So you won’t read it at the New York Times. Because, you know, it’s all about the narrative.
The New Royalty
Radley Balko has a righteous rant on what Mark Twain called American’s only native criminal class–Congresspeople. I wouldn’t go quite as far as this commenter, though:
I think I’d actually vote for Jar Jar Binks before most of our current senators.
He’d be an improvement over some of them, but not, I think, most.
“Jar-Jar in ’08!”
The Ethics Of Eating Animals
Phil Bowermaster has some thoughts on animal rights, as does Megan McArdle.
I would find it tough to give up eating mammals. I am bothered by eating pork, because pigs seem to be quite intelligent (though not enough to forgo it), but I have trouble working up much sympathy for cattle. I’m also a little off put by baby mammals (so I rarely eat lamb, and almost never veal), though that actually seems a little irrational to me. Just my own version of Leon Kass’ “yuck factor” I guess. And I have no problem with eggs, though I wouldn’t want to eat deep-fried chicks (even disregarding the inefficiencies of finding much meat amidst the bones and viscera). Anyway, as noted, forgoing all animal protein, as vegans do, is a very tough lifestyle to do healthily.
All these things, as Phil notes, are driven more by culture and innate tastes than any rational or ethical analysis. Many cultures have no problem with eating land-based arthropods (fried locusts, anyone), but I can’t stomach them unless they come from the water. And it’s not just the size.
I hope that we aren’t far from technology that allows a filet mignon to be grown in a vat, which will resolve a lot of these issues once and for all.
Powering Houses
…from car batteries? As someone currently living in hurricane country, it looks pretty attractive to me. It would help a lot to get off-peak pricing, though.
Double Standard
Andy McCarthy has some interesting thoughts on demands that Maliki be replaced:
…shouldn’t Senator Clinton have a higher standard to meet in explaining why Maliki is unacceptable? This is the same former First Lady who actively encouraged her husband’s embrace of Yasser Arafat
The Latest Fashion
A chain mail tee shirt. Made from aluminum.
I don’t know, while it would be fairly light, aluminum is pretty soft. I wouldn’t think it would stand up that well to a blade. When you’re making one from mithril, get back to me.
[Via Geek Press]
New Space Carnival
Emily Lakdawalla has the Seventeenth Edition.
Was Einstein Wrong?
A potential problem with special relativity? I do think that people are too quick to say “never” to things like FTL travel. There’s still a lot we don’t understand about the universe. Probably much more than we do, in fact.
A Desperate Edwards
He’s actually calling out Hillary on the Lincoln Bedroom. As it’s noted, it won’t work. Democrats are in continuing denial (with a few notable exceptions) about the deep corruption of the Clintons.
Where Are The Assault Weapons?
To listen do DiFi and the Brady bunch, you’d have expected crimes committed with “assault weapons” (i.e., scary-looking semi-automatic rifles) to have skyrocketed with the end of the ban on them. So what happened?