The Universe in Color

It turns out that a coworker is seriously into astrophotography. We’re talking water-cooled CCD camera and exposures that can last days. He pointed me to Robert Gendler’s The Universe in Color. I’ve been looking at pictures there for a couple of weeks now. What a treasure trove. Many of the images have explanations about the galaxy, supernova, or object in the image.

It’s stunning to think that these images were all taken from the surface of the earth, by a non-professional, using hobbyist equipment. Hobbies are getting really serious.

Beautiful stuff. Check it out.

The Greatest Generation

Well, they’re a little young to be WWII vets, but they’ve certainly got the right idea.

One of the tourists — a retired U.S. serviceman whom officials estimated was in his 70s — allegedly put Warner Segura in a headlock and broke his clavicle after the 20-year-old and two other men armed with a knife and gun held up their tour bus Wednesday, said Luis Hernandez, the police chief of Limon, 80 miles east of San Jose.

Greenpeace sinks to a new low

I wonder if they could be prosecuted for child abuse for making a kid spout this hateful, stupid drivel.

It’s not as bad as strapping explosives to kids. But it’s symptomatic of the same kind of warped thinking.

Did Big Government Improve Education in New Orleans?

That’s the question raised by Daniel Casse at Commentary.

But the real flaw of the anti-“big-government conservative” argument is that the adherence to libertarian orthodoxy often stands in the way of long-sought conservative and free-market goals. A recent development in New Orleans’s public school system makes the case vividly. Many conservatives castigated President Bush when he approved billions in post-Katrina relief for New Orleans. No doubt they were right when they predicted that much of it would be wasted, if not pilfered, by dishonest bureaucrats.

Yet the funds have also made possible one of the most interesting experiments in American education. Prior to Katrina, the Orleans Parish School Board was among the worst in the country. Barely any of its 8th-graders were performing at an adequate level. Post-Katrina, with federal money to spread around, the school board has been disbanded. In its place is a new organization that has been approving a wide range of competitive charter schools run by entrepreneurs and dedicated education leaders. A recent article in The Atlantic described it as “the most market-driven system in the United States.”

So the long list of conservatives and libertarians who have assaulted the Bush Administration over reckless spending on New Orleans have to make up their minds. Either they are intractably against big-government spending, or they are in favor of the most successful effort to undo the teachers’ unions and create a competitive system of public schools. But they can’t be on both sides.

I smell a false dichotomy, fueled by a post hoc argument. It may well be the case that the new organization replacing the corrupt school board has brought a “market-driven” solution to the Big Easy. That is certainly to be lauded. But it doesn’t necessarily follow that it was the Federal largesse that did it. One can easily imagine where, for practically no money at all, school boards all over the country are disbanded in favor of such organizations. Now doesn’t that sound nice?

The choice isn’t between big-goverment spending and competetive schools. There are two separate choices: big vs. small government, and union-run schools vs. competetive education. As happy as I am to see progress in New Orleans, I see no motivation there to jump on the big government bandwagon.

A World Without America

Great new spot from 18 Doughty Street.

The Second Ex-Marine

One Marine opines that John Murtha just joined a very exclusive club.

Quick!

Email this to everybody you know!

German Humor

There really is such a thing, you know. Just look at the parade float illustrating “cliché” vs. “reality”.

Now that’s funny.

And Now for Something Completely Different

One of the noblest of time-wasting internet hobbies is known as scambaiting. Practitioners of this gentle art connect with scammers and turn the tables, forcing the scammers to waste time and resources. You can read about one such group, and even see some videos they’ve made.

The best one is the Monty Python “Dead Parrot” sketch.

At very least, head these warnings of the 419eaters:

Does somebody want to transfer millions of dollars into your account?

Does someone want you pay you to cash cheques and send them the money?

Met a new friend/penpal on a friendship/dating site who’s asking you for money?

Has a dying person contacted you wanting your help to give his money to charity?

Have you sold an item and are asked to accept a payment larger than the item amount?

IT’S A SCAM!

Don’t fall for common scams like this – fight them!

Reveille

It runs a bit long, and needs a better score, but this is still a pretty good little film.

Fore!

Thomas Sowell tees up on San Francisco.

San Francisco has six municipal golf courses — and they are losing money. Now there is all sorts of hand-wringing over what to do about it.

An economist might see this as a non-problem. If the golf courses are losing money, then get rid of them. Given San Francisco’s sky-high land prices, selling the land that the golf courses are on would bring in millions, if not billions, of dollars.

But such advice is why so few economists get elected to political office.

Is San Francisco an easy target? Sure. But Sowell’s economics lessons are always as entertaining as they are educational.

Fauxtography in Iran

LGF is ground zero for news of the latest sloppy photoshop job.

Gee. I wonder which religion

Funny how that detail didn’t make it into the story of the cabbie who tried to run over two customers after an “argument about religion”.

…and unusual cuts of lamb.

That’s the word from Venezuala, where one might ask, ¿Quién es John Galt?

History repeats itself.

Timing Is Everything

Nobody’s more shocked than you are to find an Ana Nicole story on Buttle’s World. But I have a soft spot for heavy irony.

I was just buying milk at the local Albertsons and noted the checkstand was festooned with ads for TrimSpa, a diet product, endorsed by a smiling Smith. It features the copy, “Be envied”.

Intentions are all that matter

if you’re a leftie, apparently. If the Breck Girl is making an argument here, that seems to be it. The disgraced nutroot bloggers didn’t “mean to denigrate” anybody’s religion. And he pats himself on the back for “taking them at their word” on that.

The guy has made millions as a trial lawyer and he can’t read for himself?

Muzzling the Moderates

Jamal Miftah, of Tulsa, OK, wrote an op-ed decrying violent Jihad.

Three guesses on what kind of reception he got at the Mosque.

Hail Mauritania

This is how you deal with hijackers.

Can’t Tell Your Players Without A Program

The Patriot Post’s Mark Alexander has written an excellent primer on just who the Sunnis and Shi’ites are. Even the well-informed can be forgiven some confusion on the issue. This is a great resource.

Jeff Gordon is going to win

So says his wife.

Going to win? Seems to me he’s already won.

Three Cheers for the Netherlands

Michelle Malkin noted that celebrities are “hiding” their money in the Netherlands. The ABC article, with the unintentionally funny paragraph calling Jennifer Lopez’s bottom “intellectual property” tells how bands such as U2 and the Rolling Stones are sheltering their licensing businesses in the Netherlands.

And the Dutch have beckoned by overhauling their tax structure this past year to make it easier and more lucrative for individuals and corporations to set up shell companies that allow income from royalties, interest and dividends to flow in and out of the country tax-free.

This is, of course, a good thing. One of my mottos is: There’s no such thing as a good tax hike, and there’s no such thing as a bad tax cut.

A corollary is that when anybody’s taxes go down, I benefit. When anybody’s taxes go up, I am injured. The only bad news in the article is that US residents need not apply. We don’t have the right treaty.

Figures.

Well, I hope it saves a lot of people a lot of money, for as many years as the Dutch are still Dutch.

Even though his clothes are ugly

today Julien Macdonald is my favorite designer.

Sunday Night in Baghdad

It’s worth checking in at Iraq The Model now and then. There are signs of hope.

The arrest of al-Zamili indicates that the new plan will not hesitate to target leaders of militant groups no matter what their position in the government was. The Sadr movement responded to the arrest only by saying that it was an insult to all Iraqis. One of their spokesmen said, in a clear sign of helplessness, “If one from our movement is to be arrested, then others from other factions should be arrested as well”.

I don’t know whether this current attitude of submission is going to last when more senior members are arrested. Still, I like the idea of arresting senior bad guys from both sects. This both satisfies public opinion, and gives credibility to the announced plans of the government to deal equally with all regardless of sect or background.

In Search of the Second Amendment

Hot Air has a trailer up for the new documentary. Read about the film here.

I’m sure the content of the DVD is good. I just hope it’s better edited than the trailer, which comes off like a dull PowerPoint presentation.

SJS confirmed

The Salt Lake shooter’s Sudden Jihadi Syndrome is confirmed.

But, of course, it was the gun’s fault.

Consistency

It’s what I like best about the MSM.

I wish I had an account with Bank of America

so I could cancel it.

Michelle Malkin throws the book at them.

The “Surge” Is Working Already

Apparently “Mookie” al Sadr has discovered the better part of valor.

Behold how the mighty ABC News fails to connect the dots, even though the dots are within the same paragraph:

While members of the U.S. House of Representatives take turns weighing in on President Bush’s planned troop surge in Iraq, the focus in Iraq is not on the arrival of more U.S. troops, but the departure of one of the country’s most powerful men, Moqtada al Sadr and members of his army.

Reminds me of those articles talking about how the crime rate has been dropping “in spite of” an increased prison population.

Meanwhile, “Sources” have cleverly put their fingers on the bearded thug’s likely motivation for beating feet.

Sources believe al Sadr is worried about an increase of 20,000 U.S. troops in the Iraqi capital. One official told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, “He is scared he will get a JDAM [bomb] dropped on his house.”

“Sources” really have a keen grasp on the subtleties of the situation:

Sources say two scenarios are possible: Either al Sadr will be driven further into extremist mode or he will continue going forward with the political process.

Hang by your thumbs, Mook. Write if you get work.

Got Smith?

There was some chatter on The Corner today about Project Gutenberg and carrying e-books with you. It prompted me to contact the ever pleasant Peter Robinson.

Well, when you get posted on The Corner you’ll probably blog it, too.

I really do find it handy to have a library on my hip. I’ve read a lot, from The Importance of Being Earnest to (a lot of) Wealth of Nations in my odd free time. Since Gutenberg only has public domain works, they tend to be older. That’s a good thing, as I maintain that the English language reached its zenith in the late 19th century. So dig in and read all the Chesterton you can.

You can even read the books right on the web, assuming you really want to sit that long at your browser.

Here Come the Pseuds

This would be even funnier were it not so true.