There Are Just No Words . . .

I'm reminded of the line from "Crocodile Dundee:"

"someone's put two Dunnies in here!"

Only now a Japanese company combines the two functions in one device, and they want Americans to buy it. Apparently 60% of Japanese homes have one of these. The company really can't understand why more American aren't interested.

I can enlighten them a bit. their device is designed to automatically clean one's backside using a nice warm flow of water. I don't know about everyone else, but when I stumble into the bathroom in the middle of the night and turn on the hot water, IT ISN'T HOT! Who would pay$5000 for a device that will shoot them in the *** with a jet of cold water in the middle of the night? Even if the device has a sensor to run the water till it's warm, who wants to wait 1-2 minutes to wipe and dry?

There are two types of American toilet-goers.

Type A likes to get in, sit down, get it out, get up, and get gone.
Type B likes to linger, maybe read a bit, think over the cares of the day, and so on.

Neither type has a use for this type of toilet. The Type A person has no time to wait for a shower and a blow-dry, and I (the type B) certainly don't want to be halfway through a good article in PC World when my toilet decides I'm done and attacks me from behind.

Our throne is one of the few things in life that is completely under our control, and we like it that way.

Communist Absurdity

The communist Chinese government has decreed that Buddhist monks cannot reincarnate without government permission. They have even set up a procedure monks must follow.

In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation."

This is consistent with the communist view of religion as "the opiate of the masses." Communists really believe that people are dumb enough to follow whatever procedure they concoct to stamp the spiritual out of life. Either that, or the PRC finally concluded "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," gave up trying to secularize Tibet and decided to become experts in reincarnation

This is, of course, all a ploy to weaken the influence of the Dalai Lama who has been an opponent of the Communist takeover of Tibet since the 1950s. Communists consistently underestimate the power of deeply held beliefs. Communism cannot replace religion because it doesn't have the power to truly change a human heart. There never have been any truly converted Communists. (Even Stalin was seen praying in church as the German army closed in on Moscow). Communism is just a vehicle to gain power. Its tenets cannot answer the basic questions of life in any remotely satisfying way -

"Where did I come from?" - Religion answers this "from God," Communism answers "Nowhere, but now you're here, you must serve the state."

"What is the purpose of life?" - Religion answers (LDS) "men are that they might have joy." Communism: "You are here to serve the state."

"What happens when I die?" - Religions have many answers to this (reincarnation, exhaltation, Nirvana) all more appealing than communism's offering "you stop serving the state and cease to exist." (P.S. if you fall out of favor, we'll help you cease to exist sooner, then deny you were ever born.)

And people wonder why I don't like trial law . . .

A man in West Virginia is suing McDonald's for $10 million over a drive-thru order mistake. He's allergic to cheese and mistakenly got a cheeseburger. He didn't bother to check the burger before he bit into it. His mother is also suing for reckless endangerment for having to drive him to the hospital.

A woman in Michigan is suing the makers of Starburst candies because they don't warn consumers about the dangers of the candies being "too chewy." Her lawyer just wants to make sure others avoid this danger.

A New Jersey man is suing Starbucks because his tea was too hot and the Starbucks employee didn't put the lid on right. His wife is also suing for losses due to his injury.

Thou shalt not covet . . .

Even though it's one of the ten commandments, I don't think people really pay attention to why it's so important not to covet. This article from NRO really struck me as deeply insightful. Jealousy and covetousness are certainly going to need to be overcome before we can claim to be "the pure in heart." some quotes:

We almost never discuss envy anymore. “One may admit to pride, avarice, lust, anger, gluttony, and laziness, and one may even boast of them,” Gonzalo Fernandez de la Mora wrote 20 years ago in Egalitarian Envy. “There is only one capital sin no one admits to: envy. ... Its symbol ought to be a mask.” This is a shame; the most pathetic of the seven deadly sins is perhaps the most consequential.

Indeed, just look again on the 20th century. Envy turned Germany cruel. In Russia, the ideology of envy — socialism — likewise ran amok under the label Bolshevism and threatened to overrun the world. The consequences of envy run even deeper. It will never be known how many millennia man endured in misery and darkness under the moldering blanket of envy. Helmut Schoeck writes in his timeless masterpiece, Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior, that whole societies, hobbled by envy, rejected innovation, and prosperity, preferring the arrested development of all to the advancement of the few.

Like the “scientific socialism” that concealed envy behind a slide rule, today’s liberals invoke social science as justification for their covetousness. In one famous study, a majority of people said they would rather make $50,000 if others earned $25,000 than earn $100,000 if others were making $200,000

[T]hese studies turn a vice into a virtue. With the exception of the self-esteem movement, which glorifies pride, it’s difficult to imagine another area where we so shamelessly tout a sin as the basis of public policy. All men lust in their hearts; shall we dole out concubines for those of us who can’t live like Hugh Hefner? Envy has its social utility, of course. Schoeck argues, along with Nietzsche, that envy helped hone our sense of justice. Fine. But America is supposed to be different, in part because unlike, say, Germany or Russia, America had no feudal past and hence lacked the historic breeding swamps of envy. America’s egalitarianism is supposed to be political and nothing more: No man is the involuntary servant of another. Beyond that, he is the captain of his self.

The man who orders a better meal than me has done no harm to me. And it is no man’s (or bureaucrat’s) job but my own to cool the fever of my futterneid.

The whole article is very insightful, I'd encourage you to read the whole thing. and let no one say that personal vice doesn't impact anyone else.

Who Knew Detroit Was This Bad?

Urban Decay.

The National Review Online has and article by a reporter for the Detroit News on the sorry state of the city - "Unions of Urban Decay." I knew Detroit was a mess, but had no idea it was this bad. (and it can't all be blamed on the auto industry). A few sobering statistics from a once-proud city:

• The Detroit Public School system currently graduates 22 percent of its entering freshman.
• African-American males who drop out of high school in Detroit have 73-percent unemployment in their 20s.
• The city has lost half its population since 1950.
• Detroit has a 70-percent child-illegitimacy rate.
• Detroit today sports a 47-percent adult illiteracy rate. (on par with Bangladesh and trailing the Republic of Chad).
• An estimated 30 percent of Detroit’s population is in government employ. (Read: unionized).
  

He blames the city's problems on the unions, especially the teachers' union. It seems like there is a racial component too.

Michigan millionaire and philanthropist Robert Thompson, who in 2003 offered the city $200 million — $200 million! — to build 15 Detroit charter high schools. He was run out of town. Mayor Kwame Kilptrick, who sends his own kids to charter schools, advertised Detroit’s poisonous racial politics when he rapped the white businessman for trying “to ride in on a white horse” and save the city.

Or consider Dave Bing, a prominent black Detroit entrepreneur. The former Detroit Pistons star was heaped with scorn for partnering with Thompson. At a 2005 banquet hosted by the Call ‘Em Out Coalition, Bing was awarded a “Sambo Sell-Out Award” by Councilwoman Sharon McPhail.

Sad, very, very sad.

This can't help but be a huge drain on the state's economy. Detroit proper has almost 1/10 of the state's population, it's problems affect the rest of us heavily. For example, Detroit's unemployment rate is 13.8%, Michigan as a whole is 7.2%. (by my calculations, if Detroit was at 7.2% too, the statewide unemployment rate would only be 6.5%) That difference skews perception of the rest of the state.

Al Gore, Friend of the Animals

Al Gore is out to save the environment again. From Mary Katharine Ham's Townhall.com blog:

After Live Earth produced the carbon emissions of a small country in order to discourage carbon emissions, Gore has moved onto eating endangered species to encourage their preservation, I guess. Don't ask questions. He's a visionary:

Gore and his guests at the weekend ceremony dined on Chilean sea bass - arguably one of the world's most threatened fish species.

Also known as Patagonian toothfish, the species is under pressure from illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing activities in the Southern Ocean, jeopardising the sustainability of remaining stocks.

The species is currently managed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Living Marine Resources, the body which introduced a catch and trade documentation scheme as an attempt to tackle illegal poaching of this species.

The story comes from the Humane Society.

Apparently, endangered fish taste better than abundant ones. I guess that makes sense, if no one liked them, no one would catch them . . . and they wouldn't be endangered, right?

What to Look for When Shopping for a Laptop

Vendor:

• Dell, HP/Compaq, Toshiba, Lenovo (IBM), Acer
  

Processor:

• The speed isn't as important now as it used to be. The most capable are:
• Intel Core 2 Duo (the Core Duo is older but still good).
• AMD Turion 64 X2.

RAM: (Memory)

• 1 GB at least (Windows Vista needs this much)
• 2GB is better. Get all the memory you can afford.

Hard Drive:

• 60 - 100 GB will be the best price/size ratio.
• 120 GB if it’s not much more.

Optical/CD/DVD Drive:

• DVD writer - reads and writes both CDs and DVDs (still a bit pricey on laptops). The terminology is confusing here, there are many formats (DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW are the basics. There are also dual layer versions of each of these). The ideal drive reads and writes single and dual layer versions of all of the above.
• CD-RW/DVD - reads DVDs and reads/writes CDs (most common drive in budget models).

Networking:

• Ethernet (standard on most all laptops) - regular cable network.
• Wireless - look for built-in 802.11b/g (or a/b/g) - again pretty standard. You may see 802.11n on some newer machines - this works too.
• Modem - pretty standard.

Screen:

• 15.4 in. is the most common. Most new notebooks are widescreen.
• 14 - 17 inches are common.

Operating System:

• Most will come with Windows Vista. Avoid Vista Home Basic. Vista Business is very good all around.
• If you want Media Center features (movies, music, etc) get Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate.

Battery:

• This varies a lot. 1 hour is poor, 4 hours is good. 2 - 3 hours is typical.
• Some offer high capacity batteries ~6 hours.
• You can find car/airplane adapters if needed.

Miscellaneous:

• Make sure there is a PC Card slot if you'll need one (for Sprint card, etc.).
• Look for 3 or more USB ports. Some also have Media Card readers (for digital camera cards).
• Tablet PCs are available, the screen folds over the keyboard to be used like a pad of paper.

Good Immigration Argument

Maybe illegal immigration isn't ALL bad. . .

The Real Media Divide

This article puts into words several amorphous thought that have been floating around in my head for a while.

Everyone talks about the huge divide in our society, how everything is polarized, left and right, liberal and conservative, etc. But I think this article makes an excellent point. The left-right divide isn't the real issue, it is simply magnified by the News/Entertainment divide.

Most people are not news junkies. They are smart, and they pay attention to what is important, but they don't follow every nuance of every breaking story 24/7. Others (like me) DO follow everything.

The article points out that the huge increase in information availability in recent years -- with expanded adoption of cable, satellite and the internet has allowed nearly everyone to find sites or stations that they enjoy. Naturally the news junkies gravitate to Fox News and CNN, Rush and NPR, and those who aren't obsessed with news follow their interests elsewhere. The news junkies, being the loudest, magnify any difference to the level of a fundamental disagreement -- when in reality the two sides agree on goals, and just differ on methods. (that's a theme for another post).

In effect this has created a new "specialization" -- you could call them "news junkies." They (I should say we), use their own jargon, and spend a lot of time discussing highly involved issues online, by radio call-in, and in our own specialized journals (National Review, the New Republic, etc). Meanwhile the world outside goes on, and most people just can't spare the time and effort to become experts in our field.

We (news junkies) are a little like physicists -- one may vehemently insist that the "the Large Hadron Collider WILL be able to produce the Higgs boson!", while the other retorts, "it will NOT, dang it! the energies in question just aren't sufficient - IDIOT!" Pretty soon, there's fisticuffs in the lab, and it's all downhill from there.

Meanwhile, normal people watching this are either asleep, or calling for the nice young men in the clean white coats to come and take the physicists away to a happy home with nice soft walls. (yes, Dr. Jones, there'll be Higgs bosons there, nice ones, happy ones! . . . of course you can talk to them. . . Just come on . . . get in the van . . . that's it . . . )

I'm sure there are people dialing right now to get us news junkies some help before it's too late. (as long as the padded room gets National Review, I'm good).

;-)

Healthcare, Michael Moore, and American Exceptionalism

Pretty beefy title, huh?

The National Review has an article on Moore's new movie "Sicko." the article gets at the heart of what really bothers Moore and other liberals about Americans. That we believe in self-reliance and generally "live and let live."

This attitude stems from the nearly universal idea we have that America is different from other countries, that it is special, and better than other countries. This makes us stubbornly resistant to socialist rantings

America has a deep-seated individualistic value system that, coupled with the lack of European-style class conflict, inhibited the rise of social democracy here. As one historian has put it, if you were to set out to design a society hostile to collectivism, “one could not have done much better than to implement the social development that has, mostly unplanned, constituted America.”

This exceptionalism has its downsides — our high rates of violence, for one — but it also has created a extraordinarily dynamic and open society that can adjust to and thrive in the globalized economy in a way that sclerotic social democracies can’t.

So, three cheers for the red, white and blue, and . . .