Liberal Logic
John Bolton has been given a recess appointment as Ambassador to the UN and liberal Democrats are outraged that they didn't get a say in the process.
Isn't that kind of like the Sunnis in Iraq boycotting the election then complaining because their party got no votes?
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Shuttle Repair
You know those annoying strings that hand from the sleeves of your shirts after you wash them for the first time? The shuttle has got the same problem with some stringy things hanging from its underbelly, only this is more than just an anoyance and could cause the shuttle to fall apart on re-entry, so two astronauts will be going out to clip or pull the offending strings out.
I recommend clipping because the last time I pulled one of those threads on my shirt, the whole shirt fell apart, which I imagine would be somewhat disconcerting for the shuttle astronauts if the space equivalent occurred.
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No, He's not Bitter
A guy convicted of rape in 1986 was just found innocent through DNA evidence. He had two small kids at the time he went into prison and served almost all of his sentence, failing to get parole because he would never admit responsibility for the crime he was convicted of.
And he insists he isn't angry.
I admire his equanimity but question his sanity. I'd be out for some payback.
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A Solution to Traffic Jams
Suppose some bright boy came up with an automated traffic control system that that cut down on traffic jams by 50%. By turning over driving chores to a computerized traffic matrix, it promises to reduce travel time by 25% even in the most congested and overloaded traffic systems while making fender benders a thing of the past. In fact, traffic accidents would be almost completely eradicated as computers took control of merges, following distances and such like.
Sounds great, doesn't it?
OK, so here's the rub. Suppose that even though accidents are almost totally eradicated, due to the nature of the system and the density of the traffic, accidents would be more universally fatal and always involve multiple cars, resulting in approximately 30,000 deaths per year.
Would you go for it?
One additional fact: traffic deaths last year were over 42,000.
Posted by Rich at August 2, 2005 12:07 AM | TrackBackJohn Bolton has been given a recess appointment as Ambassador to the UN and leberal Democrats are outraged that they didn't get a say in the process.Isn't that kind of like the Sunnis in Iraq boycotting the election then complaining because their party got no votes?
No, it's more like the Sunnis in Iraq voting and then complaining because their votes were ignored.
Posted by: Chris Wage on August 2, 2005 8:45 AMExcept that in this case, not only did the Dems refuse to vote, they refused to let the majority vote.
So how could they be ignored?
When ever a group's only function in a process is to function as an impediment to that process, they've no room to complain when ways to achieve progress are found despite their obstructionism.
Posted by: rich on August 2, 2005 12:07 PM