Saturday, July 6, 2013

Cab Thoughts 7/6/13

Why has evil been such a hard concept for many on the left to accept? The basic agenda of the left is to change external conditions. But what if the problem is internal? What if the real problem is the cussedness of human beings?---Thomas Sowell

Neil Gaiman is bringing back his Sandman series.

Morsi was elected. He was elected for a reason: He and the Brotherhood are wonderfully organized. Organization gives one an advantage in a democracy as recent elections in the U.S. can attest. But organization may not have much to do with quality.

Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, called the Declaration “an expression of the American Mind.” The American Mind. That should be a topic for discussion as it flies in the face of the modern homogenizing that characterize so many of the Western leaders.
The Flyers bought their goalie's 9 year contract out in its second year.

Donald Rumsfield said something obvious but interesting in an interview recently. Businessmen are responsible to customers, employees, shareholders, government regulators. Consequently they are reluctant to take political positions. So is K Street the logical substitute?

Golden Oldie:

I saw the movie "Signs" again recently and liked it better the second time around. It is structured like a crime investigation and the signs are clues. One is deep into the story before the direction is clear. So the questions gradually lead to revelation. And belief.

A 2004 article in the British Journal of Psychiatry reviewed four large studies, all of which showed a significant and consistent association between consumption of marijuana (mostly during teenage years or early 20s) and the later development of schizophrenia. A 2007 study in the Lancet, another British medical journal, concludes that using marijuana increases the risk of young people developing a psychotic illness, such as schizophrenia. This risk is greatest—up to a 200% increase—among those who use marijuana heavily and who start using at a younger age. There seems to be emerging the belief that the drug precipitates mental illness in those with an underlying predisposition. Interestingly, there is the appearance that this question has not been raised in the drug legalization debate because of sensitivity towards the mental illness advocacy groups.

The first bone marrow transplant was done in 1957. It took twenty years before the survival rate crept above one percent.

Douglas Engelbart has died. He was a true visionary who wanted to facilitate computer use and make individual interaction with computers better and broader. In a legendary San Francisco demonstration in 1968 he presented his computer mouse and other concepts, like editing text on a computer display, use of multiple computer windows and videoconferencing.

The employer mandate of the Affordable Care Act— or as the administration calls it, the shared responsibility rules — has been put on hold. Businesses won’t have any new requirements to cover workers, or penalties if they don’t, until 2015. It had been scheduled to go on line in 2014. The real question is what does this mean? Is this purely political, an attempt to take the difficult parts of the plan off the table until the mid-term election is over, or does it imply a more basic defect in the plan that is becoming apparent to implementers? Fortunately, we poor working slugs will not have to worry about anything since both sides of the political aisle will lie prodigiously about it and nothing will be learned until the inevitable happens.

More than two-thirds of all the tornadoes in the entire world occur in the middle of the United States.

President Barack Obama held a holiday meeting with members of his national security team Thursday to discuss the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. It was secret with secure links broadcast to other members not present. Can you imagine what the conversations were. Their candidate thrown out by military action after huge public demonstrations. What can they possibly say? It should have been broadcast on SNL.

fustilarian (fuhs-tuh-LAR-ee-uhn): noun: A fat and slovenly person. From Middle English fusty (smelly, moldy). The first recorded use of the word is from Shakespeare's Henry IV in which Falstaff exclaims, "Away, you scullion! You rampallion! You fustilarian! I'll tickle your catastrophe."

Who was....James Phipps?

For a number of reasons over the last century, many Chinese left their native China for other areas in Asia and the Americas. By 1994, the 57 million Chinese living outside China created as much wealth as the one billion people living in China.

Megan Amram on America in the lit mag McSweeney's: "Few countries that debuted in the 1700s have been as controversial or long running (it's into its 237th season now) as America. It may not have the staying power of perennial favorites such as China or the credibility of indie darlings such as Finland, but America has proven that it can at least make some cultural impact."

AAAAAAnnnnnnddddddd......a picture:
Lightning over Greece
See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available.

No comments: