Merry Oppressmas!

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SCROOGE WAS RIGHT! Libertarian professor tries to defend Ebenezer Scrooge’s miserlyness.

Scrooge is skeptical that many would prefer death to the workhouse, and he is unmoved by talk of the workhouse’s cheerlessness. He is right to be unmoved, for society’s provisions for the poor must be, well, Dickensian. The more pleasant the alternatives to gainful employment, the greater will be the number of people who seek these alternatives, and the fewer there will be who engage in productive labor. If society expects anyone to work, work had better be a lot more attractive than idleness.

Apparently, the professor thinks that people who lose their jobs and can’t find another should have their children taken away from them, just as they did in the workhouses. Hey, if the poor have children they can’t support, what’s it to him? He never forced anyone “to father children he is having difficulty supporting.”

It’s a pathetic display that gets worse as it goes along. Don’t read it. Seriously.

When he testified before Congress regarding Dr. Wertham’s claims about the supposed harmfulness of comics, William Gaines said: “It would be just as difficult to explain the harmless thrill of a horror story to a Dr. Wertham as it would be to explain the sublimity of love to a frigid old maid.” I strongly suspect that it would be just as difficult the explain the deep satisfaction of charity to that sad, stunted author of that post.

This is beautiful

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So expressive!

Randomness for

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1) Easy newspaper article, type 12: Carefully selected dumb student answers.

2) Author Jackie Kessler breaks down the problems with “Harlequin Horizons”.

3) Photos of a river of hydrogen sulphide in Mexico. via Jay Lake

4) Fish on Europa? via Jay Lake

5) A beautiful animated book trailer that fails to promote the book. Sound, people. If the image is a little out of focus or awkwardly lit, people will muddle through. But if the sound isn’t right, nothing’s right.

6) Smash putt!

7) Twilight: New Moon. “However, last year in the line, I did interviews, where I handed out a list of ten things and asked for which ones happened in the books. Seven or eight out of ten got circled. Then I pointed out that the list was ten warning signs that your partner is becoming abusive or controlling, and asked what they thought of Edward’s behavior in this new light.

Responses included, “I wish a guy loved me enough to treat me that way,” and, “But Bella needed it.”

This year I was behind a group of girls who briefly discussed Team Edward vs. Team Jacob. Each one pointed out that the other person’s champion was possessive and controlling/bossy. “Well, but she let him,” was the final word, on each side.”

Bonus 8)! Team Lipbite!

Early in the week

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It’s still early in the week, so I’m not online very much. I do want to say this, since I’m prepping for Turkey Day.

I will be brining my turkey, a la Alton Brown. I will also be baking an AB sweet potato pie. However, I don’t care what he says, stuffing is NOT evil.

Yeah, it adds cooking time, but I run potato skewers through it to bring heat to the inside of the bird. The slightly damp stuffing gives off steam that helps cook the bird from the inside.

Evil? I think not.

Well, it’s the weekend

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And being the weekend, I haven’t had a lot of time on the internet.

However, let me give you this: ClickPlay. If you’re at work, mute your computer before you click that link. You won’t miss anything except some pleasant jazz.

Thank you.

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A friend is working up a ghost/haunted house movie, and I’m going to collate everyone’s suggestions into a research list for him.

And WordPress is being a little over-zealous at labeling comments spam. Sorry for the delay. I’ll approve them as quickly as I can.

Everything gets in the way.

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I’m itching to be finished with Man Bites World, but things keep getting in the way. Today it was an old lady at Starbucks who said: “Can I ask you a question, please?” and when I said yes, started on a string of inquiries about my Mac Book, PCs, viruses, wireless, etc. etc. She was a sweet lady, but a little odd. Her voice reminded me of the sound a balloon makes when you stretch the opening tight and let air out a bit at a time. By the time she left, I’d completely lost my train of thought and had to pack up anyway.

The day before I had computer troubles. The day before *that* I missed my morning work time and, while trying to do a quick lunch hour session at the back table, was joined by the biggest extrovert in the office. He just couldn’t bear to sit quietly reading a book while I was there to talk to.

And I’ve learned that it just doesn’t pay to tell people to shove off, especially at day job.

Tomorrow I hope to have a lot more quiet and be much more productive.

Probably a good thing

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It’s probably a good thing that The Straight Dope broke down the “J. Edgar Hoover was a cross-dresser” story. I don’t really have time to write a “Hoover as Asia the Invincible” story.

To shift gears.

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Actually, let me pause a moment before I shift gears. My anniversary was nice. My wife loved the flowers I brought her and I loved the dinner she prepared (little steaks with sauteed mushrooms, noodles, and bleu cheese salad).

I also went to bed early (actually, I was *sent* to bed) and got a decent night sleep.

*Now* I’ll shift gears:

What are your three favorite movies about ghosts? Or just list three that you really love. Or one. Ghost movies, please.

Randomness for 11/19

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1) How many baboons could you take in a fight, armed with only a giant dildo? My score: 38.

2) The milk industry responds to the findings of Jamie Oliver’s nutritious school lunch experiment, which I linked to in a previous Randomness. Naturally, they claim (falsely) that kids won’t drink milk without a ton of chocolate and sugar. My own son drinks milk once in a while, but I imagine it isn’t nearly as often as the dairy lobby would like.

3) Men married to smart women live longer. via E.E. Knight

4) Economic stimulus that makes sense: Cash for Caulkers. via Ezra Klein

5) The dummy-slap heard round the internet: RWA revokes Harlequin’s preferred-publisher status over new vanity press. I link to Making Light because the RWA still has their open letter behind a member login, for whatever reason.