What Would John Galt Do?

Wow... this is impressive. My friend Shawn Klein blogged about Ezra Levant's defense of free speech before the Canadian "Human Rights" Commission. I must agree with Shawn that it amounts to a "remarkable and inspiring demonstration."

In fact, it made me think of the heroes and heroines of Ayn Rand's novels (especially Atlas Shrugged). I could just see Ezra, faced with a summons before the HRC, asking himself "What would John Galt do?" (as a play on the cliche "What would Jesus do?")

The issue here is Ezra's publishing of the "Danish Muhammad" cartoons that raised such a fuss a while back. Complaints have been lodged, and so he has been summoned by the HRC to be interogated about this. A clear freedom of speech issue, pure and simple.

You can watch the video at Shawn's blog above, or you can see it at YouTube here. This is his 6:31 "opening statement". It is great that this was video-taped, and that it is available on YouTube -- I don't know if that is standard HRC policy to make the video-taping available to the person being questioned, or if this was a leak -- but either way, it is great we can all see it.

Then be sure to also see the other segments that follow, which are shorter (see the links in the Related Videos scroll window at YouTube). While being asked seemingly standard questions, he doesn't waver in his defense -- though at times he resorts to some mild ad hominem against those bringing the charges against him, and a few other people (e.g, calling some people "fools" and so on). I wish he hadn't done that... but it is the only thing that keeps his performance from being a perfect 10.0. If this were the Olympics, as a judge I'd be holding up a card with "9.8" on it or something thereabouts.

One other thing... I don't know who the woman is interrogating/interviewing him. At a few moments I felt sorry for her -- just doing a job, but clearly outmatched by the intellectual ammunition and preparation of Ezra. I give her credit for not getting emotional or engaging him in debate -- a battle she would clearly have lost. But that is all I give her credit for -- as this entire event should never have occurred in the first place, and it seems, the HRC -- if it ever had a legitimate purpose -- clearly is overstepping those bounds today.

North Korean News Site is Hilarious

I find this website both sad and funny -- News From Korean Central News Agency of DPRK. Sad for obvious reasons, but funny because of both the English used and the ridiculous claims made and propaganda used. Many of the stories are a funny read, here is one example: Japan Assailed for Seeking "Triangular Cooperation Mechanism for Pressure". Here is a great segment:

This is, however, nothing but the way of thinking of a bat-blind person who has neither political sense nor judgment. The above-said cooperation mechanism had been sought by its master the U.S. as early as in the 1980s only to meet bitter frustration. It is a ridiculous and foolish daydream for Japan to try to build the above-mentioned mechanism, taking advantage of the changed political situation in south Korea, in a bid to pressurize someone and achieve its sinister political aim. This only betrays Japan's ignorance of the DPRK, diplomatic inability and anachronistic way of thinking.

The Past is Gone

It is hard to note good bits from The Onion, since the majority of their items are funny and worth reading or hearing. But this one -- The Past is Gone -- really cracked me up. It is from their Weekly Radio Address series, an ongoing riff on President Bush. It starts a little slow, but then it gets going...

On Manga

There are lots of things that I am behind the times on. Like Manga for instance. I've not gotten into these Japanese comic-style books, but I see now that they have become quite popular even here in the US. The November issue of Wired had an enlightening cover story about Manga, Japan, Ink: Inside the Manga Industrial Complex. And see also their sample Manga in that issue, which describes exactly what its title says it will: How Manga Conquired the US, a Graphic Guide to Japan's Coolest Export (as in Manga style, it is read from back to front and from right to left).

If you are like me, then you have been clueless about the rise of Manga in the US. So... next time you are at your local book megastore like Barnes and Noble or Borders, seek out the Manga section. Yes indeed, it is a top-level shelving category. The size of the Manga section will vary depending on the size of the store, but at the largest B&N branches it can be over ten bookcases of four shelves each! Quite popular it seems!

On Theory and Law

Clive Thompson wrote an interesting column in the November issue of Wired, "A War of Words". He reports on the view of physicist Helen Quinn that scientists are too tentative when they discuss scientific knowledge, and that this problem allows creationists the opportunity to mockingly refer to evolution as "just a theory" (as opposed to fact).

They're an inherently cautious bunch, she points out. Even when they're 99 percent certain of a theory, they know there's always the chance that a new discovery could overturn or modify it.

So when scientists talk about well-established bodies of knowledge — particularly in areas like evolution or relativity — they hedge their bets. They say they "believe" something to be true, as in, "We believe that the Jurassic period was characterized by humid tropical weather."

This deliberately nuanced language gets horribly misunderstood and often twisted in public discourse. When the average person hears phrases like "scientists believe," they read it as, "Scientists can't really prove this stuff, but they take it on faith." ("That's just what you believe" is another nifty way to dismiss someone out of hand.)

Of course, antievolution crusaders have figured out that language is the ammunition of culture wars. That's why they use those stickers. They take the intellectual strengths of scientific language — its precision, its carefulness — and wield them as weapons against science itself.

The defense against this: a revamped scientific lexicon. If the antievolutionists insist on exploiting the public's misunderstanding of words like theory and believe, then we shouldn't fight it. "We need to be a bit less cautious in public when we're talking about scientific conclusions that are generally agreed upon," Quinn says.

What does she suggest? For truly solid-gold, well-established science, let's stop using the word theory entirely. Instead, let's revive much more venerable language and refer to such knowledge as "law." As with Newton's law of gravity, people intuitively understand that a law is a rule that holds true and must be obeyed. The word law conveys precisely the same sense of authority with the public as theory does with scientists, but without the linguistic baggage.

Evolution is supersolid. We even base the vaccine industry on it: When we troop into the doctor's office each winter to get a flu shot — an inoculation against the latest evolved strains of the disease — we're treating evolution as a law. So why not just say "the law of evolution"?

Best of all, it performs a neat bit of linguistic jujitsu. If someone says, "I don't believe in the theory of evolution," they may sound fairly reasonable. But if someone announces, "I don't believe in the law of evolution," they sound insane. It's tantamount to saying, "I don't believe in the law of gravity."

Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey

Today I discovered that there is an official website for "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey", the classic SNL quotations from years past. It has many of the best "Deep Thoughts" available as short multimedia presentations. And of course googling will get you many sites with lengthy lists of "Deep Thoughts" quotes too. Good stuff.

Backup and Music Streaming with Windows Home Server

I am pleased to report that over the recent holidays I got a Windows Home Server and was able to get it up and running with amazing ease. I got the HP MediaSmart EX475, which comes with 1 TB (that's 1,000 GB) of storage space. Here is info on it from HP's site, and then also from Amazon. I ordered straight from HP, and it came quickly.

I've only just begun to make use of this machine, but so far I'm quite happy with it. The obvious thing to use it for immediately is automatic backup of all computers in your home. Between midnight and 6 am the WHS wakes up each computer on my network and backs them up. The first backup is heavy of course, but then after that it uses smart technology to only backup the files that are changed or new. You can then rollback individual files or entire hard drives to any date should something go wrong -- and of course, things inevitably go wrong. Since I'm as lazy as the next guy when it comes to backing up my files, this is a great solution. I no longer need to worry about it!

The other thing I've begun using my WHS for is streaming music to our primary television in the living room. Now, there are many ways one can do this -- with media center PCs, or XBox, or whatever. And I've had a Tivo machine for a while, and so could have been doing this all along. But I found the approach used by Tivo Desktop to be cumbersome, so I never bothered using it much. But with WHS, and with the handy Tivo Publisher Add-in For Windows Home Server, I can now listen to any MP3s that I have stored on WHS via iTunes. Very cool, because I didn't need to mess with Tivo Desktop, convert files in any way, etc. Oh, and ditto for photos and videos... for what that's worth... though I've not yet gotten my photos organized and stored on the WHS machine, and I doubt I'll be doing much perusing of photos on my TV anyway.

You can learn more about WHS by visiting the Microsoft WHS homepage.

And see also my original posting about WHS over a year ago. Unlike many technologies, this one is living up the hype and my own expectations for it.

There are many other things I hope to use my WHS for, as time permits me to explore the available add-ons and try out the various use scenarios (like remote access). So watch this blog for more updates on this...

Dinner with Darth Vader

Or was it lunch? or just tea and biscuits? I am speaking of course of the scene in The Empire Strikes Back, where the door swings open and we see Darth Vader at the head of a table... Han instinctively draws his blaster and fires... Darth absorbs or deflects the shots with his gloved hand and then uses the force to whip Han's blaster out of his hands. We see Stormtroopers and Boba Fett appear, making it clear there is no escape. Darth then says "We would be honored, if you would join us." The treachery of Lando is then clear to Han and Leia.

That is one of my favorite scenes from the original Star Wars trilogy. I was cleaning out some old emails recently, and I found one I had sent to friends asking some probing questions about this scene... or rather, the scene that might have followed it but didn't. So I'll share my musings with you now...

So, what do Han, Leia, Chewie, Lando, Darth Vader and the others talk about after the door closes? The table is all set up, with "some refreshments" presumably... what does a Dark Lord of the Sith serve to guests I wonder? I assume Darth doesn't eat or drink anything, unless its through a tube, but what does he offer Han and his friends?

Does Darth get up and seat Leia (his daughter, unknowingly)? Or isn't he a gentleman in this context? Or does he let Han do it?

Does Darth care about table manners? Like, if Chewie puts his elbows on the table while he's eating crackers and cheese, will Darth bellow forth "Uhum...excuse me?!"

Does Darth have a favorite wine, cheese, or other snack that he is serving? Did he prepare the food himself, or threaten an underling with choking if they didn't whip it together on short notice? Or did he tell Lando to have Lobot do it?

As for the conversation, Han would probably start things off poorly, with a crack like "So, Darth, have you recovered from the Death Star loss yet? That was me and Chewie here that blew that one for you. We killed your left wingman and snagged you right out of that channel you know!" ... That would explain why Vader then tortures Han without "asking him any questions" later... he is upset about this wise-crack at brunch!

I just wonder about these things...

Congrats to Goose

Goose Gossage finally was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He should have gotten in years ago. In 2007 he came close 71.2% of the vote (75% is needed). This year's new class of candidates was extremely weak, so that allowed voters to think further about Goose, and so he suddenly received 85.9% of the vote.

How weak was this year's class? In my view Tim Raines is a marginal hall-of-famer, but he only received 24.3% during this first year. I would vote for him, but I don't know if he'll ever get in. Other than him, no one from this year's class even got the 5% of the vote necessary to remain on the ballot next year (Rod Beck, Travis Fryman, Robb Nenn, Shawon Dunston, Chuck Finley, David Justice, Chuck Knoblauch, Todd Stottlemyre, Jose Rijo, Brady Anderson).

So naturally many holdovers did better this year. Gossage was elected, and Jim Rice nearly made it too, as he climbed from 63.5% to 72.2%. Next year's class has sure HOFer Rickey Henderson, but not many others who will get a lot of support (Mark Grace? Matt Williams? Mo Vaughn?), so hopefully Rice will get in. Actually, I'm more supportive of Bert Blyleven than Rice, but I'd vote for those two as well as Andre Dawson. Bert this year climbed from 47.7% to 61.9%, while Andre climbed from 56.7% to 65.9%.

Middle Earth Candy Model

My friend Chris forwarded me this link for a candy-based model of a Tolkien battle scene. Lots of photos with captions are provided, as well as a video tour. Impressive!

Indoctrinate U

I have not yet seen the documentary film Indoctrinate U (from On the Fence Films), but it looks interesting. Here is the trailer.

Some Video Clips on Canada's Health Care System

On the Fence Films has created several short videos on the Canadian "single-payer" health care system. These are three stories of course -- many more are out there that should give pause to everyone pushing for a government single-payer system in the US. Check these short videos:

• Two Women
• A Short Course in Brain Surgery
• The Lemon

Sad stories... but what will be much worse will be what happens if we adopt a similar system and get the inevitable rationing and lengthy wait-times. If today people in other countries with such systems (not just Canada) come to the US and pay for health care to save their lives or eliminate horrific pain... where will they go when they can't come here anymore? And... where would we go? No where.

Scary New York Numbers

I regularly read or hear statistics about New York State that indicate it is below average or near the bottom among the 50 states in a wide range of categories. Most of the time, these stats are talking about high taxes or other economic figures.

Columnist Jay Gallagher has done us all a great favor by gathering together many such statistics into one column, New York's Numbers are Numbing. Not all of these numbers are bad for New York -- a few are actually pretty good (low crime), and many are middle-of-the-pack (so not that bad at least relative to other states). But ouch... so many of these numbers place New York at or near the bottom.

On Ethiopia

If you are like me then you have kept up with the news in recent years out of countries in East Africa such as Sudan and Somalia. Often involved in these stories has been Ethiopia, a country that it seems has been helping the US in various matters in the region. In the Nov. 3 issue of The Economist there was a good "briefing" article "A brittle Western ally in the Horn of Africa". It gives a good overview of recent history of that country, both improvements made in recent years and the many troubles still faced. The last half is mostly about the near-term strictly political issues, but what I found more interesting are the long-term and quite devastating economic (and political) issues. Here is that section:

The fact is that for all the aid money and Chinese loans coming in, Ethiopia's economy is neither growing fast enough nor producing enough jobs. The number of jobs created by flowers is insignificant beside an increase in population of about 2m a year, one of the fastest rates in Africa. Since every mother has about seven children, it is conceivable that Ethiopia, with 75m-plus people today, could overtake Nigeria (now 140m-strong) as Africa's most populous country by mid-century. Just to stand still, let alone make inroads into poverty, the country must produce hundreds of thousands of jobs a year.

It is hard to see where they will come from. The government claims that the economy has been growing at an impressive 10% a year since 2003-04, but the real figure is probably more like 5-6%, which is little more than the average for sub-Saharan Africa. And even that modestly improved rate, with a small building boom in Addis Ababa, for instance, has led to the overheating of the economy, with inflation moving up to 19% earlier this year before the government took remedial action.

The reasons for this economic crawl are not hard to find. Beyond the government-directed state, funded substantially by foreign aid, there is—almost uniquely in Africa—virtually no private-sector business at all. The IMF estimates that in 2005-06 the share of private investment in the country was just 11%, nearly unchanged since Mr Zenawi took over in the early 1990s. That is partly a reflection of the fact that, despite some privatisation since the centralised Marxist days of the Derg, large areas of the economy remain government monopolies, closed off to private business.

This is where Ethiopia misses out badly. Take telecoms. While the rest of Africa has been virtually transformed in just a few years by a revolution in mobile telephony, Ethiopia stumbles along with its inept and useless government-run services. Everywhere else, a plethora of South African, home-grown and European providers has leapt into the market to provide Africans with an extraordinary array of cheaper and more efficient services, now used even by the poorest of farmers, for instance, to check spot prices for agricultural goods in markets miles away. And the mobile-phone revolution has created thousands of new livelihoods; at times it seems as if every boy on a street corner is hawking a top-up card. Not in Ethiopia.

It is the same story in financial services, where, despite the growth of some smaller private banks, no foreign banks are allowed. Micro-finance schemes have expanded exponentially, but it remains almost impossible to find start-up loans for small or medium businesses.

There is no official unemployment rate, but youth unemployment, some experts reckon, may be as high as 70%. All those graduates coming out of state-run universities will find it very hard to get jobs. The mood of the young is often restless and despairing; many dream of moving abroad. It was this mood of resentment that the opposition tapped into in 2005, and the capital's maybe 300,000 unemployed young men proved a combustible force on the streets. The ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), underestimated the degree of disillusion with its policies, and thus overreacted when the opposition polled much better than expected.

Unless the private sector is allowed to create jobs, the country's problems will continue to mount and the gains of development may be squandered. Sooner rather than later, 2m more people a year will overwhelm a state that is trying to provide most of the jobs itself.