The Manichean Paranoia Patch

Just a quick note here.  Paul MacCready, the inventor of the first practical flying machine powered by a human being, passed away on Wednesday.  This modern day Da Vinci was the first American pilot to become World Gliding Champion and founded AeroVironment, a technology company that is primarily involved in energy systems, electric vehicle systems, […]

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So today I received an email asking for help on the creation and distribution of a Stop the Genocide in Darfur petition at my college.  Being the student body president, I politely declined any sort of official involvement because Student Government exists to deal with the issues of the students, not world concerns.  (I did […]

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Hey guys.  If you haven’t already heard about it, something related to Owen Wilson happened recently.  However, I urge you not to look it up and if you hear someone gossiping about it, walk away.  From the handful of paragraphs I read before I had the good sense to stop, he doesn’t want people to […]

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Yes, Gonzales finally resigned. But more importantly, the University of Vermont has installed a gender-neutral bathroom for its transgender and handicapped students. (No, this isn’t meant to imply that being transgendered is a handicap, although I am sure it does make life more complicated.)  “At least 17 colleges and universities have included […]

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In the spirit of education, I have decided to start a weekly post about little-known heroes of the past. You won’t see these people lauded in textbooks, but in their own way they were courageous and ahead of their time.
Today’s unsung hero is Henry Taylor Blow. Mr. Blow was born in 1817 in […]

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OK, this genuinely blows the mind. This is going to totally change newspaper editing and imaging forever. I don’t want to describe it, because it would take a long time and would be far more ineffective than simply showing you the video. But if you have any interest in graphic design and […]

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Credit for finding this goes to my friend Karen Huang. It seems that someone converted an old water tower into a fully furnished and incredibly attractive home. Check it out!

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I’m not sure why this clip hasn’t gotten more publicity but I find it interesting that more than ten years ago Cheney predicted the exact outcome of the current invasion of Iraq. It’s like a Greek tragedy about a clairvoyant king who suffers from chronic memory loss and thus forgets all his predictions… Or maybe I’m […]

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How do we judge historical figures: by the standards of their own time or by ours? 
Take Theodore Roosevelt for example.  He was a charismatic President, a prominent conservative who never-the-less recognized the importance of breaking up the monopolies that dominated American industry at the time.  He also pioneered the American conservation movement, starting many of the national parks that remain in […]

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This is from a class I took last semester entitled the Economics of Religion. I’ve gone ahead and attached the paper I am describing here for those of you that may be interested.
In ancient Israel rival religious groups competed over members. The two chief competitors were the Levite and Aaronite priesthoods. However, […]

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