The man-made global warming/climate change/ozone hole alarmists are quite adamant about claiming those who don’t agree with them are science deniers. You see, there is no debate. The consensus is that the future is certain (as it so often is), and that we are destroying the planet. The science, they say, is settled. And if you don’t believe it, you are a science denier. Funny thing, though, that these are the same people, so guided by science, who don’t believe that a person born a male is necessarily a male, and a person born a female is female. Who…
All we are saying…
Literally not a day went by after President Trump was sworn in, and millions of people were already protesting… something. The day after inauguration, the Women’s March was the largest single day protest in US history. Since then, liberal groups like Antifa have been protesting, often violently, every chance they get. In an unprecedented move, newspaper editors around the country have banded together to all write anti-Trump articles about his statements regarding the mass media being an enemy of the state. You can’t swing a dead cat without hearing another talk show host or political commentator ripping very personally…
What’s new in ice cream?
If you’ve been following the latest in ice cream technology, then you’ve seen Magnum’s breakthrough. In an industry that hasn’t seen much innovation in the past… ever, Magnum released a new approach. Before they put the ice cream in the pint container, they first lined it with a hardened chocolate so that when you receive it, you can either crack the sides of the container so it breaks up into the chocolate, or you can keep it solid and eat it at the end. This is a signals an end to ice cream as usual. Ever since ice cream…
Who discovered the whale?
Whales have been around for 50 million years (which seems like a long time), but when did humans discover them? To discover a whale, they either had to be seen from shore, or people had to invent the boat and get out to see enough to see one. This question arose when I was sitting and thinking about Jonah and the whale. For someone to have written about Jonah in the stomach of the whale, they had to have known, back before Christ, that there were whales roaming about. Perhaps it was Jonah who discovered the whale? I wonder…
1+1=…?
When London Breed was elected Mayor of San Francisco, every article I could find about it included some version of the phrase, “San Francisco’s first black African-American woman mayor.” Yeah, but will she be any good? If you look at the cities that are failing most in this country, it’s an easy exercise to look at what political philosophy has been used to address the city’s problems and how have those solutions performed? Detroit, the poster child of urban failure, has been run by the same political ideology for the past 60 years. It’s the poorest big city in…
Racismists run rampant
We’re all racist. You’re racist. I’m racist. Everyone is racist. Liberals know they’re racists, so that puts them at least kind of on the side of the victims of racism (or at least forgiveable). Conservatives are super obvious blatant racists. Everyone knows that. But what if it’s not racism? What if it’s racism fatigue? What if the people we consider racists are really racismists? Racismists are those who reflexively are just sick of accusations of racism that have no legitimate or coherent reason or evidence. They’re sick of all bad things that happen to any black people being blamed…
Imagine
Can you imagine 535 new congressmen in the nation’s capital? (Yes, I realize we only vote for one-third of the Senate at a time.) Instead of slowly bringing in new people who can be taught by the old how to grease each other’s palm and scratch each other’s back to entrench themselves in the system, you’d have 535 people who wouldn’t even know where their offices are. There’d be no existing relationships with lobbyists. No one would be well-versed in parliamentary rule. They’d probably have to rewrite the rules of the House and Senate. They’d look at the way…
Capitalists vs industrialists (or conservatives vs liberals)
I recently read an old Seth Godin post in which he made a distinction between capitalists and industrialists. Among other things, he said “Industrialists are not capitalists. Capitalists take risks. They see an opportunity, an unmet need, and then they bring resources to bear to solve the problem and make a profit. Industrialists seek stability instead. Industrialists work to take working systems and polish them, insulate them from risk, maximize productivity and extract the maximum amount of profit.” He went on to say “Industrialists don’t mind government regulations if they write them, don’t particularly like competition or creativity or…
Jello Biafra says the funniest things
I was doing a little research on Jello Biafra, the frontman for the punk group, Dead Kennedys, and I came across a quote that I think is all too typical these days. During one of his political runs, Biafra was quoted as saying, “I’m very pro tax, if it goes for the right things.” Unfortunately, this mindset is growing in the United States: this idea that one person can or should decide what’s right for everyone, and there’s no debate to be had. What Biafra, and people like him, are essentially saying is that most people are too stupid…
If you want something, ask for it
It sounds so simple. If you want something, ask for it. But so often, it never occurs to people. Or they’re afraid to ask. I learned this lesson just out of college. I was working at a company with an amazing manager. One day, I arrived at work telling her about a movie poster I saw at a bus stop on the way in to work that I really wanted. Her response? “Well, call and ask for a copy.” “Call who?” “The movie studio. Who’s the studio?” “Disney. I can’t call Disney. Who would I even talk to? They’d…