Way Down Here

[Enter the Mexicans]

… you need a reason to move:

  • Jeff at Protein Wisdom likes this definition offered by Carlo Cardasco, European director of Students for Liberty, and I guess I do too:
    Being a classical liberal means being a conservative when you need to preserve liberties you already have, a radical when you have to gain liberties you don't have yet, a reactionary when you need to regain liberties you've lost, and a revolutionary when you can't be free any other way. And always progressive, because without liberty, there can be no progress.
    The only downside of calling yourself a "classical liberal" is people not knowing what you're talking about. But if you have the above printed out on a small laminated card, you can hand it out.

  • Plan B is is from Hayek:
    Whiggism is historically the correct name for the ideas in which I believe. The more I learn about the evolution of ideas, the more I have become aware that I am simply an unrepentant Old Whig - with the stress on the "old."
    Downside: "old whig" is even less recognizable than "classical liberal". (Or maybe that's an upside, come to think about it.) And instead of a small laminated card, I think you'd have to pass out copies of The Constitution of Liberty.

  • In our occasional Aieeee, We're All Gonna Die Department, check out Pauli Poisuo at Cracked, who describes "7 Horrible Ways The Universe Can Destroy Us Without Warning". As always, kids, Cracked articles are full of bad words, so ask your parents if it's OK first. But you can learn stuff about, for example, the vacuum metastability event:
    … which is what happens when the energy levels of our particular universe's vacuum go sour. Should this happen, the ensuing collapse would level Earth with a light-speed blast before any of us even had time to blink. It's probably a good thing that we don't survive long, because after that, things get really bad. All the laws of physics will go psychedelic on your poor, obliterated ass, until they eventually mutate into a completely new, improved set. There will still be a universe, just not the universe. In time, there may even be life -- just not the sort we'd be able to comprehend, even if our brains hadn't been smashed into inverted color parties riding the crest of an infinite mathwave.
    On the plus side, however, we wouldn't need to worry about whether to call ourselves classical liberals or old whigs.


Last Modified 2022-10-05 5:50 AM EDT

Reckless

[3.0
stars] [IMDb Link]

[Amazon Link]
(paid link)

Hard to believe, but we ran out of Netflix DVDs to watch one night. So we ventured over to Comcast's "On Demand" service, found the "Free Movies!" button, checked out what Turner Classic Movies (TCM) had available, and here you go: a 1935 offering starring Jean Harlow and William Powell. Apparently not on DVD, hence not Netflixable, so a pretty good choice.

[A brief gripy aside: "Free" isn't exactly what I'd call Comcast's cable service. Instead of "Free Movies!" maybe they should label that button "Movies That, If You Watch Them, Won't Increase Your Already Exorbitant Cable Bill!"]

[Another gripy aside: Comcast doesn't see fit to include TCM in my tier of cable service. It is for some stupid reason in the "Sports Entertainment Pack". What? Jerks.]

Anyway: Ms. Harlow plays Mona, a struggling singer; William Powell plays her agent, Ned. Ned loves Mona, but can't seem to seal the deal, romancewise. But Bob, a wealthy playboy, (Franchot Tone) becomes infatuated with Mona, too. To Ned's disappointment, Mona marries him. This turns out to be a bad idea, since Bob's family looks down on Mona's roots, and it turns out that Bob still has feelings for his previous sweetie, Jo. (Who is played by a very pretty Rosalind Russell.) Somewhat to my surprise, the movie turns from being a light sorta-musical comedy (with ludicrous dance numbers) into a pretty dark melodrama.

Other trivia: it's got Mickey Rooney (about 15 years old) and Margaret Dumont, on loan from the Marx Brothers.


Last Modified 2024-01-28 2:40 PM EDT