HBD stuff:

• IQ ceilings – very interesting. The tendency of smart people to come from colder climes has been known for a bit, this adds a lot to that thinking.
• The Middle Ages and marriage patterns – interesting in its own right, and dovetails well with the IQ ceiling thinking.
• Detroit – the gift that keeps on giving.
• High altitude adaptations of the Ethiopians – I find it fascinating that there are so many different ways to go about this. It’s almost as if there’s evolution or something going on here.
• Neanderthals, Madness – via HBD Chick.

Economics:

• Why recessions happen – nice basically Austrian summary.
• Future of money – is there one? this is big fodder for anyone with a conspiratorial mindset re: bankers.

Some random stuff:

• Borepatch on switching to Bing from Google. Because Google is so evil. Makes you wonder when Microsoft becomes a safe haven from evil. I wish someone would come up with something like google mail that was not, you know, Google. Other mail systems just aren’t as useful to me as gmail.
• iO9 on what weapons could be used in a real-life space war. Not as involved as I might have done.
• Cool story from when sf magazines cost 20 cents. Via David Drake writing for TOR – the story was written by (likely) a WWII combat vet.

Lint Lizard sounds vaguely obscene. But it gets lint from hard to reach places.

I feel sad and lonely, as it has been four days since I’ve gotten any indecipherable messages from Mr. Difficult (at aol.com).

It is interesting that debt relief spam is concealed as “get the power chair advantage” ads.

Disturbing:

Hi, man. I’m in your house. I’m smart and beatiful.  My photos available here.

I’ll check my closets.

I’ll stop doing that someday.

Maybe.

Copy Paste Character allows you to click on useful symbols to pop them into your clipboard.  Then, just paste where needed.  Now updated with thousands instead of merely hundreds of symbols.  Check it out.

I’ve always thought that good intentions were, in general, given too much credit. But this goes a little further, and rings true to me. Especially this:

“When I examine my conscience, I perceive that the worst intentions were typically those times where I was trying hardest to signal to myself and to others that my intentions were good, pure, blameless.

That was when I was most deeply in thrall to pride.”

Good intentions? Not so

from Bruce Charlton's Miscellany

A question that has been festering in my brain for some time now, even though I am not rich:

“But where can the rich go? Their choices include nations that have swarms of malaria-infested mosquitoes, bad TV, deadly climates, decapitation issues, French people, bland food and other signs of inhospitableness. When you consider these factors plus wars, pollution, terrorism, floods, droughts, earthquakes and tornadoes, I think you’ll agree that most of the surveyed land on Earth is unfit for fancy people.”

I may not be rich, but the nation of my birth is becoming increasingly annoying.

Scott Adams on Taxes, the Wealthy and a Return to the Ocean – WSJ.com

from online.wsj.com

“Picture Alexander Hamilton. In 1805, as he lay dying at the hands of Vice President Aaron Burr, could Hamilton have credibly groaned to his seconds, echoing Romulus, “Go, and tell the Romans Americans that by heaven’s will my Rome America shall be capital of the world. Let them learn to be soldiers. Let them know, and teach their children, that no power on earth can stand against Roman American arms. “

Twice in two days, through no real effort or bent of mind, I ended up discussing the possibility of Caesarism in America. This lays in the background. And, my absolute favorite bible verse.

The Chains of the Improbable vs. The Chains of the Impossible | The Committee of Public Safety

from committeeofpublicsafety.wordpress.com

Seeing if the “note in reader” function will post the same way from the browser bookmarklet as it does from within google reader.

This, by the way, is the page where all the “wik” comes from.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974) – Crazy credits

from www.imdb.com

This is a good observation:

“Great presidents (Roosevelt and Reagan) transform their times; good presidents (Eisenhower and Kennedy) understand them almost without trying; bad presidents (Buchanan and Carter) are overwhelmed by them. Obama is the first who has tried to defy them. “

I think I might have to read the article

The worst president

from View from the Right