Different Strategy = Different Results

I don't think that I have ever read a clearer refutation of the past twenty years of "change your attitude or we'll issue yet another sternly-worded condemnation" international affairs. Via Vodkapundit we get a Reuters report with a very telling quote:

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he thought Washington might eventually resort to military action against his country.

"Washington has imposed sanctions on us and isolated us in the past, but each time the circle hasn't closed around us," Assad told Italy's Repubblica newspaper.

"If, however, you ask me if I'm expecting an armed attack, well I've seen it coming since the end of the war in Iraq."

If I have read between the lines correctly, isn't President Bashar saying that Syria was able to shrug off sanctions and diplomatic isolation, yet the one threat that might have gotten his attention was never even brought up.

Much in the way that we got Qaddafi's attention, the Iraq invasion has put a whole new definition to "... or else". Or was that the old definition? You know, the one that we used before we got all enlightened.

Too Good to Pass Up.

I really don't have anything substantive to add to this article at JustOneMinute regarding the new attitude of the New York Times with regard to the Valerie Plame affair. What has occurred in a rare moment of serendipity is the way the first paragraph of the linked post and another item seemed to mesh.

From JustOneMinute:

There is nothing like the prospect of an imminent hanging to concentrate the mind; apparently, the prospect of having one of their reporters go to jail for eighteen months has concentrated the minds of the NY Times editors on the legal subtleties of the Valerie Plame leak investigation.

And from Terry Pratchett's forthcoming new novel, Going Postal:

They say that the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates a man's mind wonderfully; unfortunately, what the mind inevitably concentrates on is that, in the morning, it is in a body that is going to be hanged.

Like I said, nothing substantive, but I thought it was funny.

The Count for 2005 is: 10

There is no substitute for intellectual honesty. Because if there is, then Ted Rall is in desperate of some. Please recall, Ted Rall is the one who drew a cartoon depicting former NFL player Pat Tillman as a racist who joined the army solely to kill arabs.

This time, he has issued a challenge to conservative bloggers to find postings or comments from the left that are as offensive as the ones he finds daily from the right. He even provides an e-mail address for people to send in their finds.

The finds have been rich indeed. Now it seems that many of these examples are not getting through. I might have given Rall the benefit of the doubt and said that his server couldn't keep up with the load, but he has taken a snide attitude about having received only one by this morning. The only thing that I am left with is that Rall is looking for statements more extreme than his own. If they are what he considers reasonable, evidently, then they are not that bad. Pretty high standard there, Ted.

I apologize for having taken up so much time on this. As a commenter at Patterico mentioned, it is best not to feed the trolls, and I do feel somewhat dirty as to having sent traffic Rall's way. Please continue on with your day without thinking anymore on this post.

Nannies to the Rescue!

Just a couple of days ago I praised the FDA for allowing people to make their own decisions regarding Cox-2 inhibitor pain killers. Evidently, some people would like the FDA to take an opposite tack, to create more regulation in order to protect "the public" from the dangers of excess salt consumption. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has filed suit to force the FDA to make a statement as to the safety of salt in food.

The name "Center for Science in the Public Interest" borders on oxymoron. Anything with the words "Public Interest" in it's name will inevitably have an agenda, and agendas are antithetical to good science. Agendas create a "right" answer, prior to evidence being collected. Any evidence that is collected will be viewed through a prism.

The agenda in this case is clear. While the lawsuit is intended to force the FDA's hand at releasing a study, it is clear that the CSPI has established what is the correct answer.

The CSPI says that packaged food nutrition labels have failed to reduce Americans’ sodium intake to recommended levels, and that cutting the nation’s sodium intake could substantially reduce the incidence of health problems associated with high blood pressure.

“Those innocent-looking white crystals are causing tens of thousands of premature deaths every year,” Michael F. Jacobson, PhD, the group’s executive director, told reporters Thursday.

Just for the sake of argument, what would happen if the FDA were to say that salt does not need to be regulated? Somehow I don't think that the FDA's word would be sufficient for the CSPI all of a sudden.

Secondly, the CSPI has stated in this article that it is the responsibility of food providers to limit the salt intake of their consumers. They seem to be missing something here, namely the consumer's decision. Who really thinks that people don't know that too much salt is a bad thing, or that fast food isn't good for them for a variety of reasons? The main reason that nutrition labeling hasn't been completely effective is that most people aren't completely interested in their salt intake. I know this is the heartless avenue of libertarianism, but let people reap what they sow. Fail to take care of your health, and you get poor health as a result.

So to the CSPI, thanks for your concern, but, please, butt the hell out of my life.

Sing It, Brothers

I did the pizza delivery thing for several years. A friend of mine did the same while she lived back east, and she says that people in California don't know how to tip the pizza guy. Amen to that I thought. Still, anyone who has had that job for any length of time can appreciate the true tales told by a group of drivers in Minneapolis. Very frank, and not for the easily offended.

Personally, I didn't mind the deliveries I made to hospitals. I remember one to the maternity ward. Another time was to a sick kid. I remember it not being depressing, rather I felt like I had some good karma coming my way. The pizza guy is second only to Santa Claus in the world of children, so delivering the pizza really made that kid's night.

Via Hugh Hewitt

My Soft Spot for Shakespeare

Andrew Sullivan links to an article in the Guardian featuring the thoughts of five authors on Shakespeare the man. In that spirit, I wish to add my two cents (pence?, not here in the States) worth.

Back when I was at UCLA, all engineering students had to take three upper division humanities courses within a single department or on a theme (Italian history, art and literature would be a good example). I wanted to take three semesters of Shakespeare. I got two down, but the third wasn't offered until I was due to graduate, so I ended up taking a course in detective fiction, which was surprisingly good in its own right.

Back from the digression, I really got started in following Shakespeare back in high school with the obligatory memorize-a-soliloquy assignments. That year is was Julius Caesar. Almost everyone did the funeral oration (Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears...), while I went with Antony's lamentation over the body of Caesar. The next year, our English class was given passes to see Mel Gibson's production of Hamlet. Not bad, most definitely a envisioning for a mass audience. Kenneth Branaugh's version a few years later was more cerebral, which was good because after four hours or so, you weren't feeling anything below the neck.

The big attention grabber for me was participating in a production of As You Like It. I saw the flier announcing auditions and thought, "What the hell, I don't have a job, let's go for it." I ended up getting the role of Silvius, which in this production called for some physical comedy. I'm still looking for a practical use for the skill of drooling on cue that I developed for the scene involving Phebe's contemplation of Rosalind's male alter ego. No luck so far.

My favorite part about the writing of Shakespeare is how he wraps the meaning of words around one another and guides the reader to precisely the symbolic interpretation he desires. Of course, I could be mistaken, as many people seem to get different reads than I do. Still, Shakespeare's writing, especially the sonnets, seem to play with meanings more cleverly yet clearly than any other author I have studied. The need to be able to comprehend both line and totality adds levels to his works that make them constantly new. That is Shakespeare's genius, he doesn't need to be alive to keep coming up with new stuff, because his existing works can become something else with just a shift of perspective.

Unknown Risks/Unknown Rewards

There have been many instances where a medication has been found to be more hazardous than thought (or let onto) in research and trials. The latest of which has been Merck's Vioxx and other Cox-2 inhibitor pain killers.

The fact that Vioxx had been pulled from the market is hardly an odd thing. What is unusual is that it has been given, if not a green light, at least a yellow light to return to the market. Despite the risks, the FDA has declared Vioxx to be safe enough provided sufficient warning is given.

I'm sure there are some knee-jerk anti-corporatists who think that Big Pharmaceuticals must have spread around a big chunk of dough to keep their product on the market. I prefer to believe that it was the sincere response of Vioxx users who stepped forward and said tht they have gotten relief due to the drug that is worth the extra risk of coronary failure related death.

That the FDA has allowed a medication to return to the market is rather heartening. With respect to medications, it has been the reason for existence for the FDA to decide on what level of risk is appropriate for consumers. More than drugs, as the banning of silicone breast implants shows. That Vioxx had been on the market long enough for not only the drawbacks but the benefits to be evident, it allowed the consumer to make a truly informed decision.

This makes me wonder how many drugs that some people would consider worth the risk have been killed by regulation. Every time a new drug comes out on the market, its effects and side effects are only known to a best guess. The variation on that best guess is the risk inherent in any medication. I am personally glad that the FDA has left the choice to consumers rather than removing that choice "for our protection".

Lastly, the publicity surrounding the safety of Cox-2 inhibiters should also be of benefit to their makers. After all, how can anyone say they didn't know the risks after so much media attention?

Fear the Man Behind the Curtain

As a rule, I don't believe in conspiracies, largely because I don't have much faith in large numbers of people to keep a secret. Of course, when the other side is flat out evil, such as Bush Administration guru Karl Rove, then anything is possible. Here we have a United States Congressman making the allegation that Karl Rove planted the fake memos that Dan Rather et al. got caught with.

This is just sad.

Audience Member: Don’t you think it’s irresponsible to make charges like that?

Congressman Hinchey: No I don’t. I think it’s very important to make charges like that. I think it’s very important to combat this kind of activity in every way that you can. And I’m willing — and most people are not — to step forward in situations like this and take risks.

It would seem that for Congressman Hinchley, the guilt of the Bush Administration is evident, and all that is needed is the allegations. There is no room for the rational discussion of fact when fact is entirely optional:

Congressman Hinchey: ...once they did that, then it undermined everything else about Bush’s draft dodging. Once they were able to say, ‘This is false! These papers are not accurate, they’re, they’re, they’re false, they’ve been falsified.’ That had the effect of taking the whole issue away.

Audience Member: So you have evidence that the papers came from the Bush administration?

Congressman Hinchey: No. I — that’s my belief.

Belief. So who is it again that is supposed to be trying to turn the country onto a path dictated by belief unsupported by fact? Which side is it that refers to themselves as the reality based community?

A Correction That Took Too Long

Major revisions to the Ice Age history of man will have to be made due to the discovery that the scientist responsible for most of the work was a long running fraud. Professor Reiner Protsch von Zieten had been systematically misrepresenting the ages of relics for years, sometimes by as much as a factor of ten. I would like to make a few points about this:

1. I agree that this is a black eye for the study of anthropology. What should be kept in mind, however, is that the fraud was discovered through the process of outside verification. While Professor von Zieten managed to ride his credibility for far too long, that credibility still could not hold out over the long term.

2. Did this guy have grad students working for him? I wonder what they were thinking through all of this.

3. I found this article through Scrappleface. The last shot about this creating a weakness in the theory of man's evolution was uncalled for. The current theories regarding modern humans and neanderthals have them as evolutionary cousins, not of the same line but different branches of the evolution "tree".

4. This is a serious blow to the world created by Jean Auel. Of course, those books made no bones about being fiction.

A Good Idea, In Theory

American scientists have isolated a chemical that acts as a powerful sex signal for male cockroaches. The idea is ultimately create a trap that would draw the males in and infect them with a disease that they will carry to the rest of the colony. You know, like a Tiajuana whorehouse, or so I've heard.

I see one problem with this idea. If the pheromones are strong enough to draw the males in, why would they then leave? Perhaps the lack of actual females around would piss them off enough for them to leave. That presumes that the males would not be so besotted with pheromone that they won't care that the roach they're shacking up with is another male. The story goes that roaches can live a week with their heads cut off and that death results from starvation. Given that, just how much would that head be good for in getting the male out of the trap?

Link via Dave Barry

All Hail the Intelligence Czar!

America finally has a Cappo di Tutti Cappi for all of America's intelligence agencies. At last, America shall have a key figure with whom all of the previously feuding elements of alphabet soup can rally behind and share all of their information.

Yeah, right.

If that actually works, I'll gladly lead the first verse of Kumbaya. In the meantime, I'll just sit here and not watch (secrecy y'know) each of the agencies keep as much information as possible in their own purview. As would be typical of Washington, the game will be to provide just enough information to justify the current budget but not enough to make pleas for more money completely implausible. Oh, yes, and to prevent terrorist attacks on the US. Almost forgot that part.

I Really Hope This Movie is Good

If not, then heads will roll. I mean, what do you think the fan reaction would be if the movie version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were to suck? Now, a small amount of campy suck would be fine. If it is the takes-itself-far-too-seriously type of suck, then there will be hell to pay. Of course, it will be interesting to see just where the editorial decisions were made to go from book to movie length. Somehow I think that Douglas Adams will be fine. Seeing that he is dead and all.

No Gain For Lobsters

At least that is what a Norwegian study implies when it reports that lobsters and other ivertebrates are too developmentally primitive to feel pain. This has been a running battle with animal rights activists over whether it is cruel to toss crustaceans into boiling water. A few thoughts occurred to me while reading the article:

1) How much can one truly understand the sensory world of an invertibrate? There must be some limit to which the experience of a human can be mapped onto that of a lobster. Both probably have a sensation that informs the brain to avoid that which caused the signal, but it is fundamentally impossible to compare the experiences. There might be a way to compare the processes, but I don't think that anyone has found a way to get a conscious lobster to sit still for an MRI.

2) The science has gotten messily political on this issue. A quote from a spokesperson from PETA was sited thusly:

PETA's Karin Robertson called the Norwegian study biased, saying the government doesn't want to hurt the country's fishing industry.

"This is exactly like the tobacco industry claiming that smoking doesn't cause cancer," she said.

Robertson said many scientists believe lobsters do feel pain. For instance, a zoologist with The Humane Society of the United States made a written declaration that lobsters can feel pain after a chef dismembered and sauteed a live lobster to prepare a Lobster Fra Diavolo dish on NBC's "Today" show in 1994.

So on one hand, the Norwegian study is biased and can't be trusted, but we can trust a Humane Society scientist's word on the issue. Evidently Ms. Robertson distrusts economic bias more than ideological bias. At least when the bias is of her ideology.

3) Got butter?

Who Wants to Live Forever?

Inventor Ray Kurzweil is taking care of himself in order to make it to the day when immortality is delivered.This guy has come up with some really cool gadgets, but I'm not sure that a plan for healthy living, in itself a good thing, should be focused on making it to the point where science has progessed enough to put old age off indefinitely. I don't doubt that such an advance will happen within the llifetimes of today's toddlers. It is usually safe to bet that a technology will accomplish a goal sooner rather than later. (Unless the government is involved, in which case kiss your money good bye.)

What nags at my mind with respect to living forever is, "Why?" My biggest fear is that I would exhaust all of the avenues of my interest and I have years and years of boredom stretching before me? Would I have the courage to say, "Enough"?

Another angle is if the world became bored with me. Would the tendency to lose the ability to embrace change be halted by the anti-aging advancements? If not, then I fear the coming gerontocracy and a world saddled with ideosclerosis (the harding of opinions). Bruce Sterling wrote of such a world in Holy Fire. What happens to the young in such a world? If the gap between physical maturity and social maturity is bad now, imagine what it would be like when you can't get any respect until you've hit the big 9-0? I still haven't decided if I want to be around for that. At least I'll probably be one of the oldsters who refuse to give up their grip on the world.

Be Responsible for What You Write

As a Libertarian (member of the party so that Republicans and Democrats can't take me for granted) I know that the Bill of Rights regulates my rights with respect to the government and the government only. I do not take it as a matter of civil rights that my employer may not react to what I write. I hold the same view with repect to individuals, if I write something, then I am willing to deal with anyone who takes offense at what I write. Everyone has a right to react to what they read. That is the critical element of freedom of speech: the right to judge information for themselves.

For that reason I do not comment in this public forum about specific individuals who are not already public figures or are at the center of an already occurring debate. If I blindly do write about such a person, and should they take reasonable offense, I will post an apology. That is just the type of person I wish myself to be. That and be grateful that the whole pistols-at-dawn thing is out of vogue.

Second, I don't write about specific issues at work, only in generalities, such as the posts about the drive I was making that were as interminable as the drive itself. Should an issue come up where a knowledge of materials and metallurgy be center stage, then I stand ready to throw in what I can. In the meantime, I'll be just another pundit pitching my pennies.

I have this blog on my resume. In fact, the first gentleman who interviewed me for my current position let me know that he enjoyed what he saw. The upside of that interaction was obviously good, and I take it gladly. By the same token, I will take what heat may come. You have every right to do so civilly. Thanks for the hits, and I'll strive to keep your good estimation.

One last note, I found it curious that the author of the linked piece got a quote from Eugene Volokh without referencing his well respected blog The Volokh Conspiracy.

The Backside of the Slippery Slope

I can understand Andrew Sullivan's passion regarding gay marriage. I for one don't consider the proposition tantamount to the doom of our world as we know it. I'm a little disturbed, however, by his frequent referrences to this being the "civil rights struggle of our time". This and the point that heterosexuals have not exactly maintained the sanctity of the institution are both the other side of the old slippery slope argument. The charge that the first compromise on an issue, for example loosening divorce laws and allowing bi-racial couples to wed, will ultimately result in the entire demolition of the practice was and still is being trotted out. For example, if the requirement of one man one woman were to be removed, then what would stand in the way of polygamous marriage? To say that bigamy won't necessarily follow from gay marriage runs into a hypothetical of if someone said back in the miscegenation days that allowing colors to marry whites might someday lead to men marrying men and somesuch.

Again, my opinion on the issue is to allow anyone who wishes to extend rights over themselves to others to do so as they wish. I'm more concerned with empowering a sloppy rhetorical practice.

Resurrecting Star Trek

Caution: High Geek Quotient Ahead

I have to agree with Adam Yoshida on this one: the Star Trek franchise has pretty much sucked since Deep Space Nine. I gave up during Voyager with Captain Katherine "Let me toss a coin to see if we stick to the Prime Directive this week" Janeway. I kept wanting to send a memo to the writers: Guys, take a meeting and figure out who the hell Janeway is before her next command decision.

I gave Enterprise a chance purely because I am a fan of Scot Bakula (Capt. Archer) from his Quantum Leap days. Too bad the show couldn't keep me interested. Not even Jolene Blalock stripping down to her skivvies on a regular basis kept me tuning in. Then again, Jeri Ryan in a really hot bodysuit barely kept me interested in Voyager either.

Adam proposes three ideas that combine concepts from other hit shows and splices them to the Star Trek universe. Star Trek: Smallville, where we get to see the adventures of Academy Cadets, is his first. Whether we see new characters or the school days of later characters, there will still be the problem of having the faint odor of "Wesley Crusher saves the day" all over again.

His third idea is CSI: Vulcan. Not a chance. The entire concept of CSI relies on cutting edge verisimilitude, while technology in Star Trek has already solved just about every problem there can be. The techniques that an investigator for the United Federation of Planets would use would have to be invented by the writers, and it would be impossible for viewers not to end up feeling gypped by a plot that is resolved by a technology that only exists for that purpose.

Now, his idea of Star Trek: The West Wing has some potential. Adam's request that the viewers be allowed to experience the Federation in itself as opposed to what lies beyond it is on point. A brave crew can only save the Federation so many times before people start to wonder what's so great about the Federation to begin with. A politically themed storyline with only the occassional foreign policy issue would reconnect viewers with the wider quadrant. I'd escpecially interested on how any semblence of an economy could exist with replicator technology providing anything anyone could want.

Sounds Perfectly Fair to Me.

If somone values something greatly, then it is only fair that those who are wealthier in it should share. I love this line:

Mrs. Frush, though, is skeptical of how often the Garrett County lawmaker has been threatened by black bears.
"George Edwards has never seen a bear," Mrs. Frush said. "He's told me that."

I'm sure that Mrs. Frush has never seen a terrorist either. As the old saying goes, "Its the wolf (or bear) that you don't see that is the greater danger." Or something like that at least.

Link via Dave Barry

Its Gruesome Murder Week on CNN

In the past week I have read not one, not two, not three, but four, stories on CNN.com pertaining to particularly nasty murders. Most of them involve family members and are the classic tabloid fare that people believe other people want to read about. You'd almost think that CNN was looking for something to distract attention away from other issues.

The ACLU Picks Up Some Respect

I often say that if the ACLU would get off their backsides and defend the Second Amendment, then I would go right out and sign up. Barring that, this story of the ACLU representing a professor under scrutiny for making a generalized statement about homosexuals in class does add a few points to their tally in my book.

Now if only they stopped using the same First Amendment to block nativity displays. That really reflects poorly on them.

Link via Protein Wisdom

Gamer Is In Da House!!

OK, townhouse to be precise, and with a couple of room mates. No problem at all, since it meets the one absolute requirement that I had, be closer than 80 miles from work, and the closer the better. The job is in Santa Fe Springs (for those of you who know the area) and Irvine is about 20 miles away along some of the worst freeway known to man. This being the greater Los Angeles area, that means all freeways meet that description. Despite the drive, it is still bliss to cut an hour each way off the drive.

What this should mean is that the quality of the blogging should improve as I will have more time and be less punchy when I sit down to write. At least I should spend more time writing, my characters on Star Wars Galaxies and City of Heroes have been awfully neglected of late.

Super Bowl Highlights

Yes, I watched the game in between bites of numerous snacks and sandwiches, not to mention the plentiful beer. Now, for your reading pleasure is my breakdown of the highlights of Super Bowl XXXIX.

No I did not make a mistake, that is a link to an article about the commercials. I live in southern California. We don't have a football team. I might have been able to root for the San Diego Chargers, but that didn't last past the first round of play-offs. So, aside from the aesthetic enjoyment that could be derived from an offensively sloppy football game, the big draws were the commercials.

The first Bud ad with the reluctant parachutist was good, and the frist Ameriquest ad of the guy being mistaken for a robber in a convenience store was better. The first of my favorites was the second Ameriquest commercial featuring the cat, the knife, and the spilled marinara sauce. The other was the Emerald Nut commercial with the childhood characters confronting the father who made up stories like "All the unicorns will dissappear if I give you some nuts." Santa seemed particularly menacing.

The ad that made me sit up and take notice was the Volvo spot that had Sir Richard Branson promoting a contest whose prize would be a ride on Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic is the joint venture between Branson's Virgin and Scaled Composites to offer tourist space flights. Just how much is one of those Volvos? I think I might be able to scrape enough together.

Correct Me If I'm Wrong

Wasn't this question, here applied to academics, previously applied to the United States shortly after 9-11?

"what have we done to precipitate this"?

Not to compare the proposed legislation to the murder of 3000 people, but they are both paths I do not wish to see taken.

I recall a story from the 2000 election cycle about the Bush and Gore campaigns taking notes off of late night monologues and Saturday Night Live sketches in order to determine what characteristics were being picked up on by outsiders. Legislation like this makes me quake in my boots, but it is the only form of feedback that academia has yet to show immunity to.

Change of Domocile

I will be moving this weekend. Two hours to and from work have ripped a huge hole in my day, and my sleep and blogging have suffered for it. Tomorrow I am moving to Irvine which is fifty miles closer to work than Palmdale. Word has it that it will still take me close to an hour to cover the twenty miles, but that is still a total of two hours not spent on the road.

Of course, I'll be doing the move after the game. I still have my priorities, you know.

Kicking Ass and Taking Names

OK, maybe they didn't bother taking the insurgents names, but still the reported ass kicking is a very heartening sign. A person never has power over something until they take responsibility for it. And other resent having the responsibility thrust upon them.

Small, Welcome Bits of Distraction

Glenn Reynolds has been asked about the pressures of blogging, and he admits that it can make an impact on one's time management. He adds, however, that it can be useful in situations where one does not really want to be too in tune with one's surroundings. I can certainly understand the need, having had an experience in much the same vein. I don't think that the human mind can take a steady stream of worry. I saw it in the waiting room of the Intensive Care Unit. Someone would be crying and then reading a magazine ten minutes later. Then he or she would be staring off into space a little later, quite possibly thinking about how different the world would be if the worst happened. My distraction of choice was a travel chess set and a tutorial book that had been collecting dust for months. I finally made it all the way through, but damn if I can remember any of it.

By the way, Dad is doing great. He is slowly getting his strength back and adjusting to the new dietary schedule. Now he gets to spend more time with his granddaughter.

As a side note, I haven't made the mistake of automatically writing '04 this past month. I figure that I'm just that glad to have 2004 over with. Boy did last year blow. Actually, up until the new job starting the first monday of the year, this whole millenia hasn't been that good.

Bad News for Some Members of the Family

It looks like my eighteen month old niece may be in for some sleepless nights. Latest word off of Instapundit has Elmo being held hostage in Iraq.

We all pray for his safe return.

Bummer...

The guys who created the fakeVolkswagen Polo ad have promised to stop promoting the commercial. Too bad, it was certainly one of the most memorable ads that I have seen for some time.