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Jens 'n' Frens
Idle thoughts of a relatively libertarian Republican in Cambridge, MA, and whomever he invites. Mostly political.
"A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures."
-- Daniel Webster
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Saturday, November 29, 2003 :::
Ananova - Love 'as addictive as cocaine':
Love could be as addictive as cocaine or speed, scientists have said.
According to Dr John Marsden, head of the National Addiction Centre at the Maudsley Hospital in London, when you are attracted to someone your brain releases the drug dopamine, giving the same reaction that taking cocaine or speed would create. This is hardly surprising, though I doubt cocaine impairs brain function as much as falling in love does.
UPDATE: It isn't one of their better songs, but Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives have a related song called "You Broke My Brain"
::: posted by Steven at 6:44 AM
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Friday, November 28, 2003 :::
I got a big kick out of the President's visit to Baghdad, as I'm sure many people did. I mean, he lied to the press, but that wasn't even the best part. I think this is likely to have little effect on how people vote next fall — at this point, anyone who dislikes the President will find a way to criticize this, likely either as too reckless or as too gutless with all the secrecy that was involved — but it seems an opportunity to note again why these things aren't irrelevant; if you're thinking, "I still don't like the Medicare bill, but damn it, I like this man," here's your intellectual defense: The single most important event of this Presidential term factored into approximately zero votes cast in November of 2000. We certainly don't know in particular what the next five years will bring, and we don't even know for certain in broad outline what the issues will be, where the appropriate compromises should be drawn, or how they should be brought about. Many of an intellectual bent, even we on the right on occassion, will focus on ideology, on ideas and platform, with an occasional tendency to forget that we're electing a human being, for the very good reason that many important things aren't going to be encapsulated in the analysis of his positions, particularly those we would think to ask him about today. Much that is not there encapsulated is encapsulated in a decision to slip out on his family to show up to cheer on the troops, and it speaks well of him.
::: posted by dWj at 5:52 PM
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The movie "Bad Santa", which looked like the must-avoid movie of the season a couple weeks ago, has shown a little more promise in the more recent ads, and has been rated favorably by various people (including Roger Ebert) whom I'd expect to pan it if it offered nothing that wasn't psychologically disturbing. I'm still wary, but at this point would give it a chance if a bunch of my friends were heading to the theater.
::: posted by dWj at 10:49 AM
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Wednesday, November 26, 2003 :::
Among life's great questions are mysteries such as "why are we here?" Among life's not-so-great questions is "has the division manager of purchasing and contract services in the Internal Services Department of Los Angeles County been shooting up industrial quantities of paint thinner?" I can't answer the first question, but the answer to the second is "apparently so":Los Angeles County officials have gone PC (politically correct) on PCs (personal computers) -- banning as potentially "offensive or defamatory" the words master and slave from computer hard drives and video equipment where they are used to describe primary and secondary circuits.
Under orders from the affirmative action office, county departments have surveyed about 1,000 pieces of equipment and taped over "master/slave" and put "primary/secondary" on the equipment, officials said.
Joe Sandoval, division manager of purchasing and contract services in the Internal Services Department, started the flap with a memo to electronic equipment vendors saying the county wants master and slave labeling removed from computer equipment it buys. Link from Prof. Volokh, who has his own brief comments.
::: posted by Steven at 9:38 PM
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In reply to my brother's last two entries: you have a point on the Medicare bill. Your Jackson idea is interesting, if a civil suit comes out of it (the case they're looking at now is criminal, n'est-ce pas?). I heard a lot of talk-radio callers last week asking, "why would anyone leave their children with him?" and I kept thinking, "well, considering how well the previous guys made out..."
::: posted by Steven at 9:22 PM
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I'd like to suggest that any damages collected in the Michael Jackson case go to the state or a trust fund for the kid. No parents who would leave a kid alone with Michael Jackson should see a dime from it.
::: posted by dWj at 9:26 AM
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The best argument I've heard in favor of voting for the Medicare bill is that something worse would likely be passed next year if this didn't pass now. Whether I'd have voted for this thing would have depended intimately on the extent to which I believed that.
::: posted by dWj at 9:25 AM
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Since I haven't posted anything serious in a while, I'd like to say this about the $400 billion drug bill: any member of Congress who either voted for it, or complained that it didn't go far enough -- if they ever complain about the deficit again, they deserve to be beaten severely.
::: posted by Steven at 8:15 AM
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I hadn't noticed, but Colby is right -- Mike Myers as The Cat in the Hat does look like the underbelly of a manta ray.
::: posted by Steven at 4:54 AM
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At the Kitchen Cabinet over the last few days, Lily has quoted the entire lyrics of one of the theme songs for The Drew Carey Show, declared without explanation that the KC had "a great, great day", reported that 10% of Americans think Joan of Arc was Noah's wife, and told us that, at Yale, "unattractiveness roams the halls unpunished." She's also lost some of my respect by referring to lima bean juice as a flavoring.
Incidentally, I once won a contest for unattractiveness, with a lot of help from my co-blogger.
::: posted by Steven at 12:24 AM
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Tuesday, November 25, 2003 :::
We recently got a visitor to this site via a search for the phrase "consensual incest". I'd like to make it clear that Dean and I are just friends. Thank you.
::: posted by Steven at 9:45 PM
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More Wide World of Sports: the wall game.There are no wall-game leagues, no points tables, no ruling body, and the only match that matters is the annual one between collegers and oppidans, formerly played on St Andrew's Day, November 30th, but now on a Saturday a few days earlier. In that game, and earlier ones as the two sides (separately) get in practice for it, the usual scoreline is 0-0. Last year, with Britain's Prince Harry playing for them, the oppidans achieved a rare 2-0 win. This year, the collegers and oppidans drew 0-0. Link from Colby.
::: posted by dWj at 6:06 PM
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Michael Ledeen speculates on an al-Qaeda connection to Muhammed and Malvo. Now, I think Ledeen knows an awful lot about a few things, which in many ways contributes to his credibility, but he also comes across as a man with a hammer who's found a screw to wail on.* I think there's something quintessentially western about this pair; their killing seemed less earnest than that of the standard middle eastern terrorist, and more insouciant; it didn't seem to me as though they were killing people because they felt to do so would further God's plan, but because nothing good was on television and killing strangers was a way to pass the time.I've hardly been studying the sniper case, and I'm working from an impression here; it may be that they took their Islam in a more Pakistani Islamist way than they did in the manner of a screwed-up teenager saying, "If I join this religion, I get to kill people?" That's not my impression, though. I suppose I ought to clarify that if I suggest some screwed-up teenager would think, "If I join [Islam], I get to kill people?" doesn't mean I think his thinking Islam encourages or permits this is any less screwy than his finding it an attraction. These sorts of disclaimers typically go without saying, but I thought this particular post read a bit more insistent on being misunderstood. (I've been reading a book about the Simpsons recently, and have been reminded that many people are offended by the show when Homer says something about something they hold dear. Before you watch the show, it's worth remembering that Homer is an idiot, and if he says something against something you hold dear, it's probably a compliment. The same is true of the snipers.) * Ledeen strongly believes we're basically fighting Iran right now in Iraq. This seems plausible to me, but I'm withholding judgment at this point. That Osama is in Iran seems even more plausible, if also reasonably likely to prove false.
::: posted by dWj at 5:26 PM
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Happy Birthday today to the Bush twins and to the head of the MIT College Republicans.
::: posted by Steven at 9:06 AM
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I've noticed myself using the expression "frickin' wankers" at an increasing rate lately:Both the School Committee and the City Council voted unanimously this week to ask state legislators to support a moratorium on new charter schools.
::: posted by Steven at 8:39 AM
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Monday, November 24, 2003 :::
The Chicago Fire lost yesterday, 4-2, to San Jose in the MLS Cup. We looked pretty good in mid-field, but they had much more success finishing than we did.In other "Wide World of Sports" news, the division 3 football playoffs started this past weekend; Wheaton beat Hope College, 55-45, and plays Baldwin-Wallace this Saturday. Wheaton is undefeated, but B-W will be easily the best team they've played all year, and it should be interesting. (B-W's only loss is to Mt. Union, which regular followers of division III football know hardly counts.) The winner of this game plays Mount Union or Wisconsin-LaCrosse next; one has to guess Mount Union, but LaCrosse is also a very good team. This is probably the toughest quarter of the bracket, and if (when) Mt. Union gets to the semifinals, it will have some experience against some tough competition under its belt. The Wartburg-Linfield game is worth noting in the other candidate for toughest quarter of the bracket; the winner of this game may well face Mt. Union in the Stagg Bowl, though one never wants to count out St. John's, especially when they're undefeated. St. John's had a couple close games late in the season, though, and it may come down to whether they took away the right lessons from those.
::: posted by dWj at 3:59 PM
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