“…that trunk of humours, that
bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel
of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed
cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with
the pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that
grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in
years?”

Four hundred years ago, Shakespeare saw him coming:

Stacy Adams, Bass, Sebago, Rockport, lots more. They’ve got a pair of Bass Weejuns that look pretty interesting to me. Local cobbler wants seventy bucks to re-sole my current pair, and I can get new for $68.

Remember – anything you buy from Amazon through any link on this site puts a commission in my pocket, at no cost to yourself, so thank you very much! Also, arf! from the Presidential Pomeranian.

Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Pitts (R) wrote to a constituent that he opposes recognizing the ‘Palestinian Authority’ and that Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma since 2006, must negotiate with Yasser Arafat, who has been dead since 2004 (Hat Tip: Shy Guy).

Rep. Pitts, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committee, did not comment on the blooper, but the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that his spokesman wrote, “Mistakes are both few and rare but do sometimes occur. This one was particularly embarrassing. We have apologized to the constituent and are reviewing our internal process to make sure this sort of thing can’t happen again.”

Pitts’ reply apparently was a form letter his office sent to the constituent.

One citizen of Pitts’ district is Ian Rhodewalt, who is spending a year in Ramallah and wrote on the left-wing Mondoweiss website, “Apparently, my Congressman believes that the solution for peace in the Middle East will be reached by encouraging negotiations between a vegetable and a dead man.”

Sharon is still able to outwit the current head of the PLO Palestinian Authority.

Teach the kids to swim – without drowning them. (Well, unless they need drowning….)

Remember – anything you buy from Amazon through any link on this site puts a commission in my pocket, at no cost to yourself, so thank you very much! Also, arf! from the Presidential Pomeranian.

Some folks seem addicted to this. If you’re one of them, here you go.

Remember – anything you buy from Amazon through any link on this site puts a commission in my pocket, at no cost to yourself, so thank you very much! Also, arf! from the Presidential Pomeranian.

Our decisions to trust people with our money are based more on how they look then how they behave, according to new research from the University of Warwick.

As with almost all psychological studies, I have serious doubts about the method used in this one. However, the announced results match what is obvious to anyone with real-world experience, so I’ll blog about it.

Humans are not rational animals. If there is a disagreement between facts and logic on the one hand and intuition, “a feeling in my guts”, superficial evidence, the way it’s always been done, or personal prejudice on the other hand, facts and logic lose almost every time.

One conclusion from this research is that if you want to be a scam artist, con man, embezzler, or investment banker, the most important traits you can have is an “honest face”. It helps if you are objectively attractive, but that’s not really needed. Sure, go ahead and study up on the jargon of your profession and learn techniques for drawing and suckers and closing the deal, but if you don’t have the face, you’re starting from behind the competition.

NASA’s space station management team on Tuesday approved plans to launch SpaceX’s first commercial flight to the complex Saturday, signing off on software changes governing the privately-built capsule’s final approach to the orbiting outpost. Launch from Cape Canaveral is set for Saturday at 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 GMT).

I had planned to watch this launch from a boat in the Indian river but, alas, the several delays blew that plan, ahem, out of the water. Anyhow, it’s an early morning, pre-dawn launch and should be spectacular even if I’ll be viewing it from land a long way from the Cape.

GRAPHENE, a form of carbon that comes in sheets a single atom thick, has gained a reputation as a wonder material. It is the best conductor yet discovered of heat at room temperature and is 40 times stronger than steel. It is also a semiconductor whose electrical conductivity is 1,000 times better than silicon’s.

Reading about graphene’s possible uses is something like reading about the possible uses of plastic or atomic energy or electricity from decades or a century ago. I’m sure that the myriad uses to which it is put are mostly undreamt-of now. Faster, please!

What simple health care reform has reduced medical costs by up to 30%, while preserving quality of care? Hint: It’s not government price controls or mandatory health insurance. Rather, it’s letting patients decide how to spend their own health care dollars.

The RAND Corporation recently published a study of 360,000 families who used Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to control their own spending on routine medical expenses. These HSAs were coupled with high-deductible insurance to cover unlikely-but-expensive serious accidents and illnesses.

According to health economist John Goodman: “Not only did spending go down by as much as 30 percent, there was no noticeable decrease in quality and no discernible difference in outcomes among various income groups.” Nor did patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes skimp on preventive care relative to healthier patients. The study authors estimate that widespread adoption of HSAs could reduce overall health costs by as much as $57 billion. Health economist Greg Scandlen thinks it could be much more.

But this is precisely why HSAs, IMHO, will not be allowed to continue to exist; they work.

Read the entire article written by Objectivist physician Dr. Paul Hseih.