Thursday Linkorama

Non-political links:

  • Is the phone dying? I’m extremely doubtful. Modern texting and social networking are good for light contact. But for anything intense — like, say, discussing a gamma ray burst — the phone is essential.
  • I think I’m just going to start every linkorama with the best Cracked article of the day. This one is on movies and talks about some things that are driving me nuts.
  • Political links:

  • Holy shit, I agree with Michael Bloomberg. This whole mosque business has been incredibly depressing, watching a faction of the conservatives sink into ridiculous xenophobia. I can not imagine a better propaganda victory for Al-Quaeda than banning a mosque from US soil.
  • Speaking of conservative lunacy, this article is old, but takes the air out of some of the “Oh my God! 40% of Republicans are birthers!” opinion polls. Apparently, phone polls can get about a third of people to agree to almost anything.
  • Bainbridge quotes Sowell on the difference between the constrained and unconstrained vision. I agree with a lot of this. The Left (and increasingly the Right) are far too fond of big “smart” solutions to problems as opposed to organic solutions like free markets and free peoples. While expertise is a good thing when dealing with a scientific issue like, say, global warming, that does not mean experts can dictate solutions to complex non-linear social and economic problems.
  • Exhibit 745/B why I would never live in California. And people insist that lawsuits have nothing to do with the high cost of healthcare.
  • Poetic justice. OSHA is complaining about legal costs.
  • The ADA is twenty years old. And it still hasn’t been fixed.
  • I am shocked, shocked to find out that body scans are being saved by TSA. Why, it’s almost like you can’t trust the government.