voluntaryXchange

A Fine Suggestion

I laughed very hard at the third panel of the June 26 Prickly City:

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A Touching Contrast

I found this piece deeply affecting. I can’t say why.

It’s about 2 gay guys of the same chronological age, but of different cultural ages, going to see a Judy Garland tribute show, and trying to figure out if she still (or should) have a special place in the hearts of gays.

I weep for my people.

I’m only half-kidding. I have this theory that because of the holocaust that was the AIDS epidemic and its annihilation of the previous generation of gay men, the faith of our fathers risks extinction. Today, Judyism, like Yiddish, is little more than a vague cultural memory.

Not for me. But then I grew up in a bubble of fabulousness …

Read the whole thing in The New York Times.

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Does This Really Work?

I would love to try this … but I live in the desert and haven’t seen moss in over 10 years.

Via I Love Charts.

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Luck

Roald Amundsen in his The South Pole:

Victory awaits him who has everything in order—luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck.

That’s an argument for a flat tax, if you think about it.

Via Marginal Revolution via the IMF’s Finance and Development blogs profile of Avinash Dixit.

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Looney Tunes for Education

I’ve always wanted to find a copy of a certain Looney Tune for use in class.

It was made in the 1950’s, and features poor European mice coming to visit their rich American cousins, where they learn about consumer sovereignty.

But, I never knew the titles, so they were hard to find.

Thanks to Laura Wilkerson I’ve tracked it down: 1954’ “By Word of Mouse”.

Indeed, Laura’s post mentions 2 more like this that I’ve never seen: “Heir Conditioned” and “Yankee Dood It” from 1955. Apparently these were commissioned by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to be educational and supportive of capitalism.

And … you can buy them all too:

 

Technorati Tags: looney,tunes,capitalism,consumer,sovereignty,golden,collection,6

A Slinky Defies Gravity When It Falls

I’ve actually seen this with the naked eye when my kids hang slinkys off the loft:

What I found most interesting about this, is that it is more or less the same effect that made the collapse of the World Trade Centers look … so faked.

Yes, we all know that it wasn’t.

But, you have to admit that the video is not what you would have expected something like that to look like circa 9/10.

But, a building is very much like a slinky: a single structure, with some elasticity, being pulled down by gravity. The analogy is even closer if we view a single floor of the WTC as a slinky. And that odd, pancaking, effect as the floors collapsed was each of those slinkys compressing towards the base, and then sending its energy into the next slinky.

Via Kottke.

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Catching a Golf Drive with a Convertible

The money shot is at the 1:20 mark:

The golf ball starts out in the 180 mph range.

Personally, I’d like to have seen a side view, perhaps with the golf ball visually enhanced, to see them converging on the same spot.

Via Kottke.

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Kennedy vs. Nixon

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Trivia Quiz: What’s the First U.S. Government Structure to be Dedicated by a Woman?

Straight from the mouth of the tour guide: Flaming Gorge Dam was dedicated by Lady Bird Johnson.

Surfing

While web surfing I found this surfing photo:

This is from Ocean Sciences Research Institute photo gallery.

Whenever I see a photo like this, I always think back to the time something bumped my leg in a lull between 8 foot waves while body surfing at Vero Beach in 1992.

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