Guns Don't Shoot People...

...Puppies Shoot People.

Odds and Ends

Fukuyama's "End of History"?

'But they also give rise to the further irony that it is ultimately in the name of "history" that history itself is currently in the process of being deleted from our collective memory. The "common core" educational standards subsume it under history/social studies and subsume that under what used to be called English — but only that part of English which involves the critical reading and analysis of "texts."
There is no body of historical knowledge that the common core identifies as mandatory or even useful for secondary school pupils to know.'

-- James Bowman, Negative Side Effects

"I am appalled to find that Fukuyama is a fool." -- John Lukacs, review of "The End of History"

On the Death Penalty

“We all deserve to hang, of course, but it can be a serious administrative embarrassment when someone is hanged for the wrong reason.”

-- David Warren, "Against Happiness"

This Worked Out So Well the Last Time We Tried It

"Obama to Loosen Lending Standards to Boost Home Ownership. What Could Go Wrong?"

--headline, AEI-Ideas.org, May 14

Hey, Isn't This Called "Stalking"?

"Researchers followed 30,000 women for 20 years and found that those who avoided the sunshine were twice as likely to die"

--subheadline, Daily Telegraph (London), May 7

Coincidence?  We Think Not

1. "HURT: Media Lap Dogs in Hot Pursuit of the Wrong Story"--headline, Washington Times, Sept. 18, 2012
2. "CHP Officers Rescue Scared Chihuahua From Busy Highway"--headline, KNTV website (San Jose, Calif.), May 12, 2014

1. "Missing: Furman White Swan Eggs"--headline, Greenville (S.C.) News, May 8
2. "Eggs Up Grill to Open in Downtown Greenville"--headline, Greenville News, May 9

Asked, and Answered

1. "What if College Is Making People Stupid?"--headline, Commentary website, May 13
2. "College Students: No, We Can't Name a Single Hillary Accomplishment, But We'd Vote for Her"--headline, Townhall.com, May 14

So, According to Daily Kos, Hillary....

1. "Let None Doubt That Karl Rove Is a Liar"--headline, DailyKos.com, March 23, 2012
2. "Rove on Hillary Clinton: 'Of Course She Doesn't Have Brain Damage' "--headline, Washington Post website, May 13, 2014

He Wouldn't Have Been Had There Been only 2

"Gunman Sought in 3 Shootings 'Armed and Extremely Dangerous' "--headline, Seattle Times, May 14

One Wonders What Else Could be Suspected

"Arson Suspected After Nine Vehicles, House Torched"--headline, Toronto Star, May 9

Usually the Robbery Doesn't Work if it Isn't

"Police Seek Man Who Robbed Bank in Surprise"--headline, Arizona Republic, May 13

D'uh Moment of the Week

"At present, the total biomass of mammals raised for food vastly exceeds the biomass of all mammalian wildlife on the planet (it also exceeds that of the human species itself). This was certainly not the case 10,000 or so years ago, at the dawn of the age of pastoralism." [Emph. added]

--Justin E.H. Smith, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 5

Be Careful What You Wish For

"Run, Joe, Run: Why Democrats Need a Biden Candidacy'--headline, TheAtlantic.com, May 9

Quote of the Day

"Being in love with yourself means never having to say you’re sorry.” -- Spengler

The War on Fat. Fat Won.

One consequence is that in cutting back on fats, we are now eating a lot more carbohydrates—at least 25% more since the early 1970s. Consumption of saturated fat, meanwhile, has dropped by 11%, according to the best available government data. Translation: Instead of meat, eggs and cheese, we're eating more pasta, grains, fruit and starchy vegetables such as potatoes. Even seemingly healthy low-fat foods, such as yogurt, are stealth carb-delivery systems, since removing the fat often requires the addition of fillers to make up for lost texture—and these are usually carbohydrate-based.

-- Nina Teicholz, "The Questionable Link Between Saturated Fat and Heart Disease" WSJ May 6, 2014

Consistency is a Jewel, Valuable Because it is Rare

In Nigeria, Islamists think nothing of seizing hundreds of schoolgirls for the crime of aspiring to an education. Here in the United States, the educated class thinks nothing of denying an honorary degree to a fearless Muslim woman who at peril of her life, and in the name of liberal democracy, has insisted on exposing such outrages to the light.

Ruth R. Wisse, "The Closing of the Collegiate Mind" WSJ May 11, 2014

Headlines of the Week!

Our first headline is from the (Manchester) Guardian:

Thousands of chickens escape after lorry overturns in China

A "lorry" is evidently a truck of some sort, although the term does not seem Chinese.  This story is accompanied by video.  If you carefully watch the video, you will notice this at 0:08:

That's right.  The chickens are crossing the road. Why do they do that? (TOF hears you ask) A question that has bedeviled many a sage. The best answer -- it may have been Plato -- is that it is for some fowl reason.

A second headline, from the Miami Herald:

Gassy German cows blamed for barn explosion

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/28/3897682/gassy-german-cows-blamed-for-barn.html#storylink=cpy

thankfully without a video.  But the notion that concentrated cow farts blew roof off a barn is not something you see every day.

 

Argumentum ad Porcus Ventrum

This is from the WSJ Weblog:

"Police: Woman Stabbed by Co-Worker During Argument Over Hog Stomachs"
--headline, WYFF-TV website (Greenville, S.C.), Jan. 22

This is worrisome on so many levels.  That someone was stabbed is bad enough, but that they were arguing over hog stomachs boggles the mind.  What key points of disagreement could there be on such a topic?

I Know You're Thinking. I Can Smell the Smoke

"Earth's Core 1,800 Degrees Hotter Than Thought"--headline, NBCNews.com, April 25

Headline of the Week

"Complex being built to last"  -- Express-Times 25 April 2013

My first thought on spotting this headline was that complex beings generally don't last as long as simpler ones because there are more things that can go wrong.  The longest-lasting being is likely to be one that is radically simple, not a compound nor composed of parts.

But then reading further it transpired that "complex" was a noun not an adjective, and "being" was a participle not a noun; and it referred to the construction of a hockey arena.*

Go figure. 

(*) Hockey arena.  A local billboard taken out by a dental practice proclaimed their support for the facility. 

Headline of the Month

"Despite a reputation for social liberalism, California scores badly on personal freedoms."

--FreedomInThe50States.org, March 28

That "despite" is priceless.  

Headlines of the Week

Culled from the WSJ "Best of the Web"

Group Snags Trout.  Now That Would be News!

"Mike Trout snags 550-pound grouper at Key West"--headline, Yahoo! Sports, Jan. 15

Unclear on the Concept

"Traditional Wood Antiques Are Beginning to Get Old"--headline, Journal News (White Plains, N.Y.), Jan. 13

What is Wrong With This Metaphor?

"The Bears took a swing for the fences by choosing Marc Trestman to be the 14th head coach in team history, an NFL source told the Tribune early Wednesday."--Chicago Tribune website, Jan. 16

Thank Goodness for Arab Spring

"An earlier version of this article misstated the timing of some of Mr. Morsi's comments. The television interview in which he referred to Zionists as "these bloodsuckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs" was made in September of 2010, not early that year."
-- correction run in New York Times, Jan. 15

Contest: Imagine the Context

"Morsi Says His Slurs of Jews Were Taken Out of Context"--headline, New York Times, Jan. 17

Unclear on the Concept

"Obama Declares War on Violence"--headline, New York Post, Jan. 16

No Wonder She Turned Teacher

"Calif. Porn Actress-Turned Teacher Loses Appeal"--headline, Associated Press, Jan. 15

News of the Oxymoronic

"Returning Zing to Dutch Cooking"--headline, New York Times, Jan. 16

Headlines & Quotes of the Week

"Even After..."

"And even after accounting for financial aid, the costs of attending a public university have risen 60 percent in the past two decades."--Jason DeParle, New York Times, Dec. 22

Science Marches On

"Scientists Create Projectile Vomiting Robot Named Vomiting Larry"--headline, Geek.com, Jan. 3

Just what the world has been waiting for. 

And On

"Hot Chocolate Tastes Better in an Orange Cup Say Scientists"--headline, ScienceSpaceRobots.com, Jan. 3


But do oranges taste better in a chocolate cup?  How do they know?  Or do they only know that "more respondents replied affirmatively" and they could not possibly lie or be mistaken on a matter of taste.  Didn't science used to eschew such things as taste on the grounds that they were subjective? 

But Can He Chew Gum Without Falling?

"Teen Smoking Keeps Falling"--headline, The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 20

That's Where Most People Think He Hangs Out Anyway

"At Christmas Eve Mass, Pope Urges Space for God"--headline, Associated Press, Dec. 24

How to Make Dawkins' Head Explode”

Currently, I see in Germany, but also in the United States, a somewhat fierce debate raging between so-called ‘creationism’ and evolutionism, presented as though they were mutually exclusive alternatives: those who believe in the Creator would not be able to conceive of evolution, and those who instead support evolution would have to exclude God. This antithesis is absurd because, on the one hand, there are so many scientific proofs in favor of evolution which appears to be a reality we can see and which enriches our knowledge of life and being as such. But on the other, the doctrine of evolution does not answer every query, especially the great philosophical question: where does everything come from?

– Pope Benedict XVI

Interesting that he says "so-called" creationism (den sogenannten Kreationismus).  See here for original, scroll to "Ich sehe, daß zur Zeit in Deutschland, aber auch in den Vereinigten Staaten".  

On the Training of Freethinkers

No group is as rigidly conformist as a bunch of college freshmen. They have been introduced into a new society – college – different from and presumed superior to their home. They MUST fit in – it’s a human drive as powerful in most people as sex and hunger. The keepers of this society are largely the professors, and those who can play the professors’ games. So, college freshmen are exceedingly unlikely to question anything their professors and peers tell them – they are painfully aware that they are the provisional junior members of this tribe. So, they not only accept Power Dynamic analysis, deconstruction and relativism without question, they become their staunchest defenders. Problem is, their defense consists entirely of pointing out that any questioner is not a member of their tribe – no argument is made (in fact, it’s difficult to imagine a 19 year old traditionally educated college freshman having the intellectual chops to even make a rudimentary argument about anything at all. Assuming they’d want to, which they don’t). Mockery, insult and presumed intellectual and moral superiority are the tools.

-- Ishmael Alighieri 

Ah, the herd of independent minds.  

Tacit Comment

“Then too the truthfulness of history was impaired in many ways; at first, through men’s ignorance of public affairs, which were now wholly strange to them, then, through their passion for flattery, or, on the other hand, their hatred of their masters. And so between the enmity of the one and the servility of the other, neither had any regard for posterity. But while we instinctively shrink from a writer’s adulation, we lend a ready ear to detraction and spite, because flattery involves the shameful imputation of servility, whereas malignity wears the false appearance of honesty. … those who profess inviolable truthfulness must speak of all without partiality and without hatred. I have reserved as an employment for my old age, should my life be long enough, a subject at once more fruitful and less anxious in the reign of the Divine Nerva and the empire of Trajan, enjoying the rare happiness of times, when we may think what we please, and express what we think.”

– Tacitus, The Histories, Book I

Speculations on modern examples of hatred and flattery are left as exercises to the readers.  But be careful how you express your thoughts.  

Head Lines

The Answer is No
"Have You Hugged a Port-a-Potty Lately?"--headline, San Antonio Express-News website, Dec. 1 

Hmm.  Well, It's Not the Beard...
"Why Egypt's Salafis Are Not the Amish"--headline, Council on Foreign Relations website, Dec. 1

This is Pretty Much the Definition of a Night Club, Isn't It?
"Cops: Drunk Man Annoys Women at Cambridge Nightclub"--headline, Cambridge (Mass.) Chronicle, Nov. 30

Today's Headlines

Oh Well, Cross That Off My Shopping List
"Canada Warns Not to Buy 'Fresh' Semen Online"--headline, Agence France-Presse, Aug. 30


Coincidence?  I Think Not!  See Genesis 2:21-3:7

• "Pennsylvania Man Charged Again for Putting Ribs in Pants"--headline, Associated Press, Aug. 29
• "Police: Pantless Woman Arrested at Anti-Topless Rally"--headline, WYFF-TV website (Greenville, S.C.), Aug. 28

h/t to Best of the Web, WSJ blog.

Tidbits

This Week's Most Unfortunate Headline

"Man Accused of Beach Nudity Is Held"
--Boston Globe, Aug. 5

This'll Show 'Em

President Obama is committed to strengthening the United States Government's ability to prevent mass atrocities and serious human rights violations. . . . Today, President Obama is directing a comprehensive review to strengthen the United States' ability to prevent mass atrocities. The President's directive creates an important new tool in this effort, establishing a standing interagency Atrocities Prevention Board.

(We can hear the atrocitizers now: "Oh, no!  Not a standing interagency board!  What shall we do?")

Unfortunate Headline of the Day

"Weiner Finally Yanks Himself"--headline, New York Post, June 17


(We're really going to miss him when he's gone.)

The Week's Most Unfortunate Headline

"MILLER: Harry Reid Hangs Weiner Out to Dry"--headline, Washington Times website, June 7

Headlines You Don't See Every Day

"Man Arrested After Being Found Standing Over Goat, Wearing Women's Underwear"

--headline, Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail, May 3

Presumably, it is against the law to do so.

And how did the goat get into women's underwear anyway?
+ + +

"Needle Found in Ex-South Korea President's Lung"--headline, Reuters, May 3

Keeping to the theme of things found in lungs, previously noted here and here.  There is no indication that this needle was related to the fir tree growing in another man's lung.

It's Always in the Last Place You Look

• 6 Dec:   "Aeroflot Flight Evacuated in Berlin; Police Say No Bomb Found"--headline, Bloomberg,
• 8 Dec:   "No Bomb Found at German Embassy in Kyrgyzstan"--headline, Itar-Tass (Russia),
• 11 Dec: "No Bomb, Just a Threat at Convenience Store"--headline, Keizer (Ore.) Times
• 21 Dec: "No Bomb Found in Slovak Radio Building"--headline, The Slovak Spectator website
• 23 Dec: "No Bomb in Armenian Embassy in Rome"--headline, News.am (Yerevan)
• 27 Dec: "Package Bomb Found at Greek Embassy in Italy"--headline, Associated Press

h/t Wall St. J

Headline of the Day

Just in Case You've Forgotten
"Three Suicides in Peoria in 24 Hours Prompts [sic] Police to Remind Residents Not to Kill Themselves"
--headline, Phoenix New Times website, Dec. 7


Irony of the Week Award
"It was 54 deg. F in Cancun this morning — a record low for the date."
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2010/12/gore-effect-strikes-cancun/

The Gore Effect is in full swing!  

 

This Wonderful Modern World

Science Marches On

Headline
$918,856 Federal Study:
Bar Fights Tend to Happen in Darker, Dirtier Bars Frequented by Heavy Drinking, Less Agreeable People
That clattering sound you hear is that of jaws dropping in astonishment!  Isn't science wonderful that it can winkle out such subtle and unexpected secrets of the world? 


+ + +
More Irony Than Even the Old Bethlehem Steel Could Process

American Postal Workers Union ballots lost in the mail. 

A Disturbing Headline to Read in Your Morning Paper

"Locusts on Pizzas a 'Tasty' New Topping"--headline, Metro.co.uk, April 21

The Wurst is Yet To Come

Salami battle in supermarket leaves Germans in hospital -- Headline, The Telegraph (UK)




I guess they sell some pretty mean salamis over there in Germany. But the use of a Parmesan cheese as a shield is novel.