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December 26, 2006
Heinlein’s Troopers:
With respect to Professor De Long, he’s wrong about both Heinlein and Jefferson when he says
Consider the invented historical background of the novel, in which the twentieth-century United States collapsed because of its excessive solicitude for individual rights and its worship of the words of Thomas Jefferson and was replaced by the "veterans' government" that made no claim to derive its powers from the consent of the governed.
He’s wrong about Jefferson (Locke, actually; but no matter) in a rather subtle way. What Jefferson actually meant was that the governed always give their consent to the government unless they explicitly remove it by changing their government. This change can either be peaceful (elections) or not (revolution). Heinlein does not disagree, and is quite explicit about it in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress...
In Starship Troopers, Heinlein making narrower points. Rather than "fascism = good" he is saying that the best decisions are made by those who are able put aside their own interests when making society-wide decisions. He is, in other words, attempting to solve the agent/principle problem which has plagued constitution makers from time immemorial. You may disagree with his solution, but don’t misunderstand his point...
Posted by Andrew at 10:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 25, 2006
Obvious headlines:
"Water is wet"
"The sun goes down at night"
"The Seattle Times: U.S. policy in region may aid al-Qaida, experts say"
"When the rotation of the Earth around it's star causes the axial tilt of our planet to focus the Sun's rays, the temperature tends to rise"...
I suppose there are some people who still need to be told all of these things....
Posted by Andrew at 11:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 24, 2006
At least in my world...
Well, if I’ve been a good boy and studied my Charles Dickens the way I ought to have, I can reasonably certain that today is the day that Bush discovers the true meaning of Christmas...
Around 4pm (EDT) President Bush will be visited by the Ghost of Richard Nixon. Nixon will tell Bush that the chains our current president has forged in this life are heavier than the ones Nixon did. That takes some doing! Anyway, Nixon ought to be telling Bush that he can expect a trio of sprits—Presidents Past (Washington), Present (Al Gore from the alternate history where Florida followed its State law and counted the over votes), and Future (Emperor Norton II. Not technically a president)...
They will show him the utter disaster he’s made of both America and the World. Finally, when he is confronted with the preventable malnutrition and avoidable disease which are plaguing the children of the future because his administration didn’t help their parents, he’ll turn to Emperor Norton and ask if it is preventable, or inevitable...
Bush then wakes up Christmas morning and pledges that day, that very hour, to ensure that poverty will no longer mean utter suffering. In the future that Bush will pledge to work towards, the best indicator of adult income will no longer be how much food or pre-natal medical care their parents could afford...
And as President Bush goes out that evening to a DC area soup kitchen to personally ladle out food to the poor, a child speaks up:
"Gods bless us, every one"...
Posted by Andrew at 12:03 AM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2006
Oh Santa! where art thou?
This Slate article on Being Santa Claus gets nearly every detail wrong. I know, because for two years, I was Santa...
Once upon a time, I was seeing a girl who was doing some holiday work at the local mall. In my then-usual all-black, chains-and-knives-dangling-from-my-sides attire, I met her for lunch. It was when heading back to the parking lot that I passed by the Santa booth. Being a major Sci-Fi geek, I had a sudden mental image of how cool it might be to play an elf, and asked if they were hiring...
"Wouldn't you rather be Santa" asked the cute young girl in a small skirt?
no, I want to play an elf. but I need the money "Sure. If you're hiring for Santa, who wouldn't?"
10 minutes later I was in a Santa suit with an 8 year old kid on my knee saying "Ho Ho Ho". I had a blast...
Posted by Andrew at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2006
One teensie correction
In an otherwise great post, Amanda makes 2 small errors in 2 longish sentances:
For instance, I just had to make a quick run to the store and I took my bike instead of the truck, and as I whizzed past the cars sitting in traffic or waiting in line to get that space a little bit closer to the door, a couple people glared at me and the other bicyclists for our enviable ability to actually get a move on in holiday traffic.
Um, no. See, I lived in Davis for years. The reason motorists hate bicyclists is that bicyclists "drive" in the middle of the road. They have all the acceleration of an M1 Abrams tank, and still have the gall to use the same roadway as cars. Trust me, that glare I'm shooting you means "get off the road and onto the sidewalk"...
The other error is even worse:
so I have that much more money to spend on the organic food that actually tastes better than the other stuff.
Again, I lived in Davis. No, organic food does not taste better. It's smaller, gnarlier, and I have to use it right away for fear of it rotting. Make mine agribusiness!
Update:
Amanda emails to let me know that she was on the sidewalk. This makes her, in my experience, a rare bird indeed. I'll even give her the benefit of the doubt that she wasn't out running down pedestrians...
Posted by Andrew at 03:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 19, 2006
The real Person of the Year
Posted by Andrew at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)
December 17, 2006
Person of the year:
Is literally a person. The
second person, in fact...
Posted by Andrew at 10:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 13, 2006
The Patriarchy
I saw a perfect description of the patriarchy while I was at Dickens Faire last week. There was a sign promising goodies within. It read:
Gewgaws for Girls
Tomfoolery for Boys
Fancys for Ladies
Substantials for Men
It's not that there's anything wrong with gewgaws, tomfooleries or fancies. But if you're not a man, you're never getting anything substantial. Because if you're not a man, you're not substantial. And, conversely, if you're a man, you aren't allowed anything fancy or tomfoolish. Crush the women by denying adulthood. Crush the men by denying whimsy. Women seem to be getting the worst end of the deal, but everyone walks away a loser...
Posted by Andrew at 08:41 AM | Comments (0)
December 11, 2006
Pinochet Dead
Pinochet is dead and some on the Right have mixed feelings. This is because on one hand he saved the country from communism, but on the other... you know: Death Squads. So the Right is conflicted...
Here's the thing: Communism was represents an inadequate response to the scarcity problem. In order to glue together the house of communist cards, communist leaders would embrace terrible and destructive tactics. Like death squads...
I suppose it is a time saver, to skip past the land reforms, creation of the modern industrial apparatus, and go strait to the killing people. Perhaps Pinochet, like Harry Seldon, saw the real problem and decided to condense decades of dislocation into a decade of death. I don't believe it for a second...
Moreover, no one believes it. By having a US lead coup turn into Death Squads, America could no longer claim the moral high ground in the cold war. It became literally impossible say that we were different from the communists. By over turning a democratic election, we ceded the very concept of democracy to the communists. By embracing Pinochet we prolonged the cold war, paved way for Hugo Chavez, and gave bin Laden rhetorical ammunition. Nothing good came out of it. The name of America was sullied...
An evil man died yesterday. America was complicit in that evil. We ought to find some way of performing contrition. Being uncertain as to whether his evil was justified is not a good place to start...
Posted by Andrew at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)
December 01, 2006
Recipe: Loco Moco
Some of you may know: for the last month or so, I’ve been seeing a rather wonderful woman. She’s smart—but dumb enough to date me--, funny, a student at Mills College, and eats only Kosher meats. Thank the gods I’ve got a recipe that’s A) vegetarian and B) tasty...
The Basics:
Serves:
I’ll give you the 1 person recipe.
Difficulty:
2 out of 5. All the ingredients have to be cooked separately, which makes the timing a bit tricky. Still, it’s hard to screw up any given ingredient...
ingredients
3/4 of white rice per person
1 patty (Veggie- or Ham- burger) per person
1/2 cup of brown gravy per person
1 egg per person
Optional:
1-2 slices of pineapple per person
1/2-1 cup of diced onion per person
Untested-but-sounds-tasty:
Garlic?
Bell Peppers?
It’s a Hawaiian dish called Loco Moco, and if you read the Wikipedia entry, you’ll note that it features a hamburger patty. I was introduced to the meal in its vegetarian form, and that (oddly for me) is how I tend to prefer it. By all means, however: if you want to make this dish using the more traditional slice –o- cow, I’ll recommend a quarter- to half- pound of beef per person...
The first thing we're going to is toss some music on the stereo. Since this is an
American food of Hawaiian origin, I’d recommend some Jack Johnson. Alternately, you could recall that the dish is both upbeat, unknown, and unsubtle fun, and go for some Kimberly Trip. Whatever you chose, do it quick: I’m starting to get hungry...
Now that we know what we’re listening to, we need to start some rice. There are lots of types of rice, and I won’t tell you which is best. It’s easy to make and hard to screw up. It adds bulk to just about any meal, and just about anything can be done to it. I use a ridiculously over sized rice cooker former GF picked up for me at a garage sale. I prefer rice cookers because you pour your water and rice in and then forget about it...
At this point, I’d just kill some time until the rice is about 5-10 minutes from being done. Unless you’re using a boiling pot of water on a stove, in which case I’d wait until the rice was done. Don’t worry, though: that’s why we picked out music first. This is also a good time to dice the onion, if you wanted to add that...
The next thing we’re gonna do is grab our McCormick Brown Gravy package. Pour a cup of cold water into a smallish pot. Open the package and pour all the powder into the water. Turn the heat on medium and start stirring. Keep stirring. Stir some more. Make sure you scrape the bottom as you stir. There will come a point when the gravy thickens under your whisk, and you will literally watch it change consistency. It’s actually kinda rad. Once this has happened, turn the heat off. Time to make us some veggieburgers...
The thing about veggieburgers: they’re so pulverized, pasteurized, and bastardized that they’re almost wholly unnatural. You can undercook them in the sense that they won’t be all the way thawed, but safety isn’t an issue. I don’t know why people think this is healthier...
Anyway, throw ‘em on a pan and put that pan on some heat. Medium, heat, if you please. When it’s been sizzling for about 2 minutes, flip. If you want to add your onions (already diced), now would be the time to toss them onto the pan with your veggiepatty. You'll want to stir them every minute or so, when they sizzle and turn opaque, they're done. Once they're done and the patties are done, turn the heat down so it's almost off. Let that be for another couple minutes...
Now we need to make an egg. Crack an egg into a small pan. Set that pan onto low heat. You’re done when the egg white turns, um, white (it’ll be sort of a clear yellow before this). When it’s done, turn the heat off...
Now, grab a bowl. No, not a serving bowl, an eatin’ bowl. Pour the rice into it, flip your veggieburger onto the rice, slide your egg on top (careful here, don’t break the yellow bit; unless you overcooked the egg, the yellow part is still liquid.), and pour some gravy on the whole thing. If you want to add some pineapple, this is an excellent opportunity...
Happy eating...
Posted by Andrew at 05:18 AM | Comments (0)