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31 October 2003  

The Little Pumpkin from Shawinigan

My team's (non-prize-winning) entry in the pumpkin carving contest at work today:

Remind you of anyone? Totally unintentional, but it does up the scariness factor I think.

07:24 PM |

29 October 2003  

God and Ayn Rand Top List

The Bible and Atlas Shrugged are numbers 1 and 2 on a list of most influential books picked by some right-wing bloggers (with The Fountainhead also tied for 3rd). For the most part, people do appear to be appreciating the irony of this fact.

01:14 PM |

28 October 2003  

Where There's Smoke There's Ire

Rob Tracinski on smoking bans:

The issue is not whether second-hand smoke is a real danger or a phantom menace, as a study published recently in the British Medical Journal indicates. The issue is: if it were harmful, what would be the proper reaction? Should anti-tobacco activists satisfy themselves with educating people about the potential danger and allowing them to make their own decisions, or should they seize the power of government and force people to make the "right" decision?

Supporters of local tobacco bans have made their choice. Rather than attempting to protect people from an unwanted intrusion on their health, the tobacco bans are the unwanted intrusion.

...

It doesn't take a new statistical study to show that such an attack on freedom is inimical to human life. No crusade to purge our air of any whiff of tobacco smoke can take precedence over a much more important human requirement: the need for the unbreached protection of individual rights.

10:24 PM |

27 October 2003  

Not Even a Single French Joke

You might guess that the ancient Greeks wouldn't have their frogs say anything so prosaic as "ribbit." At the same time it might surprise you to learn, as I did today, that what they did put into the little creatures' mouths was as extravagant as brekekekex koax koax (βρεκεκεκεξ κοαξ κοαξ for all you unicode character set enabled readers). In related news, an alarmingly large number of people around the world, including the Germans, South Africans, Dutch and Finnish, are apparently under the mistaken impression that frogs quack.

10:40 PM |

26 October 2003  

A Short Review of Nearly Everything

I finished Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything this weekend. It's a very accessible and interesting story of the universe, the planet, life in general, the human species in particular, and the scientists who discovered what we know about these things. Being very much the layman it was intended for, I can't vouch for its accuracy, but it was definitely a good read. It's too bad, then, that Bryson had to screw things up by getting preachy in its final pages with a lecture on how humans are destroying species left and right. It's as if he felt the need to add some heft to his otherwise breezy and entertaining book by tacking on something solemn and weighty from environmentalist doctrine. And he resorted to some pretty breathtaking hyperbole in the process. Noting that the publication of Newton's Principia was roughly concurrent with the extinction of the dodo, he writes:

You would be hard pressed, I would submit, to find a better pairing of occurrences to illustrate the divine and felonious nature of the human being.

Aside from that momentary lapse into absurdity, however, it really is a worthwhile read. You can read an excerpt here.

10:54 PM |

20 October 2003  

Modern Physics: Sublime or Ridiculous?

Tom at Quantum Mechanics and a Cigar isn't happy with this op-ed on modern physics by David Harriman of the Ayn Rand Institute. I'm not knowledgeable about physics, so I doubt I have much worthwhile to say about it. Maybe later when I have some more time, though. If you have comments on either side, please post them here.

I will note that this piece is the subject of some controversy on one of the Objectivist mailing lists I'm on. The main point of contention there, however, is whether the characterization of Einstein as a precursor of the (supposed) modern flights of fancy in physics is justified. Finally, I do have a tangential quibble with Tom's post: He criticizes Harriman's argument as being reductio ad absurdum. I don't think reductio is being used in the article, but even if it were, that's not a fallacy as Tom seems to think, but a valid form of argumentation. It's showing your opponent that their ideas and principles would lead to absurdities if they were applied logically and consistently. Reductio would hardly be necessary on this topic. At least from the point of view of the op-ed, physicists themselves are putting forth the absurdities — and see nothing wrong with them.

11:35 AM |

18 October 2003  

Dean and Hurd

Michael Hurd helpfully translates Howard Dean for you:

Jobs don't happen because productive, creative capitalists create businesses and jobs. Jobs happen because Presidents redistribute 60, 70 or 80 percent (the more the better) of private wealth into activities they see fit to subsidize. It worked in Russia. It's working in Cuba and North Korea. Now let's make it work in America.

02:00 PM |

17 October 2003  

Was Cato Right?

A commenter asks whether I think Rome was justified in launching the Third Punic War and destroying Carthage. Well, as a dropout from Roman History 101, I hardly feel qualified to have an opinion on the matter. And less so given the information available in the text assigned for the class. It's very clear what the view of its authors is ("All that [Rome] was lacking [just prior to the start of the war] was a pretext that could decorously mask naked aggression.") Facts backing up the opinion are less apparent. I really don't know. Anyone else have opinions or pointers to objective analyses? Coincidentally, I'm attending a lecture by classicist John Lewis tomorrow night. If I get a chance, I'll ask him what he thinks.

12:06 AM |

16 October 2003  

Not Disappearing Politely

Speaking of the exciting world of Canadian politics, the provincial NDP (i.e., socialist party) just got embarrassed in the recent Ontario election by being reduced to fewer seats than I have in my dining room. With a mere seven members elected, they're now whining because premier-elect Dalton McGuinty (whom I otherwise have nothing good to say about) won't consider changing the rules that require a party to have eight seats for official party status — and the taxpayer-funded goodies it entails. Now softer-hearted people than I might think McGuinty is being unnecessarily harsh in his application of the rules. After all, they're under the limit by only one measly seat. True, and maybe somewhat convincing — until you find out that the limit was just lowered to the current limit from 12 after the last election. Why? To accomodate a poor showing by (yes, you guessed it!) the NDP.

11:43 PM |

Right Makes Might?

Canadian politics might be less of a soporific now that our two self-described right-wing parties have finally decided to merge. There can now be some real hope that the Liberals can be prised from the levers of federal power. Of course, getting a political partly labelled "Conservative" in control of the House of Commons isn't necessarily a good thing, but the signs so far point to the predominance of a fiscally-conservative, free-trading, property-respecting ideology in the new party. (How things will shake out with respect to issues of personal freedom like abortion, drugs, and same-sex marriage rights is less clear to me but on the most important one, I can't see any any party getting elected in Canada on a platform to outlaw or restrict abortion.) So far, it seems all the right "conservatives" are upset about the new party; e.g., Red Tories like Joe Clark and protectionist freaks like David Orchard. And we have a university professor worrying (in the linked article) that "some moderate... conservatives could bleed toward the federal Liberals." Let them bleed.

The only short-term hiccup might arise from the fact that the merger "requires approval of at least two-thirds of the 110,000-plus members of both parties." To do my part in making sure it happens, I joined both of them today.

10:29 PM |

13 October 2003  

Blogroll Update

The Sites of Note list has a few additions:

• noumenalself - This anonymous Objectivist blogger (who I met at the ARI conference in July) has been posting since August. I really need to find some time to catch up on what I missed due to the time crunch here because the few entries I've read so far — a post on "Objectivist Psychopathology" for example (it's not what you think!) — are fascinating.
• Quantum Mechanics and a Cigar - I've mentioned my friend Tomo's blog before but kept forgetting to add him to the list. Check it out for ruminations on things that intrigue a thoughtful engineer.
• EnviroSpin Watch - This UK-based environmental issues blog is written by University of London Professor Emeritus Philip Stott. If you aren't interested in a rational take on such things as GM foods and global warming, have a visit anyway, just for the wonderful English country atmosphere. I mean, on what other blog will you see a post closed with "Now for a brace of partridges and fantastic claret. A cold Sunday evening at its best!"

(As I added the new sites I noticed an HTML coding error that had caused the omission of several sites previously on the list. Oops. They're back now.)

10:20 PM |

What I Did On My Blog Vacation

OK, I did say posting would be even lighter than usual, but even I didn't expect it to be that light and for so long. A quick update/explanation:

I spent all my free time in August rushing to finish an online Objectivism course, which I did just in time to start Roman history and Ancient Greek classes at U of T in September. Free tip: when the university catalog bills a course as "intensive" — as they do the Greek class — they probably mean it. After about a month of trying to keep up with work, two classes, running, and other details like laundry, cleaning, and remembering to feed the cat, I gave in last week and dropped the Roman history class. (I really didn't need to listen to a professor equate what he characterized as opportunistic, plundering Roman imperialistic aggression against Carthage with the American war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, anyway.) Since that decision was made I've been basking in the decadent luxury of having several unscheduled hours a week.

I'm hoping to have time enough now to post reasonably regularly. In fact, blogging is actually on the priority list since I've made improvement of my writing skills a goal for the immediate future. We'll see how it works out… and whether it's all moot because I can't attract more than two readers back (Hi, Dad!).

09:38 PM |