G as in Good H as in Happy

It's Picture Day

March 31, 2006

The irreplaceable Gagdad Bob, thundering prophet in his own right as well as doting dad, has this ruthless psycho-developmental observation re:

French rioting. They are essentially rioting to maintain the prerogatives of His Majesty the Baby, who must be loved and cared for unconditionally. You do not fire a baby when he is bad. You don't even punish him. In fact, you have no expectations of him at all.

He has authorized this parallel statement on behalf of his young son.

Old Testament

Dilys sometimes has an unfortunate tendency to talk as though she has been appointed to lay down the law for all and sundry, and to characterize and dismiss them as it pleases her.  This behavior has been kindly forgiven by her colleagues as her "Old Testament" mode. Frankly, during Lent, only one part of the Old Testament is pertinent.

Thanks to all, they know who they are, indeed everyone in her scope, for their patience.



Drawing incorporates a fine basswood carving shown here. 

The Brain on Stress

March 30, 2006

Will Wilkinson references a study about marmoset neurogenesis -- brain plasticity and renewability.

Essential Accentual

March 29, 2006

At the Speech Accent Archive, the same English passage read by different international speakers of English. For serious linguists, there is a  f-ntk / phonetic script. For general-nuisance mimics, have at it.

Sicily, Sweden, Malta, Pakistan, Botswana, Scotland.

Courtesy Newmark's Door, also pointing to interesting-looking alternatives for a gig of free storage, and presentation-presentation on the Web.

More Thinking about Thinking

Edge article by Kevin Kelly about the impact of immensely increased data sets available via computers on the very bare bones of scientific investigation.

Lifetime Student of the Market Force

March 28, 2006

Almost missed this WSJ interview with Thomas Sowell. Glad we didn't.

Via Sobering Thoughts

Well, Young Person,...

...Hello, there!

John Kerry's Care and Tending

March 27, 2006

I find nothing here that anyone should make fun of. Who doesn't want the B&B's "cozy room;" and on-demand entertainment geared up and ready to go even before you arrive.

Sincerely.  The guy knows how to take care of himself. Who wants to make and re-make all those decisions? In fact, making a list of preferences for employees, with copies to family and friends, seems a very good idea, if they would read them.

A fifth page in that vein however might just tiptoe a teensy toe over the line into spoiled metrosexual. Not that there's anything wrong for a private citizen to focus on that, either. It's still a free country.

Via Betsy's Page

Ways of Thinking

Plenty of people, including all three readers of this blog, will testify that they have read Arnold Kling, and that I, ["Madam"], am no Arnold Kling.

The Church of Big Cocoa?

Though it is often said that the glitches in Europe's policies and politics can mostly be explained by their experience of war after war, Claire Berlinski (the daughter of our underlined-in-neon non-fiction idol David Berlinski), locates the common factor in something else: