Punjabi
Joey expects an exciting October:#
Regardless of my reservations, one way or another this month is going to be a historic one for the people of Iraq. Hopefully it will be remembered as the month when the Iraqi people replace a long history of despotism with a new era of (quasi) democratic governance. Right now my unit is waiting to see what our role in these events will be.
Blowing Up (PDF) by Malcolm Gladwell#
Richard notes the live episode of Will & Grace.#
Faré discusses the reality of genetic difference and what it means for classic liberals:#
Everyone is uniquely different. Genome is a significant part of what makes an individual what he is. Actually, it's not just a part, it's the foundation upon which the rest is built, that enables or limit any and all behaviours. If genes didn't make any difference, then there would be no difference between humans and monkeys, between humans and rats, between humans and cockroaches, between humans and amoeba, between humans and dogweed.
Oh, I see collectivists who'd claim that whatever existing differences magically lose any significance within their favorite collective (be it the human race, or some national or tribal subset thereof). Well, sorry to disappoint you, genes make a difference at an individual level: indeed difference at the individual level is the very basis of evolution. Whichever individuals are successful at transmitting their genes, transmit their genes. Whichever individuals aren't, don't.
NoSpeedBumps on the same topic. As well as Charles Murray.
What if The Shining were a romantic comedy?#
Russell Roberts discusses the war in Iraq:#
One answer is to cut our military spending by 80%, bring all troops home and announce to the world that we have no military or foreign policy ambitions. If we withdrew from the world, militarily, would the world leave us alone? I don't know.
Malcom Gladwell on Ivy League admissions:#
The difficult part, however, was coming up with a way of keeping Jews out, because as a group they were academically superior to everyone else. Lowell's first idea—a quota limiting Jews to fifteen per cent of the student body—was roundly criticized. Lowell tried restricting the number of scholarships given to Jewish students, and made an effort to bring in students from public schools in the West, where there were fewer Jews. Neither strategy worked. Finally, Lowell—and his counterparts at Yale and Princeton—realized that if a definition of merit based on academic prowess was leading to the wrong kind of student, the solution was to change the definition of merit. Karabel argues that it was at this moment that the history and nature of the Ivy League took a significant turn.