A Nuclear Vocabulary: Japan, Meltdown, What it Means

March 13, 2011

On top of the reporting about one of the 5 most powerful earthquakes in recorded history, which has resulted in over 10,000 deaths and massive disruption in Japan, as well as Tsunamis that swept the pacific, we seem to be focusing on the nuclear power plants.  Obviously there is a concern, and in relation...

Read more »

Is It Really Socialist To Be Anti-Immigration?

May 30, 2010

Not necessarily.   You could be anti-immigration for racist reasons, or out of “cultural-erosion” fears.  Or, if you believe most immigrants are non-working, non-consuming entities who will somehow place a cost on the system, you could believe that free enterprise needs the support of the powerful state to control market conditions. But otherwise, yeah....

Read more »

Red Dead Redemption: The Game I’ve Been Waiting To Play Since I Was Six

May 22, 2010
Red Dead Redemption: The Game I’ve Been Waiting To Play Since I Was Six

Well, at least since 1975, when I first played “Gun Fight.”  It wasn’t the first video-game I played.  I played the original Space War at Magic Mountain, and of course Pong.  But others may feel nostalgic about those games, or Pac Man, Asteroids, Space Invaders, or even Centipede.  But the first time I played...

Read more »

Arizona Governor: F*ck the Police!

April 25, 2010
Arizona Governor: F*ck the Police!

Okay, I’m paraphrasing a bit.  But here she is: Think about it.  If you’re a police officer, you are constantly making difficult judgments.  Yes, you have to enforce the law, but you only have a certain amount of time, and every infraction you address means a dozen others that will escape notice.  Of course...

Read more »

Roger Ebert Returns to his “Games cannot be high art” theme

April 19, 2010

Once again, Roger Ebert has returned to his statement that “games could not be art.”  Since he originally made that statement, he realized it was indefensible, adding that what he should have said was: “could not be high art, as I understand it.”  Of course that statement is very easy to defend, given the...

Read more »

What About the Pope?

April 3, 2010

There is a big discussion going on about whether the Pope should be held responsible for a certain pedophile priest.  Apparently the (not-pope-at-the-time) knew something, had some administrative responsibility, and took some kind of action.  I don’t think we really know what he knew, when he knew it, or whether what he did constitutes...

Read more »