Moonbats (and non-moonbats) often accuse me of being a “right-winger” and a “conservative.” I guess that’s because I don’t think that George Bush is Hitler reincarnated, and that removing dictators who support terrorism is a good thing. But if anyone really wants to know why I’m not a conservative, Will Saletan has an interesting example. So-called liberals are afraid of cloned animals and cloned food. Conservatives seem to look askance at cloned humans. I’ve got no problem with either.
It’s All Good
Moonbats (and non-moonbats) often accuse me of being a “right-winger” and a “conservative.” I guess that’s because I don’t think that George Bush is Hitler reincarnated, and that removing dictators who support terrorism is a good thing. But if anyone really wants to know why I’m not a conservative, Will Saletan has an interesting example. So-called liberals are afraid of cloned animals and cloned food. Conservatives seem to look askance at cloned humans. I’ve got no problem with either.
It’s All Good
Moonbats (and non-moonbats) often accuse me of being a “right-winger” and a “conservative.” I guess that’s because I don’t think that George Bush is Hitler reincarnated, and that removing dictators who support terrorism is a good thing. But if anyone really wants to know why I’m not a conservative, Will Saletan has an interesting example. So-called liberals are afraid of cloned animals and cloned food. Conservatives seem to look askance at cloned humans. I’ve got no problem with either.
Now Here’s A Stupid Test
I scored a 31, but it’s really meaningless, because for many of the questions, in my mind, the answer was “neither of the above,” but that wasn’t an option. Of course, one knew right out of the box that it was a stupid test, because it assumes that people can be put on a one-dimensional scale of “liberal/conservative.” I’d like to know how Glenn answered differently from me to get a lower score.
I agree with him, in that I don’t consider myself anything on that scale, and certainly not a “moderate.” There’s a cretin over at sci.space.policy who, whenever I inform him that I’m neither a Republican or Democrat, or Conservative or “Liberal,” invariably says, “then you’re a moderate?”
No. As Glenn says, I’m an extremist, but an eclectic one.
[Saturday morning update]
Volokh has more. Note the commenter who has analyzed the Javascript, and found liberal bias:
You start out as fully liberal, and whenever you give the conservative response, it gives you a certain number of points. Therefore, not answering a question is equivalent to giving the liberal answer. All responses give you one point except the first, which gives you two. If a liberal would check a checkbox, its value is ignored, so even if you don’t check it, it doesn’t affect your score.
So, if I’d done what I wanted to do in many cases, and left the question blank, because it was so mindless, I’d have probably scored as a “liberal.” Note all the idiot stereotypes and false choices implied by the questions. As many noted, if I were teaching a political science (now there’s an oxymoron) class, I’d flunk whoever came up with this thing.
Now Here’s A Stupid Test
I scored a 31, but it’s really meaningless, because for many of the questions, in my mind, the answer was “neither of the above,” but that wasn’t an option. Of course, one knew right out of the box that it was a stupid test, because it assumes that people can be put on a one-dimensional scale of “liberal/conservative.” I’d like to know how Glenn answered differently from me to get a lower score.
I agree with him, in that I don’t consider myself anything on that scale, and certainly not a “moderate.” There’s a cretin over at sci.space.policy who, whenever I inform him that I’m neither a Republican or Democrat, or Conservative or “Liberal,” invariably says, “then you’re a moderate?”
No. As Glenn says, I’m an extremist, but an eclectic one.
[Saturday morning update]
Volokh has more. Note the commenter who has analyzed the Javascript, and found liberal bias:
You start out as fully liberal, and whenever you give the conservative response, it gives you a certain number of points. Therefore, not answering a question is equivalent to giving the liberal answer. All responses give you one point except the first, which gives you two. If a liberal would check a checkbox, its value is ignored, so even if you don’t check it, it doesn’t affect your score.
So, if I’d done what I wanted to do in many cases, and left the question blank, because it was so mindless, I’d have probably scored as a “liberal.” Note all the idiot stereotypes and false choices implied by the questions. As many noted, if I were teaching a political science (now there’s an oxymoron) class, I’d flunk whoever came up with this thing.
Now Here’s A Stupid Test
I scored a 31, but it’s really meaningless, because for many of the questions, in my mind, the answer was “neither of the above,” but that wasn’t an option. Of course, one knew right out of the box that it was a stupid test, because it assumes that people can be put on a one-dimensional scale of “liberal/conservative.” I’d like to know how Glenn answered differently from me to get a lower score.
I agree with him, in that I don’t consider myself anything on that scale, and certainly not a “moderate.” There’s a cretin over at sci.space.policy who, whenever I inform him that I’m neither a Republican or Democrat, or Conservative or “Liberal,” invariably says, “then you’re a moderate?”
No. As Glenn says, I’m an extremist, but an eclectic one.
[Saturday morning update]
Volokh has more. Note the commenter who has analyzed the Javascript, and found liberal bias:
You start out as fully liberal, and whenever you give the conservative response, it gives you a certain number of points. Therefore, not answering a question is equivalent to giving the liberal answer. All responses give you one point except the first, which gives you two. If a liberal would check a checkbox, its value is ignored, so even if you don’t check it, it doesn’t affect your score.
So, if I’d done what I wanted to do in many cases, and left the question blank, because it was so mindless, I’d have probably scored as a “liberal.” Note all the idiot stereotypes and false choices implied by the questions. As many noted, if I were teaching a political science (now there’s an oxymoron) class, I’d flunk whoever came up with this thing.
Retraction
It looks like the lonely Kerry story was bogus. Guess it was “fake, but accurate.”
Quite A Breakthrough
…if it really works:
Associate Professor Michael King of the University of Rochester Biomedical Engineering Department has invented a de-vice that filters the blood for cancer and stem cells. When he captures cancer cells, he kills them. When he captures stem cells, he harvests them for later use in tissue engineering, bone marrow transplants, and other applications that treat human disease and improve health.
It’s not clear from the article how close it is to actual use on humans.
One Good Thing
…from the new Congress. A much-needed name change:
As part of a rules package passed by the House yesterday, the House Science Committee has been renamed the Science and Technology Committee.
That committee always dealt with much broader issues than science, and it’s nice to see it formally recognized. It may help in breaking this automatic equation in peoples’ minds between space and science, as though there’s no other reason to have space activities. It would also help, though, if we could lose the phrase “rocket scientist.”
No Longer Ruling The Waves
One more sign that that age of the British Empire is long past:
A senior officer, currently serving with the Fleet in Portsmouth, said: “What this means is that we are now no better than a coastal defence force or a fleet of dug-out canoes. The Dutch now have a better navy than us.”
Defence sources said it would be unlikely that the Navy could now launch an armada of the kind that retook the Falkland Islands in 1982.
Steve Bush, editor of the monthly magazine Warship World, said the MoD was bankrupt following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“After 10 years of Labour government, the Royal Navy is on its knees without immediate and proper funding. I cannot see how it can recover