Around the Web on 6-8-06

Today's busy, so stay tuned for a roundup in "terse mode"....

Canadian Jihad



Cox and Forkum have a very good roundup on the recent arrests of seventeen terrorists in Canada who were planning to deploy fertilizer bombs and to decapitate the Prime Minister.

Coming Soon: Gus Get Paid for while Blogging

Well! Now that road rage -- erm "intermittent explosive disorder (IED!) -- is a mental illness, I suppose that this road rage victim -- um "survivor" -- has carte blanche to blog all day at work. After all, wouldn't this put me under the "protection" of the Americans with Disabilities Act", and make me into a "lawsuit bomb"?

[Disclaimer: The above joke was made in a desperate, if misguided attempt at self-therapy by a man afflicted with IED, and was not intended as vocational or legal advice. In fact, as a special member of the Caste of the Disabled, he cannot be held responsible for anything he does, ever again.]

Review: Markets Don't Fail!

Gideon Reich reviews a book on economics at Rule of Reason.

In his text, Simpson addresses some of the most common claims of market failure, examining issues such as monopolization, externalities, environmentalism, and public goods, just to name a few. In each example, Simpson lays out the strongest case of the interventionist side -- and then proceeds to utterly demolish it. An illustrative example is his coverage of externalities. He begins by clearly defining the term "externality"....

Review: Everything Bad is Good for You

Jennifer Snow reviews a book whose hypothesis that many activities in the popular culture are good for you, a point Glenn Reynolds also made in one of the chapters of An Army of Davids.

In a world where prophetic warnings against the dumbing effects of popular culture are rampant, Johnson's view seems more than a little crazy. However, he points to a number of trends that seem to support his viewpoint, trends he refers to as the "sleeper curve". One of the most intriguing is his mention of the Flynn Effect: an unusual and unexplained rise in IQ scores over the past 30 years.

What is it about lions?

One of the great shorthand metaphors for persecution of Christians is being thrown into a lions' den. That being the case, is this a case of "self-persecution"? David Veksler quotes a Reuters report.

A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lioness in Kiev zoo after he crept into the animal's enclosure, a zoo official said on Monday. "The man shouted 'God will save me, if he exists', lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions," the official said.

"A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery."

For those of us still in this "veil of tears", this should sound like "deja vu all over again".

Sounds Like Pile of Akaka to Me

Grant Jones has a pair of updates on the racist Akaka Bill that would bestow special privileges on certain citizens of Hawaii based on their race.

But color me less than sanguine about a veto threat by Bush, who has yet to exercise that executive power even once!

Barbarism in Brazil

Bruno has a very disturbing report on a recent storming of the Brazilian Congress by leftist thugs.

This kind of action is becoming very common in Brazil, as the leftist government is lenient toward such movements and even supports (and is supported by) them. They fall in a contradictory situation: they can't fail to condemn such barbarous acts of terrorism, yet they can't erase their past, in which they called for the same kind of actions!

Checking the Box

Has the Software Nerd discovered his bureaucratic "roots"?

Funny thought, but don't do it at work, even if you can, say, make good on a Churchillian boast about Indian ancestry. Unless you really want to discuss your opposition to affirmative action with your boss or have to come up with a clever way to avoid doing so.

Trust me.

Hmmm. Did I just say not to check the box even if it's true?

Heroes at Harvard

Craig Biddle discusses some exciting research at Harvard. The blue states do have something going for them, after all. And this was quite well-put.

Hallelujah! Kudos to Hyman and the whole team at Harvard (and hellfire to Bush and his fellow religionists who oppose such crucial research in the name of the same fantasy that prevents them from eliminating the Iranian regime).

Fun with Science

If the feds, in the name of "fighting terrorism", are going to ban chemistry sets and model rockets -- rather than "ban" the Iranian regime by whatever means are necessary -- then perhaps budding young scientists will have to make their own chemicals and build their own rockets.

Popular Science's How 2.0 has a round up of Theodore Gray's articles from the past 3 years, tons and tons of experiments and how-tos - " Ever yearn to make your own silicon? Preserve a snowflake on a microscope slide? Fuel a rocket ship with sugar? Theodore Gray undertakes these and many more mind-bending projects in his monthly PopSci column, archived here for your entertainment. Just remember that Gray is well trained in lab safety procedures--if you decide to try these experiments, you should be, too."

Thank goodness for the Internet!

Mike's Eyes are seeing red.

Mike takes a look at our idiocy concerning Iran.

So we are giving "rewards" to thugs in return for the thugs' promise not to be too thuggish with us! There is no difference between this "package" and the package reached by a homeowner who offers to give some of his money to a thief in return for the thief's promise not to try and steal the rest of it.

Precisely.

No Teacher for Yale's Star Taliban Recruit

Too bad.

Buh-bye!

Eric over at Classical Values says, " It isn't often I can agree with the enemy, but join them in thanking God."

In my case, I'll take "God" here as a figure of speech intended to designate the American military.

How's that for ending on a light note?

-- CAV