Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Backlog

Has it really been thirteen days since my last post? I've spent a lot more time on math relative to politics of late. I haven't even been following the news in much depth. Now I'm about to go to this logic conference. I've got a few ideas for meaty posts, but they will have to wait until I get back. Until then, let me tersely link to a few items, most of which I've been meaning to blog for a while, but never got around to doing so.

First is Steven Den Beste's "Essential Library," which mirrors more than a few good essays by various folks about foreign policy, all of them relevant to our current conflict. If I were to have an "essential library" of my own, I'd certainly include The Jacksonian Tradition, by Walter Russell Mead, and Al Qaeda's Fantasy Ideology, by Lee Harris (in that order of importance). So, at the very least, read these two essays.

Second, I would like to note my agreement with the WSJ that the thwarted poison gas attack in Jordan was grossly underreported.

On a less serious note, feast your eyes on this county-by-county map of how various folks in the U.S. mispronounce "soda." (My prejudice towards soda comes from my father, who grew up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.) Also - surprise, surprise - The Day After Tomorrow has nothing to do with science.