The Volokh Conspiracy - -

The Volokh Conspiracy - -: "Blankenhorn and the purposes of marriage:

In addition to the important procreative and child-raising purpose of marriage that David Blankenhorn and others opposed to gay marriage have emphasized, marriage has other functions arising from our history, tradition, and actual practice that are served by allowing people to marry even if they never have children.

So what does marriage do? What is it for? Marriage does at least six important things. I put these here in block text for ease of reference:"

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: A Maoist Review

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: A Maoist Review: "The guards in charge of Sirius Black are 'Dementos' who suck the life out of people, but Sirius Black builds his fearsome reputation by getting by them all. Dementos lower the quality of life of everyone in the kingdom. They have one-track minds to pursue their quarry and they are not able to distinguish the innocent from their quarry. Their presence even damages business at bars. Thus, the script-writer is a shrewd persyn aware of the prison mentality's effect on the whole society. "

Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society � Howard Smith’s Gizmo

Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society � Howard Smith’s Gizmo: "Kircher Society favorite Gizmo, Howard Smith’s wonderful 1977 documentary about odd and improbable inventions of the 20th century, is now online:"

Social Science at 190 MPH on NASCAR's Biggest Superspeedways

Social Science at 190 MPH on NASCAR's Biggest Superspeedways: "In aerodynamically intense stock-car races like the Daytona 500, the drivers form into multi-car draft lines to gain extra speed. A driver who does not enter a draft line (slipstream) will lose. Once in a line, a driver must attract a drafting partner in order to break out and try to get further ahead. Thus the effort to win leads to ever-shifting patterns of cooperation and competition among rivals. This provides a curious laboratory for several social science theories: (1) complexity theory, since the racers self-organize into structures that oscillate between order and chaos; (2) social network analysis, since draft lines are line networks whose organization depends on a driver's social capital as well as his human capital; and (3) game theory, since racers face a 'prisoner's dilemma' in seeking drafting partners who will not defect and leave them stranded. Perhaps draft lines and related 'bump and run' tactics amount to a little-recognized dynamic of everyday life, including in structures evolving on the Internet."

Ciel Libre

Ciel Libre: "Plastorgan:

Windmusic instrument made of plastic bottles."

unfortunate placement of yahoo ad on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

unfortunate placement of yahoo ad on Flickr - Photo Sharing!: "unfortunate placement of yahoo ad"

Micro-Max

Micro-Max: "Micro-Max, a 133-line Chess Source"

Classically Liberal: When mass killers meet armed resistance.

Classically Liberal: When mass killers meet armed resistance.: "It took place at a university in Virginia. A student with a grudge, an immigrant, pulled a gun and went on a shooting spree. It wasn’t Virginia Tech at all. It was the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, not far away. You can easily drive from the one school to the other, just take a trip down Route 460 through Tazewell."

The End of a 1,400-Year-Old Business

The End of a 1,400-Year-Old Business: "The world's oldest continuously operating family business ended its impressive run last year. Japanese temple builder Kongo Gumi, in operation under the founders' descendants since 578, succumbed to excess debt and an unfavorable business climate in 2006."

Pommygranate: A Self-Hater's Guide To Science

Pommygranate: A Self-Hater's Guide To Science: "Further to Tim Blair's list of Life's Little Contradictions, here is a Self-Hater's Guide to Science"

Home Toolbox Essentials: Skill Set - Master Tool Kit - with VIDEO - Popular Mechanics

Home Toolbox Essentials: Skill Set - Master Tool Kit - with VIDEO - Popular Mechanics: "When I tallied up the tools in my box, I counted 61 items with a combined weight of over 50 pounds. Of course, some things are multipiece, such as the set of high-speed-steel twist drills in a fold-out metal case. I think I've got a good little set of tools here, but it's not perfect—I'm always looking for tools that are tougher or more precise. Nor is it complete. It's augmented at home with hundreds of pounds of other hand and power tools. This is the box I grab when the phone rings and somebody needs help or a pipe has burst at the church where I'm the property chairman. It takes a long time to find out what you need and fit it into one box. This one took 30 years of trial and error. "

Tocqueville's America

Tocqueville's America: "The French author's piquant observations on American gumption and political hypocrisy sound remarkably contemporary 200 years after his birth"

Installing Oracle Database XE on Debian, Ubuntu, and Kubuntu

Installing Oracle Database XE on Debian, Ubuntu, and Kubuntu:
"Update (March 2006): With Oracle Database XE in production, it is even easier to install Oracle on Debian-based distros (thanks to Joel Becker).

There is now an apt-get repository up on oss.oracle.com for XE. Just add:

deb http://oss.oracle.com/debian unstable main non-free

to /etc/apt/sources.list and then:

# wget http://oss.oracle.com/el4/RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle -O- | sudo apt-key add -
# apt-get update
# apt-get install oracle-xe

'libaio' and 'bc' are in the repository, so dependancies will pull them in if the user doesn't have them. (Note: You will need to 'sudo' or have 'root' privileges to install XE.)"

Okla. Declares Watermelon State Veggie

Okla. Declares Watermelon State Veggie: "OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma already has the strawberry as its official fruit, so the state Senate cleared the way Tuesday to declare the watermelon the state vegetable."

No one belongs here more than you. Stories by Miranda July

No one belongs here more than you. Stories by Miranda July

Fearless Driver - Stressless Parallel Parking

Fearless Driver - Stressless Parallel Parking: "To parallel park successfully, you need a space about 4-6 feet longer than your car. Then, it’s all about timing!"

The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Privateers: The Independent Review: The Independent Institute

The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Privateers: The Independent Review: The Independent Institute: "Privateers—private ships licensed to carry out warfare—helped win the American Revolution and the War of 1812 but fell into disuse after the federal government made it hard to monitor their performance. Like the government’s use of private military companies in today’s hotspots, privateering was an instance of the “contracting out” of security services, not the full privatization of security, and thus operated in the context of incentives and constraints established by the government."

Squashed Philosophers

Squashed Philosophers

"Glyn Hughes'
SQUASHED PHILOSOPHERS
THE books which defined the way The West thinks now...
In their own words... but condensed and abridged into something like readable"

LiveLeak.com - Accident caused by out of control sewer

LiveLeak.com - Accident caused by out of control sewer: "Accident caused by out of control sewer "

GeiselVille at Flyguy Designs

GeiselVille at Flyguy Designs: "I have had a overwellming response to my last set of Photoshop brushes, Geisel Garden. So I have once again turned to the work of Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel for inspiration. Here my second installment of brushes completely inspired from the wonderful works of Dr. Seuss. There are 40 Photoshop brushes in this set and as always they are free for download. I also have the Vector set used to create the brushes available for $8.00"

LiveLeak.com - The Joys of Marine Boot Camp

LiveLeak.com - The Joys of Marine Boot Camp: "Drill Instructor tears into a recruit because he gave up on training course. Quitting is not an option. "

xFruits - Compose your information system

xFruits - Compose your information system

TCS Daily - Rebel with a Cause: The Optimistic Scientist

TCS Daily - Rebel with a Cause: The Optimistic Scientist: "Freeman Dyson: I am always happy to be in the minority. Concerning the climate models, I know enough of the details to be sure that they are unreliable. They are full of fudge factors that are fitted to the existing climate, so the models more or less agree with the observed data. But there is no reason to believe that the same fudge factors would give the right behavior in a world with different chemistry, for example in a world with increased CO2 in the atmosphere."

VMblog.com - Virtualization Information : VMware's Desktop Virtualization for Mac - Codenamed Fusion

VMblog.com - Virtualization Information : VMware's Desktop Virtualization for Mac - Codenamed Fusion:

"Sending the Ctrl-Alt-Delete keystroke combination to a virtual machine
To send the Ctrl-Alt-Delete keystroke combination to a virtual machine, do one of the following:

* From the Virtual Machine menu, select Send Ctrl-Alt-Delete.
* If you are using an external PC keyboard, press Ctrl-Alt-Delete.
* On a full-sized Mac keyboard, press Control-Option-Foward Delete. The Forward Delete key is below the Help key.
* On a Mac laptop keyboard, press Fn-Ctrl-Option-Delete.

Note: When you press Fn-Ctrl-Option-Delete, the Ctrl key occasionally remains activated and working after you release it. To continue working in the virtual machine, press and release the Ctrl key again."

Apple Mouse Utility

Apple Mouse Utility: "Are you using a 1 button Apple mouse under Windows? Than this utility is the solution for you! By holding the Control key while this utility is running, the mouse button will act as the right mouse button instead of the left mouse button!"

IT Anthems >> IT Anthems's Blog at ZDNet UK Community

IT Anthems >> IT Anthems's Blog at ZDNet UK Community: "The music they couldn't kill!

Ever wondered what happened to IT Anthems, ZDNet's fabled web craze of 2002? It's still there, even in the new-look ZDNet UK. But you have to look..."

Time Fountain Video Illusion - Mighty Optical Illusions

Time Fountain Video Illusion - Mighty Optical Illusions: "The device in the video creates the illusion that a simple stream of water droplets can defy the known laws of physics. With controlling a set of flickering LEDs, the dripping water can appear to slow down, freeze in mid-air, and even reverse in direction - Interactively!"

LEAKED: 5 More Geek Squad Manuals - Consumerist

LEAKED: 5 More Geek Squad Manuals - Consumerist: "Here's 5 more Geek Squad manuals. They're not a fascinating as the troubleshooting manual, but perhaps if you use the Geek Squad you can use them to make sure they're doing their job right. Or you could learn how to open up your own Geek Squad store. Sort of like a lemonade stand, except instead of turning lemons into a tasty beverage, you turn laptops into lemons.

Data Backup Checklist
VoIP Training
Double Agent Handbook
Camcorder Training Guide
WiFi troubleshooting leave-behind"

USB Cable A to Mini B, 16 inch High-Speed USB 2.0 Device Cable USBG-1678 LOW PRICE $2.75

USB Cable A to Mini B, 16 inch High-Speed USB 2.0 Device Cable USBG-1678 LOW PRICE $2.75:

"Manufacturer: USBGEAR
Barcode: USBG-1678
Part Number: USBG-1678
Warranty: LifeTime
In Stock: Yes
Ship Weight: 1 lbs.
COLOR White
Size: 16 inch"

best.online.docus - Best Online Documentaries

best.online.docus - Best Online Documentaries

MetroActive Movies | Bell Science

MetroActive Movies | Bell Science: "Capra ended up writing and directing the first three--Our Mr. Sun (about solar energy), Hemo the Magnificent (all about blood), and The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays (on the very trendy subject of radiation)--and producing a fourth, Meteora: The Unchained Goddess (about weather), directed by horror movie star Richard Carlson.

Mr. Sun debuted on CBS in 1956 at 10 p.m., making it clear that Bell Labs was not aiming at an audience of children, but at adults. The others came along, one per year, until Capra left the project. After a hiatus of three years, five more Bell Lab films were aired: Gateways to the Mind (about the five senses), The Alphabet Conspiracy (about the history of language), Thread of Life (about DNA), About Time (self-explanatory), and a Disney-produced final entry, The Restless Sea.

Except for the last one, all of the Bell Science films starred Dr. Frank Baxter, who was introduced each time out as Dr. Research--and displayed a great knack for explaining complicated things in simple language. Perhaps a bit too simple. Critics at first applauded Capra's creative use of animation and humor, but many soon tired of the films, complaining that they oversimplified science."