Random Observations about...
May 2004

Muqtada al Sadr Backs Down

US News & World Report: Publicly furious with the occupation, the citizens are also privately blaming Sadr for bringing the...

Is your dog laughing at you?

Science News: Amid all the panting, a dog at play makes a distinctive, breathy exhalation that can trigger playfulness in...

Defending Quixtar, Selling Quixtar

It seems those who defend Quixtar are typically those selling Quixtar. And it also seems they use the same kinds of arguments over and over again. Here's a few of the common ones...

CBS: Simple Secrets for a Happy Family?

A CBS Early Show interview offers some interesting advice on having a "Happy Family"... of one the "secrets" offered is, when you're unhappy... get divorced! Yes, I'm sure that will make families everywhere absolutely ecstatic...

What is UP in North Korea?

Numerous fires rage in North Korea. Now what's going on there?

Amazon Doesn't Care About Kids

Two reports about Amazon make me concerned about their attitude towards children.

Urban Legends: Better Safe Than Sorry! (Not)

We love to worry, don't we? And we seem to have a knack for worrying about the most useless things while ignoring the real threats...

New Computer: Toshiba Satellite M35-S320

I've got a new laptop computer! It's great under Windows XP, but Linux was another story.

What If Everything Was Getting Better?

What if the sky wasn't falling? What if the world were actually becoming a better place? What if what was needed were not radical changes, but rather doing more of precisely what we've been doing?

A Thought on Minimizing Recidivism

"Breaking into Prison": Nothing helps reduce the number of ex-convicts who return to prison, he says, like participating in religious...

Why I'm Not a Libertarian

I've had friends -- libertarians even -- say I seem to be a libertarian. Indeed, in many ways, my philosophy is close: I believe in minimal economic regulations and am also cautious about using government to "do good" in the social realm. So why am I not a libertarian?

Why We Believe

Why do people believe what they believe? For a lot of reasons which suprise me! Some thoughts and confessions about why we believe as we do.

Kerry's Wound: Tiny, Self-Inflicted?

Oh good heavens: National Review's Byron York has tracked down Louis Letson, the physician who treated Kerry for the wound...

CNN Demands an Apology, Again

Not content to simply report the news, CNN blocks information with their spin. Abuses in Abu Ghraib are so important that we mustn't be told the facts, only CNN's opinions.

Can International Involvement Prevent Genocide?

Can the international community prevent genocide? A reader asks, and I put my opinion out there for the first time. This is not the feel-good essay of the year...

Reviewing Reviews of "The Passion"

Now that I've finally seen The Passion, and can speak as one who has seen it, there are a number...

Thoughts on Violence and "The Passion"

My girlfriend and I went to see "The Passion of the Christ" together on Saturday night -- she wanted to...

Notes on Frontline: The Jesus Factor

Saw "The Jesus Factor" the other night, and, like many others, thought it was a fairly straightforward portrayal. Only a couple negative things have come to light about it...

On the American Iraqi Atrocities

Citizen Smash: Our soldiers sometimes do horrible things. Disgusting things. Cruel things. When they do, we must not hide from...

Newsday's Air America Suckup

Newsday runs an impressively fawning (and clueless) piece about Air America. It was too cute not to mention publicly.

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