Later On

It sounds as though it is contained. Note the updates at the link.

Quite an interesting post on two common cartridges.

Glenn Greenwald has a column of valid (and as yet unanswered) questions on what exactly happened on that raid. Well worth reading.

A recent study suggested that not going to social events led to cognitive impairment—I couldn’t follow the details of the argument, but surely daily writing, reading, language study, etc., along with good diet and adequate exercise: could that not suffice?

Perhaps we overdid the self-esteem classes, trying to force lush growth in a hothouse rather than let it struggle to develop on the hard rock surface of experience, like the lichen it is. At any rate, this sounds like an interesting study.

Don’t they use meat glue to put together the beef “roasts” used at Arby’s? Take a look at this video, thanks to Eddie of Australia (source of the video).

I love this recipe, and having a cold is a good reason to make it again, even beyond the fact that I’m taking Spanish.

UPDATE: Extremely tasty, one again. Instead of chicken, I used an 11-0z piece of Pacific rock cod.

Science is the one human discipline that has consistently delivered results, a record unmatched by (say) theology, law, and other arenas of human endeavor. Perhaps art can claim a record, but comparisons in that field are difficult. Mathematics has had a good run as well, though we’ve discovered the gaping holes (cf. Gregory Chaitin and his Omega number—which turns out to be part of a large family).

Science is (in my understanding) primarily a process: a method for generating testable hypotheses and then testing, using the results of the tests to refine and extend working hypotheses. The process seems to work well, and we’ve learned much about it. In the meantime, the field of religion and theology doesn’t seem to have advanced greatly, and the field of law is incredibly uneven, with spotty progress here and there, but a progress always in danger. (I use religion/theology and the law because those, along with the military, were the early learned professions—and the military, nowadays, seems driven by science and its sidekick engineering.)

Here’s a review of an interesting book on how science pulled itself together from its roots and early stages.

Very pleasant shave today. I do like Nancy Boy shaving cream, which can also be used brushless, I believe. It doesn’t create a big lather, but it covers the beard nicely and leads to a fine shave. This morning I used my rhodium-plated Super Speed with a Swedish Gillette blade, and after 3 smooth passes, a splash of TOBS Shaving Shop was just the ticket.

Now Megs and I are off to the vet for her pedicure: $2/toe plus $2 tip.

A low-energy sort of day and somewhat thick-headed. And right after class an intense headache hit. I assumed that I had not eaten enough—trying to stretch a morning snack to around 3:00 p.m. I ate a big salad, took a couple of ibuprofen, waited, and after a couple of hours of no relief, took two more ibuprofen. Shortly after, the food and/or ibuprofen kicked in, and I felt fine. But very sleepy and thickheaded still.

The Wife said I sounded sick (on the phone), and I suddenly recalled that the guy who sits next to me in class had a fierce cold come on about a week ago, and he said it caused a giant headache. And today, I now recall, I seemed to be sneezing a lot.

So I suspect I’m headed into the cold and am at my most infectious. Fortunately, I don’t really have to go out for the next few days. I’ve already had my first (of many) ZiCams.

I got to thinking about my earlier post and the comments, and it occurred to me that people don’t spend much time talking about whether dance is “true”, and perhaps we could adopt the same approach to religion. Like religion, dance comes in many varieties: waltz, fox trot, square dancing, two-step, and so on—just sticking to dances in which the common enjoyment is participation (waltzing the night away) rather than observation (the audience at a ballet does indeed like ballet, but watching is not the same as doing). And people generally have one that they prefer: A likes to waltz, B likes to square dance. It’s a matter of taste, not truth.

Then, of course, one wonders at the the importance attached to “belief”. Belief, as I understand it, is purely internal—so much so that it’s not always clear who is a believer and who is not. So, really, who cares? What’s important to others is/should be your actions, not your beliefs. So why is that we don’t take the attitude, “Believe whatever you want, and disbelieve whatever you want. You will be judged on your actions, not your beliefs or disbeliefs”? I think this is the rubric “live and let live,” which is highly valued in a homogenous society but gets dicier as a society becomes more diverse. But why does that happen? Why not live and let live the world around? And when we judge, shouldn’t we judge on action not belief? What we do not like is to have someone talk to us when we do not want to talk, especially about a topic of no interest. That’s being bored, and I don’t really care whether the person boring me is nattering away about the best pesticide for plant lice or about the surest path to Heaven: if the conversation is unwelcome, only a boor persists.

Eric Holder promised to discontinue prosecution of Americans who were using medical marijuana in accordance with their state laws. That is, in states that had passed laws accepting the use of medical marijuana, Federal officials would not go after the patients and dispensaries operating according to state law.

Another promise from the Obama Administration turns out to be false. The raids are picking up. Philip Smith reports:

While DEA raids on medical marijuana providers never came to a complete halt after the Obama administration declared in 2009 that it would not interfere with people operating in compliance with state medical marijuana laws, the pace did slacken. But now, the raids are on the increase — there have been at least 90 DEA SWAT-style raids since Obama took office — and the federal government has unveiled an ominous new weapon in its war on the weed: US attorneys in a number of medical marijuana states sending letters to politicians threatening dire consequences, even the potential arrest of state employees, if states okay schemes to tolerate and regulate medical marijuana distribution.

Threatening letters from US attorneys have been sent to officials in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Rhode Island, and Washington. The first was in February in California; the latest came this week in Arizona.
What is worse is that the interventions by the US attorneys appear deliberately timed to intimidate elected officials as they consider regulating medical marijuana dispensaries — and it seems to be working. Last week, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed a bill that would have created a regulated dispensary system after requesting and receiving a threatening letter from her state’s two US attorneys. This week, Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee “placed a hold” on dispensaries about to open there after receiving an unsolicited threatening letter from the US attorney.

Earlier, as Montana legislators debated whether to regulate and allow dispensaries there, the feds . . .

Continue reading.

Interesting column in the Washington Post. In the case of gays, prejudice started to fall as gays began coming out: when people realized that some public figures they had admired were gay, and when they discovered that some of their friends were gay, they realized that sexual orientation turns out to be not so central as they had thought in whether a person is a good friend or not. Possibly the same thing will happen as atheists begin to come out and people realize that some of their friends hold different views about God.

Of course, it’s probable that a core group will continue to hold extremely negative views of those who profess different religious beliefs (different religion, or different sect of same religion, or different denomination of same sect): each religion/sect/denomination seems to have an intolerant subset that will tolerate no deviations from their own beliefs—possibly a manifestation of their own unresolved difficulties and doubts, projected onto other people who can then be hated. And, of course, that phenomenon is not unique to religion (cf. politics, sports, movies, books, dances…  well, everything humans do). And this, of course, in the face of explicit religious instruction to love one’s enemies, treat all people with respect, etc.

My interests spiral (upwards, I believe): I will dive into a new interest for a while, accumulating books and tools related to it, and then something else will grab me, and I drift away from the original interest.

When I was younger, I thought this meant I had lost interest; now I understand that the interest is simply taking a break and consolidating itself, and it will return. So I now keep all the interest-support materials, and when it returns, I am ready for another go-round, learning more and getting better at it—whatever it is.

This time through Spanish, for example, I have been using many of the books and materials I had acquired in earlier efforts to learn Spanish: nice to have them. And last night I felt the stirring anew of my interest in italic—stimulated, doubtless, by comments on the blog—so I brought out and filled a couple of my fountain pens: a Namiki retractable (the very model as at the link) and my red Aurora Optima 75th anniversary pen. Both have italic points, and the Optima is quite an excellent pen with piston fill.

I realized this morning that I’ve been neglecting my treasured Red Ring Eclipse razor. (I counted because someone asked how many razors I have: in the bathroom, 60.) So I took the Sabini, worked up a fine lather from Art of Shaving Lemon shaving soap, and in three smooth and pleasant passes reduced rough to smooth. A splash of New York, and I’m ready for Cinco de Mayo, all day!

LastPass is a service that stores your passwords and can automatically log you in to various sites. Roboform is a similar service, but Roboform stores your passwords on your computer (encrypted), while LastPass stores your passwords on-line (also encrypted, using your LastPass master password). Now LastPass reports that their password files apparently have been copied.

This is bad news—and I have used LastPass. Here’s the story.

or a present for Father’s Day (June 19), I hope you’ll consider Leisureguy’s Guide to Gourmet Shaving: Shaving Made Enjoyable. The reader reviews indicate that the book really can make the daily shave a pleasurable ritual. Full disclosure: I’m the author.

Take a look.

Once people really start to get hooked on torture (of others, of course), they become reluctant to abandon the practice, despite endless religious teachings against torture (cf. Golden Rule), which perhaps is balanced by religious use of torture (cf. Inquisition). Ed Brayton reviews some reactions from the Right, which clutches torture to its collective breast.

This morning I did my 30-minute walk on the other side of the street and noticed many new things, among them this very attractive gate. I think this must be the same artisan who created another gate, this one for a walkway, that I see in my walk (on the other side of the street). I’ll get a photo of that one soon.

Being able to walk 30 minutes a day with never a sign of a knee problem is extremely pleasant. I hadn’t realized before how nice it was, but now I appreciate it.