Good morning. Off again today, still sleeping in. 😀 …. Links?

1. Our unemployment woes.
2. About grade and taste in the syrup world.
3. No price gouging here. Especially if you define price in a way that make that impossible.
4. In the wake of the Penn State kerfuffle.
5. Oooh, somebody at the NYTimes has a really really reprehensible idea. Let’s put a price on our integrity and sell it off.
6. We didn’t “know then” and not “know now” … we just have regulated “building” out of the realm of possibility.
7. I wonder if the sign holder realizes the subject of his/her criticism holding the sign.
8. 185k pages! That’s the real scandal.
9. What the Democrats wish for in the health care realm.
10. Tampering with history …. don’t do it. The way to do with regrettable incidents is not to whitewash, to forget and move on.
11. US integrity and willingness to stand up for what is right … out done by the Arab league?
12. And some wise advice.

Well,  running a little late, I’m “on vacation” at home today, i.e., the day off. I, err, slept in.

1. Geek, ya’ think?
2. About that thing you have …
3. Farce and art.
4. Seriously?
5. Bike sans fork.
6. Oh, please … Marvel mutants aren’t proxies for gays and such, it’s a connect with generic teenage feelings of alienation. Duh. “Dad you just don’t understand me at all!” isn’t a teenage plea that is exclusive to gays.
7. Come on, that’s just cruel.
8. A biopic.
9. Uhm, that’s a really really bad metaphor … letting the Trojan horse allowed the sack of the city, rapine of the women and sale of the people into slavery. And that’s touted as a good thing.
10. Do the poor benefit? Well, alas, yes quite a bit.
11. Mr Cain’s accusers linked?

Good morning.

1. Mad men and the police procedural.
2. A counter to the “end bonuses” notion.
3. Education as ritual.
4. Climate and a paper on the same, examined in some detail.
5. What? No ASL? No Third Reich? Shocking?
6. Until they run out of Joe.
7. Book titles doing more than announcing the contents.
8. Evil, not just banal. I wonder if the Penn State kerfuffle has a connection.
9. Crying for Argentina.
10. Never work. Seems to me most guys think there are about 8 colors with names like red, green, blue, and purple. For example, fuschia is a plant, not a color and the putative color given that name is just purple. At the gym a few weeks ago, I had an outraged daughter scandalized by my calling some stretching pads “black” and “lighter black”.
11. Dreaming a little dream.
12. Two generations at one posting.
13. Cinema.
14. Mr Jobs and the elephant in the Apple fandom’s closet.
15. Reforming higher ed, some thoughts.

Good morning.

1. Peacocks? That’s unexpected. I wonder what they use them for.
2. A (missing) view of the game.
3. The new communism and free (leisure) time.
4. Bring out your dead, uhm, bones.
5. The Wisconsin governor and this years Christmas wars.
6. Fantasy and religious backgrounds … although I thought the golum had Jewish (or Arabic) origins, Ms Shelley notwithstanding.
7. That’s an interesting question, what if the OWS blockages were in front of abortion clinics? Same reaction to “non-violent” protests?
8. Odd that liberals denounce Cain bringing out the Clinton sex-scandal playbook (which is not to say, for example, that I approve of the doing so).
9. A recommendation passed on.
10. Connected to the Internet? Who thought that was a good idea? (hint: it is not by any stretch of the imagination an good idea).
11. Stupid scholastic tricks.

Good morning.

1. A global network map, colored by language.
2. OWS domiciles.
3. A reminder of Mr Obama’s (putative) strategy of moving to a non-nuclear world … somehow.
4. Elite.
5. Skillz or pull?
6. Swim swim swim against the current.
7. Marking time.
8. Green energy failing “because it’s too cheap” … heh.
9. Our global economy.
10. Context for descriptive language …
11. And this likely has been seen done by men to men.
12. Cain’s non-banishment in the polls reason one, we don’t trust the media and reason two Ms Hill and Mr Thomas in which this story is reprising that mountain-from-molehill kerfuffle.

Good morning.

1. Petaflops ten and an electric bill.
2. Ben Franklin as Scripture still hanging on.
3. That liberal echo chamber explicitly demonstrated.
4. So is it green to have built in short longevity?
5. Executive and Legislative branches.
6. Romney tackles the third rail.
7. Aussie higher ed as a model?
8. Action movie sans any action.
9. A new way to look at fear and trembling, if you don’t have the faith equal to that of Abraham then you’re an atheist.
10. Science/Engineering education.
11. Mr Obama’s Iraq legacy.
12. Grand strategy: an essay. (HT).
13. Two years down the road, finally a response to stimulus and Mr Bastiat.
14. OWS and the Scouting Jamboree.

Online Security (HT: Justin Taylor)
A 5 part series providing good tips and info on keeping your online actions secure. I’ve added excerpts from each part.

Part 1 -General Overview

There is still risk in using the Internet (inversely proportional to the amount of effort the user puts into security), and this guide makes no mention to the many online security risks users have absolutely no control over (you might have nightmares and be frightened off the Internet if I told you about those).

Part 2 -General Tips

Log out of web based email, banking/shopping sites and social networks such as Facebook when you are not actively using them. If for example you have Facebook logged in on one tab, malicious code on another site in another tab can attack your Facebook account.

Part 3 -Social Networking

Facebook applications can attack users, including their other social networks, other friends on social networks and other sites, including banking sites. The only even relatively safe way to use Facebook is to turn off all Facebook apps and quizzes.

Part 4 – Banking & Shopping

If the site does not use https, do not use it.

Part 5 – Privacy

Many people ignorantly downplay the risk of privacy, saying that they have “nothing to hide.” However, privacy is not mainly about hiding bad behavior, but about controlling the context in which personal details about our lives are disclosed. All of us have had sensitive, very personal conversations with our closes friends that we would not make public.

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If faced with a mob, thank the founding fathers you’re able to have a shotgun in your hands
From the files of Tea Party OWS violence, it seems that one developer in San Francisco was able to “discourage” a mob from vandalizing the building he works in, without having to wait for the authorities to show up (assuming, of course, that they would show up).

“We had people who attempted to break into our building,” the landmark Rotunda Building on Frank Ogawa Plaza outside City Hall, Tagami said Thursday. He grabbed a shotgun that he usually keeps at home, went down to the ground floor and “discouraged them,” he said.

“I was standing there and they saw me there, and I lifted it – I didn’t point it – I just held it in my hands,” Tagami said. “And I just racked it, and they ran.”

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Freedom of Religion distortion of the day
Once again, we see the misguided notion that the 1st Amendment of the Constitution is all about freedom FROM religion instead of freedom of religion.

Ron Baker, pastor at Russell Baptist Church in Green Cove Springs, said that he would continue to pray no matter what happens. The flagpole, which is the site where the prayers have been taken place, is at the center of an ideological standoff between the school board and those who wish to pray. “Did you ever think that in America you’d be in trouble for praying at the flag? It’s disturbing.” Baker told Fox News.

The issue was raised when the attorney for the Clay County School Board, J. Bruce Bickner, submitted an opinion declaring that praying at the flagpole was against the law, “it is a violation of the United States Constitution for a teacher, school administrator or other school district employee to join in a prayer session during their work time.” Wrote Bickner.

[emphasis added]

Umm… no, it’s not.

The first amendment protects the people from the government establishing a state religion, as well as allowing the citizenry the right to exercise the religion of their choice.

For Bickner to be correct, he will have to demonstrate how holding the prayer during school hours is equivalent to the state establishing a religion (which would certainly surprise quite a few other protestant denominations, Islamic, Jewish, Hindu, etc. congregations across the country), and how this action could prevent anyone, including Bickner, from exercising the religion of their choice.

Good luck.

Good morning.

1. East coast academia where diversity means people with differing backgrounds submit to conformity.
2. Imagine publishing in academia redux.
3. Occupy Oakland and the consequences of rioting for a populist movement.
4. My daughter liked this clip.
5. And a very clever two y/old.
6. Cain’s problems viewed from the middle.
7. Obamacare and Mr Obama’s compliance.
8. A Berber’s thoughts on the Arab Spring.
9. Mr Corzine and the no-skin in the game problem.

I keep thinking it’s Friday … I’m going to be sorely disappointed tomorrow I suspect.

1. The confused left leaning hagiography of Ms Sanger.
2. Why the problem noted is a government concern is left unargued.
3. How to radically misread Hayek. Mob “wisdom” is not what asymmetrical information implies.
4. Truth to power? Wearing a cross in class.
5. Workplace fridge etiquette and a little (extreme?!) payback.
6. Eyeroll.
7. Better regulations to fix the problem perhaps not …
8. Speaking of regulations … (hint: read the book)
9. A mini-review of a book that should be highly recommended.
10. Those evil corporate dudes cashing in while their company crashes. Oh, wait …
11. In case you thought your commute was bad. Feel better now?
12. Weird conveyances .. here and here.

Is the term “Christian Yoga” an oxymoron?
It doesn’t seem to be to many evangelicals, who embrace the practice of yoga, sometimes couched in Christian terms. Pastor Mark Driscoll gives us his views,

There is nothing wrong with stretching, exercising, or regulating one’s stress through breathing. But when the tenets of yoga are included, it’s by definition a worship act to spirit beings other than the God of the Bible. By way of analogy, there is nothing inherently wrong with intimacy, sex, and pleasure. But when the tenets of adultery are included, it’s a sinfully idolatrous worship act. A faithful Christian can no more say they are practicing yoga for Jesus than they can say they are committing adultery for Jesus.

Read it all.

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Steve Jobs: cared about humanity but not about humans
So says Tim Challies, in his review of the recent biography on Jobs.

A brutal man with a terrible temper and a genuine god complex, he was also a man who drove people to new heights of innovation and creativity. As much as people hated to receive a tongue-lashing from Jobs, they knew that in the end he motivated them and pushed them to do better. And this is a crucial component of the strange legacy of Steve Jobs. He will forever be known as a great innovator and a man who lived at the crossroads between the humanities and the sciences. In his own field and in his own way, he sought to make the world a better place. But he did so at the expense of so many people whom he left abandoned and brutalized. It’s like he cared for humanity but not for humans, for mankind but not for individuals.

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The price of peanut butter is skyrocketing
So… try Sunbutter. It’s a great alternative (especially for those unfortunate souls who happen to be allergic to peanuts).

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One way to keep violent crime under control? Arm yourself.
So says one sheriff.

Good morning.

1. Mr Cain and scandal. I had a thought, why is a politicians adroitness in handling scandal a good thing?
2. Mr Paul asks a question about the scandal report.
3. ‘Tis called heresy.
4. Some remarks for the “Occupy” movement.
5. And another.
6. Officer red-shirt.
7. Canine manufacture.
8. Grow your own.
9. Compensation and value to the nation.
10. A libertarian concurs with Justice Thomas (somewhat).
11. Ruth.
12. Green jobs and multipliers.
13. And to cap things off, fwip!

Good morning.

1. Considering loopholes, and a rejoinder to comments.
2. Mr Cain and the boys room.
3. Class and OWS.
4. On that topic …
5. Rare is the Democrat that will admit to that I figger.
6. Libraries and patrons.
7. Available for kindle SVS Press titles.
8. Cinema to watch out for (or if you’re in the NY area … to watch).
9. Socket maps.
10. Math (science?) publishing. One might consider voting and government in a similar framework (that is to pose the two enumerated questions on journals transposed to electoral processes).
11. Three posts on 7 billion humans … here, here and here.
12. Troops staffing levels and drawdown(s).
13. Heh.
14. Our welfare state.

A Summer camp to help socialize your… dog?
Camp Bow Wow is not limited to California but they are, apparently, serious. From the ad,

“Mom & Dad, take me to camp…
…so I can socialize,”

Remind me again – we’re in a recession so severe that some are comparing it as the closest we’ve come to the Great Depression? And yet, we have people sending their dogs to camp?

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And so goes public education, on the slippery slope
Governor Brown signed into law SB 48, this past summer. An excerpt of the bill,

51204.5. Instruction in social sciences shall include the early history of California and a study of the role and contributions of both men and women, Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, European Americans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, persons with disabilities, and members of other ethnic and cultural groups, to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States of America, with particular emphasis on portraying the role of these groups in contemporary society.

[emphasis added]

Wait, it gets better.

51500. A teacher shall not give instruction and a school district shall not sponsor any activity that promotes a discriminatory bias on the basis of race or ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, nationality, sexual orientation, or because of a characteristic listed in Section 220.

[emphasis added]

And if you think that you have the right to teach what you want in the privacy of your own home, consider this little paragraph.

SEC. 6. It is the intent of the Legislature that alternative and charter schools take notice of the provisions of this act in light of Section 235 of the Education Code, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or other specified characteristics in any aspect of the operation of alternative and charter schools.

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“(Q)uestions regarding vaccination laws are public policy matters for the government to decide.”
From ParentalRights.org,

…this past weekend …California governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB499 allowing children as young as 12 to make their own decisions regarding the Gardasil vaccine.

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Well, at least Governor Brown’s recent signing of 3 gun-control bills will help. Right?
Maybe we need a gun-control bill for the LAPD. It seems that they had some trouble controlling the whereabouts of some of their firearms. Not to worry, though, they only lost some submachine guns. It’s also reported that criticism of those who were negligent has been light, presumably because they are fellow officers. David Codrea also points out that the LAPD Chief is a darling of the Brady Campaign, is against open and concealed carry, and doesn’t want honest citizens to have normal capacity magazines. All this, I suppose, because the normal citizen isn’t responsible enough.

Good morning.

1. Looking for that good war.
2. For the high court watchers.
3. Still chasing aggregate demand.
4. Elastic and inelastic collisions.
5. Economics, politics and Argentina.
6. Profiling.
7. Indian populism.
8. Dance and gravity.
9. Cold fusion and not-science, and … cold fusion is just about here. There’s just one leetle technical problem left, which is finding that plentiful cheap source of cold muons.
10. The purpose of the police … not protection.
11. Our toxic future … not so deadly?
12. A 1%/48%/99% note.
13. For those canonizing Mr Jobs.
14. Welcome to the information age.

He said what?
Richard Dawkins said “Jesus would have been an atheist had he known what we know today.” Wow. I know that Christian apologists have been clamoring for a debate between William Lane Craig and Dawkins, but if he makes such an ignorantly absurd statement like this, then…?

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Only 1 in 4 want to ban handguns
An all-time low (26%) and this spells bad news for liberal democrats. From Gallup,

A record-low 26% of Americans favor a legal ban on the possession of handguns in the United States other than by police and other authorized people. When Gallup first asked Americans this question in 1959, 60% favored banning handguns. But since 1975, the majority of Americans have opposed such a measure, with opposition around 70% in recent years.

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Evangelical Capitalism statement of the day:
“I’ve never seen an empty seat make a decision for Christ.” – Andy Stanley

While this notion is sincere, it usually degrades to nothing more than a “numbers game” approach, and the logical conclusion of this methodology is to do just about anything to entice people through the door (and onto a… seat) where they can then be swayed to “make a decision.” And I wonder just what priority is given, if any,, to that of making a disciple of Christ (what the Bible actually states).

“Christians Need To Stop Making Converts” – Read it again, for the first time.

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Geek News # 1
Checking out footprints of the Apollo moonwalkers.

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Geek News # 2
Searching for Snoopy… Apollo 10’s Snoopy (aka the Lunar Module)

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A Homeschooling convert?
So in the middle of realizing that school is really just a babysitting service, I became militant. I realized that public school is like Social Security. There is no money to do what we are pretending we are aiming to do. We should just grow up and admit that we cannot have effective public schools for everyone. Just like we cannot have Social Security for everyone.