Unqualified Offerings

Kerry Howley asks,
Why not allow women–most human beings–to individuate emotionally?

I mean, what the hell kind of crazy talk is that??

By Thoreau
Me:  “Since we’re proposing a grant that will bring in some administrative costs, we should ask the administration for some support for this project.”
Battered professor:  “You can’t ask them for that!  It will cost money!”
[Note:  Institutions routinely offer partial matching funds and other support for projects that bring in overhead costs.]
Me:  “Yes, but I’m [...]

In the Hit & Run thread Dr. T pointed folks to the other day, the topic wound its way, as all things must, to Jimmy Carter. Naturally my Carter-revisionism knee jerked, and I reminded the assembled about trucking and airline deregulation and JC’s decision to back Paul Volcker’s tight-money Fed in an election year, putting [...]

By Thoreau
The world’s oldest jokes have been compiled.  Strangely enough, the last 4 minutes and 50 seconds of a 5 minute Saturday Night Live skit did not make the list.  Most of them seem to have lost something in translation.  This one, however, is really good:
8. Augustus was touring his Empire and noticed a man [...]

By Thoreau
Via Greenwald, I learn that GOP Sen. Sam Brownback (a name that just begs for Dan Savage to revise some dictionaries) is shocked–SHOCKED!–to learn that the Chinese government indiscriminately taps phones.  This sort of practice offends the delicate sensibilities of Republican legislators, who can’t even conceive of a state that might indiscriminately spy on [...]

By Thoreau
I was always told that stars can only burn for a long time and synthesize heavy elements necessary for life if the fundamental parameters of the universe (crudely speaking, the strength of electromagnetic forces, the strength of the gravitational force, and the strength of the nuclear forces involved in fusion) are finely tuned to [...]

By Thoreau
Comes courtesy of the Onion.

By Thoreau
I’ve been pretty harsh on Team Blue.  Meanwhile, I’ve made some recent posts that were ostensibly on libertarianism but were arguably diatribes against Red faux libertarians rather than examinations of problems in actual libertarianism.  (A criticism raised by Eric, among others.)  Given my ambiguous alignment (chaotic good, but I have a magical ring that [...]

By Thoreau
Everybody says that there are no seasons in Los Angeles, but the truth is that we have 4 seasons just like the rest of the country:  Tourist, fire, flood, and earthquake.  Everything is fine, but my campus is actually near the epicenter and it got a bit scary here on the 3rd floor.
My wife [...]

Perhaps marking this anniversary shall become an annual Unqualified Offerings tradition – until I forget, anyway. Today is not even the true anniversary of the day that Marie Prevost was found dead. For the Real Story Nick Lowe Doesn’t Want You to Know, see the "Fallen Star" page on Flapper Jane and Wikipedia. To hear [...]