The U.N. is mostly powerless; they have the power to create recommendations and suggestions, but their ability to force countries to conform to international standards is quite limited. They have relatively limited funds and enacted measures must be approved by an overwhelming majority. At this point, the average American is beaming ear-to-ear because their view of the U.N. has been corroborated. But there is a logical fallacy to the inevitably-drawn conclusion that all international... [More]

As reported in the article For Bush’s staff, upbeat talking points on his tenure (LA Times):

“A two-page memo that has been sent to Cabinet members and other high-ranking officials offers a guide for discussing Bush’s eight-year tenure during their public speeches. […] The document presents the Bush record as an unalloyed success.”

A lovely take on this bit of (unsurprising) news is in Recent Giggle-Me-GYWOs by David Rees in December 2008 (MNFTIU), linked below:

Memo About Bush's Unalloyed Success

“Where are all the other pages?”

Indeed.

Accusations fly fast and furious about the mismanagement of car companies and investment banks. Demands are made for reparations, for punishment, for some semblance of shame or accountability on the part of those responsible. Take a $1 salary for a year; forget the exhorbitant bonus for once; tighten your own belt first. Show some humility or basic human decency instead of claiming the market rules above all else like a broken record, as if those of us with principles and ethics care about how... [More]

Compared to the problems caused in the first world, third world problems can generally be solved relatively cheaply. It costs well north of a trillion to even make it look like you’re doing something about saving the U.S. economy, but it takes a few paltry tens of billions to feed everyone in Africa. How much is that? A couple of months in Iraq? We can spend our money on blowing things up, but not on feeding people or controlling disease. While building a military machine to grind the world... [More]

The factoid on the table was that 0.7% of the world population at any given time is drunk. Krys Bigosinski (who is Polish), immediately blurted that “most of them were in Russia” and, when called on it, started using pseudo-math to justify his position.

The practice of “covering hate with numbers” is an extremely common one and not nearly often enough called out for what it is.

It’s going to take some advanced mental yoga to justify Obama’s choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation speech at his inauguration. Without further ado, let’s let John Sherffius put it in perspective:

John Sherffius: Obama's Inaugural Program

As if a ridiculous level of homophobia wasn’t enough—he’s compared “gay marriage to incest, polygamy, and pedophilia”—he’s also strongly anti-abortion and supports the repeal of Roe vs. Wade. Can you feel the progressive change? Can ya? Granted, he’s not as singularly bad as other... [More]

“Propaganda has but one brush—a broad one—and only two colors—black and white; despite this—or, most likely, because of it, people prefer it to a plethora of brush sizes and myriad grays.”

The article, Union claims Royal Mail postmen are being told to walk faster, clears up the confusion surrounding the claim that the Royal Mail in England will be “requiring delivery staff to walk at four miles an hour”. It’s amusing that the claim is taken at all seriously. People are notoriously bad at judging numbers. They hear the claim and think nothing of it, thinking that the number—which a “new software system, Pegasus” calculated is anything but a complete fairy tale. It may also show that... [More]

Say you’re hiking. In the cold, in the snow, but moving right along, moving quickly enough to partially fog your sunglasses. Yet still, despite your ferocious pace and partially obscured view, you spot a lovely photo opportunity. Decelerating, you unhook the loop of a hiking pole from your left hand, then clamp said pole under your right arm while you dig around in your left pocket for your cell phone camera. By now, you’re stopped and trying desperately not to drag anything else out of your... [More]

The phrase “to beg the question” has become much more popular outside of philosophical circles. In almost all cases, it is being used incorrectly. When you hear someone say the phrase, then follow it with a question, they are doing it wrong. Consider the following cartoon about Obama’s involvement in the Blagojevich scandal:

Stuart Carlson − Obama, Republicans and Blagojevich

In this case, the reporter actually means, “which raises the question”. It is common practice for people to dress up their language to make what they’re saying sound more... [More]

I’ve dabbled with graphics tools for a long time, starting with Super Paint on Apple’s System 6 & 7 way back in the day, moving through a succession of icon and bitmap editors and settling for several years on Macromedia Fireworks. It was one of the first applications with a focus on producing web output and one of the first that was capable of saving compressed PNG files with alpha transparency. It also marked a transition to vectorized graphics from the more traditional rasterized graphics.... [More]

It is rather difficult to conceive of the person capable of writing the following passage from Dreams from My Father as being particularly open-minded vis-a-vis the unknowable “other” that threatens our fair shores with its mindless desire to wipe us from the face of the earth (to borrow a popularly misquoted phrase):

“Nor do I pretend to understand the stark nihilism that drove the terrorists that day and that drives their brethren still. My powers of empathy, my ability to reach into... [More]”

The names that Barack Obama has consistently thrown into the ring for his cabinet and other important posts throughout his administration have been primarily center-right in their political views. The Obama Transition Team ™ (OTT) has explained this away so far by pointing out that Obama is stressing a “team of rivals” approach similar to that taken by Lincoln in his presidency. He is choosing the most qualified and experienced people for the job, it is said, and will remain the undisputed... [More]

From the article, Farewell to the Windfall Profits Tax by Ken Silverstein (Harper's), there’s this news about the Obama campaign’s promise to “make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we’ll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills”. The Obama Transition Team™ (or OTT) has a much more practical approach that involves a lot less boat-rocking than the campaign team promised in order for the OTT to even come into existence. That’s why the “language... [More]”

Though much-vaunted for being the bastion of liberalism in America, California is actually a very divided state, with the hippy-dippy liberals living amid the swirling, crenelated parapets in the north and the closed-minded, stone-age thinkers manning the bastions of the massive, hulking fastness that is the Orange County Wall. It is a state that elects a remarkably high number of Republican governors and the one that bestowed the benighted rule of Ronald Reagan on an unwitting America.

They... [More]

Election day.

Whom to choose?

John McCain?

McCain’s policies, his clarity of thought and the cohesiveness of his vision leave a lot to be desired. He is anything but cool when cornered and anything but well-read or well-versed on the major issues facing the nation today. He runs on his record, which has some impressive interludes, like his fight against pork spending or his alliance with Feingold to reform campaign finance. For every feather in his cap, however, there are several... [More]

Dear Barack Obama,

Judging from a few of your more recent interviews, you seem to have a good sense of humor—even after such a long, brutal campaign. If you are elected president, a wonderful gift to the “hard-core Sean Hannity fans”[1] would be to, starting on election day, grow a luxurious beard for your inauguration on January 21st. A well-trimmed, Muslimy-as-all-get-out beard.

As for background music? How about anything off of The Best of the Black President by Fela Kuti?

Liberalism has, for at least the last few decades, been equated with evil in American political discourse. The media and politicians alike have bent over backwards to assure Americans that they are not liberal. Communist was an epithet from the 50's, during the reign of Joe McCarthy. Terrorist became all the rage after 9-11 as the muzzle of choice for those seeking to shut down an rational— or, god forbid, intellectual—discussion. Barack Obama, with his superstar status, clearly deserved... [More]

Designating 9-11 as a pinprick is an incendiary characterization. It was, however, an entirely appropriate,... [More]

After what seems like weeks of interviews that ranged from overly defensive to outright hostile, campaign ads that, at times, transgressed all bounds of logic and good taste and stump speeches that, one after the other, flamed out in flustered desperation, John McCain came back strong on Saturday night with a solid, funny, genial six-minute skit on Saturday Night Live. He was joined by Tina Fey—for those who have seen more of Tina than Sarah, it’s hard to tell the difference—and his wife,... [More]

The eyeballing game is an interesting game that challenges you to “eyeball” distances and angles for fabulous prizes, fortune and fame. You have as much time as you like to perform each of the following tasks three times:

• Make a parallelogram by dragging one corner to the correct position.
• Identify the midpoint of a line
• Bisect an angle
• Find the center of a triangle
• Find the center of a circle
• Make a right angle out of two line segments
• Find the point of convergence for three line segments

... [More]