One thing to remember is that nobody's going around pretending that the threat to Israel is nonexistent or that Israel's level of response is an overreaction to a once-in-a-million accident.
I flew on September 16th, 2001, to go to my first job on the other side of the country. At the airport, both my checked luggage and my carry-ons were dismantled and thoroughly searched before I even got *near* a metal detector. Same happened to everyone traveling that day. And you know what? I didn't hear one complaint.
"If the second, two immediate questions arise: should we care… and, even if we do care, how effective a deterrent is the U.S., really? It certainly didn’t stop Iraq from invading Kuwait. "
Ho, ho, ho. April Glaspie *told* Saddam Hussein that the US wouldn't respond if Iraq invaded Kuwait.
Erotic Harry Potter fanfic is practically being published and sold right along the actual books.
Hell, fanfic in generally is pretty mainstream these days. There are thriving fanfic communities for the darndest things--and, despite the desperate claims of the fanfic writers, these communities are almost entirely female or hikikomori.
Most authors wink-and-a-nod "ignore" the fanfic, but some try to handle it, usually with ovary-expoding results. http://www.teleread.com/copy-right/novelist-diana-gabaldon-causes-fanfic-furor/
Considering that urostomy patients are told not to sleep on their sides or stomach to avoid dislodging the bag, I'd argue that the TSA checkpoint wasn't the first time the guy found himself "wet with urine".
And yes, it is sad, but it does leave me wondering why these patients are satisfied with a medical solution so shitty that a minor bump will dislodge it and spill urine everywhere.
"what do we get out of (successfully) trying KSM?"
Well, the intent was to set a legal precedent that detainees could be held as criminals without needing to use the "enemy combatants" dodge (or invent a "third class" as Kilgore suggests.)
I can't blame the TSA guy for following his training. If he lets those nail clippers on the plane and someone finds out, he's fired.
Try asking a McDonald's burger-microwaver to give you one "medium rare". This is exactly the same situation. It looks stupid because we aren't thinking like the government bureaucrats who wrote the TSA procedures.
“Alberto told me, ‘It’s imperative that you believe completely in what we’re going to do,’ ” he recalled, “ ‘because it will be completely different from anything you’ve been taught.’ ”
...which sounds like the definition of "placebo effect" to me.
PS there's an amusing Javascript on that page that automatically appends an article link any time you copy a full sentence from the article.
PS your statement that "the 9/11 hijackers didn't take their box cutters through the metal detectors" is not correct. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_77#Boarding
Both the Reid and the Farouk attacks failed well before anyone got involved. If either had used a proper igniter then we wouldn't even be *having* this conversation.
Many people have pointed out the Progressive fascination with Strong Central Authority that's Objectively Superior and therefore Morally Acceptable. Very few of them *say* that they'd be happy with a return to out-and-out monarchy, but I doubt they'd kick very hard if we got one.
Indeed, see all the crying about the Kennedy Dynasty, and how Massachusetts was "Kennedy's seat", and all that.
And I can certainly understand the attraction. Who wants to spend their time thinking about the nitpicky grinding gritty-details *business* of life? All that grunting and sweating? Much better to lock ourselves up in ivory towers and devote ourselves to pure thought. Ding! Time to poop! Okay, I pooped. Ding! Time for a meal! Oh goody, granola bars again. Hm, is it time for TV yet? Nope, we haven't heard a Ding yet.
"I can’t defend having a defense budget that is larger than the next, I think, ten countries combined?"
If we didn't have a defense budget of that size, then someone would seriously think they could beat us in a stand-up fight, and the result of *that* would be *much* more expensive than the defense budget we've got now.
Great. Are you going to also require that the FDA automatically approve any drug submitted to it? The price of drugs mostly goes into repaying the costs of the clinical trials.
"Essentially cable TV with ten thousand channels."
Yeah; if you look at the early "services" like Prodigy or AOL, that's pretty much what you have. Webpages that seem like monolithic artifacts, carved from wood at a cost of thousands of dollars. User interactivity? Well, we have a phone number you can call to get some brochures mailed, if you want. Or you could call our sales department. E-mail? Wha? Why would we give you access to our internal mail network?
On the other hand, you could have a fun bit where Case is walking through a crowd, and as he walks past everyone in the crowd *their* phone rings; like, instead of pay phones, now it's the people themselves!
Yeah; this was my first thought. Maybe private companies will do it, but the government's going to write the specs and approve the procedures.
Indeed, I'd think that a private company would be MORE likely to cut corners and hire shady characters and do a bad job. The government hasn't got a profit motive, and the civic-duty aspect is clearer. This whole thing sounds like hiring Halliburton instead of using the Army Corps of Engineers.
There's a lot of back-and-forth about the math in the Chronicle comments. Some suggest that the writer could do better, on a per-word rate basis, if they just got a straight job.
It seems to me, though, that a guaranteed 2.5 cents per word is better than a theoretical higher rate that doesn't exist. Also, when you're competing on quality and inventiveness, you need to work a LOT harder; when you're preying on desperate students nobody much cares.
Indeed, it says a lot about the worth of an education that a Wikipedia rewrite and some Google-whacking produces work of sufficient quality to get you one.
Even in the annals of war, World War I was a spectacular compendium of stupidity.
Although, in a way, we should thank Kaiser Wilhelm for once-and-for-all destroying the notion that hereditary monarchies (or families of same) had any special claims to intelligence, wisdom, or general worthiness.
The funny part is that they aren't going to tell anyone that the horrible lip sores are A: on people who've smoked a dozen packs a week since before most teenager's *parents* were born, B: the result of long-term medical conditions that went untreated and could easily have been handled, and C: probably the result of syphilis or other non-smoking diseases.
Instead they go around talking like smoking a cig will immediately and unavoidably turn you into a rot-faced bum.
Neuromancer: I don't think there'd be much point in a "Neuromancer" movie anymore, although I'm sure that someone's planning to try. Every idea that Neuromancer brought to the table has been done better by something else.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Profiling, Political Correctness, and Airport Security”
One thing to remember is that nobody's going around pretending that the threat to Israel is nonexistent or that Israel's level of response is an overreaction to a once-in-a-million accident.
I flew on September 16th, 2001, to go to my first job on the other side of the country. At the airport, both my checked luggage and my carry-ons were dismantled and thoroughly searched before I even got *near* a metal detector. Same happened to everyone traveling that day. And you know what? I didn't hear one complaint.
On “So What Should Be Done?”
You say that as though there weren't a massive US military presence in Western Europe from 1950 to 1990.
"
"If the second, two immediate questions arise: should we care… and, even if we do care, how effective a deterrent is the U.S., really? It certainly didn’t stop Iraq from invading Kuwait. "
Ho, ho, ho. April Glaspie *told* Saddam Hussein that the US wouldn't respond if Iraq invaded Kuwait.
On “Jack London, the socialist Ayn Rand”
Erotic Harry Potter fanfic is practically being published and sold right along the actual books.
Hell, fanfic in generally is pretty mainstream these days. There are thriving fanfic communities for the darndest things--and, despite the desperate claims of the fanfic writers, these communities are almost entirely female or hikikomori.
Most authors wink-and-a-nod "ignore" the fanfic, but some try to handle it, usually with ovary-expoding results. http://www.teleread.com/copy-right/novelist-diana-gabaldon-causes-fanfic-furor/
On “TSA Stays Abreast of the Problem”
Considering that urostomy patients are told not to sleep on their sides or stomach to avoid dislodging the bag, I'd argue that the TSA checkpoint wasn't the first time the guy found himself "wet with urine".
And yes, it is sad, but it does leave me wondering why these patients are satisfied with a medical solution so shitty that a minor bump will dislodge it and spill urine everywhere.
On “The Remnant”
I think what's funniest about this whole TSA thing is that freaking out about human nudity is now the progressive enlightened viewpoint!
On “Moderating Extremists”
Or Jon Stewart.
On “The Real Miscarriage of Justice”
"what do we get out of (successfully) trying KSM?"
Well, the intent was to set a legal precedent that detainees could be held as criminals without needing to use the "enemy combatants" dodge (or invent a "third class" as Kilgore suggests.)
On “The crazy misadventures of the TSA”
I can't blame the TSA guy for following his training. If he lets those nail clippers on the plane and someone finds out, he's fired.
Try asking a McDonald's burger-microwaver to give you one "medium rare". This is exactly the same situation. It looks stupid because we aren't thinking like the government bureaucrats who wrote the TSA procedures.
On ““The Perfect Stride””
“Alberto told me, ‘It’s imperative that you believe completely in what we’re going to do,’ ” he recalled, “ ‘because it will be completely different from anything you’ve been taught.’ ”
...which sounds like the definition of "placebo effect" to me.
PS there's an amusing Javascript on that page that automatically appends an article link any time you copy a full sentence from the article.
On “Why are Republicans Soft on Terror?”
PS your statement that "the 9/11 hijackers didn't take their box cutters through the metal detectors" is not correct. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_77#Boarding
"
Both the Reid and the Farouk attacks failed well before anyone got involved. If either had used a proper igniter then we wouldn't even be *having* this conversation.
On “The Moral Equivalent of Monarchy”
Many people have pointed out the Progressive fascination with Strong Central Authority that's Objectively Superior and therefore Morally Acceptable. Very few of them *say* that they'd be happy with a return to out-and-out monarchy, but I doubt they'd kick very hard if we got one.
Indeed, see all the crying about the Kennedy Dynasty, and how Massachusetts was "Kennedy's seat", and all that.
And I can certainly understand the attraction. Who wants to spend their time thinking about the nitpicky grinding gritty-details *business* of life? All that grunting and sweating? Much better to lock ourselves up in ivory towers and devote ourselves to pure thought. Ding! Time to poop! Okay, I pooped. Ding! Time for a meal! Oh goody, granola bars again. Hm, is it time for TV yet? Nope, we haven't heard a Ding yet.
On “So What Should Be Done?”
"I can’t defend having a defense budget that is larger than the next, I think, ten countries combined?"
If we didn't have a defense budget of that size, then someone would seriously think they could beat us in a stand-up fight, and the result of *that* would be *much* more expensive than the defense budget we've got now.
"
Great. Are you going to also require that the FDA automatically approve any drug submitted to it? The price of drugs mostly goes into repaying the costs of the clinical trials.
On “Underestimating the internet”
"Essentially cable TV with ten thousand channels."
Yeah; if you look at the early "services" like Prodigy or AOL, that's pretty much what you have. Webpages that seem like monolithic artifacts, carved from wood at a cost of thousands of dollars. User interactivity? Well, we have a phone number you can call to get some brochures mailed, if you want. Or you could call our sales department. E-mail? Wha? Why would we give you access to our internal mail network?
On “The Hunger Games (and other books and such)”
On the other hand, you could have a fun bit where Case is walking through a crowd, and as he walks past everyone in the crowd *their* phone rings; like, instead of pay phones, now it's the people themselves!
On “Why are Republicans Soft on Terror?”
"Not mine. Because I can participate in a group taked--"
BOOM
whoops, there goes your group. Sorry!
On “An Education”
And the piece's author does point out that "hiring people to do the work for you" is indeed a life skill for many of his clients.
On “Why are Republicans Soft on Terror?”
Yeah; this was my first thought. Maybe private companies will do it, but the government's going to write the specs and approve the procedures.
Indeed, I'd think that a private company would be MORE likely to cut corners and hire shady characters and do a bad job. The government hasn't got a profit motive, and the civic-duty aspect is clearer. This whole thing sounds like hiring Halliburton instead of using the Army Corps of Engineers.
On “What sort of country do you want to live in?”
So the new paradigm of good parenting is to videotape strangers molesting your daughter?
On “An Education”
There's a lot of back-and-forth about the math in the Chronicle comments. Some suggest that the writer could do better, on a per-word rate basis, if they just got a straight job.
It seems to me, though, that a guaranteed 2.5 cents per word is better than a theoretical higher rate that doesn't exist. Also, when you're competing on quality and inventiveness, you need to work a LOT harder; when you're preying on desperate students nobody much cares.
Indeed, it says a lot about the worth of an education that a Wikipedia rewrite and some Google-whacking produces work of sufficient quality to get you one.
On “A Poem for Armistice Day”
Even in the annals of war, World War I was a spectacular compendium of stupidity.
Although, in a way, we should thank Kaiser Wilhelm for once-and-for-all destroying the notion that hereditary monarchies (or families of same) had any special claims to intelligence, wisdom, or general worthiness.
On “What Do You Call It When…”
The funny part is that they aren't going to tell anyone that the horrible lip sores are A: on people who've smoked a dozen packs a week since before most teenager's *parents* were born, B: the result of long-term medical conditions that went untreated and could easily have been handled, and C: probably the result of syphilis or other non-smoking diseases.
Instead they go around talking like smoking a cig will immediately and unavoidably turn you into a rot-faced bum.
On “The Hunger Games (and other books and such)”
Wow, that Klavan piece was...weird.
Neuromancer: I don't think there'd be much point in a "Neuromancer" movie anymore, although I'm sure that someone's planning to try. Every idea that Neuromancer brought to the table has been done better by something else.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.