Overnight Open Thread (8-4-2015)

Quote of the Day I

T.S. Eliot once said, "Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm - but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves." This suggests that one way to find out if those who claim to be trying to help the less fortunate are for real is to see if they are satisfied to simply advocate a given policy, and see it through to being imposed - without also testing empirically whether the policy is accomplishing what it set out to do. The first two steps are enough to let advocates feel important and righteous. Whether you really care about what happens to the supposed beneficiaries of the policy is indicated by whether you bother to check out the empirical evidence afterwards.

-- Thomas Sowell

Quote of the Day II

It seems to me that the Internet is taking the place of God for a lot of people.

I always liked the old line, "Character is what you do when only God is watching." The alternate version, "Character is what you do when no one is watching," is actually theologically and philosophically a very different statement. But both have their relevance in the age of the Digital Panopticon.

...The phrase "Character is what you do when no one is watching," is really a way to get you to imagine that someone is watching you. We are relearning that someone is watching us, but we aren't being taught that that someone is God.

We'll see how that works out.

-- Jonah Goldberg in God and the Twitter Mob

Quote of the Day III

But the Japanese were warned . Over one million of these [Office of War Information warning leaflets] were dropped over Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and 33 other Japanese cities on the 1st of August, 1945 - that's five days before the Hiroshima bombing.

-- Bill Whittle

Quote of the Day IV

There is a healthy and an unhealthy love of animals: and the nearest definition of the difference is that the unhealthy love of animals is serious. I am quite prepared to love a rhinoceros, with reasonable precautions: he is, doubtless, a delightful father to the young rhinoceroses. But I will not promise not to laugh at a rhinoceros. . . . I will not worship an animal. That is, I will not take an animal quite seriously: and I know why.

Wherever there is Animal Worship there is Human Sacrifice. That is, both symbolically and literally, a real truth of historical experience.

-- G. K. Chesterton, "On Seriousness," (1920)

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Yep it's turtles recursive graft all the way down. (thanks to Ben)

Can You Guess Why This Lego Set Is Offensive Without Clicking?

Bidenmania and the Weak, Pathetic Democratic Bench

Clinton Campaign Ad: Hillary's Greatest Accomplishment as Secretary of State Was Losing to Obama

And also having a vagina.

RSM: Why Do Drunk Sluts Get Drunk?

Why: An 'Extended Edition' Of The Hobbit Trilogy Is Heading To Theaters

Okay I like hobbits and dwarves and all but 9 hours(!) of them is at least 6 hours too much.

14 Facts About 'National Lampoon's Vacation'

1. It Pretty Much Killed the Station Wagon.

Griswold's plan to cart his family from Chicago to California to visit Disneyland stand-in Walley World required a durable vehicle. Obviously, he didn't get one. The unheralded star of the film is the Wagon Queen Family Truckster, a station wagon with eight headlights and a pea-green finish. The car was actually a Ford LTD Country Squire heavily modified to be as unattractive as possible, and it did the job a little too well: following the release of Vacation, station wagon sales plummeted. Also known as "estate" vehicles, the models were shortly replaced in popularity by minivans and, later, SUVs.

Fishing For Piranhas The Easy Way

Psst - Wanna See a Dolphin Vajayjay?

You know you want to. Don't cost nuthin.

The Yahoo group is for closers only.

Teh Tweet!

Tonight's post brought to you by French nuclear test, Polynesia, 1971:

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Contains small parts, not suitable for children under 3. Safety goggles may be required during use.

posted by Maetenloch at 10:56 PM

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