The extraordinary passion of belief and defiance

I had to share this. Politicians are generally fools, and Mausavi is probably only marginally better than his opponent, but there is no reason to doubt his assertion that “these masses were not brought by bus or by threat, they were not brought for potatoes; they came themselves.”

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Verbatim

When I walked out of the bathroom, she was still singing the same tune. She had been singing it on and off for the past several days. The song was now stuck in my head. I loved the song and loved her singing it. A thought struck me. “You know what, I just realized something.” [...]

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The full circle

Certain events reminded me of this funniness I once wrote. So I called up K –  he told me of she he was with no more; So I asked him about the circles And he said he’d come a full circle. For some reason that makes me  sad.

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Christian Domestic Discipline

I came across this remarkable site today. It is about a lifestyle in which the wife willingly submits to the husband and gives him authority to discipline her by spanking her on the buttocks from time to time. Spankings can range from mild to painful.  A domestic discipline marriage is one in which one partner [...]

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What’s the difference?

In view of certain recent events, it seems appropriate to re-post this wonderful video.

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Ike will hit Galveston in a few hours

Brendan Loy fears that years in the future, we will be referring to Hurricane Ike as “The Great Galveston Hurricane of 2008.” I think he is right. This picture was taken many hours before Ike was scheduled to make landfall. The city of Galveston was already under 3 feet of water, despite not having experience [...]

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Funny sociological experiment

What happens when you post ads on Craigslist in order to return money that you found dropped somewhere? The obvious. (Hat Tip: Boing Boing)

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Where reason fails

“It’s impossible to reason people out of something they have never been reasoned into.” –Jonathan Swift

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Late night incoherent rambling

The posts on this blog are mostly socio-political commentary from a libertarian perspective which might lead regular readers (if any exist) to falsely conclude…  It is almost 2 am now. Having spent the last two hours reading old posts on “Overcoming Bias” and other excellent blogs (some of which, like this one, I just discovered), I am [...]

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The hidden force behind ideology?

Tyler Cowen suggests that for many people, “the real force behind a political ideology is the subconsciously held desire that a certain group of people should not be allowed to rise in relative status.” Take the so-called “right wing.”  I believe that some people on the right do not like those they perceive as “whiners.”  [...]

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On political correctness and pseudo-politeness

Ed Winkleman writes: My personal take on political correctness is that it’s an artificial construct that has benefits in the short run, but will outlast its usefulness and eventually become harmful. What I mean by that is shaming people into considering others’ feelings (or at least keep their hurtful opinions silent) long enough for those [...]

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Eliezer Yudkowsky on morality

Is morality just codified human preference? Or is it given and absolute? How are our notions of right and wrong related to our evolved psychology and semantics? These are some of the difficult questions Eliezer Yudkowsky tackles in a series of posts that I feel compelled to link to. So, here they are. Do read them in the [...]

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On Jhumpa Lahiri’s short stories

There’s a certain quality about Jhumpa Lahiri’s short stories. For want of a better word, I’ll call it tension. It is not the fear-laced tension of a well-told ghost story or the sexual tension of a romantic novella. Nor is it the tension that comes from reading a truly great novel of ideas, the kind [...]

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The past, as saved on Gmail

Rummaging through my old emails, I found this passage, from an email I wrote to someone three years and six months ago. There are so many things that are close to you at some point of time. People who were important in your life or just friends ; and then there are surroundings and places. They become [...]

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Couples on couches

Watch twenty couples on twenty couches in a video response to the question “What’s the difference”? I think the idea was great and the execution was beautiful. My major peeve: too many laptops. (Link via Instapundit) Update: The music in the video is growing on me. I wish there was a ringtone version of it.

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