thinkness - August 2004 Archives

August 2004

The city doth not protest too much - thinkness went to the big protest in NYC yesterday. Nothing particularly eventful or exciting, mostly just hundreds of thousands of people lumbering down 7th Avenue on a hot day. Someone did set a dragon on fire [4th picture, which blocked... Posted in color , political currents | 0 Trackbacks | 53 Comments
From the sad but true department - "It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth." [Sigh.]... Posted in color | 0 Trackbacks | 45 Comments

It's best to be not bad - Are negative political advertisements more effective than positive ones? "Political consultants cite a strikingly consistent pattern when it comes to darker, more confrontational commercials. "Focus groups will tell you they hate negative ads and love positive ads," said Steve McMahon,... Posted in political currents | 1 Trackbacks | 22 Comments

A life in [less than] a day - You know what's interesting? The average life takes about 17 hours to tell. Every life story I've ever collected has ended up taking up almost the exact amount of tape. It's odd, when you think about it, that in... Posted in color | 8 Trackbacks | 34 Comments

Prescience, I tell you - Wow. thinkness just mentioned Michael Scheuer earlier today, just before the media started reporting that he sent a letter to the 9/11 commission criticizing pretty much everything they did. And yes, now that the CIA is ordering him to stop... Posted in political currents | 13 Trackbacks | 71 Comments
Defector believers? - thinkness has no idea why we haven't heard more about Michael Sheuer, the "anonymous" author of Imperial Hubris, a book criticizing American strategy in the war on Islamism. Sheuer was the head of the CIA's Osama branch in the late... Posted in political currents | 1 Trackbacks | 33 Comments

A literal toning down - Back in the old days, people used to say that Oprah's show literally made their kids' heads explode. Now, everybody's reading thinkness and being really careful and, well, literal about their "literal". Now you have Chris Heinz saying, "I literally... Posted in the lethal literal | 0 Trackbacks | 126 Comments

One 'thing' for each hand - There are Two Things you need to know about every field. The Two Things about economics: 1 Incentives matter. 2 There’s no such thing as a free lunch. The Two Things about Law: 1 You are responsible for the foreseeable... Posted in color | 0 Trackbacks | 142 Comments
If it's new it MUST be good - The electric can opener. I hate it. Now there is a term for this type of buffoonery: an electric-can-opener question. Die, electric can opener, die. Actually, the worst thing is that horribly overdesigned "rabbit" corkscrew. thinkness hates thee.... Posted in random bits of detritus | 0 Trackbacks | 135 Comments
Lefty blindy men - New research saying that left- or right-handedness develops in the womb reminds me of this talk I saw given by Leonard Shlain, author of The Alphabet Versus the Goddess. Shlain has a bunch of often odd, often insightful observations about... Posted in evolution | 1 Trackbacks | 121 Comments

The axis of limitation - This recent column of Christopher Hitchens brought up another phenomenon that thinkness first witnessed in Bill Clinton's speech at the Democratic convention. Hitch says that the security apparatus of this country are getting slammed for being careful, and for not... Posted in color , political currents | 0 Trackbacks | 123 Comments

Biting Reason's hand - Conrad Lichtenstein puts forward the good scientist's perspective in a column defending genetic engineering against attacks like those described in the previous post. Reason is what brought us out of darkness; why should we stop here when it can do... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 0 Trackbacks | 154 Comments

Beer-o-tech - Quite interesting AP article on the development and marketing of a Swedish beer that uses some genetically engineered corn. No indication what the hell these folks are thinking trying to sell this in Europe, but hey, it's their company. At... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 1 Trackbacks | 147 Comments
Where you can speak your mind - 'Free-speech zones.' That's what the authorities call the barricaded pens where they keep protestors. Makes you wonder: if the inside is designated for free speech... I think I can see George Orwell, spinning in his coffin as it disappears down... Posted in political currents | 23 Trackbacks | 340 Comments