De Doc's Institute for Memetic Engineering And Polymaths' Pursuits

…Kelley’s newest

!!!

Modesty would forbid my pointing out that I was a part of the Cul-de-Sac this week, but shameless self-aggrandizement won out.

While waiting for Venomous Kate to feel better –may it be soon!– I’ve been consoling myself with such tidbits of snarky goodness as I can find.

Here’s a splendid flick of the scalpel, as Mark Steyn dissects the Canadian government’s foray into marijuana production:

Wanna score some government dope? In Canada, the courts recently ruled that patients suffering from AIDS, cancer and other diseases were entitled to enjoy the benefits of ‘’medical marijuana'’ – and not just any old marijuana, but official government marijuana, supplied to them by Health Canada, the government health system. Health Canada mulled it over and set up a program to grow the court-ordered federal pot in a disused mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba.

FLIN FLON?

I couldn’t make this …

Why isn’t it good enough for us?

from Fox News:

DENVER — The office phone number of a federal judge who ruled last week that a national do-not-call registry is unconstitutional was among the thousands already on the list.

U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham’s (search) number was added in July to the registry, which was designed to block telemarketers’ calls.

It wasn’t clear whether Nottingham himself registered the number or knew it had been registered. A call to the office Saturday was not immediately returned.

Heh. I’ll bet it wasn’t.

It’s a pity that the call even got through… if you know what I mean.

Once this news gets around, I will bet that not many more calls will get through.

In honor anticipation of Kate’s upcoming snarkfest, this elegant stilleto from Victor Davis Hanson:

For all the harping, postbellum Iraq and Afghanistan offer hope; the Taliban and Saddam Hussein certainly did not. The world knows the United States is promoting liberal government and that gangsters — whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, or on the West Bank — are opposing it. Choosing between the Dark Ages and the Enlightenment is not difficult even for the French, especially when someone else pays and dies.

Oh ook.

By way of Little Green Footballs… a pretty good source of snarkery in it’s own right.

UPDATE: Sympathies to our Kate, who’s picked up a cold. Hope you get well soon, VK!

and today is an excellent day to say so.

And may all of you have a blessed, happy year!

Rosh Hashanah starts… well, almost now, here in Jacksonville. If you aren’t sure what that means, you could do a LOT worse than go to Judaism 101 and seek knowledge.

Kelley gets credit for the mitzvah of finding the site.

Even as the Congress moved to address the FIRST court challenge to the Do Not Call list, a second judge steps up to protect telemarketers’ right to interrupt your dinner.

U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham issued an opinion blocking the list based on telemarketers’ free speech rights, which could be more difficult for advocates of the list to sidestep.

“… The court finds that the FTC’s do-not-call registry does not materially advance its interest in protecting privacy or curbing abusive telemarketing practices.

With logic like that, Judge Nottingham must be trying for a promotion to the 9th Cricuit Court of Appeals.

…The registry creates a burden on one type of speech based solely on its content, without a logical, coherent privacy-based or …

I have been shamefully remiss in keeping up with my blogroll. High time I did something about that…

like add my New Federalist conspirator fellow traveller, Dave Tepper, at Interrobang!. Especially since, as of this writing, he’s enjoying the same guilty pleasure as I am – contemplating Judge Lee R. West (of “let the telemarketers call” fame) as he enjoys a hefty dose of public opinion.

Heh heh heh.

While reading Neil Gaiman’s blog, I ran across this small jewel of a snark:

New York is already starting to recede into a strange signing hand-aching braindead sort of blur.

I stayed at the Library Hotel – having mentioned it on the journal I thought I’d try it – and was disappointed. The concept of themed book-filled Dewey decimal-numbered rooms is a wonderful one, but I felt like they’d missed out on the whole hotel bit that goes with it…

WOW.

That kind of throwaway brilliance, in a blog.

If you aren’t reading Gaiman…whyever not?

Another post musing on the desirability of a Federalist party, from Robert Prather.

Hmmm.

Prather has an interesting take, too, on electoral strategies, early on–the opposite of the Perot approach.

Worth reading; worth thinking about.

Maybe it IS time.

There’s a regional firm, here, who’s URL is… well, I could not make this up if I tried:

http://www.forthepeople.com/

Isn’t that just… precious?

Of course, it’s a little self serving… as these paladins of the legal pad rake in their cut of the 40 BILLION dollar take.

If that doesn’t vex you, have at this site:

“Trial Lawyers, Inc.” behaves like the biggest of businesses, as it generates cash from traditional profit centers (like asbestos, tobacco and insurance), explores potential growth markets (like lead paint, mold and regulated industries), and develops new products (like suits against the fast-food industry).

The lawsuit industry is also increasingly sophisticated in targeting its customer base through the Internet and traditional media outlets, and its government relations and public relations …

D is for darkness… dusk, dawn, and other delectable things about the turn of the season.

D is for DOWN. Sit down. All the cool guys are doing so. (I do, too.)

Not enough? Go see Kate for more.

At the risk of kissing up, K is for Kate, who kicked me a few times,

kindled my interest,

and… well, here I am, blogging away!

So kick it on over to the Snake Pit for more… ‘K?

Here’s an interesting notion… The Three Laws Of Government, as proposed by M. Scott Eiland:

1. The first duty of government is to protect its citizens and invited guests from aggressive use of force by those from outside its borders;

2. The second duty of government is to protect its citizens and invited guests from those within its borders who would use force and fraud against them (including citizens, invited guests, and other persons);

3. The third duty of government is to protect its citizens and invited guests from itself, as thoroughly as is possible given the first two duties.

The meme wants for a qualifier, though. It describes government as it ought to be, for small-l-libertarians in all our shades. Liberty’s …

One of the joys of the Internet is finding essayists and columnists that your local papers don’t carry. I have been enjoyed reading Mark Steyn’s industrial-grade snarks – if he weren’t a professional, Kate would have to give him a permanent entry in the weekly Snark Hunt – and Victor Davis Hanson’s insights.

But I am unwilling to let a day go by, now, without reading James Lileks.

I was first introduced to him by Bill Whittle; no mean recommendation, that. But I kept reading him on his own merits, which are manifold.

Even if you’re not a fan of 50’s pop culture –from food, through ads, to all manner of kitsch– ignore the “flotsam project", and go straight …

Disney World, that is.

More to follow as the workday settles down.

…and your wife’s was no less arduous

and your son had a so-so week, at best

and you’ve blogged like a fiend.

Now it’s Friday, Doc; what are you going to do next?

…I’m going to The Adventurers’ Club!

Or something like that. It’s time to renew our passes, and take a break.

Blogging will, perforce, be all-but-absent until Sunday night. But I have a 24 hour shift on Monday, so there’ll be time to catch up, patient flow allowing.

See you then! And, for fellow Adventurers… KUNGALOOSH!

NOT.

From Fox News:

Attorney General John Ashcroft … (released) to the public once-classified information that tells the exact number of library records that FBI agents have viewed under rules outlined in the USA Patriot Act.

The total: zero.

The Attorney General released these figures as part of his campaign to preserve the Patriot Act, as criticism mounts – including among conservative Republican congressmen.

Presumably, Mr. Ashcroft wishes to reassure us that the Act is not being abused.

I, for my part, wish to assure Mr. Ashcroft that his concerns are misplaced.

People are taking a long, hard look at the Patriot Act not because of the abuses that are being reported. They are looking at the Act because the provisions in the law are, …

Kate has again raised the hue and cry, and it’s off we are to hunt Snarks!

This time, best bring the bloodhounds and the pointers with you, to sniff out all the snarks hiding in the riggings…

To anticipate tomorrow’s holiday… Avast there, me fine lads and lassies; ’tis time to take up arms and repel boarders! At ‘em with the cutlass, AAARRRRRRRRRRRR!

Whittle, who’s thinking about taking it on the road.

Wow!

WooHoo!

Wonderful!

WING on over to Kate’s place for more “W"-styled goodness.

From the ever-worthy Samizdata weblog, excellent news from Scaled Composites about engine testing for their X prize entry.

In fact, the news is even better than it appears at first glance. Bert Rutan’s team has not one, but two competing teams, working to provide the engine.

One of the principal roadblocks to civil and private space access is that it’s tough to get out of the gravity well. Prior engines have been finicky pieces of “engineer’s jewelry", handcrafted for expensive one-off trips. Hybrid motor technology offers the potential of simpler, robust engines, that CAN be used over and over again. The exhaust is also MUCH less toxic than with some other approaches – water vapor, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, …

I’ve been thinking about a sidebar category, “The Library". In it, I was minded to place articles by other bloggers which caught my eye; articles which I want to be able to go back to, and read over and over as I please.

Guess I’d better look at those templates.

Kate has a cogent, thought provoking article for beginners like me, “10 things I’ve learned…". I particularly like this piece of advice:

In the blogosphere, you are how you behave toward others. Claiming that what happens on a blog or in its comments is “just make believe” and doesn’t matter in the “real world” is little more than a childish excuse to act like an ass, and people …

I recently took substantial exception to the Patriot Act. Some of you asked for more substantive, point-by-point objections, opining that things really aren’t all that bad.

I guess it depends on your definition of BAD.

For starters, let’s look at what the Patriot Act allows the government to do in matters of surveillance of American citizens, and the oversight provided.

Section 215 of the Act allows federal officials essentially unchecked access to personal records. ANY records. ISP browsing records, doctors’ notes, library checkout records, purchases from bookstores. In order to procure that search, all the investigator must do is assert to a judge that the request for such searches is related to an ongoing terrorism or foreign intelligence investigation. …

Kelley and Kim du Toit have been mulling over the same question which is bugging me: what will I do in November, 2004, when I stare at the ballot card box screen… ummmm, the ballot.

Who do I want to vote for in the Presidential race? Who do I want at the helm for the next four years?

It will come as no surprise to most of my readers that I can only see myself voting for a Democratic candidate if I develop something like a brain tumour, or a severe concussion, and develop the attendant personality changes.

The Democratic party is anti-Second Amendment; willing to cede OUR sovreignity to international organizations in which we have no vote; …

Kelley takes the words right out of my mouth, in this elegant little gem:

Removing Arafat. What a concept. Like lancing a festering boil. Yeah, the initial outpouring is going to hurt like hell, and we’ll see some blood. But it’s the only way to make the damned thing heal up for good.

I could almost find it in myself to be jealous.

NAH.

I’ll just enjoy my post-call mellow intead, and chuckle.

…but a VERY VERY busy shift, more fit for Cook County ER than this rural setting. So I might be a bit lean on the boards tonight.

On the other hand…

it’s September 12th.

We’re still here.

*That* in the eye of the terrorists.

We’re still here.

Just say it with me:

A perfect 10 to Cox and Forkum. (By way, today, of LGF.)

As we approach the second anniversary of the Terrible Day, we must not forget.

We must not forget that on September 11th, 2001, enemies came to our very home, seeking to cripple us. They hoped to strike at our economy, and our government, and our very hearts and spirits; they wished to weaken our resolve, to cause us to retreat, to cower, and to await the slavers’ pleasure.

We must not forget how they failed.

We must not forget that brave citizens rose up, even at the hazard of their lives, to try and stop the hijackers.

We must not forget that even where the terrorists’ plans struck home, that heroes saved thousands of lives in the dire minutes between the first plane’s …

I will not.

I will REMEMBER.

So should you. And your neighbors; and your friends; and your coworkers.

Remember. Lest it happen again.

REMEMBER.

For no reason I can assign, this particular blog-game caught my fancy.

So, courtesy of my friend, Lissa:

In a word…
Sum up your thoughts about me in one word and leave it in a comment.
Then put this on your journal to see what everyone else thinks of you.

… and even if it’s relatively unpolished, it’s NEW HEINLEIN.

I am particularly intrigued, because this novel predates Timeline, which was RAH’s first published work .. and yet covers themes and uses tropes that would have been called “mid-period” or “late period” Heinlein.

In last year’s lit-crit classes.

Even if it doesn’t have the snap and swing of Heinlein’s first short stories and novels, it will be a fascinating look at what The Grandmaster wanted to write about… BEFORE anyone knew of him.

This would be a great stocking stuffer… except for the likelihood that people like me won’t be able to wait for December.

Blessed the RAH fan whose birthday is in October, or November! And may Zombyboy never thirst, for bringing the …

from a busy weekend being a sword-geek. Now to catch up with my mailbox.

In the meantime, while I am digging out from under, I am delighted to have been part of Kelley’s Cul De Sac for the week, as well as a Hunter Of The Snark in Kate’s weekly entry. You might want to go there and see some of the company I am keeping.

(And Kelley – sorry to have missed you. Maybe next time I’m in Hotlanta?)

As I write this, my son is watching a most disturbing show on the History Channel, History Undercover: The Last Surrender.

It tells the story of 2nd Lt. Hiroo Onoda, who went into the Phillipine jungle in the last days of the 2nd World War, and only surrendered… in 1974.

I listen to this man, who stayed at war all those years because he believed in his Emperor and his Empire, with a near-religious fervor. And I begin to understand the feelings of the Cabinet members, the generals, who had fought an army made up of this manner of man… and why they dropped atomic weapons rather than invade these people’s homelands.

I begin to wonder about the war on terrorism… …

“Drama Queen:

One whose loud cries of angst, and impassioned pleas for allies and succor, are inversely proportional to the REAL problem they’re having.”

…and a patented Marvel-style No-prize for the first person who gets the literary reference.

As I was driving into work today, local news-radio stations were discussing the execution of an unrepentant terrorist.

(Note to the inevitable impassioned anti-abortion protester: Take a chill pill. I am a “practicing” Catholic. I haven’t got it right yet… ahem, well. Doesn’t matter, really; I am certain that assasinating someone in cold blood is not God’s idea of a brilliant pastoral argument for the sanctity of innocent human life. If that doesn’t make sense to you, oh Inevitable Respondent, go buy some tinfoil for your hat. Paul Hill is no more a holy martyr than Josef Mengele… or, in the fullness of time, Osama bin Wormfood.)

The money quote, to my way of thinkin’, was …

If you’re going to read this next piece, or add it to the Voices project, do me a favor?

Promise that you’ll read the whole thing… the WHOLE thing… before you pass judgment.

I am aware of how jarring my memories might be. But… please. Read the whole thing.

THEN let’s talk.

********************

It was warm and sunny in Jacksonville, that day. Late summer, not-yet-fall, sunny-bright with no monsoons in the immediate vicinity. People were talking about the football season, and the visit of President Bush to Jacksonville to tour some schools that had received national recognition for… well, I don’t recall now. A VIP visit to leaven a normal almost-fall day in northeast Florida.

I was home, between locum tenens …

… which allows me to work a 24 hour shift;

to come home, and run errands for my son, because Sharpie is stuck at university and can’t dump her responsibilities

to stay awake, so I see my gal when she gets home, late, from work

and…

to write something for Michele.

3 out of 4 ain’t bad.

Like others, of late, I have been ambivalent about sharing what I felt, during the terrible day. I …

am having trouble putting it in print.

But it is important.

I will.

Soon.

Occasionally, I struggle with a long standing resolution not to be envious, or jealous.

THIS offers me one of those occasions of temptation.

Must… not… channel… green… eyes…

Go read it and rejoice in the Moore-thwapping.

In keeping with what I posted earlier…

Originally found at Livejournal:

Let me tell you of two marvelous reads that can be had in your local comics store.

IF you hurry.

First off, an intriguing offering from Mad Norwegian Press and Image Comics, Faction Paradox…

…A “War in Heaven” is raging between time-active cultures, each seeking to usurp control of history. Into this conflict comes Faction Paradox–a group of time terrorists whose appetite for chaos threatens to subvert the entire timeline. Part story, part history and part puzzle-box, this is a chronicle of protocol and paranoia in a War where the greatest victory of all is to hold on to your own past.

In 1774, England’s eccentric King George III gathers the world’s …

I have had a couple of folks ask if I was going to port all my old LiveJournal entries here to this new blog.

I thought about that.

But some of the LJ postings are just chatty stuff, for people who know me personally. I only recently started writing with an eye to a wider readership, and my content on LJ tends to reflect that.

So, what I’ve decided to do is pick and choose.

I will look over some of my more recent LJ entries, and pull over the content which I think is

(a) Really Cool, and
(b) worth sharing around the blogosphere.

If you have any old favorites from my LJ, let me know; I’ll give thought …

I ran across this post tonight, catching up with the news of the world.

Might not be to everyone’s taste; but it speaks to the war I firmly believe we are in, and has the very voice of the Grandmaster who pioneered “future history". A voice that has been silent for some years.

I know that “Tom Paine” isn’t Heinlein. But even the echo of Heinlein’s voice, saying (once again) what needs to be said… well, that more than satisfies MY Really Cool criteria.

I am not “moving on", because at the end of the war, I want to be able to have that kind of talk with my grandchildren.

Who, I trust, won’t have to think about whether they are …