Ha! Cool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Sharona

RIP Russell Means

We've lost another hero. 

At least I got to meet and speak with Mr. Means at the LPMN Convention in 2000.  I think I bought his book, Where White Men Fear to Tread, directly from him, but I may have got it at Barnes and Noble after meeting him.

A quote from page 486:

 We believe that the U.S. Constitution can and should evolve to keep pace with the times, but what it says at any given time is inviolate.  We believe in self-defense, but we're the most peace-loving people in America.  Our country doesn't need an enormous, costly military establishment, because most of our "foes" would be friends if we stopped treating them like enemies.  The National Guard should return to its original mission-militias assembled in time of need to protect states against incursions by the federal government.  If we honored the Second Amendment, which guarantees us the right to bear arms, we the citizens would be better armed than our government.  It could never force us to do anything.

"Judge not..." is true in another way.

This thought rousted me out of bed.

Ayn Rand pointed out that a corollary of Jesus' saying, "Judge not that ye be not judged," is "Judge and prepare to be judged."  I think of this often and it occurred to me tonight that it's true psychologically as well.  Your criticism of others reveals your own weaknesses to the psychologically astute.

I offer this infinitely copiable arrow to the intellectual quivers of the masses in this election season.  It behooves us all to become psychologically astute - it's our best defense against manipulators...as well as it defends us from falling into the trap of being manipulators (which burns up our stock of good will, if you need to have the selfish, utilitarian argument spelled out).

MTCM 2012

Well, I finished the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon today. No PR, and no real idea why not: http://www.mtecresults.com/runner/show?rid=4882&race=1146.   I was completely wasted at the end - I almost passed out - so I couldn't have done any better.  Maybe it was the layers.

I wasted some time in a port-a-potty once.  Just in case that discomfort was something serious.  Stopping out of the wind did kind of even out my hot and cold spots, so it wasn't all bad.  That stop does account for the 14+/mile  section, though.

2:12:29 for the half isn't bad.  I'll have to run a half to see how that would go when it's my goal.

I was reminded, today, why I don't wear boxer briefs for running. It was cold out - 29 degrees (F) at the start - so I thought, "Oh, these will be warm." They work like mechanical tweezers. 

That is, however, my worst discomfort.  I've got "water" on both knees, but not a major case.  The duct tape and Body Glide worked like champs.

Excellent article by Arnold Kling

In Libertarians and Group Norms,  Kling pulls out many of the biggest guns of libertarianism  to debate what we should do with/about our inherited social tendencies and institutions.  Adam Smith and F.A. Hayek take the side of dealing gently with them, while J.S. Mill and Ayn Rand argue for overthrowing them if they interfere with personal freedom.

Gaol Time

I just want to know why somebody thought this was a natural way to spell 'jail.'  It completely flies in the face of all the spelling rules.

It's an outrage.