Weird

Gruesome

I’m just wondering, in terms of psychological disorders, is this related to this? Is the desire to be castrated a variation (or a form of) apotemnophilia? Or is it something more kinky (if that’s possible)?

Political Commentary

Getting It Reversed

Arthur Brooks says that liberals are heartless. Errrr…sort of. Anyway, you might be able to say they’re mean spirited.

Let’s dispense with righteous rhetoric and look at what really counts: behavior, starting at the level of heart in personal relationships. Consider two groups of people under age 30: those who say they are liberal or extremely liberal, and those who say they are conservative or extremely conservative. According to General Social Survey in 2004, liberal young Americans are significantly less likely than the young conservatives to express a willingness to sacrifice for their loved ones. For example, progressives under 30 are significantly less likely than young right-wingers to say they would prefer to suffer rather than let the one they love suffer, that they are not happy unless the loved one is happy, or that they would sacrifice their own wishes for the one they love. (The practical implication of this is that you might want your daughter to marry a Republican.)

General Science

Learn Something New Every Day

I did not know this. There is a breeding population of Burmese pythons in the Everglades.

[Thursday morning follow up]

Here’s more on the story from AP:

Overwhelmed with pets that eat more than they do, python owners decide to release their snakes into the wild. It’s so common in the Everglades, Snow’s had to start a python hot line.

And there the Asian natives breed and find a comfortable home in the Everglades’ water, heat and vegetation. They have no predators.

Pythons have also discovered suburbia, said Capt. Ernie Jillson, who helps run the Miami-Dade County fire department’s snake squad. They catch around 20 pythons a year.

Three years ago, a 15-footer stopped traffic when he spread himself across a four-lane road. Last year, another 15-footer gave a 60-year-old woman quite the jolt when she walked outside to find the snake sunbathing on her patio. And rescue workers had to save a cat from the 10-foot python that was chasing it around the backyard pool.

Lawmaker Poppell says he’s no snake lover and doesn’t understand people’s fascination with the slithery creatures.

“How can you want something for a pet that looks at you when it’s hungry?” he said. “I don’t want something to look at me as food, I’d rather they (pets) come to me for food.”

General Science

Broken Drain

Don’t you just hate it when your planet leaks?

Researchers from the Tokyo Institute of Technology have calculated that about 1.12 billion tonnes of water leaks into the Earth each year. Although a lot of water also moves in the other direction, not enough comes to the surface to balance what is lost.

Eventually, lead researcher Shigenori Maruyama and his colleagues believe, all of it will disappear.

A billion years, eh? Better hurry and pass a treaty against it or something.

Let me be the first, if not the last, to blame George Bush.

Space

April 12th

Today is the forty-fifth anniversary of the first man in space, and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first flight of the Space Shuttle. If you want to celebrate, it’s also the fifth anniversary of Yuri’s Night. Go find a party near you.

[Update a few minutes later]

I have some thoughts on this anniversary over at National Review (note, it’s been edited somewhat from what I submitted).

[Update in the afternoon]

Mark is whining again:

First, Rand has presented a breath taking lack of specifics in his suggestions on how to improve the space program.

I only had nine hundred words. I’ve offered many specifics, many times, in many places. It was an anniversary commemoration, not a policy white paper.

Political Commentary

Spiderwoman

What does Spiderman creator Stan Lee have to do with Hillary?

“Doug from Upland” has the answer:

Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of speaking on the phone with legendary superhero creator Stan Lee. The creator of Spiderman acknowledged to me information that could become a sticky situation for one Hillary Rodham Clinton, the smartest woman on the planet.

On the link above – 4th false FEC report – turn to page 34. You will see that a $225,000 in-kind contribution is attributed to Stan Lee personally.

Lee was very surpised when I told him that, on the 4th FEC report from the Hillary 2000 campaign, he is listed as the largest donor — $225,000. He could not understand how that could be. He has testified under oath that he never gave any money. He didn’t have any money to give. He told that to the FBI, to the FEC, and to the Justice Department.

Treasurer Andrew Grossman, Hillary, and, of course, David Kendall, know very well that this is the fourth fraudulent report. They know very well that Lee gave no money. This continuing crime is being pulled off in broad daylight, and the Justice Department does not seem to want to do anything about it.

That report is the 4th time that Andrew Grossman and Hillary Clinton have had the opportunity to tell the truth to the FEC. Four strikes and you’re out? Apparently, not in Hillary’s world.

As someone over there points out, if I were Stan Lee I’d sue her Highness for defamation of character, for accusing me of such a thing.

This is amusing as well:

Note: although Hillary has been removed as a defendant (it will be appealed) in the case Paul v. Clinton, she will be ordered to testify. She and her defendant husband are expected to be in Los Angeles for a sworn deposition in as soon as 60 days. Does anyone remember the last time William Jefferson Blythe Clinton testified under oath?

No, actually. I have no recollection of that…

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!