Entries in Modern Life (28)
Simply Brilliant, or Brilliantly Simple Department
Senator Harry Reid (Dimwit, NV) says, and I quote: “We’ve got to stop using fossil fuel.”
James Lileks, in a beautifully trenchant bit of reasoning, has a terrific first step for stopping fossil fuel use:
There’s only one sensible response: we have to shut down Las Vegas. Yes, I know, they get their power from hydro, but juice is fungible; the power that goes to light up Vegas could be used to take oil-fired plants off the grid. Closing down Vegas would reduce Nevada’s carbon footprint in other ways: a quarter of all tourists come from California, and I’d wager they drive. (Or drive to wager.) Thirty-six million visit Vegas each year – at least three million people a month arrive and depart from the airport on pollution-spewing fossil-fuel consuming planes.
There is no practical reason for Vegas to exist. Surely this is a luxury we can do without; surely Nevada can find other sources of revenue to fund the government. If Las Vegas does not voluntarily cease operations, I call upon the Senate to either ban flights entirely, or impose a luxury surcharge equal to 110% of the ticket price, because Las Vegas and the waste it represents is ruining the world.
Surely, Senator Reid can get behind that proposal, if fossil fuels are the evil he seems to think they are.
Roy M. Jacobsen
in Modern Life, Better Living Through..., Just Plain Silly
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What’s In A Name Department
If you haven’t already done so, please participate in this vital scientific study: Do you call it soda, pop, coke, or something else?
Roy M. Jacobsen
in Modern Life, Just Plain Silly
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Whine and Cheese Department
Does the fundamental difference between liberals and conservatives boil down to this, that liberals whine more?
A wide body of research shows that modern liberals are much more likely to complain about things in their lives. Conservatives are more content with their lives. When asked “How satisfied are you with life these days? Sixty-six percent of conservatives said “very satisfied” compared with only 46 percent of liberals. Conservatives are more likely to say they love their jobs (53 percent vs. 41 percent) and even enjoy their hobbies more (63 percent vs. 51 percent). When asked by the Social Capital Survey whether they were satisfied with their income, liberals were more than three times as likely to say “not at all satisfied” — even when they earned the same as conservatives.
Quit your moaning.
Roy M. Jacobsen
in Modern Life, Worldviews, Politics
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Basic Economics Department: It's the supply and demand, stupid!
Are you smarter than a U.S. Senator?
I don't claim to be a Mensa candidate or anything, but I must know more about basic economics than a large block of the members of the U.S. Senate. You see, I know about the law of supply and demand.
Yesterday, the Democrat majority tried (and failed) to pass a cloture motion on a bill to impose a "windfall profits tax" on oil companies.
Here's the problem I have with that bill: A windfall profits tax would do absolutely nothing to help consumers--on the contrary, it would most likely end up hurting consumers in a whole bunch of ways.
As much as they bloviate about how high fuel prices are hurting consumers, the Senate and House of Representatives haven't done diddly to impact the basic issue: increasing the supply of oil, or decreasing the demand is the only way to reduce the price. It's Econ 101.
The U.S. could be doing a whole lot to deal with this--drilling for our own proven reserves, increasing refinery capacity, and expanding our generation of alternative energy sources, such as nuclear power plants (which are far safer and better for the environment than coal- or oil-fired plants).
On the oil production front, here's link to the Drill Here, Drill Now petition. I signed. Will you?
Roy M. Jacobsen
in Modern Life, News
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I Was NOT Eavesdropping Department
Overheard as I walked to the counter at a local fast-food restaurant:
"And that's why he got punched in the face five times last night!"
I so wished I could have heard the story that led up to that.
Applying For The Position Department
Jonah Goldberg just made my day with this post:
Hillary's got big plans. From the AP , via Drudge:
A reader asks an interesting question:"At this point, we don't have anything punitive that we have proposed," the presidential candidate said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We're providing incentives and tax credits which we think will be very attractive to the vast majority of Americans."
She said she could envision a day when "you have to show proof to your employer that you're insured as a part of the job interview — like when your kid goes to school and has to show proof of vaccination," but said such details would be worked out through negotiations with Congress.I just heard Rush Limbaugh quoting Hillary explaining that her health care proposal could require that you have to provide proof that you have health coverage in order to get a job.Maybe if insurance companies refuse to insure illegal immigrants, the whole issue will just go away?
Isn't Hillary the front-runner in the party that has conniptions if anyone suggests that you should have to provide proof of citizenship in order to get a job?
Isn't she in the party that gets their collective knickers in a gigantic non-discriminatory wad if anyone suggests that you should have to provide proof of identity in order to vote?
I'm the reader with the interesting question; I'm now lobbying for the position of Jonah's Interesting Questions Guy.
What Was The Point Of That? Department
We ordered a few things from Gurney's this spring--Gurney's of the tabloid-sized, multicolored catalog with a dizzying array of squash described in terms that could make a certified squash-hater like me slobber uncontrollably. That catalog will forever be one of the harbingers of spring for me.
Anyway, we had ordered some strawberries, but they ran out of the kind we ordered, and they substituted a different variety. Also, half of the plants they did send somehow started to mold in transit.
So I looked at the packing sheet for a customer service number. There it was, right under another number for orders. Two different numbers, one clearly labeled "Place an order," the other "Customer Service."
I dialed the customer service number, because I wanted customer service. I didn't need to place an order. (Just so we're clear on that.) Customer Service.
The voice that answered said "Thank you for calling Gurney's. To place an order, press 1."
Battle Royale Department
Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.
Missing The Point Department
With the usual hoopla, the ALA is once again observing "Banned Books Week." But are they missing the point?
I attended library school and heard librarians say, with a straight face, that when they chose to not purchase Nancy Drew books or comic books, the process was called “selection,” but when parents or citizens tried to voice their opinions about what should or should not be purchased by the libraries that they support with their taxes, it was “censorship.” Librarians were an elite group of educated professionals who knew how to “select ” library materials; others were yokels who were out to keep information out of the hands of the people, book-banners.
Tip of the hat to Brandywine Books
Roy M. Jacobsen
in Modern Life
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Words Fail Me Department
From the moment their image was first burned into my retina, I thought that Bratz were wrong. Mislabeled, as well; Skankz or Hoz would be a more appropriate name. I shouldn't have been surprized when MGA Entertainment slid even further down the slope and introduced Baby Bratz; I guess they thought the pedophile market was being underserved, or something.
Turns out they really weren't breaking new ground.
(I never liked the Chattanooga Cats; give me the senseless violence of Looney Toons any day.)
Roy M. Jacobsen
in Modern Life
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