Former call girl Maggie McNeill, using some very basic assumptions, debunks the idea that there are 300,000 underage prostitutes in America.
I have yet to see where that 300,00 figure comes from or how that number was calculated. I suspect it’s a matter of the most hysterical claim getting the most attention.
I also think I’m adding McNeill to my RSS feed.
Non-Political Links:
Political Links:
Non-political Links:
Political Links:
Non-political links:
Political Links:
This may be the most heart-breaking thing you read all day. It’s about the guilt felt by the neighbor who took Christina Green to see Gabby Giffords on that fatal morning. Just a friendly reminder of who the real victims are of this terrible tragedy.
We’re already 20 days into 2011, so it seems pointless to look back over 2010. I thought, however, I’d take a second to look back at what I said last year, throw out some parting thoughts about 2010 and look ahead to 2011.
I was right about the economy improving without jobs. I was a little off on the election — the GOP took the House. Sarah Palin did not begin to fade, although I see her star waning now. My sports predictions weren’t too bad — at least the Colts and Rangers made the final. My foreign policy predictions were way off: Iran seems stronger than ever and Afghanistan is still a mess. But I was right that it would be a so-so year in TV and film. And I was right about science. We saw a fantastic year in science, including several knock-out blows delivered to the anti-vaccine nonsense.
When I look back at 2010, what really crosses me is the sense of smugness so many seemed to radiate. There were so many people making smug smarmy remarks from false confidence. It was a year when people who were wrong about everything loudly and arrogantly talked about how right they were. No one exemplifies this more than the aforementioned Palin, whose every speech drips with condescending sarcasm and arrogant ignorance. But she wasn’t the only one. Bad climate skeptics proclaimed Global Warming to be dead based on incorrect analyses of Climategate and an inability to read declarative English sentences such as “this study on ocean level rise has been withdrawn in favor of studies favoring more ocean level rise”. Tea Party critics dismissed legitimate concerns about the direction of the country, branding the Tea Partiers as racists and extremists. Pro-torture advocates ignored the established record of civil trials and proclaimed civilian justice was a failure in the wake of Ghailani trial. And, in the sports, the Sports Media Twerps were as arrogant, condescending and wrong as ever — ranging from OSU arrogantly asserting that their eight home games proved their toughness to the HOF voters covering up their complicity in the steroid scandal by refusing to vote for suspected users.
It was a frustrating year, but one we could see coming. I said 2009 was the Year of Fantasyland. No one is more smug than the person who is being proven wrong day after day.
2011 is shaping up to be a year of reality. It will be a year when the Tea Party is going to have to actually govern instead of complain. It will be a year when the free markets, free trade and regulatory sanity will be absolutely critical. It will be a year when we have to shrug and grimly put our shoulders to the boulder. I think this will happen. Because I am, at heart, an optimist.
Specific predictions:
Oh well.
This was published about a week ago and I’ve been pondering it since. After careful consideration, I’ve decided it’s mostly rubbish.
A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it’s like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I’ve done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:
• attend a sleepover
• have a playdate
• be in a school play
• complain about not being in a school play
• watch TV or play computer games
• choose their own extracurricular activities
• get any grade less than an A
• not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama
• play any instrument other than the piano or violin
• not play the piano or violin.
A bit of background here. Amy Chua, the author of the piece, is a Professor of Law at Yale. Her daughters are highly successful, being musical prodigies and excelling academically. The article claims that this is a result of parenting that was obsessive, almost abusive, doing such things as calling her daughters “garbage” and threatening to burn her daughter’s stuffed animals if she didn’t learn a difficult piano piece. The article contrasts these methods against “western methods” that are more laid-back.
Chua is now backing away from her comments, claiming the WSJ only published the most extreme excerpts of her book, that she had a great relationship with her daughters, that much of the quoted article was tongue-in-cheek, etc., etc. I’m assuming that the WSJ article would not have run without her approval. If it was taken out of context, it was done so on purpose to provoke book sales.
Still, the general point about parenting is being discussed everywhere. Did her strict parenting make her children successful?
Non-political links:
Political Links:
This is why I’ve gotten so sick of the Right Wing Echosphere lately. Some blogger mistakes a closed-captioning system for a prompter. The entire RWE repeats his “discovery” then later has to admit he was wrong.
No one bothered to do any fact-checking. No one bothered to call the University of Arizona or the White House. No one even bothered to pause and think, “wait, does this make sense?” They instantly judged and vented.
This a distressing pattern I’ve seen on innumerable “nontroversies” (especially on the subject of global warming). It’s why I’ve become skeptical of just about any claim I hear.
When I lived in Atlanta for a long time, Neal Boortz’s show was one of my favorites. He was always funny and helped shaped my libertarian views. His show was always the best in Atlanta, even when competing against a young Sean Hannity. That’s why I’m sad to hear that Royal Marshall has died at age 43. He was a wonderful presence on the show and his “Boo Got Shot” translation is one of the funniest radio bits ever.
I post this story in part because there’s a good point to debate over — whether someone who gets cold feet should be responsible for the cost of a wedding. I post it in part because you just fucking knew Gloria Allred would be involved with this. I post in part because it links to 13 disastrous weddings.
But I post it mostly because of this:
Dominique Buttitta wanted to get married in style, so she spared no expense on her upcoming nuptials: $30,000 to reserve a banquet hall outside Chicago; $11,000 for flowers and spot lighting; $10,000 for an orchestra; $5,000 on her wedding dress and veil.
Is it just me or does this sound fucking insane? $10,000 was about the cost of my entire wedding. I spent $200 on a string quarter from local high school and another $1000 on a band. Some of these weddings are simply out of control.
Update: And while I’m posting links from overlawyered.com, this is why we need a loser-pays system in this country (or at least each of the 50 states).
I was posting plenty on the Arizona shooting over at the other site and planned to post some here. But after the President’s great speech last night, I really don’t feel there’s much more to say.
Non-political links:
Political Links:
I’ll have my year-in-review, year-ahead post soon. Meanwhile…
Non-political links:
Political links:
Kerry Byrne claims that the Falcons can’t win in the playoffs because Matt Ryan only average 6.5 yards per attempt (as opposed to 8+ for others).
OK. Let’s look at the past SB winning QB’s, shall we?
2010 New Orleans – Drew Brees – 8.5
2009 Pittsburgh – Ben Roethlisberger – 7.0
2008 New York – Eli Manning – 6.3
2007 Indianapolis – Payton Manning – 7.9
2006 PIttsburgh – Ben Roethlisberger – 8.9
2005 New England – Tom Brady – 7.8
2004 New England – Tom Brady – 6.7
2003 Tampa Bay – Brad Johnson – 6.8
2002 New England – Tom Brady – 6.9
2001 Baltimore – Trent Dilfer – 6.6
The league leader for the past few years in yard per attempt has been Phillip Rivers, whose Chargers have wheezed out every year.
A good downfield passing game helps win games. But it’s not a requirement.
Byrnes also goes on to note that New England’s pass defense massively improved in their last six games. Maybe. But why don’t we consider the QBs on their schedule? Their first first ten games included Cincinnati, San Diego, Pittsburgh and Indy and the last six included Detroit, a collapsing Jets team and a Rodgers-less Green Bay. That can make a world of difference. This is why Football Outsiders adjusts their stats for the level of competition.
(He does make a good point about Roethlisberger, though.)