This is a great suggestion by Lance Frizzell, a 2nd Lt Medical Platoon Leader
now serving in Iraq.

He proposes that those people who wanted to serve as human shields for Saddam’s assets come to Iraq now and serve as human shields to protect Iraqis who want to vote in the upcoming elections.

I suspect that there won’t be much interest in doing that. And that tells you something about what they really value and what they really oppose.

I really like Penn & Teller.

I’ve seen them perform many times (mostly with my son). I suggest that if you ever get a chance to do so, you should take advantage of it.

Their magic shows are cool. The tricks are great, and their irreverence is fun. They’re willing to defy conventions by explaining and demonstrating how many tricks are done, while preserving the awe of amazing illusions. One interesting gimmick they do is an “honor system” trick in which you can choose whether or not to watch and see how the trick is done. They also play with many other ideas in their shows like animal rights, miracles, symbolism, mysticism, etc.

I also really like their Showtime show: Bullshit!, in which they debunk lots of popular hoaxes.

They are both very talented and amazing entertainers; but Penn is my favorite. I love to listen to his patter. He’s smart and fun to behold. I was also impressed by this interview he did for Reason magazine.

So, I started to read Sock with high expectations…and they were met and exceeded.

It’s not a conventional murder mystery. It’s really an artfully presented set of philosophical observations with a murder mystery going on in the background. It’s quite unconventional. I should say that the gimmick of including lots of pop-culture references (mostly lyrics) in most paragraphs was weird at first, but I began to appreciate it. I don’t want to say too much about the content (it ranges all over the board), but I should note that Penn eloquently expresses his passion for reality, and imagination, and keeping those categories straight.

I had a great time in Vegas. I even managed to gamble quite a bit and wind up slightly ahead!

I also read Penn Jillette’s book: Sock. It was great. I might write more about it later; but for now, I’ll just recommend it.

I’ve got a lot to catch up on. I hope to post again soon.

Posting might be lighter than usual for a while because I’m on vacation in Vegas for a week. I do have occasional access to the Internet (obviously), so it’s still possible (but I doubt I’ll be reading much current stuff that might inspire posts).

I hope you all are having as much fun as I am (but I doubt it).

Rich Tucker has a retirement plan:

I wrote myself an I.O.U.

“Dear Rich: I promise to pay you the sum of $50,000 on Jan. 1, 2018.

(signed) Rich Tucker.”

That piece of paper is now stored in a safe, along with other vital documents (passports, house deed, car title). I’ll do the same thing once a year each year until 2018. This plan should carry me comfortably through 2032.

There. Retirement planned for.

…

See any problems with my scheme? It really seems flawless. After all, I wouldn’t lie to myself. If I’ve vowed to pay myself $50,000, well, I’m going to do it. No matter how hard or long I have to work in 2018 to earn that retirement money.

This is exactly how the U.S. government is preparing for everyone’s retirement. Social Security is the national retirement plan. But, starting in 2018, there’s nothing there but I.O.U.s.

Nice illustration.

I seem to recall a lot of people objecting to the US invasion of Iraq by saying that while they agree that Saddam was brutal and terrible, etc., it isn’t appropriate to use and risk US military forces for humanitarian missions. That if WMDs didn’t really pose an imminent threat to the United States, we had no right using our forces there.

I don’t hear many of these people complaining of the military assets used now to help tsunami victims (weakening us elsewhere in the world, and exposing fighters to risks of disease and accidents during hectic operations).

I can only conclude that they didn’t really believe that rescuing Iraqis was a genuinely worthwhile humanitarian goal; that helping people hit by a natural disaster is fine, but from a murderous regime is wrong.

It seems to me that many of them honor state power, even the worst sort, because it’s something they respect and would like to be held sacred so that they can more easily use it to impose their visions on others.

Of course, the disclaimer from David Carr at Samizdata applies.