URLs du Jour

2018-02-11

[Amazon Link]
(paid link)

Proverbs 16:33 grapples with issues with which modern physicists have also wrestled:

33 The lot is cast into the lap,
    but its every decision is from the Lord.

… specifically, I'm thinking of Einstein's well-known quote "God does not play dice with the universe." Which seems, as near as I can tell, to be a punched-up version of what he actually said.

The Proverb is also interesting for the common "Even back in Ancient Israel" reason: Even back in Ancient Israel, they rolled the dice to make decisions when they were otherwise stumped.


■ Matt Welch has a long memory, and (at Reason) he provides a detailed history of How GOP Fiscal Sanity Died, in 7 Easy Steps. Bottom line:

It will be a long time, if ever, before Republican complaints (from anyone not named Paul, Amash, or Massie) about debt, deficits, and federal spending will be met with anything but gales of laughter. The question is more whether anyone besides those three will ever bring the subject up. It's certainly not on the front burner of the party's unchallenged leader. We could soon be in a season where the only alarm bells at Washington's reckless spending will be rung not by national politicians, but by bond traders.

I am failing my usual self-imposed Costello guideline here: I am disgusted by this, and not at all amused.


■ With the first spring training games less than two weeks away (yay!), it's time for George Will to write about some baseball: Play Ball, with Informed Intelligence. One factoid:

Competitive balance exists when every well-run team has a regularly recurring reasonable hope to be among the 10 teams in the post-season. But “regularly recurring” does not mean “uninterrupted.” Change is a baseball constant as veterans’ careers pass their apogees and younger players’ approach theirs. So, cycles of success are, if not inevitable, always the norm. In the previous 25 seasons, 22 of the 30 teams have played in the World Series and 14 have won it. No team has won consecutive World Series since the 1998-2000 Yankees.

Will also explains (convincing my tiny brain) why free agents are having such a tough time finding teams willing to accede to their exorbitant salary demands: statistically speaking, free agency happens when players are on their career's inevitable downslide. (My gut feeling is that David Ortiz was a major exception to this, though.)


Power Line's Paul Mirengoff is rightfully ticked over one aspect of Olympics coverage: Liberal media fawns over Kim Jong Un’s sister.

The young woman in question is one of Kim Jong Un’s closest advisers — “a powerful member of Kim Jong Un’s kitchen cabinet,” as CNN puts it. And the regime she faithfully serves is beyond weird. It starves its own people, operates Nazi-style prison camps, represses political opposition, and executes senior officers and even members of the dictator’s (and his sister’s) own family members in an effort to maintain dictatorial control.

Yes, the "Disgusted/Amused" weathervane has moved back to "Disgusted". Sorry.

But let's try to get back to "Amused" with this reply to a CNN tweet:


■ From our LFOD alert series: the local cell of Commie Radio (aka "New Hampshire Public Radio") clucks its tongue at us: Why is New Hampshire SO Against Having an Income Tax?

It can be a little confusing, especially for someone who's new to the state, like me. And like Mary Douglas, the listener whose question prompted this story. She moved to New Hampshire in 2005.

"Has there been a kind of rhetoric or tone that surprised you," I asked Mary.

"I can’t pin it down to anything. I just wondered why that is. It can’t even be considered and I wondered why. It seems like it might be tied to the 'Live Free or Die' thing, I don’t know," she said.

Seriously, it's a useful history, if you discount the usual slagging of William Loeb and Meldrim Thomson. Here's something I didn't know:

New Hampshire’s state motto wasn’t widespread until Mel Thomson’s tenure. The song “Live Free or Die” comes from “Keep New Hampshire #1” a record filled with songs to promote Mel Thomson’s campaign for a third term.

And, guess what, you can listen to the song on the NHPR page. They say: "It's an earworm. Trust us."

Consumer Alert: do not trust Commie Radio.


Last Modified 2024-01-25 2:59 PM EDT