In which I blog about curious things that strike me, in the hope of piquing your curiousity. Also, perhaps, of getting some feedback on things that I can't figure out.
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Outside of Minneapolis and conservative news outlets, you won't see much about this. Most of the top hits I got searching for "Minneapolis police funding" were about the money they cut last year, not the most recent news.
Today is Peace of Westphalia day -- the 365th anniversary of the signing of the Peace of Westphalia -- in honour of which I traditionally make a Mazarin cake . Cardinal Mazarin was the French premier throughout the negotiations leading up to the peace. Admittedly, I have no evidence that the cake was named after him, but how many other people named Mazarin have you ever heard of? In fact, Mazarin is the namesake of a surprising number of modern items. There is the Mazarin cut diamond, which is a precursor to the modern brilliant cut; and the Mazarin desk, or " bureau Mazarin ," an early kneehole desk. He was a renowned collector: a famous Japanese chest is known as the Mazarin chest because it is believed he owned it, and there is also a " Mazarin Venus ." He was especially avid about collecting books; the Gutenberg Bible is sometimes known as the Mazarin Bible because it was in his collection. In fact, his personal library bec...
When I began this blog about 6 months ago, I did not expect it would attract a large audience. My expectations have been fully met. The only exception came when Linkiest decided (at my request) to link to my blog post on liberal denial of media bias . That created a viewership spike that screwed up the graph on Google analytics, because it was totally off the scale. In case some of those new viewers from Linkiest are still around, I figured the hundreth post would be a good time to highlight some of the most interesting previous blog entries. Here are my completely subjective choices: Etiology of a Medical Crisis The Nuclear Threat The Awful Truth Gates, Boxer, and Race Dumb Political Slogans Acorn Cracked Obama's Citizenship Peace of Westphalia Day Self-interest Environmental Pathos
I admire Mark Steyn. Even if you disagree with everything he says -- and I'm sure a lot of people do -- he is a remarkable person. A few years ago, Michael Mann, climate scientist and creator of Al Gore's famous "hockey stick" graph showing drastic warming in the last century, sued him for libel. Steyn had called the hockey stick "fraudulent," among other things. This is not the first time Mann has sued, although I'll be honest I'm having trouble finding other examples because these things don't get covered much in the mainstream media. Steyn's co-defendants, National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, are trying to get the case over with as soon as possible, which is a predictable reaction. Steyn, on the other hand, views the suit as an aggressive attempt to shut down the debate, so he has no intention of settling. In fact, he counter-sued Mann under anti-SLAPP legislation, which as I understand it seeks to defend peopl...
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