution: "My resolution is to take my boys on more 'mystery rides.' As a child, my father would announce on random Saturday mornings: 'Who wants to go on a mystery ride?' It was always a crapshoot. You might end up tagging along on a trip to the hardware store to pick up a part for a broken lawnmower, or you might find yourself enjoying a frosty root beer float delivered by a roller skating carhop at A&W. You just never knew. Some of my favorite mystery rides were to historic sites, and in 2009, I resolve to take my own two boys on more of them."
Defense Spending as Stimulus - WSJ.com
A better stimulus than funding road construction: "Replacing the supplies that have been depleted by the military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan is a good example of something that might be postponed but that should instead be done quickly. The same is true for replacing the military equipment that has been subject to excessive wear and tear. More generally, replacement schedules for vehicles and other equipment should be accelerated to do more during the next two years than would otherwise be economically efficient.... Each of the military services can identify new equipment and additional quantities of existing equipment that can improve our fighting ability in Afghanistan and our ability to protect our military forces while they are in combat. Military planners must also look ahead to the missions that each of the services may be called upon to do in the future." Military spending would not only stay in the US, it would absorb excess manufacturing capacity and spread some of that money into the high-tech sector as well. (Via Backyard Conservative.)
Clifford Winston: 'Stimulus' Doesn't Have to Mean Pork - WSJ.com
Clifford Winston of the Brookings Institution writes that infrastructure projects like highway expansion usually don't pay off: "[O]ver the past decade we have reaped a mere 1% return on our highway investments. And what's more, for every $1 the government has spent trying to reduce roadway congestion, motorists have saved a mere three cents in travel time and other costs." Winston wants the price to travelers for each mode of transportation to match the cost, rather than burying the cost with subsidies. "But if prices were aligned with actual costs (through tolls), demand would fall. This would especially be true during peak travel periods, and therefore public expenditures would not be wasted on dubious projects." (Via Backyard Conservative.)
The Truth About Tithing--Old Testament Perspective
An interesting overview of Biblical charity and tithing, via a comment at Hot Air.
iowahawk: Senora Kennedy Is Make Very Good Senator
An Iowahawk Guest Opinion by Rosa Ortiz, Chief of Housekeeping Staff, Estate of Caroline Kennedy: "Senora Kennedy father was El Presidente. She have tio who is senator. She have many cousin who also is senator, even all the ones with the drug problems. Why she is only one who no is senator? This is no fair to her. In my old country was the law that all family of el Presidente is also Senator or Minister until the revolucion."
BS' Blog: AGP, AGP Pro, PCI and PCI-X voltage keying (WIP)
Looking for a PCI or AGP 2.0 compatible video card that will run Spore, and getting schooled about bus form factors in the process.
Machinist Toolbox: How to change a Sansa Express MP3 player from MTP to MSC
Converting an MP3 player from a type that can only synchronize to Windows Media Player to Mass Storage Class, so it will work with iTunes Sync, a freeware app that allows non-Apple players to synchronize to iTunes.
A traditional prayer used at the beginning of services of lessons and carols. An excerpt:
"And because this of all things would rejoice his heart, let us remember, in his name, the poor and helpless, the cold, the hungry, and the oppressed; the sick and them that mourn, the lonely and the unloved, the aged and the little children; all those who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not, or who by sin have grieved his heart of love.
"Lastly, let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore, and in a greater light, that multitude which no man can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom in the Lord Jesus we are for ever one."
(Brought to mind by this iMonk entry.)
Coming to Bryant-Denny: "The Fail Room" - The Bama Beat - al.com
The new name for the visitor's locker room, in honor of major donor James M. Fail. (Via Dustbury's 3WC.)
Peace on Earth at Missile Silo 571-7 by Byron York on National Review Online
York visits the Titan Missile Museum south of Tucson, Ariz., and the monument to the Cold War inspires thoughts on the incoming president's attitude toward strategic defense.
PCA pastor David Wayne, aka JollyBlogger, is under the knife at this hour to remove several tumors. Please keep him in your prayers.
Task Force on New Americans: Building an Americanization Movement for the Twenty-first Century
"With immigrants increasingly coming from different countries of origin and settling in communities that lack a long history of receiving immigrants, citizens and immigrants alike should reengage the principles and values that bind us as Americans. Educating on these principles and providing opportunities for civic participation will ensure that the United States remains a successful nation and a home to immigrants who prosper and contribute to American society...."
"The Task Force uses assimilation to refer to the process of embracing shared political principles, which exemplify democratic traditions and build a sense of community and common identity as Americans.... Assimilation is the notion that shared political principles, including the principles of democracy, in the United States bind together immigrants and citizens from different cultures. The three components of political integration are embracing the principles of American democracy, identifying with U.S. history, and communicating in English."
(Via The Corner.)
Bill Simmons: My Favorite YouTube Clip - ESPN The Magazine
From 1976: Mr. Kotter zooms past Pappy Boyington in the 100-yard-dash in this classic clip from the premiere episode of ABC's Battle of the Network Stars
John Stossel : The Scandal Is What's Legal - Townhall.com
"Ted Stevens, William Jefferson and Randy "Duke" Cunningham behaved egregiously enough to be convicted, but their actions didn't cost taxpayers nearly as much as what their colleagues did supposedly acting in the 'public interest.'...
"H.L. Mencken was right: 'Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.'...
"A system that rewards politicians skilled at campaigning -- which is the art of creating an illusion -- and that puts hundreds of billions of coerced taxpayer dollars at the disposal of the winners will tend to attract men and women with a comparative advantage in manipulation. We shouldn't be surprised that people like Blagojevich prosper in 'public service' -- until they get caught crossing the line."
John Stossel : The Scandal Is What's Legal - Townhall.com
"Ted Stevens, William Jefferson and Randy "Duke" Cunningham behaved egregiously enough to be convicted, but their actions didn't cost taxpayers nearly as much as what their colleagues did supposedly acting in the 'public interest.'...
"H.L. Mencken was right: 'Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.'...
"A system that rewards politicians skilled at campaigning -- which is the art of creating an illusion -- and that puts hundreds of billions of coerced taxpayer dollars at the disposal of the winners will tend to attract men and women with a comparative advantage in manipulation. We shouldn't be surprised that people like Blagojevich prosper in 'public service' -- until they get caught crossing the line."
348 - An Imperial Palimpsest on Poland's Electoral Map « Strange Maps
Party results of 2007 Polish legislative election seem to reflect the boundary between the German and Russian Empires, a line that has been gone since 1917.
OKC Central: Why Am I Not Surprised?
Out-of-place suburban design for Bricktown fire station appears not to have gone through the proper design review before coming before the City Council. Hey, at least you guys in Oklahoma City have design review for important urban districts.
Shocking New Biblical Discovery « Scotteriology
A Grimm interpretation of Matthew 16:18.
The Rothenberg Political Report: Shocked About the Blagojevich Scandal? You Shouldn't Be
"If there is something to be learned it is that the lack of a vibrant two-party system seems to provide an environment in which extensive corruption can flourish. Party leaders and political associates often look the other way when they are afraid that they are going to see something unseemly, if not illegal. Political competition tends to keep everybody honest.
"Second, Congress and other federal officials better pay a great deal of attention to the considerable funds that will be thrown around over the next months to try to stimulate the U.S. economy. Money, it appears, seems to attract rats, and lots of money will attract lots of rats."
Some wonderful photos of people and places in Tulsa's Greenwood District, mainly from the 1950s.
Larry Schweikart on A Patriot's History of the United States on National Review Online
A friend recommended this to me as a highly readable history of our country, written to avoid the twin errors of "My Country, Right or Wrong" and "My Country, Always Wrong." This Amazon review says, "The author unflinchingly displays the good, the bad and the ugly of all political figures and parties, alternately offering up both praise and criticism for each where warranted."
Popular Mechanics - Google Book Search
Every issue, every page, since 1905. The ads alone are worth browsing. In light of the proposed auto bailout, the August and September 1959 issues ("Should you buy a foreign car?" "Which foreign car is best for you?") are worth a look.
337 - Europe Without Germany « Strange Maps
Split between Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Austria, and Czechia. Plus Austria with Italian placenames.
Image:Wasscherscheiden.png - Wikimedia Commons
"Flusseinzugsgebiete und Europaeische Hauptwasserscheiden." A map of watersheds of European rivers, showing the divides between the areas drained by the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and the North, Baltic, Black, Caspian, Adriatic, and Mediterranean Seas. (Via Strange Maps entry on Europe's continental divide.)
xkcd - A Webcomic - Map of the Internet
"This chart shows the IP address space on a plane using a fractal mapping which preserves grouping.... Each of the 256 numbered blocks represents one /8 subnet.... The upper left section shows the blocks sold directly to corporations and governments in the 1990s before the RIRs took over allocation." (I wonder who inherited DEC's Class A allocation.)
Answered prayers: "The Christmas miracle continues." The daughter of KRMG's Rick Couri made it through brain cancer surgery at Duke University Hospital yesterday and is up and walking around.
Arena Football League reconsiders suspending 2009 season - Los Angeles Times
Tough economic times mean less spending on arena sports. The minor league version, Arena 2, is planning to play either way.
Bailout for Bloated Union Contracts | OpenMarket.org
"The [proposed auto] bailout is similar to the failed British auto bailout of the 1970s, which destroyed whatever chance the British auto industry had left to survive by diverting its focus from producing good cars at low cost to providing inflated wages for Big Labor and manufacturing vehicles that pleased government planners but not consumers (akin to liberal lawmakers' demands that U.S. automakers produce 'green' vehicles as part of the bailout)."
LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION®: eBay, Vero and the Scientologists
How the CoS is using eBay's anti-piracy program to prevent the auction of the cult's famed e-meters.
Detroit crap city - Crunchy Con
The proposed Big 3 / UAW bailout in one photo and 13 words (including one very rude one).
Greensboro's Treasured Places: What's Going On In There?
Greensboro, N. C., will use high tech, including ground-penetrating radar, to look beneath the surface of the 80-year-old War Memorial, to determine the soundness of concrete structure and its potential for adaptive reuse. The stadium was used for minor-league baseball until 2005 and still hosts college baseball. (Via Preservation Nation.)
Where are they now: 'A Christmas Story'
No one shot his eye out.
Kausfiles : Sanitizing Mumbai?
Mickey Kaus on coverage of the Bombay terrorist attacks and the local constabulary's failures to respond to the attacks: "I'm used to a sort of Liebling-like hierarchy of news sources, with twitterers and bloggers being fastest, but maybe less reliable, while the grand institutions of the MSM weigh in later with more comprehensive and accurate accounts. But that's not what is happening with this Mumbai story. The 'fast' sources are telling you what happened. The 'slow' MSM sources are using their extra time to sanitize what's happened, to build euphemistic assumptions into their very reporting of the events themselves...."
Only Collect « a historian's craft
The work of a young historian: "And the work is: Only Collect; that is to say, collect everything, indiscriminately. You're five years old. Don't presume too much to know what's important and what isn't. Photocopy journal articles, photograph archives; create bibliographies, buy books; make notes on every article or book you read, even if it's just one line saying 'Never read this again'; collect newspaper clippings and email them to yourself; collect quotes; save your ideas for future papers, future projects, future conferences, even if they seem wildly implausible now. Hoarding must become instinctual, it must be an uncontrollable, primal urge. And the higher, civilizing impulse that kicks in after the fact is organization, or librarianship." Who knew there was a professional niche for hoarding evidently useless information? (Via Jollyblogger.)
Cruising Down the Coast of the High Barbaree: Stages of Conversion
Funny because it's true. A convert to a new Christian tradition (doesn't matter which -- Calvinism, Catholicism, Charismatism, you name it) starts off in the Cage phase, followed by Addicition, Apostle of Renewal, Beaten by Reality, and three options for the final phase: The Rat Leaves the Ship, Complete Disillusionment, Partial Disillusionment and Accommodation. Read the whole thing. (Via Jollyblogger.)
Forget Citigroup, Puppet Show Needs a Bailout - NYTimes.com
Cue the Alfred Hitchcock theme: "Near a freeway overpass on a decidedly scrappy edge of downtown Los Angeles is a marionette puppet theater that has enchanted children over nearly five decades, several recessions, two riots, at least four failed urban renewal plans and an earthquake or two. The Bob Baker Marionette Theater's shows, employing an eclectic selection of Mr. Baker's 3,000 handmade puppets prancing about a shoebox-size theater perpetually decked out in gold garlands, are a staple of a Los Angeleno childhood.... Over the last few months Mr. Baker, 84, has fallen $30,000 behind on his mortgage and lost a rent-paying tenant, while his two major sources of revenue have dried up." (Via Mark Evanier.)
YouTube - Johnny Carson and Jack Webb
Sgt. Friday investigates the theft of clean copper clappers. (Via newsforme.)
V-22, CH-47 restarts after five-day hiatus
Sabotage is suspected at the Boeing factory in Philadelphia, where fuselages for the V-22 tiltrotor and CH-47 helicopters are built.
Businessweek.com: The 50 Top American Philanthropists
George Kaiser is 3rd at $2.377 billion, behind Buffett and Gates and just ahead of George Soros. Walton Family is 6th, T. Boone Pickens is 16th, David Koch is 25th, Charles Koch is 40th, and Henry Kravis is 44th. Depressing note: Most of the top philanthropists are very generous with left-wing causes and leftist approaches to solving problems. (Via Club for Growth.)
Hit & Run > Best Sports Stadium Name Ever? - Reason Magazine
The only two Republicans on the New York City Council want to rename the Mets' new stadium Citi/Taxpayer Field. Citigroup has a 20-year, $400 million naming rights agreement, but Citi's federal bailout amounts to multiple billions of dollars. (Via Club for Growth.)
Urban Review STL: Euclidean Zoning To The Extreme
Good discussion of the evolution of use-based zoning, from Euclid v. Ambler to the present, and why St. Louis needs a new land use code to go along with its new comprehensive plan.
