"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
-by Sebastian In light of Hobby Lobby and the surprising and welcome storming of the gates by gay marriage advocates in recent years, there seems to be quite a bit of talk about the virtue of tolerance. I'm not philosophically trained but much of it seems confused. The proximate causes of this post are this … Read more
by liberal japonicus
I've often threatened to write a post about Japanese sexuality, but after several tries, I never really was able to actually explain anything. Below the fold is the Daily Show's take on one recent news story which kind of gets at my confusion. I will never understand this country…
by liberal japonicus Take a look at these three pictures and tell me what you see What you are seeing is my youngest daughter's kokugo jiten, or Japanese dictionary. No, she doesn't have a condition that has her obsessively using post-its. This is the latest thing. Elementary school students are encouraged to, when they use … Read more
by Doctor Science One thing we agree on about the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars is that the (American) human costs were borne by only a small part of the population. For people in the military and their families the war was a constant and excessive burden, but most Americans felt no direct consequences at all. … Read more
by liberal japonicus Which is basically, 'long time, no see' in Japanese. Though the formality marker at the end is probably too much. I hope this article, pulled from the LGM thread, is of interest. I loved it and don't skip over the footnotes at the end. What is everyone else reading?
by Ugh The Scene: Saturday, Pizza Joint The Players: Ugh, Ugh’s almost 3 year old The Setting: Pizza ordered, just sat down to wait. Almost 3 Year Old (cheerily): I want pizza! Ugh: Okay, it’s coming soon. [30 seconds later] A3YO (cheerily): I want pizza! Ugh: Don’t worry, it’s coming. [30 seconds later] A3YO (cheerily): … Read more
by Doctor Science
On Wednesday my husband D had both his old knees replaced with new, shiny robot knees. I am now married to a cyborg.
We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better…stronger…faster.
We’ve had the technology for a while, but because of the frakked-up US health care system, we haven’t had the *money* until this year. You don’t get to talk about “wait times” in the US unless you factor in the people who have to wait years — or forever — because they can’t afford care they need.
by Ugh The dribs and drabs of N!S!A! and other U.S. intelligence apparatus spying news continue to flow from the Edward Snowden FilesTM and elsewhere. Here is a story about how even "incidentally" collected information is stored and searched. Most disturbingly (to me at least, there are many other disturbing details) in that story, is … Read more
by Ugh I had the, um, pleasure of being called for potential jury duty today. I was not placed on a jury (although likely would have been had I been closer to the front of the line) but had some thoughts about it and the US criminal justice system generally. First, I'm not sure I'd … Read more
by Doctor Science There are a lot of arguments about which recording of The Star-Spangled Banner is the best, but for my money this one blows the rest away: Direct YouTube link. The music is Chase Holfelder’s minor-key version. The visuals are from the Captain America: The Winter Soldier trailer. Fanvid by Camunki. We … Read more