War Commentary

A Gitmo Primer

Lileks explains:

Q: What is Gitmo?

A: Contrary to what some suggest, it does not stand for “Git mo’ Peking chicken for Muhammad, he wants a second portion.” It stands for “Guantanamo,” a facility the United States built to see if the left would ever care about human rights abuses in Cuba. The experiment has apparently been successful.

It gets better.

Science And Society

Do You Have To Be Psycho

…to be successful in business? Here’s an interesting article about your boss, the potential psychopath:

…cynics might say that it can be an advantage to lack a conscience. That’s probably why major investors installed Dunlap as the CEO of Sunbeam: He had no qualms about decimating the workforce to impress Wall Street. One reason outside executives get brought into troubled companies is that they lack the emotional stake in either the enterprise or its people. It’s easier for them to act callously and remorselessly, which is exactly what their backers want. The obvious danger of the new B-Scan test for psychopathic tendencies is that companies will hire or promote people with high scores rather than screen them out. Even Babiak, the test’s codeveloper, says that while “a high score is a red flag, sometimes middle scores are okay. Perhaps you don’t want the most honest and upfront salesman.”

Space

Nice Straw Man

Does Mark Whittington want to name names, or provide credible examples from serious people?

This may annoy some people who, on the one hand, preach libertarian cant and, on the other hand, demand government pay money up front, before the promised hardware is even built, not to mention delivered.

Most “libertarians” that I know have been demanding that the government only pay for progress, when achieved. Mark’s straw man notion has in fact been the standard government approach with the big contractors for years, with dismal results.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!