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Oil Books
Via Instapunit, Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy – which has the theory that the Saudis are running out of oil (not likely IMHO, if they were their behavior would be much different)
Via the too shrill Huffington Post, Secrets of the Kingdom – which has as one of it’s major points the contention that the Saudis have rigged the entire country with explosive and radiological material as an incentive for everyone to stay on their good side. Again, not that likely, but interesting. It is written by Gerald Posner who usually does fine work.
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Something worth reading
Radley Balko had an excellent post on the abhorrent Soviet Chic trend that is spreading in some circles. It all goes to show the importance of marketing and identity to people I suppose.
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Thoughts on Self Selection
While picking some with JP this evening he brought up some new show on CNN that feature two people reading headlines from the blogosphere. Oddly enough the Daily Show on Comedy Central also had a piece on that as well.
JP also said something to the effect that with all of our technology we aren’t any better informed. After some thought, here’s what I think about that.
For the purposes of this post, there are three kinds of information
- Identical Knowledge – this is information that is seen and believed identically. Example are Columbus landing in this hemisphere in 1492, Water boiling at 100 degrees Celsius, etc. Generally this is value neutral.
- Shared Knowledge – Knowledge that is generally attached to a point of view or some moral value where two people can know basically the same facts but arrive at different conclusions. Examples are the designated hitter in baseball, politics, conspiracy theories, etc.
- Personal Knowledge – this is knowledge that one person knows, but that other people in his or her social group do not. An example are highly specialized data that comes from hobbies or one’s job.
I think that with the ever present technology Personal Knowledge has increased dramatically in relation to the other two types, giving the appearance that we all know less since Identical Knowledge (which is largely verifiable) is an ever smaller percentage of what people know.
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Worth Reading
Is this article on the practice of rendition in the Weekly Standard. It’s written by a a former CIA officer who argues against it mostly on efficiency grounds.
It’s worth reading all of the article, if only for insight on what a strange topic this is, and how important self image and membership in the group is to some people.. I’m reminded of the old South Park insight of “America is a big enough country to go to war without wanting to“.
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Iraqi Insurgency
Some very interesting reading; Tom Palmer refers to this WAPO article on the goals of the insurgency in Iraq, and it raises some interesting thoughts.
The article breaks it all down into 3 groups: al Qaida in Iraq, headed by Zarquai, hardcore Baathists, and non-hardcore Baathist sympathizers. It’s all very good reading, most particularly the goals of the hardcore Baathists, which are to regain control of Iraq should the US leave. They thing they have the capability to do so based on their superior organization and ruthlessness.
All of which makes me wonder, the US death rate seems to be holding at around 15 or so per week, with a variance of 5 or so. However they seem to be coming in offensive action, not random murder, and the number of insurgents killed has been skyrocketing lately. Hopefully this is a good sign.
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Irish Gypsies
Who knew they actually existed, Irish Gypsies are distinct from regular gypsies (or the Roma), most notably in that they are ethnically Irish, but they have a gypsy lifestyle and are only in the UK, US and Ireland. This was who Brad Pitt was portraying the movie Snatch.
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Weird Things You Find On Wikipedia
In this case, an entry on the last major Nazi war criminal believed to be alive, Alois Brunner. Evidently he’s hiding in Syria which is not great surprise I suppose. The strange thing about him (besides still being alive and unpunished) is that he has lost several fingers and an eye from letter bombs sent to him by Israeli intelligence. It’s good that the Israelis still go the extra mile in these matters but it’s astonishing that after losing an appendage to a letter bomb, Brunner would still open suspicious packages.
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The Tree
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Outlook fixed
After 10 hours of importing, exporting, and much other crap. I finally have Outlook working again. I still don’t know the cause of the original problem, though I did learn that when Microsoft puts a limit on Outlook file size, they really mean it.
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Innovations in Capital Punishment from Japan
As I wait for Outlook to archive it’s way to being fixed (hopefully) I peruse the web and see this post by Gene Healy about capital punishment in Japan. Basically it’s by hanging (no great surprise) but they don’t have a set date. The prisoner is on death row, and then some random day they come and hang him.
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This should be our national motto
As I wait for the Outlook repair tool to truncate my email file, here’s some stuff I’ve been meaning to get on the web. The below should be our national goal.
From Between the Devil and the Dragon by Eric Hoffer, the diary entry from February 11, 1959
I live in a society full of blemishes and deformities. But it is a society that gives every man elbow room to do the things near to his heart. In no other county is it so possible for a man of determination to go ahead, with whatever it is he sets his heart on, without compromising his integrity. Of course, those who set their heart on acclaim and fortune must cater to other people’s demands. But for those who want to be left alone to realize their capacities and talents, this is an ideal county. It is incredible how easy it is in this county to cut oneself off from what one disapproves–from all vulgarity, mendacity, conformity, subservience, speciousness, and other corrupting influences and infections.
Perfectly put.