February 29, 2008
Today's Quote: William F. Buckley Jr. In Memoriam
I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.I get satisfaction of three kinds. One is creating something, one is being paid for it and one is the feeling that I haven't just been sitting on my ass all afternoon.
Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.
It had all the earmarks of a CIA operation; the bomb killed everybody in the room except the intended target!
Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich.
You cultivate the essential virtues: high purpose, intelligence, decency, humility, fear of the Lord, and the passion for freedom.
There is an inverse relationship between reliance on the state and self-reliance.
Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.
I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.
The academic community has in it the biggest concentration of alarmists, cranks and extremists this side of the giggle house.
Liberals, it has been said, are generous with other peoples' money, except when it comes to questions of national survival when they prefer to be generous with other people's freedom and security.
Truth is a demure lady, much too ladylike to knock you on your head and drag you to her cave. She is there, but people must want her, and seek her out.
Life can't be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years.
One must bear in mind that the expansion of federal activity is a form of eating for politicians.
A Conservative is a fellow who is standing athwart history yelling "Stop!
---------------- William F. Buckly Jr.
February 27, 2008
Today's Quote: The Power of Three Days
After three days men grow weary, of a wench, a guest, and weather rainy.
--------- Benjamin Franklin (I wonder if it was after a 3 day bout of the flu?)
The World Outside
Perhaps it's because I'm getting over that killer flu that's going around and it seems like winter is never going to end, but my thoughts keep returning to the Norse idea that the end of the world is presaged by a winter without end - Fimbulwinter. But then that leads me to think Ragnarok and Roll and I can't help but smile.
And now, not only am I not alone in thinking this has been a particularly bleak winter, but I've got data to back me up.
No, I don't honestly think the world is coming to an end, the weather and my frailty combine to make my mood sink like the Earth's temperature recently. I know my mood won't be permanently affected (I really do have a naturally sunny disposition), and I'm hopeful the Earth's temperature isn't permanently affected, because no matter what climate alarmists tell you, warmer is better than colder. In moderation, of course.
February 20, 2008
Sometimes, Oops Isn't Enough
Every military base I've ever been to has had displays of equipment. I can still remember the directions I was given the first time I went to Pax River - "turn right at the plane on a stick." And when I got there, I turned right at the plane on a stick to visit the Armament hanger. Sometimes, things are exactly what they seem:
Apparently when Lincolnshire County Council were widening the road past RAF Scampton's main gate in about 1958, the 'gate guards' there had to be moved to make way for the new carriageway. Scampton was the WWII home of 617 Sqn, and said "gate guards" were a Lancaster...and a Grand Slam bomb.When they went to lift the Grand Slam, thought for years to just be an empty casing, with an RAF 8 Ton Coles Crane, it wouldn't budge.
Read the rest if you can't figure out what happened or want to find out just how big a 22,000 lb bomb is.
I'm reminded of the story my old english teacher, Mr. Felling, used to tell of when he was assigned to a destroyer in the Navy. He went aboard, and noticed the sailors would sit and smoke on the depth charges- the live depth carges that is. At first, he thought they were crazy, but within a couple of weeks he too was lounging and smoking on the depth charges.
Today's Quote: On Exactitude
It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision which the nature of the subject admits and not to seek exactness where only an approximation is possible.
------- Aristotle (and not Onassis)
February 19, 2008
First They Came For The Gadfly
Free the Inner City Press!
An Aphorism Of My Own
My son was giving me grief about using aphorisms, and asked me if I had anything original to say. I reminded him of one of my very own (at least as far as I know) aphorisms, or more accurately an aphorism with my own twist:
Time flies whether you have fun or not, so you might as well have fun
Okay, maybe it doesn't rank up there with
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana
but at least it's more than a funny line.
February 18, 2008
National Engineers Week
It's National Engineers Week! Break out the party hats!
Seriously, there are few professions where you can have the same mix of challange, fun, renumeration, and impact on the world as you can with engineering. And women, you should consider a career in engineering.
February 15, 2008
Clinton: "Prius Owners Won't Get Mortgage Deduction"
I know I'm just a country bumpkin from Missouri, but when a politician says this:
"In addition, Hillary will end the tax incentives to companies that ship jobs overseas, and invest those resources in creating good, high-paying jobs here in the U.S."
I can't help but think
"In addition, Hillary will end the mortgage income tax deduction to individuals who buy Priuses, because they are shipping those good, high-paying jobs overseas. Instead, they should buy cars manufactured right here in the U.S."
Of course, you'll never hear a politician actually say that, although for the life of me I can't see the difference between a company buying products from overseas and an individual buying products from overseas. Companies are just aggregators of all the people necessary to make a product for the purchasers of the product. Economically or morally, it makes no difference if the purchaser or the company aggregates from foreigners - the foreigners are employed just the same (not that there's anything wrong with that). In fact, from this nativist point of view, isn't better to buy from a company that outsources than from a foreign company because the outsourcer preserves more American jobs?
February 3, 2008
Cheaters Never Prosper
Or Super Bowl 42.
An exciting quarter of football, a rewarding outcome, so so ads, a brief old school rock interlude, all stretched out over 4 hours.
Tom Brady is a great quarterback, but he had a poor game.
If Belichick is such a great coach, why is he such a cheater?
The Patriots were lucky all game until finally the Manning somehow escaped two defenders and Smith caught the ball on his helmet. Live by luck, die by luck.
