December 2007 Archives

Ace of Spades HQ: Group Of Has-been Politicians Meet To Call Attention To The Need For Bi-Partisanship And Themselves. Well, Mostly Themselves.

One blogger's take on the January 7 meeting of politicians hosted by David Boren at the University of Oklahoma, to discuss a potential independent "national unity" candidate for president: "If there is ever going to be a hall of fame for 'Annoying Politicians Who Think They Are Smarter Than Everyone Else But Who Nobody Listens To,' this will be the inaugural class of inductees." Included are former senators Sam Nunn, Chuck Robb, John Danforth, and Gary Hart, plus New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Rasmussen Reports: Daily Presidential Tracking Poll

"One of the more amazing things about the Republican race this year is that it has grown closer and closer over time.... In a poll with a four-percentage point margin of error, the fact that five candidates are within five points means there is absolutely no national frontrunner. Adding to the uncertainty is the fact that 13% of Likely Primary Voters remain undecided."

OpinionJournal - Peggy Noonan: Be Reasonable

"This is my 2008 slogan: Reasonable Person for President. That is my hope, what I ask Iowa to produce, and I claim here to speak for thousands, millions. We are grown-ups, we know our country needs greatness, but we do not expect it and will settle at the moment for good. We just want a reasonable person. We would like a candidate who does not appear to be obviously insane. We'd like knowledge, judgment, a prudent understanding of the world and of the ways and histories of the men and women in it." Not reasonable in Noonan's mind: Clinton, Edwards, Huckabee.

Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Art Works: Some things I learned from 2007

Some thoughts worth pondering at year's end about God and life and friendship and happiness.

OneNewsNow.com: Pastor Joel Osteen speaks out on Mormonism

Pastor Joel is just okie-dokie with it. "'I believe they are [true Christians].'... When asked about specifics of the Mormon faith, such as the gold tablets allegedly found by Joseph Smith with the so-called 'new revelation' from God, and the belief that humans can become gods, Osteen said he did not know enough about the religion's beliefs to comment."

WRKO - Howie Carr remembers Dapper O'Neill

14-term Boston City Councilor Albert L. "Dapper" O'Neill passed away earlier this month. Columnist and talk show host Howie Carr remembers the last of the old-school Boston politicians, who had not a politically correct bone in his body. What other politician would drive around Boston with a bumper sticker reading, "Liberals: An American Cancer"?

Unqualified Reservations: The secret of anti-Americanism

According to this writer, the secret is that the heart of anti-Americanism is... America. It's a very unusual and interesting way of looking at global conflict -- the Red Empire (the White House and the Pentagon) and the Blue Empire (the State Department, the UN, NGOs) battling it out worldwide via their client proxies. Found via the same author's idiosyncratic take on the Bhutto assassination and the three factions at war in Pakistan, in turn via American Digest.

Townhall.com: Phyllis Schlafly: Dark horse looks good in GOP presidential race

With the prospect of no one going into the GOP convention with a majority of delegates, Phyllis Schlafly tells the story of the 1880 Republican convention, when the voting went through 36 ballots until an undeclared candidate, James Garfield, was nominated. "The break came on the 34th ballot, late in the alphabetic roll call of states, when Wisconsin suddenly announced 'Sixteen votes for James A. Garfield.' Sitting in the Ohio delegation, Garfield jumped to his feet and tried to make a point of order that he had not consented to have his name placed in nomination, but the convention chairman gaveled him down and refused to let him speak."

RealClearPolitics HorseRaceBlog: A Primer on Momentum, Part 1

The four types of political momentum -- the ways the candidates' previous showing can influence a later voter's thinking.

The Corner on National Review Online: Benazir Bhutto [Mark Steyn]

Mark Steyn on his old next-door neighbor: "Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan had a mad recklessness about it which give today's events a horrible inevitability.... She was beautiful and charming and sophisticated and smart and modern, and everything we in the west would like a Muslim leader to be - though in practice, as Pakistan's Prime Minister, she was just another grubby wardheeler from one of the world's most corrupt political classes.... Miss Bhutto could never have been a viable leader of a post-Musharraf settlement, and the delusion that she could have been sent her to her death."

Book TV - 2007 Texas Book Festival: Sherman Alexie: Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

My wife recommends as "very funny" the reading and talk given by Sherman Alexie from his autobiography in which he discusses growing up on an Indian reservation and overcoming some serious physical disabilities. This book won the 2007 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. (Here's the Amazon page with some quotes from the book in the reviews.)

Republican Riot: Wal-Mart Disses Jesus

Julia Gorin visits a Wal-Mart where the Christmas decorations were already taken down by December 22: "But really, Wal-Mart -- to not even keep the decorations up long enough for the man's birthday, the occasion you just made a huge profit off of, is reprehensible. This isn't the Wal-Mart I defend. This is a Wal-Mart that's losing touch with its customers, its employees, its founder and its own struggles."

the evangelical outpost: The Fountainhead of Bedford Falls: Comparing George Bailey and Howard Roark

"... Roark lives to create inspiring works of architecture but cannot do so without relying on others. When society fails to appreciate his "genius", his egotistical purity leads him to engage in a massive destruction of private property. By the end of The Fountainhead Roark is revealed to be an infantile, narcissistic, parasite. Bailey, on the other hand, has all the marking of a repressed, conformist, patsy. He lives for others (a sentiment that would make Ayn Rand gag) rather than 'following his bliss.' He compromises everything but his integrity. And yet he discovers that he has all that makes life worth living."

What I Saw in America: It's a Destructive Life

Via Rod Dreher, who says, "it's like having Christmas with James Howard Kunstler": "A deep irony pervades the film at the moment of it joyous conclusion: as the developer of an antiseptic suburban subdivision, George Bailey is saved through the kinds of relationships nourished in his town that will be undermined and even precluded in the anomic community he builds as an adult."

YouTube - The Christmas Broadcast, 1957

A very young Queen Elizabeth II, in the first-ever televised Christmas broadcast by the monarch to the British people, reviews the events of the year, welcomes new nations to the Commonwealth, reads a brief excerpt from Pilgrim's Progress, and asks "how to take advantage of the new life without losing the best of the old."

the Daily Mail: Margaret Thatcher's grandson is rising star of American football

Highland Park, Tex., Scots running back Michael Thatcher has helped to lead his team to the state finals. (They lost to Lake Travis in Saturday's finals, 36-34.)

Wired: David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists -- and Megastars

An insightful look at new models for music distribution in the digital age: "What is called the music business today, however, is not the business of producing music. At some point it became the business of selling CDs in plastic cases, and that business will soon be over. But that's not bad news for music, and it's certainly not bad news for musicians. Indeed, with all the ways to reach an audience, there have never been more opportunities for artists."

New York Times: No Joke, Bulb Change Is Challenge for U.S.

Why are our President and Congress mandating the kind of light bulbs we can use? Why are they forcing us to use bulbs that contain toxic waste? Do they understand that fluorescent light isn't good for everyone?

New York Times: Gary Taubes: What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?

From 2002: "If the alternative hypothesis is right -- still a big ''if'' -- then it strongly suggests that the ongoing epidemic of obesity in America and elsewhere is not, as we are constantly told, due simply to a collective lack of will power and a failure to exercise. Rather it occurred, as Atkins has been saying (along with Barry Sears, author of ''The Zone''), because the public health authorities told us unwittingly, but with the best of intentions, to eat precisely those foods that would make us fat, and we did. We ate more fat-free carbohydrates, which, in turn, made us hungrier and then heavier." (Via Advice Goddess via Instapundit.)

Townhall.com: Andrew Tallman: Why Do We Give Bad Christmas Gifts?

Yuletide pressures, in case you didn't feel enough already: "Bad gifts are a burden precisely because they show your lack of love for the recipient. The prerequisite of love is knowledge. You cannot love whom you do not know. Thus, a gift shows love when it demonstrates a real knowledge of who someone is and what he desires. Bad gifts are evidence of a bad relationship because they demonstrate that you do not know enough about this person to be capable of giving a good gift."

IBDeditorials.com: Michael Barone: Wide-Open Race Adds To GOP Problems In A Year When Demographics Bode Ill

Problem for the GOP: The median age voter isn't old enough to remember the problems caused by the Big Government policies of both parties in the '60s and '70s.

Townhall.com: Michael Medved: Giving the Gift of Music -- at Shockingly Low Cost

Medved finds a gem in a jewel case on the bargain shelf: "Gustav Holst: Orchestral Music", by the London Festival Orchestra, from Arte Nova recordings: "This new album provides some rarely heard arrangements of such earthy, ancient material 'Six Morris Dance Tunes,' 'Seven Scottish Airs' and, most unforgettably, the haunting and spiritual 'In the Bleak Midwinter' (appropriate for late December, indeed). There's also the spirited romp for strings 'St. Paul's Suite' (written for the girls school at which Holst taught), the 'Brook Green Suite,' and the precious, jewel-like, deeply affecting 'Lyric Movement for Viola and Small Orchestra' - 11 minutes of ethereal, yearning meditation I had never heard before."

Hugh Hewitt: Transcript - Interview with Larry Kudlow

Kudlow recounts a recent interview with Mike Huckabee: "He wants to, if need be, have government regulate salaries. I think he's crazy. I don't think he understands the free market business system. He's not good on taxing, he's not good on spending, he's not good on free trade. In other words, all the prosperity factors seem to be Mr. Huckabee's weakness. I don't think he understands it. He's just out of tune with all measures of free market, supply side economics.... [Sec. of State Condoleeza Rice] came out and attacked him because of his naïveté on dealing in international affairs with Iran and others. He doesn't seem to understand power politics, and that we are in a jihadist global war.

Crunchy Con: DMN endorses Huck, Obama

"Moderate to liberal on immigration, socially liberal" Dallas Morning News endorses Huckabee: "Personally, I was surprised that most of my colleagues wanted to go with Huckabee on the GOP side. I thought his social conservatism would be off-putting. But as we say in the editorial, his record in Arkansas showed that his religious-right convictions expressed themselves more in compassionate social policies, and we praised him for being willing to pay for these programs with taxes, instead of running up a deficit." (Click through to see the Dreher's complete description of the DMN's editorial position -- sounds a lot like the Whirled.)

STLtoday: Tulsa firm is accused in tax scheme

"O'FALLON, Mo. -- A drywall company was charged Thursday with failing to withhold state taxes from workers' paychecks at a construction site linked by city and union officials to illegal immigrant labor.

"Attorney General Jay Nixon and St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas jointly filed charges against H & H Drywall Specialties Inc., of Tulsa, Okla., a subcontractor on the Southernside apartment complex going up in O'Fallon.

"H & H is accused of inaccurately listing employees as independent contractors to avoid sending withholding tax to the state, Nixon's office said."

No Blog of Significance: Why I Choose to Remain a Southern Baptist

Despite his sense that "[w]e sometimes seem to hold one another more accountable for things that are not actually sins than we do for real sins," Dan Paden has a list of 10 reasons he's sticking with the Southern Baptist Convention.

City Journal Spring 2007: Christopher Hitchens: Jefferson Versus the Muslim Pirates

The hero of the libertarians confronts Islamic extremism in America's first overseas war on the shores of Tripoli: "But one cannot get around what Jefferson heard when he went with John Adams to wait upon Tripoli's ambassador to London in March 1785. When they inquired by what right the Barbary states preyed upon American shipping, enslaving both crews and passengers, America's two foremost envoys were informed that 'it was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.'"

purgatorio: Divine Vinyl: Exciting Christmas Stories

Purgatorio is back from hiatus with some strange and hilarious Christmas album covers from the past.

Concurring Opinions: Blogs and Privacy

Daniel J. Solove asks questions about SiteMeter and other blog counters and their privacy implications. Interesting discussion in the comments.

WSJ.com: One-Man Gridlock: Meet Tom Coburn, Senate's 'Dr. No'

"Sometimes, Dr. Coburn, an obstetrician who sees patients one morning a week, disagrees with the proposals. As a fiscal conservative, he usually objects to what he sees as excess spending. Sometimes, he just wants to force a debate or improve on items that would otherwise fly through the Senate. In a crowded legislative calendar, not everything gets the scrutiny voters might imagine."

iowahawk: Three Cheers for the Iowa Caucuses!

"If you are a political activist from one of the various non-Iowa states, let me first say I understand the hurt and frustration and resentment you probably feel toward my state, and the overwhelming attention it gets during the campaign season. But I will also tell you that the most important step toward healing is acceptance: acceptance of your own natural insignificance, and the fact that Iowa will always be first because it is the one state uniquely qualified to be America's official Presidential Sniff Tester."

The Moderate Voice: Why no big blogospheric libel suits?

Shaun Mullen, who was on the receiving end of a few libel suits targeting newspapers (none successful), summarizes and comments on a paper on libel in the blogosphere by law prof Glenn Reynolds (better known as Instapundit).

New York Times: At 71, Physics Professor Is a Web Star

"Professor [Walter] Lewin's videotaped physics lectures, free online on the OpenCourseWare of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have won him devotees across the country and beyond who stuff his e-mail in-box with praise.... In his lectures at ocw.mit.edu, Professor Lewin beats a student with cat fur to demonstrate electrostatics. Wearing shorts, sandals with socks and a pith helmet -- nerd safari garb -- he fires a cannon loaded with a golf ball at a stuffed monkey wearing a bulletproof vest to demonstrate the trajectories of objects in free fall."

OpinionJournal: James Schlesinger: Stupid Intelligence on Iran

James Schlesinger, former head of the U. S. Atomic Energy and the CIA, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Energy, who served under Nixon, Ford, and Carter, critiques the National Intelligence Estimate's report on Iran's nuclear program. The fact that Iran has halted clandestine work directly related to weapons production doesn't mean they've halted open work on uranium enrichment which would ultimately enable weapons production. "In brief, since the 'long pole in the tent' remains the production of fissile material, Iran likely decided that the prudent course of action was to pursue an open enrichment program ostensibly to produce fuel for nuclear reactors. It is a course that had been chartered by North Korea--and arguably was legitimate under the Nonproliferation Treaty. This central path to obtaining fissile material--the focus of international concern--has been treated in the NIE as quite distinct from the 'nuclear weapons program.' Still, the achievements of American arms and American policy during that period were undoubtedly noted in Tehran. Why not mention them in the NIE as possibly influencing Tehran's decision in 2003? "

Radio & Records, Inc.: Arbitron Attempts To Combat Growing Problem

How do you create accurate phone surveys when more and more people only have cell phones? And how do you get accurate ratings when the cell-phone-onlies tend to come from certain key demographics? "Arbitron is moving from a phone-based sample frame to one based on addresses. The company has purchased an address-based sample from Philadelphia-based Marketing Systems Group. While 60% of the address-based sample can be matched to phone numbers, the remaining 40% cannot. That's where Arbitron goes fishing for cell-only households, using mailing incentives as bait. The process involves mailing pre-surveys to the address-based sample. Pre-surveys returned by households that identify themselves as cell phone-only (and that give Arbitron permission to contact them on their cell phone) are earmarked to receive a ratings diary."

ORK Posters! ...neighborhood posters

Cool posters showing the names and locations of neighborhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston.

Soli Deo Gloria: 13 Evangelistic Phrases That Produce False Conversions

Are our evangelistic efforts presenting a fatally distorted picture of the gospel? Jay Wingard says, "We have simply created lingo that has a grain of truth in Scripture, but it is so open to interpretation that the un-converted understand it in ways that lead to false conversions."

WORLD Magazine: Oh, for a thousand tongues

Today was the 300th birthday of Charles Wesley, one of the greatest hymn writers in the English-speaking world. Considered a co-founder of Methodism alongside his older brother John, Wesley's hymns are known and loved across denominational boundaries. My favorite Wesley hymn is one I didn't learn until college: "And Can It Be That I Should Gain?"

National Review Online: Tom Coburn on Defense Earmarks

The dirty secrets of defense earmarks: "Let me explain how the process of defense earmarks works in the halls of power: Very rarely does an experienced weapons-systems engineer, aerospace engineer or naval architect come to work in the Senate. Instead, earmark requests typically start with a constituent meeting or something worse. Those who review earmark requests -- unelected congressional staff -- often have little in the way of significant military or real world experience. Staff then seeks an endorsement by persons within the defense establishment who are hesitant to offend the institution that provides their funding.

"This process rarely produces anything objective, as the arguments made in support of a project often are provided by the same entity that would receive the proposed funding. The process is rigged: The sponsor of the project can claim his or her earmark has been vetted by the Defense Department while the approving entity, such as a Defense Department lab that wasn't funded in the president's budget, can benefit from increased funding via the earmark."

The Boston Globe: Romney jurist picks not tilted to GOP

When Mitt Romney was in a position to appoint judges, whom did he choose? "Romney, despite his opposition to same-sex marriage, in May selected for a district court judgeship Stephen S. Abany, a former board member of the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association who organized the group's opposition to a 1999 bill to outlaw same-sex marriage. Just two days before the nomination, Romney was lamenting the liberal tilt of the state's bench, telling Fox News that 'our courts have a record here in Massachusetts, don't they, of being a little blue and being Kerry-like.'"

Speaker Cargill's Blog: OU regents open door for charter schools, while Tulsa school board tries to keep them out

Tulsa school board chairman Matt Livingood plots a frivolous court challenge against a bill that was written specifically to answer his concerns about the existing charter school legislation. Anything to avoid giving parents real choice in education.

Right Wing News: I Get Emails: Would We Want A Congress Full Of Ron Pauls?

"There's an old saying that goes, 'All it takes to spoil a gallon of ice cream is one rat turd,' and this is, in essence, the problem with Ron Paul." While Duncan Hunter's views on trade and Tom Tancredo's views on immigration have shaped the Republican debate, "Ron Paul hasn't made a dent.... [U]nfortunately for 'Big L' Libertarians, Ron Paul is not a great spokesman for their issues. Yes, he cuts through the noise in a way that other Libertarian candidates haven't been able to match, but he does it in such a way that is extremely off-putting to many conservatives."

Dell Computers - Change Service Tag

When you install a replacement motherboard on a Dell laptop, the service tag number in NVRAM on the replacement mobo won't match the actual service tag on the bottom of the case. Here's how to fix that.

WhereCanWeGo.com: What's On Events Guide

A Google Maps-based way to search for nearby things to do and places to go in Britain, using criteria of place, date, and type of event. (Anything like this for the US?)

Rolling Stone: James Howard Kunstler: The Long Emergency

A summary of Kunstler's 2005 book on the impact of declining oil production and increased consumption: "Most of all, the Long Emergency will require us to make other arrangements for the way we live in the United States. America is in a special predicament due to a set of unfortunate choices we made as a society in the twentieth century. Perhaps the worst was to let our towns and cities rot away and to replace them with suburbia, which had the additional side effect of trashing a lot of the best farmland in America. Suburbia will come to be regarded as the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world."

World Magazine: Gene Edward Veith: Salt Recipe, Part II

"When Christians are better educated than the non-Christians, Christians will become the major culture-shapers.

"The state of contemporary Western culture today resembles a patient dying of AIDS. In that dreadful disease, the body's immune system stops protecting the body and instead turns against it. Similarly, our current artistic and intellectual establishments--which have always before defined, built up, and transmitted our cultural heritage--have turned against it. Artists are attacking the very concept of beauty. Intellectuals are dismissing the intellect. Ethicists are denying morality. Those who used to pursue truth are now saying there is no such thing....

"The best-educated are invariably the leaders, the creators, and the shapers of culture. Those who write the books, make the art, populate academia, and run the businesses are the cultural leaders. Today, our best-educated folk are mired in a nihilistic worldview, and they are dragging the rest of the culture down with them. But what if Christians took on this role?"

(For more in this vein, listen to my speech at St. Augustine Academy's fall banquet on the value of a classical Christian education.)

Newsmax.com: Susan Estrich: Rejection Is Part of Life

Some wise words for early decision week, as high school seniors wait on pins and needles to see if they've been selected in the first wave of admission for the nation's top colleges. (MIT announces early admits on Saturday. I've interviewed four local seniors who are hoping for good news.)

Road Weary: This Time Marriott Has Gone Too Far

When I used Superclick during a recent hotel stay, it modified every URL and broke the functionality of some websites. Forget about using the "back" button. But the inconvenience is nothing compared to the invasiveness of Superclick. (A Slashdot thread explains how to get around Superclick.)

The Club For Growth - Kline Says No to Pork

It's not just Tom Coburn. Rep. John Kline (R.-Minn.) says, "I came in, somewhat naively I admit, thinking I was going to compete for my district, like everyone else does. I've got some very worthwhile projects. Then the realization kept coming back year after year that this is preposterous." Sen. Claire McKaskill (D.-Mo.) says no to pork, too. "If you know somebody or have a friend on the right committee, you get your individual project funded. That's not the way to spend taxpayer money."

flightglobal.com: flightglobal.com: PICTURE: Boeing installs laser weapon on C-130

Cool. A propeller-driven airplane with a laser weapon.

Hot Air: Larry O'Donnell admits he's afraid to criticize Islam publicly

In an interview with Romney apologist Hugh Hewitt, O'Donnell acknowledges that, for some odd reason, he's more at ease with criticizing Mormonism than Mohammedanism: "HH: 'Would you say the same things about Mohammed as you just said about Joseph Smith?' LO'D: 'Oh, well, I'm afraid of what the...that's where I'm really afraid. I would like to criticize Islam much more than I do publicly, but I'm afraid for my life if I do.'"

The Huffington Post: Lawrence O'Donnell Loses His Ever-Loving Mind on McLaughlin

That's Jason Linkins' opinion, not mine. O'Donnell is not someone I'd agree with much of the time, but he's right about Mormonism, pointing out that in 1978, when Mitt Romney was 30, the Mormon Church disavowed its previous position excluding blacks from the Mormon priesthood.

Christianpost.com: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism -- the New American Religion

Are these the fundamentals of the American faith? "1. A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth. 2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions. 3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. 4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem. 5. Good people go to heaven when they die." (Via Crunchy Con.)

Investigative Project on Terrorism: Exclusive IPT Investigation Uncovers HLF Jury Room Bullying

A juror on the Holy Land Foundation trial in Dallas, which ended in a mistrial, complains of bullying in the jury room: "While several jurors favored acquittals, just one out of the 12 did most of the knocking down. In fact, interviews with three HLF jurors - speaking publicly for the first time - suggest that juror William Neal's stridency may have changed the trial's outcome. Neal even claimed credit for steering jurors away from convictions in a recent radio interview." Link includes a video interview with one of the jurors. (Via Crunchy Con.)

New York Times: Tracing Business Acumen to Dyslexia

"One reason that dyslexics are drawn to entrepreneurship, Professor Logan said, is that strategies they have used since childhood to offset their weaknesses in written communication and organizational ability -- identifying trustworthy people and handing over major responsibilities to them -- can be applied to businesses. 'The willingness to delegate authority gives them a significant advantage over nondyslexic entrepreneurs, who tend to view their business as their baby and like to be in total control,' she said."

oldSpeak: Interview with Frank Schaeffer

John Whitehead, head of the Rutherford Institute, and an associate of Francis Schaeffer, interviews Frank Schaeffer about Crazy for God, his account of growing up in the Schaeffer family. Via Michael Spencer, who calls it the best interview his seen with Frank Schaeffer.

YouTube: The origins of the Book of Mormon

Since Mitt Romney is talking about his faith, we will, too. Here's the true story of Joseph Smith, the golden plates, the seerstones, credulous Martin Harris and his skeptical wife Lucy. (NB: It's from an episode of South Park, so there's a single, mild vulgarity at the very end.)

dustbury.com: Eine kleine Digitalmusik

Wonderful: Premier classical music label Deutsche Grammophon is selling 320 kbps, DRM-free MP3s of its music, including tracks from over 600 out-of-print albums. (Maybe Bear Family will follow suit?)

The Anchoress: Hillary gets stupid about Obama

Sen. Clinton does oppo research on Sen. Obama's elementary school scribblings. "She just seems like a giant Can O' Crazy, with New Improved Petty Vindictiveness added."

OpinionJournal: Separation Anxiety: Are historically black colleges good for blacks?

Why America's 103 historically black colleges and universities continue to thrive and fulfill an important mission, 50 years after Brown vs. Board of Education.

OpinionJournal: The Currency of Faith: How one man put God into circulation

The man responsible had been a skeptic of religion, converted during a revival that swept Dartmouth College in 1826. Click through to learn how "In God We Trust" came to be found on American currency.

Historic Naval Ships Association: Introduction to Radio Equipment - Chapter 20

How an antenna works, and why length really does matter. (Via Arcane Radio Trivia.)