This is primarily a matter of mathematical curiosity to me, because I’m not a triskadecaphobe, but we get two Friday the thirteenths in a row this year. Because February happens to be a month exactly divisible by a week (it not being a leap year). Today is the first, four weeks from now will be the second.
In case you cared.
And/Or lack of originality.
The local cable channel in LA (Verizon) is running Twilight Zone episodes on one of the lower channels (one of the lowest ones, actually). The first one was about a fallout shelter, which later became a Simpson’s episode. The second was a precursor to The Sixth Sense. In Lileks style, I’ll leave it up to the reader to guess which episode it was. If no one gets it by morning, I’ll at least provide another hint.
I hadn’t realized that Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same day, exactly two-hundred years ago today. Alan Boyle is covering the bicentennial Darwin week all week. And in honor of the event, Charles Johnson points out a story debunking one of the most common ignorant accusations against evolution — that there are no “transition” fossils.
Yet another time bomb in the “stimulus” package, that won’t be debated:
One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”
The last entity that I want monitoring my health care is the federal government.
This bill is apparently chock-a-block with stuff like this, each and every one of which should be discussed, debated and if passed, passed on its own merits with its own bill, and has nothing to do with stimulus. This is quite possibly the worst piece of legislation in the nation’s history, and it’s being rushed through with almost no debate, discussion, or even knowledge of its contents by those voting for it. The Founders would weep.
If they vote for the conference product, I hope that Collins, Snowe and Specter all lose their next races, even if they’re replaced by Dems. At least they’ll be honest Dems.
[Early evening update]
(Democrat) Mickey Kaus explains how this bill will roll back, if not completely undo, welfare reform.
An updated survey of desirable attributes between 1930 and now, with a lot of interesting discussion. I agree that in a more-free, secular culture, evolutionary traits are going to be more powerful. But I also agree that college students aren’t necessarily representative.
Melting the Antarctic ice sheet could flood Washington DC.
And they say there are no up sides to climate change. I’d call it the “Augean Stables” strategy of government reform.
Is there a longevity gene? If true, this seems like good news. It shows that life extension is possible, and that it might even be achievable with genetic surgery.
They’re actually increasing in size. I blame global warming. Or George Bush (is there a statute of limitations on being able to blame things on George Bush?).
Of course, the new growth doesn’t necessarily preserve the species that were being lost in the original cutting, but it’s unclear what, if anything, had actually gone extinct.
Alcohol improves men’s s3xual performance. When I’ve been drinking, my problem is not the so-called ED, unless by that one means the inability to…errrmmmm…attain…completion, yes, that’s the word…and get rid of the “E.” I can’t say that I’ve ever had a partner complain about it…
Not as much as you might think.
This has implications for cloning. People who expect an exact replica, whether person or pet, may be disappointed.