Yet another weird SF fan


I'm a mathematician, a libertarian, and a science-fiction fan. Common sense? What's that?

Go to first entry


 

Archives

<< current
 
E-mail address:
jhertzli AT ix DOT netcom DOT com


My Earthlink/Netcom Site

My Tweets

My other blogs
Small Sample Watch
XBM Graphics


The Former Four Horsemen of the Ablogalypse:
Someone who used to be sane (formerly War)
Someone who used to be serious (formerly Plague)
Rally 'round the President (formerly Famine)
Dr. Yes (formerly Death)

Interesting weblogs:
Back Off Government!
Bad Science
Blogblivion
Boing Boing
Debunkers Discussion Forum
Deep Space Bombardment
Depleted Cranium
Dr. Boli’s Celebrated Magazine.
EconLog
Foreign Dispatches
Good Math, Bad Math
Greenie Watch
The Hand Of Munger
Howard Lovy's NanoBot
Hyscience
Liberty's Torch
The Long View
My sister's blog
Neo Warmonger
Next Big Future
Out of Step Jew
Overcoming Bias
The Passing Parade
Peter Watts Newscrawl
Physics Geek
Pictures of Math
Poor Medical Student
Prolifeguy's take
The Raving Theist
RealityCarnival
Respectful Insolence
Sedenion
Seriously Science
Shtetl-Optimized
Slate Star Codex
The Speculist
The Technoptimist
TJIC
Tools of Renewal
XBM Graphics
Zoe Brain

Other interesting web sites:
Aspies For Freedom
Crank Dot Net
Day By Day
Dihydrogen Monoxide - DHMO Homepage
Fourmilab
Jewish Pro-Life Foundation
Libertarians for Life
The Mad Revisionist
Piled Higher and Deeper
Science, Pseudoscience, and Irrationalism
Sustainability of Human Progress


























Yet another weird SF fan
 

Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Just in Case the Environmentalists Are Right for Once …

Global warming is a particularly knotty problem for several reasons. First, it is even more complex than most other scientific controversies and requires a very broad range of experts. Second, for the past few decades there has been a belief in some quarters that industrial civilization is a Crime against Nature and we must be made to pay. Third, once every blue moon or so, those people get something right (they were right about lead — which can cause brain damage and voting for Democrats). Fourth, the belief in the environmentalist faith tends to be cumulative; acceptance of dubious ideas ideas on acid rain etc. is used as a precendent for accepting other dubious theories. This means if the GW hysteria is wrong we can't let them get away with assuming it is indubitable. On the other hand, if they turn out to have some proof and are resisted anyway that could also be used as a precedent. Fifth, the extreme complexity means it is possible to gerrymander the expert advice. We might have theorists telling us the statistics prove the case and statisticians telling us the theory is solid. We can also have people summarizing things by telling us the truth, the half truth, and nothing but the truth.

I doubt if it is possible for the average citizen (or even the average on-line addict) to make an informed decision. The best we can hope for is trying to eliminate so-called “experts” who are using this as an excuse for an anti-industrial revolution. The good news is we have a method.

Nuclear energy.

If the worst-case analysis is even close to truth, that can be used to push through nuclear energy schemes. If every government has a set policy of using nuclear energy as an alternative to regulation, the environmentalist wackos will back off from their most extreme claims and maybe real experts will be able to decide. If they back off we'll know it was a bluff and if they continue anyway we'll know they're sincere.

The political problems involved in deregulating nukes are minute compared with the regimentation needed to suppress fossil fuels. In any case, the political problems are due to the fact that the People think the Experts oppose nuclear energy and the Experts think the People oppose nuclear energy.

GO NUKES!

Ann Coulter's Idea Upside Down

Shorly after 911, Ann Coulter suggested converting the leaders of Muslim nations to Christianity. The opposite idea might make more sense. Recently, the Arab street has been quiescent whereas the European street has been obnoxiously noisy. Apparently, the Arabs object to dithering whereas the Europeans admire it. Maybe if we converted Europeans leaders to Islam, we'd get people who are less obstructive.

Math and Usenet Kooks

Many usenet kooks put exclamation points after each sentence! I just realized that every sentence with an exclamation point is true! For example, the sentence “2 + 2 < 4” is false but “2 + 2 < 4!” is true!

It's so simple!

Why Iraqi Civilians have Guns

The right-wing of Nuts R Us has recently noticed that the Saddam regime has allowed its subjects to own guns. On the other hand, a well-known picture of the “fierce Iraqi militia” shows them with guns but no ammunition. On the gripping hand, some of the Iraqi forces are wearing civilian clothes and ambushing our soldiers.

If we put this all together, we get: the Saddam regime handed out guns to civilians to ensure they look like soldiers. If ordinary civilians were visibly disarmed, our forces could use metal detectors and treat the civilians leniently with no fear of attack. When they all have guns, they all look like guerillas. They don't need ammunition and if they had it, they might use it to overthrow the regime.

Sunday, March 23, 2003

The Roman Analog of Dubya

Responding to an attack by barbarians nobody had even heard of before, professionalizing previously amateur government services, changing a foreign policy based on reacting to preceived threats to one based on preventive war, launching numerous initiatives not all of which make sense, using dubious interpretations of election laws, …

In other words, it's Marius.

Of course, in the days of Marius, Rome could flatten any other nation within reach with a small fraction of its might.

There was even a revolt by Rome's allies, which was stopped by giving in on a few token issues.

I suppose this means it will be five hundred years before Washington is sacked … so things could be worse.

US Empire vs. UN Empire

One of the few good arguments against US intervention in Iraq is that it might be a step on the road to an American Empire. If we have to give up our sovereignty to the UN, we're going to have an Empire anyway. In that case, it may as well be our empire and not somebody else's.

At least our Empire will protect free speech and the right to keep and bear arms.

Thursday, March 20, 2003

Rachel Corrie and Illegal Abortions

Let's see… We have someone who was killed while engaged in deliberately risky activities she had no business doing in the first place. This is supposed to be somebody else's fault.

Is there any reason I should feel more or less compassion for someone dying in the act of shredding an unborn child and someone dying in the act of helping future fragheads?

Tuesday, March 18, 2003

The Real Jewish Conspiracy

A few years ago, I realized where Kevin MacDonald (recently discussed on the Gene Expression weblog) got the details of his theories: He based it on the musical Fiddler on the Roof.


The importance of self-interest in Jewish society is clearly based on “If I Were a Rich Man.” One of the first things the song mentions as a consequence of wealth is the ability to “build a big tall house with rooms by the dozen right in the middle of the town.” This shows how Jews evolved to fit a crowded environment; most gentiles would buy land as part of a move to the upper class.

I don't think MacDonald can handle an exact translation of “dydle deedle dydle digga digga deedle dydle dum” right now.

The theory that Jews always referred to themselves as victims is clearly referring to “underpaid, overworked Anatevka.”

The belief that Marxism and Judaism have something to do with each other is clearly derived from the treatment of Perchik. (“He's a good man. Hodel likes him. In fact, Hodel loves him.”) She is even willing to follow him into exile in “Far from the Home I Love” which implies the above characterization of Anatevka is just self-pity. Perchik's characterization of Laban as characteristic of employers can only be the basis of the widespread belief among in some quarters that tirades against anti-semites in classical Jewish literature led to the Gulag.

Near the beginning of Fiddler, Hodel has her eye on the Rabbi's son. (This implies that religious authority is regarded as partly hereditary.) Of course, this shows how religious authority was replaced by ideological authority among Jews. The Rabbi shows himself to be an obvious proto-Marxist with the prayer “May G-d bless and keep the Czar ... far away from us!” This shows how he did not regard Jews as part of Russian society.

The claim that the two sources of Jewish authority represent a continuous tradition is demonstrated by “Sunrise, Sunset” which shows how Jewish tradition as a whole is more important than the manifestation of it in a given generation. The tradition reasserts itself when Tevye regards a Marxist as a far more acceptable son-in-law than a goy.

The fact that many Jews were willing to follow an ideology (Marxism) that made no sense whatsoever must be a consequence of the Jewish attitude towards tradition. (“I'll tell you. I don't know. But it's a tradition.”)

We can see a possible reason for the change in the replacement of Lazar Wolf by Motel Kamzoil. In a stagnant economy, someone of established wealth is a much better “catch” than a poor tailor. (This also shows how polygyny could be part of a nominally-monogamous society. Lazar Wolf would have had two wives serially. Frume Sarah is portrayed as reacting in a manner more appropriate to the first wife of a bigamist.) In a growing economy, a young man who will spend his working life in a richer society is a better catch.

Most important of all, “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” shows the Jewish eugenics plan in action. Jewish eugenics was designed to produce both intellectual success (“For Papa, make him a scholar”) and economic success (“For Mama, make him rich as a king”). There is also some degree of assortative mating going on. (“With no dowry, no money, no family background, be glad you got a man.”) “Family background” can only refer to the very best genes possible.

One last point: When I regard a possible takeover by National Socialism with disfavor, “It's not that I'm sentimental; it's just that I'm terrified!”

You can see evidence of our other plans in the works of Celine Dione. For example:

It was dead long ago
But it's all coming back to me
It's so hard to resist
And it's all coming back to me
I can barely recall
But it's all coming back to me now

At first sight this appears to have nothing to do with Jews at all until we check it against Spengler. From The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler (out of context, of course, I must adhere to the intellectual standards set by conspiracy theorists):

In the ‘Enlightenment’ of the eighteenth century the Western Culture in turn becomes megalopolitan and intellectual, and so, suddenly, accessible to the intelligentsia of the Consensus. And the latter, thus dumped into the middle of an epoch corresponding, for them, to the remote past of a long-expired Sephardic life-current, were inevitably stirred by echo-feelings...

This all becomes clearer when we realize that Elvis is a Jew. (He was descended from Jews in the female line.) When we also recall that He has been acknowledged as King by all the nations and has even been resurrected, it should be obvious to the meanest intelligence that Our Lord Elvis Christ is the Messiah.

Conclusive proof of the divinity of Elvis can be found in the book of Isaiah (55:2): “Let your soul delight itself in fatness.”


The above was taken from Protocols of the Elders of Pop Culture. Coming up next: The Judeo-Bolshevik Agenda of the Marx Brothers or Why Did Adolph Marx Change His First Name but Not His Last Name?

Thursday, March 13, 2003

Depleted Uranium

Depleted uranium has supposedly had horrifying effects in the Gulf War. Let's crunch a few numbers. Kuwait has an area of 17,881 square miles. If we assume the war zone was Kuwait and a similar area in Iraq and if we assume that the ground in the area has an average amount of natural radioactivity, (4 ppm of uranium) then the top inch of the war zone has over 20,000 tons of natural uranium — far more than was used as ammunition.

Radioactivity might not be that dangerous. People in the Rocky Mountain States (“where the scenery's attractive and the air is radioactive” — Professor Tom Lehrer) have low cancer mortality rates. There is also no evidence of multi-generation damage at Hiroshima.

Uranium-238 is not very radioactive anyway. It is more dangerous because of chemical poisoning than radiation poisoning. (It's the second least radioactive actinide, just behind thorium-232.) If we didn't use U-238, we would have traditionally used lead — another chemical poison.

Wednesday, March 12, 2003

There's more evidence that abortion can lower crime rates. Pro-life guy is highly critical:

Seems the abortion-crime link folks are at it again. For the sake of argument, assume they're right. So what? Execute every violent felon immediately upon conviction, and you'll find a strong link between your public policy and the crime rate. Do as Franco did and make criminals of all stripes disappear, and you'll find a strong link between your policy and the crime rate. Hell, just chuck the Bill of Rights and you'll see a very nice drop in the crime rate.

There's a simple way to characterize abortion as a crime-prevention measure. It is preventive execution.

According to The New York Times, the universe might be shaped like a doughnut. I can imagine the new translation of the Book of Genesis:

In the beginning God created the griddle and the dough. Now the dough was raw and had a hole and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the pan. And God said “Time to make the doughnuts!” And there were doughnuts...

In related news, Charles Murtaugh found a link to Homer Simpson's cosmology.

 
Profiles
My Blogger Profile
eXTReMe Tracker X-treme Tracker


The Atom Feed This page is powered by Blogger.