Who’s afraid of Mrs. Grundy?
In my family, the name “Mrs. Grundy” was used to describe someone of rigidly conformative taste and judgement (and keenly censorious bent). I’d always assumed it was just a family notion or perhaps a...
View ArticleQotD: The dangers of career “dualization”
This concept [of dualization] applies much more broadly than just drugs and colleges. I sometimes compare my own career path, medicine, to that of my friends in computer programming. Medicine is very...
View ArticleTop 10 Reasons the Byzantine Empire Was Among the Most Successful in History
Published on 2 May 2017 You’d see a lot of changes when looking at a map of present day Europe and comparing it to a 30 year old one. Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and the Baltic States were all part of...
View ArticleRemembering the Six-Day War
With the 50th anniversary coming up in a few weeks, Jerrold L. Sobel provides a retrospective on the Arab-Israeli war of 1967: For those of us alive during those daunting days in May 1967 leading up to...
View ArticleVenezuela’s American “useful idiots”
Marian L. Tupy on the American apologists for the ongoing economic and humanitarian disaster unfolding in Venezuela, thanks to that country’s embrace of socialism: … all socialist countries eventually...
View ArticleThe Ally From The Far East – Japan in World War 1 I THE GREAT WAR Special
Published on 22 May 2017 Japan’s participation in World War 1 is an often overlooked part of their history – even in Japan itself. Their service as one of the members of the Entente marked the climax...
View ArticleQotD: The evil of political correctness
PC [political correctness] represents, in essence, the institutionalisation of dishonesty, of deception, where people are given carte blanche to behave in an immoral way — ‘erect those fences, release...
View ArticleVintage Style Storage Boxes w/ Splines
Published on 7 Dec 2015 I wanted to make really nice storage boxes to organize my art supplies so I went with cedar and maple splines. Related posts: French cleat follow-up Why some vintage dates...
View Article“I don’t know if Lou would be cracking up about this or crying because it’s...
Reactions to the University of Guelph student association’s characterizing Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” as transphobic: Friends of the late Lou Reed responded on Saturday with disbelief to a...
View ArticleESR presents Open Adventure
Eric S. Raymond recently was entrusted with the original code for ADVENT, and he’s put it up on gitlab for anyone to access: Colossal Cave Adventure was the origin of many things; the text adventure...
View ArticleWill it be more Mourning Sickness, or will it be anger this time?
Brendan O’Neill on the reactions to the Manchester bomb attack on Monday after a pop concert: After the terror, the platitudes. And the hashtags. And the candlelit vigils. And they always have the same...
View ArticleQotD: Lies about the past
It has long been said that the truth will set you free. This is often true, even when that freedom is the bleak and dry eyed horror of knowing how wrong things can go. (As in, say, studying...
View ArticleHow Does Glue Work? (feat. VSauce) – James May’s Q&A (Ep 9) – Head Squeeze
Published on 28 Feb 2013 Michael Stevens from Vsauce makes a guest appearance with James May to discuss how glue actually works. James May’s Q&A: With his own unique spin, James May asks and...
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Teddy Bridgewater returns to Vikings OTAs, sparking more questions
To the surprise and delight of many Vikings fans, the team posted a short video to their social media accounts on Tuesday afternoon, showing quarterback Teddy Bridgewater taking part in some passing...
View ArticleDangerous railway practices of the past
On Facebook, the New England, Berkshire & Western (“an HO scale layout created by the Rensselaer Model Railroad Society, which is a student club on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in...
View ArticleWords & Numbers: Government Can’t Stop Creative Destruction
Published on 24 May 2017 Technology doesn’t just change things, it utterly destroys things. And that’s just fine. It happens so often that people barely even notice when it does. Think about all the...
View ArticleQotD: The coming of the sexbots
Recently I saw online a documentary on sex robots. The reporteress, a short-haired woman seething with quiet indignation, Viewed With Alarm the very idea. Progress is rapid on these love assistants,...
View ArticlePuzzle of Growth: Rich Countries and Poor Countries
Published on 16 Feb 2016 Throughout this section of the course, we’ve been trying to solve a complicated economic puzzle — why are some countries rich and others poor? There are various factors at...
View ArticleA noteworthy historical “Oh, shit!” moment
At Catallaxy Files, a guest post on a most butt-puckering “Oh, shit!” from long ago: My favourite Oh Shit moment of all time occurred a while ago. On the 4th of September 401 BC to be exact. At dawn....
View ArticleToronto-London high speed train plan –“many Ontarians wouldn’t trust the...
Chris Selley discusses the weak-but-barely-plausible high speed train plans announced by the Ontario government the other day: High-speed rail is expensive — to build, certainly, and more on that...
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