Philosophy Comic
This is quite possibly the funniest of all possible comics mocking philosophy.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. --H.L. Mencken
ESPN's Page 2 has two of the funniest NFL t-shirt designs I've seen in years.
The market is almost always smarter than you:
State Street (STT) remains down about 50% today after warning on earnings and raising concerns about serious damage to its balance sheet. But today aside, let's go back to last November when, seemingly out of nowhere, the stock fell below $30, beforre quickly rebounding to the mid-$40s. At the time, everyone thought the market was crazy. That there was no way there could be anything wrong with State Street -- a boring old investment services company.Well, turns out, only the talking heads were wrong. The stock market nailed it, only it didn't punish the companyt hard enough, since now State Street is at about $19.
I do not think it means what you think it means." The USDA guidelines on "naturally raised" chickens mean that they:
have been raised entirely without growth promotants, antibiotics (except for ionophores used as coccidiostats for parasite control), and have never been fed animal by-products.Does that sound like it should qualify to you?
Phil, this one's for you.
Apparently Obama has been using his first hours in office to do things of which I actually approve. Sweet! Radley Balko has a list of actions Obama took yesterday limiting his own executive power, including:
And this morning he signed an executive order to close Gitmo no later than a year from now. Well done!Obama rescinded Bush’s 2001 executive order allowing former presidents, vice presidents, and their heirs to claim executive privilege in determining which of their records get released to the public. Even better, he’s requiring the signature of both his White House counsel and the attorney general before he can classify a document under executive privilege. Issued a memorandum to all executive agencies asking them to come up with a new plan for open government and complying with FOIA requests. He is also instructing three top officials, including the U.S. attorney general, to come up with a new policy on open government. The new policy would replace the existing policy, infamously set by a 2001 memo from John Ashcroft that instructed federal agencies to essentially to take every measure they can to refuse FOIA requests. Put a freeze on the salaries of top White House aides.
Will Wilkinson liveblogged the inauguration proceedings, and his running summaries of Obama's speech had me laughing my a$$ off. My favorite parts:
12:14: A new foundation for growth. Restore SCIENCE. Harness the sun and the tides and hamsters. Some question the scale of our ambitions. They simply forget that we can DO ANYTHING. All your objections no longer apply, so don’t try to object cynics.
...12:18: Basically, all dichotomies are false. Freedom AND security. Free markets AND big government. America is everyone’s friend. Facebook us Kenya!
Coyote on the unintended consequences of building codes designed to protect children from drowning in a backyard pool:
In short, the code is designed to keep small children from getting out of the house on their own to a pool area. Dead bolts must be 54″ off the ground where they cannot reach them, the doors must have automatic closers (and thereby be difficult for small children to open) and windows cannot open wide enough to allow the kids to pass. This is, of course, nominally for the safety of kids....(emphasis mine)
Can anyone see any possible problem with making it impossible for small children to exit the house? Perhaps, say, in a fire? Once I bring my house up to code, because none of the children’s wing of the house has any window or door except to the pool area, the state will have made it absolutely impossible for small children to escape in a fire. Yes, the state has forced me to turn the back of my house into a fire trap for kids.
That is, of course, unless I reverse all the changes 5 seconds after the inspector leaves my property, which of course I would never, ever do because I am a good American who pledged allegiance to the state every shool day of my childhood.
One more reason for Detroit's demise:
In 2007, Toyota sold 9.37 million vehicles.
In 2007, General Motors sold 9.37 million vehicles.
In 2007, Toyota made $17.1 billion.
In 2007, General Motors lost $38.7 billion.
It's been ten years since the game that scarred the collective psyche of Vikings fans everywhere: the 1998 season's NFC championship. Brian Murphy writes eloquently about our the psychic damage here.
This sounds sketchy. During the event which prompted a trial about the police in question using excessive force:
In all, nine police cars from Prince George's and Cheverly responded. Although most of the squad cars were equipped with video cameras, police said none of them were working that day, Pavsner said.I find that claim hopelessly implausible. Do they seriously think we're idiots? Sheesh.
McMegan speculates convincingly on the cause of the Zimbabwe economic crash: Mugabe's land reforms.
1) A decent case for simplifying the tax code.
1) New in creepy quasi-authoritarian toys!
This strikes me as a very dumb idea.
These are all articles that raised my blood pressure. Read them (or not) as you see fit.
The Toolmonger community has recommendations for anyone who is (or is considering becoming) a first-time homeowner.
These links will make you think:
A collection of amusing links for your Sunday entertainment: