http://grouchypants.blogsome.com From Hell's heart I blog at thee! Sat, 26 Nov 2005 00:09:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I have a new home for this blog. All new posts will be made to the following site: Mr. Grouchypants If you have me bookmarked for some reason, be sure to update your link. http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/11/25/new-site/ Lines I wish I had written: It is only our bad temper that we put down to being tired or worried or hungry; we put our good temper down to ourselves. C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/11/22/envy-3/ The Economist has a surprising article on how people communicate. A cognitive scientist at Yale, Bruno Galantucci, developed an experiment which has two participants attempt to find each other in a virtual bungalow. They could only interact via a couple of networked computers using a device that allowed them to ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/11/14/101/ Professor John Silber has an insightful article about “scientism” and the troubles that it causes. He rightly criticizes scientists for making assertions that cannot be bolstered by science. I don’t think I can completely agree with his remarks about diminishing of humanity, but I think he is dead on with ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/11/11/she-blinded-me-with-science/ Curse Paul Stamatiou and his tutorial on creating a blog header graphic! I thought I had more or less finished working on the layout for this site, and then I stumbled across that infernal article. So naturally I had to try to incorporate a nifty background image into my header. ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/11/09/layout-changes/ Lines I wish I had written: I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea Sometimes I turn, there’s someone there, other times it’s only me. Bob Dylan - “Every Grain of Sand” http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/11/07/envy/ Tech Central Station has an interesting article on Intelligent Design by Douglas Kern. Mr. Kern argues that Intelligent Design will supplant Darwinism in our lifetime. I’m not sure he is correct, but he does make some interesting points. The first reason he gives is: “ID will win because it’s a religion-friendly, ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/11/07/intelligent-design/ I haven’t felt compelled to write about anything in particular for the past couple of days. Though I’m trying to get in the habit of posting at least every couple of days, nothing has caught my interest enough to motivate any writing. What my mini writing rut has done is ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/11/04/why-blog/ Peg Kaplan of “what if?” doesn’t like the nanny state ninnies that make it their mission to protect their fellow citizens from the dangers of smoking. I have similar feelings on this issue. I would prefer that people choose to quit smoking since it is a filthy and dangerous habit. ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/10/31/smoke-em-if-you-got-em/ Here is the last article of the late philosopher, Richard Taylor, to appear in Philosophy Now magazine. It deals with Stoic philosophy as it relates to self-determination. Taylor concludes with the following: From this the Stoics concluded that, just as no external is of value to you, so also nothing can ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/10/29/what-do-you-want-to-do-with-your-life-3/ President Bush and the Republicans have seen better days. Dubya’s approval ratings are looking bad, and his administration is mired in the Plame leak scandal. High-ranking GOPers Tom Delay and Bill Frist are under investigation for financial dealings. And the casualties in Iraq keep mounting. But any short term advantage ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/10/26/91/ Being the U2 fanboy that I am, I’m always looking for stuff about the band and it’s frontman. The cover story for the November 3rd issue of Rolling Stone is an interview with Bono. Here is an excerpt from said interview. He makes some interesting remarks concerning his faith and ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/10/24/bono/ Cathy Young discusses The Problem of Poverty at Reason.com. She points out the deficiencies in the liberal and conservative approaches to dealing with poverty. She agrees with Megan McArdle that many of the conservative notions concerning the causes of poverty are correct, but conservatives need to be less moralistic. I ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/10/24/89/ It appears that the anti-war crowd isn’t content to stick with the “chickenhawk” strategy. To be considered qualified to discuss the war in Iraq, you not only have to be enlisted and stationed there. Apparently you also are required to have the correct opinion of the war. Check out the ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/10/17/88/ Lines I wish I had written: The mystery masked man was smart He got himself a Tonto ‘Cause Tonto did the dirty work for free But Tonto he was smarter And one day said kemo sabe Kiss my ass I bought a boat I’m going out to sea Lyle Lovett - “If I Had a Boat” http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/10/14/87/ Rich Lowry pens an article about the Bible Literacy Project which seeks to expose American schoolchildren to Bible instruction. The organization has the support of groups as diverse as People for the American Way and the National Association of Evangelicals which seems like a pretty mean feat to me. But ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/10/14/the-good-book/ The Washington Post has an article about the strip Calvin and Hobbes. I can’t believe it’s been ten years since Watterson retired the duo. While I can understand his motivations for quitting while he was ahead, the comics page just isn’t the same anymore. The article provides some interesting info on ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/10/11/calvin-and-hobbes-2/ Mark Steyn writes about some of the concessions the citizens of Britain are willing to make to avoid offending some of their Muslim brethren. One of the most outrageous involves the Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. The council has banned all “pig-related items” in response to a complaint by a Muslim ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/10/08/this-little-piggy-stayed-home-2/ One of the arguments that people make when opposing gay marriage is that allowing gay marriage could lead to polygamy being legalized. It’s the classic “slippery slope” argument. While one case does not a trend make, three people were recently married in the Netherlands. Technically they just registered with the ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/10/02/threes-company/ This is a pretty funny piece. It is The Onion though, so expect some foul language. (Via AnalPhilosopher) http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/09/27/its-true-ergo-its-funny/ A few years ago, I was reading an article in Rolling Stone about singer, Marilyn Manson. Manson made a comment which basically stated that intelligence isn’t mentioned as a virtue anywhere in the bible. I’m not sure that is entirely correct given the “be wise as serpents” passage, but let’s ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/09/25/intelligence-as-virtue/ The Problem of Evil is a powerful (I would say convincing) argument against the existence of God. For this reason, one frequently will see atheists challenge theists with it. What I often don’t see is atheists dealing with the consequences of the argument. If you argue that there is too ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/09/22/what-a-wonderful-world/ I have never been a fan of Donna Brazile, but in the past couple of years she has seemed much more reasonable than many in the Democratic party. In a recent Washington Post article, she praises the President’s New Orleans speech and pledges to work with him to rebuild the ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/09/21/donna-brazile/ Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months. - Oscar Wilde http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/09/20/wilde-at-heart-3/ While I don’t believe in God, I’m not hostile to the idea. In fact, I would prefer there to be a God for a number of reasons. I am what you could call a friendly atheist. Regardless of labels, I am interested in the notion of God and enjoy discussing ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/09/20/talking-religion-blues/ I’ve noticed that there are lots of companies running ads that appeal to people that think they are stretched too thin and have too little time. The commercials are usually for things like online bill pay or other technological marvels that let people shave precious seconds off various tasks. But ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/09/19/running-behind/ I have really been slacking on posting recently. I was out of town for several days at the end of August and haven’t been able to get back into any kind of a groove since then. On a positive note, I have managed to modify my sites template to allow ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/09/17/new-format/ Check out Heather MacDonald’s article, The Racism Charges Won’t Wash, in City Journal. She raises some legitimate questions about the charges of racism in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. If the country is as racist as some would have you believe, then it is difficult to understand the massive outpouring ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/09/16/racism-charges/ Mort Kondracke has a good article on Bush’s response to Katrina here. http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/09/14/kondracke-commentary/ Former Sex Pistols frontman, John Lydon, lets loose with some “outrageous statements” concerning Bono, Bob Geldof, and Live 8. He comments on the snugness of Bono’s pants and the shoddy production of Live 8. But most importantly of all, he answered the question “Is that guy from the Sex Pistols ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/31/minding-the-bollocks/ It’s a pink Flying V ukelele. What more needs to be said? You can find it at Elderly Instruments New Musical Instruments and start rockin’ on with your bad self. (Via Engadget) http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/30/ukelele/ Johnny-Dee of Fides Quaerens Intellectum comments on an interesting analogy for religious belief. I don’t have anything to add to it, so just read his post. http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/30/argument-from-religious-belief/ Cathy Young has an article dealing with attempts by some feminists to paint SCOTUS nominee, John Roberts, as being “anti-woman”. The offensive against him already seemed pretty lame. I didn’t realize how lame until I read a couple of interesting items in this column. First there’s this: In Slate.com, legal correspondent Dahlia ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/29/judge-roberts/ Saturday Night Live alum, Chris Farley, was honored recently with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was always one of my favorite members of the cast. Sadly, he was a very unhappy man who took solace in substances and behavior which eventually killed him. I happy ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/29/chris-farley/ Bill Vallicella has a critique of Richard Dawkins’ review of Richard Swinburne’s Is There a God?. Vallicella convincingly argues that Dawkins misses Swinburne’s point. But why is a zoologist reviewing a book by a philosopher in the first place? http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/28/dawkins-vs-swinburn/ Consumers are getting angry with high gas prices. In some cases their anxiety is so high that they must resort to the only logical recourse available to them. That’s right, they have to take it out on the gas station employees. We all know that the folks running the registers ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/26/the-seventh-circle-of-shell/ In his latest screed, Lileks takes angry anti-war emailers to task and answers several stock charges leveled against supporters of the war in Iraq. The following section deals with the ubiquitous “chickenhawk” charge. The chickenhawk argument is likewise unpersuasive. But I’ll make a deal: only people with military experience can discuss matters of ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/24/lileks-mailbag/ I got nothing today. Man, I feel like a loser. http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/23/55/ Mark Steyn has an article on the Cindy Sheehan story in which he takes issue with a particular tactic of the anti-war crowd. Of the servicemen and women in Iraq, he writes: They’re not children in Iraq; they’re grown-ups who made their own decision to join the military. That seems to ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/21/romper-room/ Professor Burgess-Jackson has a nice post concerning liberal smugness. He analyzes a bumper sticker he saw which read, “Annoy a Republican, Think for Yourself”. In his estimation the message conveyed by the sticker is far from truthful. This is correct but ultimately beside the point. The sole purpose of the ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/20/free-your-mind/ For those that enjoy word games, Merriam-Webster has some entertaining ones on their website. See here. http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/18/word-games/ I’m not sure which is weirder: A) The fact that there might actually be a market for this, or B) The fact that my brother had this same idea about 10 years ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/17/people-are-strange/ Not too much to talk about today. However, I would like to recommend the CD “Twice the Speed of Life” by Sugarland. If you like the band’s first two singles, you should enjoy the rest of the album. You can listen to the CD at their website. http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/16/sugarland/ I thought that the Republicans were supposed to be the party of big business while the Democrats were the party looking out for the little guy(and gal). If that is so, then why is it that Democrats are the ones defending the right of the government to seize your property ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/15/all-your-homes-are-belong-to-us/ Michael Reynolds at The Mighty Middle has an excellent post concerning the Democrats’ campaigning woes. Rather than buying into the party’s line that they lose because they aren’t as mean as the Republicans, Mr. Reynolds instead proffers the theory that the party is just stupid and out of touch. The ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/14/goody-two-shoes/ There are a couple of sites that I check pretty frequently. They are AnalPhilosopher by Professor Keith Burgess-Jackson and Maverick Philosopher by Bill Vallicella. As their site titles suggest, they are both philosophers. They are also pretty interesting reads. Incidentally, Professor Burgess-Jackson’s title refers to the fact that he is an ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/12/suggested-sites/ Bill Vallicella of Maverick Philosopher has a nice post about the use of harsh language. He makes a great point about the overuse of such language and how it blunts its effectiveness. I agree with him that sometimes harsh language is called for. But if terms like the “F” word ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/11/wtf/ John Cole over at Balloon Juice is not happy about the anti-Roberts ad from NARAL. You can see his rant here. I agree with Cole that the ad is out of line. What I don’t understand is why the liberal interest groups are taking such steps in trying to derail ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/10/narals-anti-roberts-ad/ I have been spending a lot of time lately modifying the layout of this blog. However, my actual posting efforts have not kept pace. So I am making a late New Year’s resolution to post something on here everyday, even if it is just a post to say that I ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/09/endeavor-to-persevere/ Who on earth thought that this was a good idea? Do they have everything they need to win over Middle America? Let’s see. They have an actress with lots of baggage from her Vietnam protest days protesting the war while promoting her recent book. And she is going across the ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/08/the-electric-kool-aid-vegetable-oil-test/ It appears that the Supreme Court ruling in support of eminent domain seizures may actually lower the chances of such seizures being permitted in the future. It seems that the publicity caused by the Kelo case has managed to initiate action from several state legislatures. See here. Hopefully the recent interest ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/04/eminent-domain/ Here is an article from New Scientist explaining why talking on a cellphone while driving is more distracting than talking to passengers. The gist of it is that the changes in signal strength cause the sound quality of the phone to vary. This forces the brain to work harder to ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/04/hang-up-and-drive/ Although I voted for her husband twice, I don’t believe I would vote for Hillary Clinton should she run for the presidency in 2008. I have mixed feelings about Bill, but Mrs. Clinton has never struck me as much of a leader. Certainly she has a strong following among Democrats, ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/08/01/cult-of-personality/ The BBC’s Radio 4 conducted a poll asking who is the greatest philosopher. The results can be found here. The winner was Karl Marx with 27.93% of the vote, more than double the votes of the second place finisher, David Hume. It could have been worse I suppose. They could ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/07/15/greatest-philosopher/ Here is a nice article on English Southern-style. You might ought to read it. (Via GeekPress) http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/07/08/southern-accents/ If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t tickle yourself, here is your answer. (Via GeekPress) http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/07/01/tickling/ Here is a cool parable from Peg Kaplan at “what if?“. http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/25/hungry-like-the-wolf/ I’m not sure that this is what Mr. Rogers had in mind when he urged children to visit the Land of Make-Believe. Maybe the charges against Karl Rove are true. Maybe he really is so evil that he can use some sort of Jedi mind tricks to get Democratic congressmen ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/19/its-fun-to-pretend/ Pavel Litvinov has a great article in the Washington Post concerning the recent “gulag of our time” remarks from Amnesty International. He makes a good case for why the gulag charges are harmful to the organization’s credibility. Read the whole thing here. (Via Instapundit) http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/18/more-on-gulags/ The Maverick Philosopher has a post discussing John Searle’s Chinese Room argument. He answers some objections from Ray Kurzweil for good measure. Read the post here. http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/17/the-chinese-room/ According to a Washington Times op-ed by Diana West, Koran abuse is hardly widespread at Guantanamo Bay. In fact, the Army seems to be following a rather elaborate code of conduct regarding treatment of the holy book. While one can understand the Army wanting to prevent abuse of the Koran, ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/10/were-not-worthy-were-not-worthy/ “It is perfectly monstrous the way people go about, nowadays, saying things against one behind one’s back that are absolutely and entirely true.” A Woman of No Importance http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/10/wilde-at-heart-2/ Arguing over embryonic stem cell research seems to be all the rage these days. In a piece in the Washington Times, Ed Feulner of the Heritage Foundation argues against government funding for the research. Regardless of one’s position on the ethics of issue, Mr. Feulner does raise an interesting point. ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/08/stem-cell-funding/ The Japanese obsession with all things robotic looks to finally be paying off. Engineers there have built a suit to augment human strength with the apparent goal of making it easier for nerds to pick up chicks. See here. (Via GeekPress) http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/08/better-stronger-faster/ Anne Applebaum’s latest column deals with Amnesty International’s recent charges regarding Guantanamo Bay. The organization does seem to have thrown away any semblance of neutrality by comparing the detention center to the gulags. I can understand a group having political disagreements with the current administration, but they are damaging their ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/08/gulags/ Finally! Someone has taken it upon himself to defend the Empire against the ridiculous propaganda of George Lucas. The world can finally see the Rebellion for what it really is: just a confederacy of spoiled princesses and common criminals. See here. Hayes also manages to touch on a issue that a ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/06/good-versus-evil/ George Bush is not an intellectual. It is probably for the best that he is not. Here’s why. (Via Ektopos) http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/06/innerleckchuls/ “I can resist everything except temptation.” Lady Windermere’s Fan (From Oscar Wilde’s Wit and Wisdom) http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/03/wilde-at-heart/ Here is an amusing collection of rules NOT to follow when sending email. Keep them in mind as you navigate around the Internets (Via Lifehacker) http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/02/re-its-funny-because-its-true/ Ronald Bailey asks some difficult questions about government administered pharmaceutical treatments for criminials in a recent article in Reason. I think that if it becomes possible to significantly reduce violent behavior by giving prisoners drugs, the American people will have no reservations about making the practice standard policy. If we ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/02/whats-it-going-to-be-then-eh/ I am an agnostic. I suppose for most practical purposes I am an atheist, but I haven’t turned away from theism enough to be comfortable with that label. The primary reason that I am not a theist is the argument from evil (or “Argument from EVIL!” if you want to ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/01/problem-of-evil/ Another insightful post from the Maverick Philosopher. While I’m quite the novice when it comes to philosophy of the mind, I have had similar questions about Searle’s approach to consciousness. I agree with him about the irreducibility of the first person perspective, but I’m not sure how he reconciles that ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/06/01/dualism-and-searle/ Being the fanboy that I am, I really enjoyed this article on the coolest band in the world … U2. While Bono can be a pompous, overbearing ass, the group is able to produce some truly moving music. I’m still kicking myself for passing up on the chance to see ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/05/31/achtung-baby/ Bill Vallicella over at Maverick Philosopher has some interesting posts concerning consciousness. I am currently reading Searle’s “Mind: A Brief Introduction”. I haven’t completed enough of it to say whether I agree with Vallicella that Searle’s theory of mind is hopeless, but I do agree with his view of Searle ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/05/30/consciousness/ “Life is never fair . . . And perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.” An Ideal Husband (From Oscar Wilde’s Wit and Wisdom) http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/05/20/oscar-wilde-quote/ John Stossel hasn’t seemed to mellow much over the years. He’s just as cranky now as he was when I watched him on 20/20 in the 80’s. In his latest column he takes on the bottled water industry. My favorite part is where he quotes the expert suggested by the ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/05/18/16/ Here is an interesting article from Paul Greenberg on the South and religion. (Via Jewish World Review) http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/05/18/religion-in-the-south/ Recently in his Best of the Web feature, James Taranto commented on an article by Slate’s Timothy Noah dealing with why working class people don’t vote for Democrats in larger numbers. Taranto argues that part of the language that Democrats use when discussing working Americans. He feels that the phrase, ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/05/17/working-mans-blues/ Here is an interesting observation from Oxblog about the motivations of one particular suicide bomber. http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/05/17/suicide-bombers/ Two words I really don’t need to see together: Flying Snakes! (Via Geekpress) http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/05/13/at-least-its-not-monkeys/ Here is a review of the movie Groundhog Day. Apparently religious leaders from several faiths identify with the film. The article does a good job of dealing with the underlying philosophical issues the movie addresses. Plus we learn that Groundhog Day observance has its origins in a Catholic holy ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/05/10/groundhog-day/ Here is an interesting review of the book Everything Bad is Good for You by Steven Johnson. The reviewer, Malcolm Gladwell, questions the effectiveness of homework while defending the position that watching today’s TV shows may actually make you smarter. I can see his point about TV. The better shows ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/05/10/book-smarts-vs-tv-smarts-2/ This weekend I watched the second of the two dvds in the Greg the Bunny box set. Sadly, that covers all of the episodes of the show that there ever were or ever will be. But if you are interested in edgy humor delivered by puppets, then this is your ... http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/05/08/greg-the-bunny/ It’s funny because it’s true. http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/05/06/sci-fi-geekdom/ You can make believe it happens, Or pretend that something’s true. You can wish or hope or contemplate A thing you’d like to do. But until you start to do it, You will never see it through. ‘Cause the make-believe pretending Just won’t do it for you. — Fred Rogers http://grouchypants.blogsome.com/2005/04/11/first-post/