The Real Thanksgiving

Benjamin Powell lays out the real story behind the famous Thanksgiving feast. Turns out a good deal of economics was involved.

Nunchuck Ping Pong

Just think about how coordinated a person would have to be to do this:



Bruce Lee was incredible. Pity it's fake.

Web 2.0

Final Countdown

These guys play a wicked cello:

DRE 700 for President

If Only:


Voting Machines Elect One Of Their Own As President

The Singularity is going to be scary.

RUSSELL ROBERTS: THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING: A PARABLE OF POSSIBILITY AND PROSPERITY

A Quick Liberty Quote

"Political tags-such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth-are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire."

- Robert A. Heinlein

Skyray 48 Takes Flight

Read the full article here.

P.S. – I just realized that a few too many of my posts come from a Forum I frequent; maybe I should just post a permanent link to there?

Monty Python Philosophy Football

First Direct Image of Multiple Exoplanets Orbiting a Star

This is another great development in science and technology:

For the first time, astronomers have taken a visual image of a
multiple-planet solar system beyond our own.

Using the Gemini North telescope and the W. M. Keck Observatory on Hawaii's Mauna Kea, researchers observed in infrared light three planets orbiting around a star about 130 light-years away from Earth, called HR 8799. The discovery,published today in Science Express, is a step forward in the hunt for planets, and life, beyond Earth.

The next logical step will be to look at the light spectrum coming off the planets, which well tell astronomers what type of gases are in the atmosphere.

If there is an abundance of oxygen, that is pretty strong indicator of organic life. That is something I would very much like to see.

Brain Powered

A few posts ago I mentioned how ‘it really feels like we are starting to live in the future’; to reiterate that point, here is another incredible breakthrough:


Watch CBS Videos Online

This has far more application then merely a diversion for the handicapped; applications which will be created after this technology become more practical.

I am always one for skepticism when it comes to extreme claims; but the ‘man-machine interface’ does seem well underway.

I Give Up

I have officially given in to my geek-ness; a personality trait I have fought before on this blog. To prove the point, here is a picture of the enterprise in the upcoming J.J. Abrams relaunch:

The four things that attracted me to Star Trek where 1) the incredible forward-thinking optimism of the show, 2) the ethical, political, and scientific dilemmas, 3) all the “gee-wiz” moments and 4) the fact that people solved their problems with their minds (it was mostly pro-reason.)

While I think that Abrams will give me item number 1, I don’t know about number 2, 3, or 4. Judging Abrams by his work, the show Lost seems generally anti-reason, while Fringe has a tendency to be anti-science. I could be wrong, and I admit I have never fully watched either of these shows.

In any case, I’m hopeful. Abrams might just be the kick-in-the-pants the franchise needs to launch it out of its recent mediocrity.

P.S. – If any of you have any idea how the Star Trek economy works, please tell me, I have been curious for years.

What Needs to be Known About Hoover

I wince whenever I hear that Hoover was a supporter of free-markets or laissez-faire Capitilism. It is so easily proven wrong. And it is not wrong in some abstract sense, it is not a matter of argumentation, it is factually wrong. It is like saying “President George Washington is a woman”; it simply has no merit.

And yet, in most history books, in most lectures, and in most people eyes: Hoover was a stanch supporter of ‘free-markets’, which eventually led to the Great Depression (and thank God to FDR for saving the day!)

Well, here is Hoover, in his own words, talking about the various achievements of his administration right before the 1932 election. Judge for yourself how “laissez-faire” they are.

UP Trailer

I like the look of this, it has a children’s book, fable –like quality to it that I find charming.

Coraline

I hope the art of stop-motion animation stays alive for awhile more; it creates a unique look on stage that simply is not achieved by any other current technology. Tim Burton’s visually exiting The Corpse Bride was a great leap forward for the genre; and the always entertaining adventures of Wallace and Gromit simply wouldn’t be itself without stop-animation.

The next major stop-animation production coming out is Coraline, a movie based on the novella by Neil Gaiman. It is a ‘through the looking glass’ type story, as I understand it, with an intelligent female lead.

I just hope the movie is able to follow in the footsteps of its impressive poster.

(Please excuse me these light posts of late, but the political season has burned me out, I just want a break from it all for a time.)

DOLLHOUSE

I liked Joss Whedon’s Firefly, and to a much lesser extent his Buffy and Angel series. He seems to have a knack for creating interesting characters that interact in a kind of extended dysfunctional family. Well now he is starting up a whole new series called Dollhouse; check it out:



My Own Worst Enemy is a show that has a (completely contrived) identity crisis built into it; it is also horribly disappointing and convoluted. Identity is one of the most interesting things about us; what makes me, me? How much can you change a person before they become someone else? Where does responsibility (and free-will) lie in this scenario?

There is some great ground Whedon can cover. I hope he is able to bring it all together in an entertaining and thought-provoking way (unlike My Own Worst Enemy.)

‘Is Obama a Socialist?’

Donald J. Boudreaux talks with his usually clarity and insight on weather or not Obama is a “Socialist.” His answer:

No. At least not in the classic sense of the term. "Socialism" originally meant government ownership of the major means of production and finance, such as land, coal mines, steel mills, automobile factories, and banks.

Be sure to read the rest of his explanation.

Michael Crichton: 1942-2008

A little Mises

Of all the major free-market advocates, Mises is in my top five. Despite some rather blatant philosophical errors, he was able to articulate the justification for free-markets better then any other major voice (Freidman and Hayek included.) He also pointed out the various inconsistencies and contradictions within the anti-Capitalist mentalities:

NOTHING is more unpopular today than the free market economy, i.e., capitalism. Everything that is considered unsatisfactory in present-day conditions is charged to capitalism. The atheists make capitalism responsible for the survival of Christianity. But the papal encyclicals blame capitalism for the spread of irreligion and the sins of our contemporaries, and the Protestant churches and sects are no less vigorous in their indictment of capitalist greed. Friends of peace consider our wars as an offshoot of capitalist imperialism. But the adamant nationalist warmongers of Germany and Italy indicted capitalism for its "bourgeois" pacifism, contrary to human nature and to the inescapable laws of history. Sermonizers accuse capitalism of disrupting the family and fostering licentiousness. But the "progressives" blame capitalism for the preservation of allegedly outdated rules of sexual restraint. Almost all men agree that poverty
is an outcome of capitalism. On the other hand many deplore the fact that capitalism, in catering lavishly to the wishes of people intent upon getting more amenities and a better living, promotes a crass materialism. These contradictory accusations of capitalism cancel one another. But the fact remains that there are few people left who would not condemn capitalism
altogether.

The articles below are not new, and in fact are somewhat dated, but still incredibly relevant for today’s generation. I just thank Capitilism.com for publishing them:

Planned Chaos: Introduction (Part 1 of 11)

Planned Chaos: The Failure of Interventionism (Part 2 of 11)

Planned Chaos: The Dictatorial, Anti-Democratic and Socialist Character of Interventionism (Part 3 of 11)

Planned Chaos: Socialism and Communism (Part 4 of 11)

Planned Chaos: Russia's Aggressiveness (Part 5 of 11)

Some Chopin on Election Day

Something for Halloween

Yeah, I know I’m a little late:



While not technically a piece about Halloween, I none-the-less thought that Edger Allen Poe fit the ‘mood’ of the season. Plus, the design and the narrative of the piece are brilliant; even if you don’t like its darkness.