Monthly Archives: August 2012

Instead of an Election Lets Have a Lottery

A new survey finds that two-thirds of Americans can’t name a single Supreme Court justice. This lack of awareness was why Churchill was so down on democracy: The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been…


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Il Balen

No composer wrote so much great music for baritone as did Giuseppe Verdi. In Italian opera the baritone is usually a villain, or the guy who doesn’t get the girl, or an older protagonist. But regardless, Verdi usually has him sing like an angel. Nowhere is this more so than in the second act of Il…


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On Climate

July of this year was the hottest July in US history. This  heat, as usual, was attributed by some to man-made global warming. Interestingly, this July was substantially cooler than last July in Lubbock where I live. Go here for all the data. What does this prove? Nothing other than selectively choosing data can give you almost any result…


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Donald Seldin – An Interview

A video interview with Dr Donald Seldin is appended below. Seldin was the most important figure in academic medicine in the second half of the 20th century. While a first rate scientist, his impact came from the thousands of trainees he produced and from his role in the development of Southwestern Medical School in Dallas from a…


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