One Will Be Revealed

Battlestar Galactica returns to SciFi tomorrow night at 10 o'clock Eastern. So say we all!

A Yankee Endorsement

The Brain has a platform that I can get behind:

Big Bang: The Return Tour

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is ready for it's debut. Physicists at CERN will fire up the latest and most bad-ass particle accelerator ever constructed tomorrow. It's purpose is to smash sub-atomic stuff together to recreate the matter and conditions present in the universe immediately following the Big Bang. Everyone in the physical sciences is waiting with baited breath to find out what will happen. Will they find the Higgs boson? (Stephen Hawking bets 'no' - but he's lost similar bets before.) Will a tiny black hole be formed that will engulf us all? A few people - some more balanced than others - allow for the possibility.

Personally, I think that with media assembled and the world watching, the guy in charge of this $8 Billion flashlight will suddenly turn in his chair, don a cape, and declare, "Now watch the power of this fully armed and operational battle station!"

Whatever happens, the LHC is an engineering marvel. Individual components themselves are technological wonders.

Get information on watching the hoopla live here.

He Spoke His Mind

Alexander Solzhenitsyn died Sunday in his Motherland of Russia. He achieved acclaim for his vivid depictions of a harsh life in the Soviet prisons and exile in the hinterlands. He wrote from experience, having been banished for speaking his mind against a the totalitarian system that had taken control of his beloved nation.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was already in my Shelfari collection, included in what I call my personal "Library of a Free Man". I have now added Gulag Archipelago to my "Plan to Read" list.

Solzhenitsyn was no friend of capitalism, but he deplored authoritarianism and the communism from which it sprung even more. In a society ruled by fear he spoke his mind - the censors, secret police, and political puppet masters be damned. For that we praise him today.

Rest in Peace, Alexander Isayevich.

(c) Economist

Russians mourn dissident hero Solzhenitsyn

An Icon of His Age

A profile in courage

We Know What's Best for You

This post from Alex at Marginal Revolution was so nicely put together that I decided to just put the whole thing here.

The Los Angeles council has just passed on ordinance banning new fast food restaurants in a poor section of South/Central LA. William Saletan calls it Food Apartheid and writes: We're not talking anymore about preaching diet and exercise, disclosing calorie counts, or restricting sodas in schools. We're talking about banning the sale of food to adults....It's true that food options in low-income neighborhoods are, on average, worse than the options in wealthier neighborhoods. But restricting options in low-income neighborhoods is a disturbingly paternalistic way of solving the problem. Milton Friedman once said: I don't think the state has any more right to tell me what what to put in my mouth than it has to tell me what can come out of my mouth. Friedman was talking about drug prohibition but today the target could just as easily be food prohibition. Hat tip on the Friedman quote to Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek.

Once again, Friedman was right. I don't know about you, but I don't need any government paper-pusher telling me what I can choose to eat where. These politicians are not here to help, they want control over you. Never forget that.

Cosmology Round-up

"We have water [on Mars]," confirms one of the scientists leading the Phoenix robot lander mission to the Red Planet. The Martian soil is not quite like what we expected. One of the critical questions under investigation by the Phoenix team now is whether the water is or was ever liquid long enough to support life. This is exciting stuff.

Liquid hydrocarbon lake detected on Titan. The lake, likely composed of methane and/or ethane, was found by the Cassini probe. Scientists think that Titan, largest moon of Saturn, has an environment and climate somewhat similar to that of Earth, albeit not water-based.


















Only 10 more space shuttle missions left. While the shuttles are marvels of technology, they are getting old fast. Remember that they were introduced in the late '70s. Personally, I can't wait to see the next generation of space vehicles. Unfortunately, I don't think we are quite at this point, yet.

Evil Villain: the Musical!

What? A 3 part mini-play from the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the series) starring Doogie Howser and the captain from Firefly. Why? Because the writers had some time to kill during that strike awhile back. When? Now until the 20th. Then you have to pay. You'll all pay. Mwhahahahaha!


I had to watch the Bad Horse number several times. It's just so delightfully evil.

Hey Ya!

It's Monday, so enjoy a dancing otter.




Is there anything cooler than an otter?

Mind Games

Here's a puzzle for you:

Suppose you are a secret agent and you have been captured by your crazy arch-villain nemesis. Your arch-rival, being overly dramatic and not quite thinking his plan through, locks you in room. There is only one way in or out of this room and it is sealed by a vault door. Your nemesis informs you that the only escape is to turn the door latch in exactly 9 minutes. Turning the latch any time before or after 9 minutes will result in poison gas being pumped into the room, killing you. The only items in the room are two old-fashioned hourglass type timers, with the larger one counting down 7 minutes, the smaller counting out 4 minutes.

How do you know when to turn the latch?





Adapted from Vincent Janoski's post on the Geekdad blog.

Guns are still legal

The Second Amendment says, "I ain't goin' out like that."


Gee, I never knew the Constitution was a House of Pain fan.

I would encourage every American to read the D.C. v. Heller decision. The majority opinion doesn't contain a lot of legalese and is, for the most part, straightforward. The dissenting opinions are a little more tedious to review. The footnotes in both are worthwhile, as well.

If you're lazy, and I presume you are, here are the highlights:

• The 2nd Amendment codifies an individual right that pre-dates the Constitution and was enshrined in English law as early as the mid 17th century.
• The amendment does not create this right, rather it is a recognition of a right that exists for all free people.
  
• Storage and use of a commonly available firearm, such as a handgun, for the defense of self or property, especially within the home or place of business, is protected by the 2nd Amendment. This means that the D.C. rules dictating that firearms be rendered inoperable are unconstitutional.
  
• The militia is the body of the people fit to fight. It is not the creation of state or federal government, as is the US Army (the raising of which is a Congressional power enumerated in Article I), but a ever-present subset of the population that may be called upon at any time.
  
• The Founders believed that the best protection from abuse by a powerful government, internal rebellion, or foreign invasion is a general population that keeps arms in the home and knows how to use them.
• Congress and the state assemblies have some leeway to regulate firearms, analogous to legislation criminalizing yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. For example, sawed-offed shotguns can be prohibited per the 1939 Miller decision because they have no common use in the military/militia.