It's been (and continues to be) an interesting exercise in considering the things I own and if I want to own them. Unfortunately, the process of efficiently disposing of the things I no longer want to own takes time -- a scarce resource.1 On the other hand, it's clear that I haven't taken the time to be deliberate in many years. I'm mostly ( Read more... )

This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7ezeYJUz-84) struck me as an amazing example of the power of modern computing/networking tools put in the hands of the people. (To be honest, I only watched the first five minutes or so -- ( Read more... )

Finishing out the 90s Batman Quadrilogy, the second installment, the one that got Burton fired from doing the other two ( Read more... )

Continuing our review of the 90s Batman movies, the wife and I recently watched the original 1989 Michael Keaton Batman movie. Remember how great the reviews were and how successful at the box office is was? We were surprised at how dated it was, but I was impressed with the humanity Keaton brought to the role. He looks like a guy who dresses up ( Read more... )

I recently rewatched Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. (4 Batman movies on DVD! $10! What a bargain!) The writing is not good in either, but I enjoyed Batman & Robin the first time I saw it and again this time. I really like Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face and Jim Carrey as the Riddler, and have no complaints about Drew Barrymore as Sugar or Nicole ( Read more... )

I just finished reading Alan Greenspan's 2007 book, Age of Turbulence. Greenspan is an unabashed free-market economist. A personal friend of Ayn Rand, he notes that shifting markets can have negative impacts on individuals, but basically just skims over that when extolling the power of markets to increase total global productivity and wealth ( Read more... )

I've been pondering the argument that the judge in the Prop 8 case should have recused himself because he is gay. The argument makes some sense -- you would assume that a gay judge would have a hard time believing that discrimination against gays is rational. Then again, it's ridiculous -- it's like saying that women should not decide abortion ( Read more... )

The real lesson of 9/11 was that the hijackers had gotten more crazy. Before then, you could expect a hijacker to land the plane someplace weird, and then have a stand off with a superior force that eventually resulted in catching the bad guys. Now, you expect a hijacker to crash the plane and kill everyone on it. Of course that changes the way ( Read more... )

I have read my California voter's guide on the various propositions and formed my opinions. If voting is a civic duty, so, perhaps, is talking about it: the public debate should help inform us all and make our collective decision-making better. So, here's my take on the only two propositions I plan to vote YES on ( Read more... )

A few weeks ago, my uncle asked why we bother spending resources on space exploration (especially manned space exploration), when the money is needed here. My rational answer was that we need a backup planet -- putting all of our eggs in one basket seems foolhardy ( Read more... )