I don't usually announce when I add a link to the permalink list at the left, but in this case I will make an exception. We are adding a link to A Small Victory. The reason for the public announcement of the link is that several sites publicly delinked the site because they disagreed with things posted there. That's fine, if you don't agree with stuff on a site, my commitment to free speech doesn't include advertising for people you disagree with, they have plenty of venues to make their views known. But apparently the links were removed with full public announcement and somewhat hurtful manner like an old Puritan shunning. I have just discovered the site, so I have not read much of it but it seems pretty worthwhile to me. (Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for pointing out the situation.

Wisdom of Homer Simpson

Homer: In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women...

There's a great Lileks bleat today about music of the past and attempts to inculcate in his daughter Gnat an appreciation for it, which while she will probably forget about it during her early teen years may come to remember it fondly later on. I haven't written much about music on this site before mainly because we have been concerned mostly with politics/economics/technology, but music is one of my great passions so I think every once in awhile I will sprinkle in some musical thoughts along with some recommendations of exceptional things I have heard recently.

I collect music (I used to say I collect records or CD's but to some people that implies a specific passion where you go to used record shops and hunt down that pristine 1964 copy of the soundtrack to Casino Royale. I don't do that, I just buy lots of CD's, previously LP's to hear the music on them). I have been doing so since I was about 10 and have a collection of over 15000 LP's & CD's of which half is classical, one quarter jazz and the rest a mixture of rock, ethnic, electronic, blues, R&B, pop, avant garde etc. I am unfortunately and to my great dismay not a very competent musician although I have for the last two years been trying my best to become a moderate pianist after two interrupted attempts in my past (once when I was 6 and my teacher got married and moved away and I never got a replacement and again in college where I would play in the practice rooms at NYU). My wife is a better musician, she sings (or has sung) with several semi-pro choruses and has a glorious voice and we both are trying are best to give our girls a deep appreciation for music of all kinds.

The Lileks piece reminded me of thoughts I've had in the last few weeks about classic songs. It seems to me that there aren't nearly as many as there used to be, although part of that is the difficulty of recognizing them until a fair amount of time has passed. One of the signs of a classic, though, is a song which gets performed by many diverse musicians with diverse styles. Given that criteria I think the first 'classic' song from the eighties may be Cyndi Lauper's hit 'Time After Time'. You can find very lovely covers on recent albums by Cassandra Wilson, Willie Nelson, Eva Cassidy, Tuck & Patti. Listening to them gives you an appreciation of the different dimensions the song has on top of it's simple beauty (another sign of a classic). The covers are all quite good and I would recommend them all wholeheartedly, although if I had to pick I would probably choose the Eva Cassidy as favorite.

For something completely different, another exceptional, recently heard CD is the collection of choral music by the American composer Morten Lauridsen. Pick a quiet night with a glass of fine cognac in hand and let the exquisite sound wash over you. It literally sends chills up your spine and makes your brain tingle.

Wisdom of Homer Simpson

Lisa: What do you say to a boy to let him know you're not interested?
Marge: Well, honey, when I...
Homer: Let me handle this, Marge, I've heard 'em all. "I like you as a friend." "I think we should see other people." "I don't speak English." "I'm married to the sea." "I don't wanna kill you, but I will." ... Six simple words: I'm not gay, but I'll learn.

Interesting piece on virtual reality haptic (ie touch sensation) interfaces. Among the cited possible applications: teledildonics (virtual sex). (via Right Wing News)

BitchPundit has a very funny piece on what our negotiations with Saddam would be like if we sent Samuel L. Jackson instead of Colin Powell.

Draw Bart Simpson II

This might help with drawing Bart Simpson.

Wisdom of Homer Simpson

Homer: When it comes to compliments, women are ravenous blood-sucking monsters always want'n more... more... MORE! And if you give it to them, you'll get plenty back in return.
Bart: Like what?
Homer: I'll tell you when you're older. [

Arnold Kling has an excellent column taking apart Krugman's income distribution piece in last weeks NYT magazine.

Click here to get your own randomly-generated post-modern essay.

Interesting take on the Bellesiles case and it's relation to the current fashionable nonsense that passes for scholarship in academia. The blog who's motto is "Making fun of academics, 'cause it's easy!" look promising too.

Classic Lileks line about Mondale in '84 from todays Bleat:

I was a hardcore Democrat at the time, and I remember watching the speech and thinking: we are going to lose. We are going to lose 51 states. Puerto Rico will demand statehood just for the chance not to vote for this guy.

The gas used by the Russians has been identified. Apparently the antidote for an overdose of the active ingredient of the gas is easily available and many of the hostages who were killed by the gas might have been saved if doctors were told what was in the gas.

Speaking of quotes, here's a great collection of Robert Heinlein quotes.

Some choice examples:

Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty.

There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.

Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.

Never worry about theory as long as the machinery does what it's supposed to do.

No intelligent man has any respect for an unjust law.

I do know that the slickest way to lie is to tell the right amount of truth - then to shut up.

I'll give you an exact definition. When the happiness of another person becomes as essential to yourself as your own, then the state of love exists.

Morality is your agreement with yourself to abide by your own rules.

A desire not to butt into other people's business is at least eighty percent of all human wisdom . . . and the other twenty percent isn't very important.

Does history record any case in which the majority was right?

Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.

The greatest productive force is human selfishness.

Never appeal to a man's 'better nature.' He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage.

One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once.

C&S has this quote:

"One of the requirements of a healthy party is that it renews itself. You can't keep running Walter Mondale for everything." - Walter Mondale, 1989

Some scientists think they have found a cause of adolescent angst. Nerve activity in the teenaged brain is so intense that they find it hard to process basic information, rendering the teenagers emotionally and socially inept.

Robert McGivern and his team of neuroscientists at San Diego State University, US, found that as children enter puberty, their ability to quickly recognise other people's emotions plummets. What is more, this ability does not return to normal until they are around 18 years old.

McGivern reckons this goes some way towards explaining why teenagers tend to find life so unfair, because they cannot read social situations as efficiently as others.

I guess the brains of leftists never get back to normal.

Schmoozing is good for the brain

In another study, Ybarra analyzed the connection between social engagement and cognitive function, including everyday decision-making as well as memory and cognition, in nearly 2,000 older residents of four Middle Eastern countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia. Again, he controlled for a wide range of factors that could account for any correlation and found that the more participants reported being socially engaged, the less cognitive impairment they suffered and the more they participated in everyday decision-making.

While Ybarra emphasizes that his analysis shows correlations between mental function and social engagement and does not establish causation in either direction, he believes that the link between the two cuts across cultures and is perhaps fundamental to what it means to be human.