Overnight Open Thread

Liberals Believe the Darnedest Things

Here Jeff Bergner of the Weekly Standard catalogs the collection of beliefs that make up the mythology of the Left. None of these are probably a surprise to readers of conservative blogs but it is interesting to see them all laid out in one place.

If you've ever wondered how liberals can see the same inputs as other people, yet come to utterly different conclusion - the answer is that they have a different set of assumptions about how the world works. And naturally their biggest misunderstandings have to do with conservatives.

Myth #3: The Republican party is moving to the right. When things go wrong for liberals, as they did in last November’s elections, and politics seems especially divisive, it is never because liberals have moved out of the mainstream. There’s only one possible explanation: Republicans must be moving to the right. But in 1980, when Ronald Reagan was elected, Republicans stood for lower taxes, less federal spending, smaller deficits, less government regulation, a strong defense, free trade, limits on abortion, and First and Second Amendment rights. Sound familiar?

Myth #6: Women are naturally liberals. Having suffered inequality, women too must be liberals, and conservative women must be traitors to their group. It’s quite all right to call them the ugliest names. Let’s be frank: In 2010 Republicans ran some pretty rough and ready, nontraditional candidates, both men and women. Who was singled out for special derision and condescension? Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Michele Bachmann, and of course Sarah Palin, who was not even running for anything.

Woohoo: The New Obama 2012 Re-Election Bumper Stickers Are Out!

China Analyst: U.S. Can’t Win in Space, So Why Bother Racing?
Well space is expensive, dangerous, and difficult, but I'm skeptical that we should just leave it for the Chinese.

The new space race is on. But in the view of one influential analyst, the race isn’t worth the prize. Space “is expensive to enter, hard to sustain assets in, contains no defensive ground, and — barring energy-intensive maneuvering – forces assets into predictable orbits,” Andrew Erickson, a Naval War College professor and editor of the new book Chinese Aerospace Power, told me as part of a longer interview over at AOL Defense.

...“Some of the most debilitating asymmetric tactics could be employed against space and cyberspace targets,” Erickson explained. In other words, spacecraft are highly vulnerable to physical and electronic attack, and so are their control stations. To avoid these “asymmetric” assaults at which China has proved particularly skilled, the Pentagon should take its current space-based equipment and move it downward to the atmosphere. The air is more secure than space, Erickson insisted.

Was the Apostle Paul Married?
Denny Burk makes the case that he was a widower.

Not only does Acts omit any mention of Paul having a wife, but also Paul’s own letters seem to indicate the same. Nevertheless, there is some disagreement over whether or not Paul had been married at an earlier point in his life. In this post, I will argue that Paul was in fact a widower at the time of his writing. I’ll make the case in seven points.

Supercritical CO₂
Man I wish I had teh mad skilz and lab setup of Ben Krasnow:

Carbon dioxide, however, has a fairly accessible critical point at about 90° F, 1100 psi, and thus supercritical carbon dioxide can and does have fairly routine industrial applications, notably the decaffeination of coffee. But the really cool part is that, at those temperatures and pressures, it’s not too hard to build a pressure vessel from transparent materials that will actually let you get a good look at a supercritical fluid. Which is exactly what Ben Krasnow—who is fast becoming my personal maker hero—has done.

The 5 Most Depraved Sex Scenes Implied by 'Harry Potter'
Yep Delores Umbridge's implied Centaur gang-rape is one of the least depraved ones.

The short-lived headmistress of Hogwarts gets off on torturing children, has an unflinching holier-than-thou attitude and, unless David Yates has something stashed for an extended edition of the films, *SPOILER* she gets away with it. *END SPOILER*
Well, unless you count the part where she is abducted and gang raped by centaurs in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. And if you think we're just filling in the rape stuff with our filthy imaginations, hang on.
Near the climax of the book/film, Umbridge is hauled screaming into the Forbidden Forest by a group of centaurs. No one sees what happens next.

12 McDonald's Menu Items That Failed Spectacularly
McDonalds actually tries out quite a few products and many of them fail to catch on. So at any point their menu is mostly popular classics with a few new items being tested.

McDonald's has hundreds of different products that are offered in locations worldwide, but for every tremendously successful one like the iconic Big Mac, there's a spectacular failure.

Why? Ineffective marketing, bad product launches and consumer reluctance for change are common. But when you're dealing with food, there's always the simplest of reasons: people just don't like the taste.

Catchphrases From The 70's

Dy-No-Mite! (Good Times)
Up your nose with a rubber hose (Welcome Back, Kotter)
Whachu-talkin'-bout, Willis? (Diff'rent Strokes)
Hey, hey, hey (What's Happening?)
Stifle! (All in the Family)
Sit on it! (Happy Days)
Ayyyyyy. (Happy Days)
You big dummy (Sanford & Son)
Book 'em Danno (Hawaii 5-0)
De plane! De plane! (Fantasy Island)
Nanu, Nanu (Mork & Mindy)
Shazbot! (Mork & Mindy)
Good night, John Boy (The Waltons)
Jane, you ignorant slut (Saturday Night Live)
Who loves you, baby (Kojak)
Kiss my grits! (Alice)
Lookin' good (Chico and the Man)
Hello... how are ya? (Welcome Back, Kotter)
Elizabeth, I'm comin' to join you (Sanford & Son)
Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry (The Incredible Hulk)

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posted by Maetenloch at 10:33 PM

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