Yearly Archives: 2004

Goin’ Where the Water Tastes Like Wine

This entry was posted in GD Music on by

I apologize in advance. It is late and this post assumes some prior knowledge as I’m too tired to spend time on backstory which is pretty readily available for those who are interested.
I like good music in small indoor venues much better then in large outdoor amphitheaters and stadiums. The sound stays around you, the mood stays around you and you really can not escape. You must ride out the storm.
Ratdog tonight (3/8) was no exception and an excellent example of why many of us keep going back for more and then more. A perfect storm. Well, not quite but it was clear that the band and Weir in particular were trying. There was a fair amount of experimentation. Some of it worked and some didn’t…I saw Weir grimace several times. No not quite perfect but maybe the next show will be…and even if it is not you will know that they tried, you will be hooked by what they teased and didn’t quite play and just maybe they will play your perfect set list next time.
Let me mention just a few of tonight’s many treats.

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Ideological Purity

This entry was posted in Libertarianism on by

Well, in this case Libertarian Purity.
Radley Balko, noted Libertarian blogger, scored 98/160 which stikes me as fairly middle of the road though the test site calls this entering “…the heady realm of hard-core libertarianism.” Then I saw in the comment thread that Julian Sanchez scored 79 and Jim Henley 101.
I would have expected these 3 folks to score higher, much higher and since they did not I suspect that how you score on this test has a lot to do with the perspective you use when taking the test and that for the results to be somewhat comparable this bias needs to be included. For instance, I took the test from the perspective of what I thought an anarcho-capitalist might answer and scored 153. Tomorrow I’ll try to take it from the perspective of a libertarian min-archist and see what kind of score I get. Then I’ll try again from the position of ok, I have libertarian leanings but what is practical in the near term (20-40 years).
Yazad raises some other issues with the test including that it is US centric and suggests some other tests that you can try.

Buffalo Blog Selling Books

This entry was posted in Literature on by

Jaquandor who wants to get back to Google’s # 1 spot for Buffalo Blog is selling some of his books.
Normally I would consider this a form of blasphemy but, needing room for incoming volumes, I am slowly sorting through my library looking for books to sell.
So I was about to give him a pass on this until I found that one of the books he is selling is The Danzig Trilogy by Gunter Grass. The Tin Drum, volume 1 of the trilogy, is one of my all time favorites and my copy is filled from front to back with marginalia. I hope that Jaquandor is selling an extra copy and still retains a well used version.

College Lessons

This entry was posted in Education on by

Dean Esmay does not like college: at least the one he is at and the courses he is taking. He says:

It appears to me that the only thing I’ve learned in college is how to sit down, shut up, and jump through hoops without much complaint. Which is, perhaps, the real purpose of undergraduate education today.

Yea, it is too bad he had to go to college to learn the standard lessons of elementary school.
The comment thread to Dean’s post has some interesting reading.
Via Outside the Beltway.

Walking your Talk

This entry was posted in Humor Law Enforcement on by

An honest man was being tailgated by a stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him.
He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection with him.
As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer
The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a cell.
After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, “I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping the guy off in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday School’ bumper sticker, and the chrome- plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car.”