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The internet is only doing to politics what it has done to other industries: it disaggregates elements and then enables these free atoms to reaggregate into new molecules; it fragments the old and unifies the new. So in the end, the internet gives us the opportunity to make more nuanced expressions of our political worldview, which makes obsolete old orthodoxies and old definitions of left and right. – Jeff Jarvis, Why the internet will revolutionise politics March 16th, 2007 | 10 comments - (Comments are closed)
 March 15th, 2007 | 8 comments - (Comments are closed)
Watching cricket is one of the best ways of avoiding working known to man – Someone from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) is worried about the impact the Cricket World Cup will have on the economy. March 12th, 2007 | 2 comments - (Comments are closed)
March 10th, 2007 | 26 comments - (Comments are closed)
Buying ‘Carbon Offsets’ is the 21st-century equivalent of buying Papal Indulgences – a salve to the consciences of the deluded for having committed an entirely fictitious sin dreamed up – rather conveniently – by the indulgence-peddlers themselves. A ‘Sin of Emission’, one could say… – Commenter Tanuki March 6th, 2007 | 23 comments - (Comments are closed)
The trouble is that once you haven’t won, the sense that you are gatecrashing somebody else’s party is overwhelming, and it hits you hard that the ‘somebody else’ is much more glamorous than you. – Dan Mazer, the writer of Borat on being nominated for an Oscar. More or less how I feel about life in general, really. March 5th, 2007 | 4 comments - (Comments are closed)
Garbage In, Gospel Out – William S. Lind, discussing the operational philosophy underpinning US military intelligence. March 2nd, 2007 | 45 comments - (Comments are closed)
How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven. – Robert A. Heinlein, one of the world’s great science fiction writers and moggie-lovers. March 1st, 2007 | 36 comments - (Comments are closed)
Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference, which is an elegant name for ignorance – G.K. Chesterton, The Speaker, 1925 February 27th, 2007 | 16 comments - (Comments are closed)
Having spent £13,000 on installing a wind turbine at his home, John Large is disappointed at the return on his investment, which amounts to 9p a week. At this rate, it is calculated, it will take 2,768 years for the electricity generated by the turbine to pay for itself, by which time he will be past caring about global warming. The wind turbine was installed at the engineer’s home in Woolwich, southeast London, four weeks ago and has so far generated four kilowatts of electricity. An average household needs 23kw every day to power its lights and appliances. Mr Large said that his difficulties highlighted the problems faced by consumers who wanted to buy wind turbines to save money and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. – from the Times today (hat tip Bishop Hill) February 17th, 2007 | 63 comments - (Comments are closed)
There’s more to the world than politics. Politics is a way to have paved streets and cops and firefighters show up when we call 911. It’s nothing more than that. – Commenter ‘Sunfish’ February 16th, 2007 | 13 comments - (Comments are closed)
One thing that is really bugs me about the guy or at least the Obama phenomenon is that he and his supporters (definitely his supporters) like to make a big deal about every possible racist interpretation that can be put into what his opponents say about him. Yet it is obvious to Blind Freddy that he would not be in the limelight in the first place were it not for the whole race issue. If Obama were white would anyone really give a damned what he said? He’s milking this mixed heritage business for all it’s worth. How much of his book is about his philosophy and how much of it is about converting his personal life story into a heap of ‘we are the world’ cliches?The hype that has been placed on the guy speaks volumes for the ridiculousness of the media’s patronising attitudes on race. Is there any evidence that he is any much smarter than the average politician? Any wiser or more intellectual? Does anyone know what he stands for besides banal platitudes and a trendy populism? – Jason Soon of Catallaxy enunciates what I suspect a number of Samizdata readers and contributors are thinking about Barack Obama. February 14th, 2007 | 18 comments - (Comments are closed)
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