Held: Henry Fonda cannot be dismissed from the jury just because he disagrees with Lee J. Cobb.
Any ruling, even from the Ninth Circuit, that has part of the script from 12 Angry Men in it has got to be good. Looks to me like they made the right call. (Hat tip: Volokh Conspiracy)
If you go to Instapundit and search for “higher education bubble”, you’ll see Glenn’s continuing coverage of the ridiculously out of balance ratio of a college degree’s cost versus the value derived from it. The argument goes something along the lines of this: most people don’t get the value out of a degree equal to the cost they pay for it, so it doesn’t make sense for them to go in the first place, especially since the cost of obtaining information is decreasing at a faster rate than it was even ten years ago.
I can find some agreement with this argument, even a lot of agreement. Most of my college courses had to do with circuit design, not software design – perhaps 3 to 1. Now, that may have been my fault in choosing the wrong major for what I wanted to do, but that is mitigated by two important facts. Most of the software classes I took were in languages I don’t use anymore, and the tools I use today didn’t exist when I was in school, or were so new as to not have classes that used them.
I think that if I had to do it over again, I would take a year off after high school and spend it in the workforce, then go to community college for a couple years to fill out the holes in my high school education. After that I think I would decide whether or not I needed to go to college for a four year degree, and if I did it would be in engineering.
Indy got his third lizard kill this evening. If this keeps up, he’ll need to be awarded a Distinguished Terrier Cross pretty soon.
Lessee here, who do we have this time?
As for the non-contenders, Sarah Palin seems the most likable and least likely to run. This is no surprise, as I don’t think I would run either if I was accused of fathering my grandson.
I have no qualms about sitting out an election if none of the candidates are willing to sign a no-deficit-budgets pledge. We can start there and negotiate, but I expect to get something out of the deal besides promises.
I’m writing this from my newly installed Linux desktop, Fedora 14 installed on an old HP laptop from 5 years ago. The last time I ran Linux on a personal machine, it was before Fedora even existed, and I’m somewhat amazed it even installed.
One thing I’m less than pleased with is the mouse driver. It won’t let me tap the touchpad to click the button, which at this point is an ingrained habit. That may be a setting somewhere, I’ll have to check. The installation went shockingly fast, with no hiccups save when I entered the wrong wireless password. I was a little surprised at the installation process. I had heard of demo CDs before, but hadn’t played with one. The biggest frustration with them is their access time (major suckage there, but that’s to be expected). A quick download and the Flash player let me run YouTube videos, though the first time I tried to play Huey Lewis it said “The uploader hasn’t made this video available in your country yet.” That might have gotten resolved by visiting Youtube directly, or by closing and reopening the window, I’m not yet sure.
The whole reason I installed Linux was to start doing web development on it, and that’s a multi-month evaluation waiting to happen. One of my first projects will be a Medal of Honor database, so keep your RSS feeds up to date for a look-see here. Also, any volunteers who want to help out on that, please let me know at mohdb at matthewmaynard dot net.
I was going to write something snarky about Harold Camping’s epic failure to comprehend Matthew 24:36, but I couldn’t work up the wherewithal to care. I feel pity for his ability to self-deceive, and wish he had spent more time realizing a simple truth of the Gospel – people face their maker every day, and that alone should be enough to focus your mind on God. For even though “of that day and hour no one knows”, we also know not the day and hour of our individual departure from this life.
Personally, I’m skeptical of how the Rapture has been described by various preachers, even though I’m a Christian. I do believe in Christ’s return, and I do believe he will take away the righteous to be with Him in Heaven, but I don’t believe in a “departure/rule by the antichrist/Christ re-return to really finish it all off” sequence of events. I do believe that once he comes back it’s game over, show your hand, which is referred to as a Amillennialist view. The book of Revelation is more complex than your average Greek Bible text, since it is written in the apocalyptic style. As a result, you have to study it in a different manner.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned since Jennifer started earning her Master’s degree, it’s that I know a damn lot less than I thought I did about a great many things. I’m not going to make Camping’s mistake and presume I know something I don’t. But I do know that I am born again, so it doesn’t matter when the Rapture comes.
At least, it doesn’t matter for me.
We had dinner last night for a friend’s birthday at The Local, a fine dining establishment within walking distance of the downtown mall. Jennifer and I split the steak frites, and for a drink I had was the
Catoctin Creek Mosby’s Spirit 100% Rye whisky
The waitress screwed up; the menu said they poured Catoctin’s Roundstone Rye, which is the aged version of what I was served. As you can tell from the picture, it is a clear rye whisky, which means it isn’t aged in oak barrels, which color it in lovely amber shades. Most unaged whiskys are harsh, unfiltered, and appropriately labeled “moonshine“, even though they’re sold legally with the federal permission slip.
This one isn’t (aged, not sold illegally). It has a slightly sweet aroma to the nose, but not aggressively sweet, nor is it aggressively sharp. The flavor is smooth, sweet, and wet up front, but evaporates to a state best described as arid by the time it hits the back of the throat. It is a very gentle and consistent rye, which I wouldn’t expect from an unaged whisky. Some have noted vanilla or banana notes, but my palate isn’t that refined, and even if it was, I don’t think I would have likened it to those flavors. This is some seriously good rye.
On the way home tonight I stopped and got a couple mini bottles of Early Times 354 Bourbon. According to the bottle label, the number comes from
FEDERAL PERMIT No. 354
THE LONGEST HELD
FEDERAL PERMIT IN THE
STATE OF KENTUCKY
This was almost the inverse of the rye. It too smells sweet, almost honey-like. The front is soft and gentle, in a beguiling way that entices you to take bigger sips. It bites at the back, but just a little, not enough to make you cringe and quote Steve McQueen after you swallow. In between it has a consistent taste, not mutating into various flavors, but remaining smooth and tasty. The Early Times tasting notes mention spice, apple, corn, vanilla, and caramel. If I were to order those according to taste, I would put caramel and vanilla in the aroma, a little of the apple and caramel in the front and middle taste, and spiciness at the back. I didn’t taste a corn flavor.
I will be tasting both of these again, and in the near future.
We had a debit card incident earlier this week. Somebody swiped my card number and used it to buy $23 worth of booze at the state store. We’re in the process of contesting the charge, which is annoying as all get out. Oh, and if the criminal who did it is reading this, I WANT MY LIQUOR, you lousy thief.
So imagine my despair when I see this article: Skimmers Found Installed Inside Gas Pumps. Inside! You see, it isn’t enough anymore for a crook to get a job as a restaurant waiter and swipe your card number when you hand him the plastic to pay the bill, nor is it enough for him to “adjust” your tip a little bit more after he collects the signed receipt. Now they’re all fancy, and have to break into the card readers and install their skimmers. I guess its just an efficiency thing; the laws of economics affect crooks too.
The privacy of cold hard cash is looking better every day.
