It never ends ...

... Yet another expose on the distortions of the eco-terrorists. This one takes on the Hockey Stick graph used by the U.N. to "prove" Global Warming.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/05/nosplit/nwarm05.xml

Hat Tip: Trey Givens

Principles and Assertions

Without the guide of principles, the only alternative is a grab-bag of arbitrary assertions delivered on a case by case basis. The FCC is a case in point. Observe the mental contortions that the FCC has to go through in order to justify its unjustifiable censorship policies. Since the FCC (and the Supreme Court) has abandoned the First Amendment in favor of "community standards," the FCC is left with no objective standard on which to base its decisions.

I'm sure that the neo-cons would be happy to offer a justification though...

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

I saw TSO last night in Greenville. They rocked! If you're not familiar, they are a rock-oriented band/orchestra that plays classical and Christmas music, but themed with electric guitars and whatnot. The musicians are master players--the music is hard, heavy, and happy--a combination not usually seen. The tone of the performance was one of joy. Qua Christmas-oriented, it contained a lot of religious/altruist imagery. However, I didn't think that those elements detracted from the overall joyous sense of life projected by the performance.

Learning

The Creating Passionate Users blog has an interesting post about how math, science, engineering are taught vs. what us techies really need.

To which I will add that the focus on "language" is indicative of a concrete-bound mentality.