Dancing from Genesis

Having taken a look at this unreadable blog, I wonder if there's any connection between being a young-Earth creationist and writing some of the world's longest and least coherent headlines.

Solstice moon

Makes for a dramatic Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Unadulterated nonsense

Ross Douthat, whose new book I recently gave a largely favorable review, is now defending the ludicrous idea stated by a Fox "sexpert" that "using porn, at least beyond a magazine like Playboy, is the equivalent of having an actual affair." Here's Douthat:

Is there any similarity between "having an actual affair" and having sex with a prostitute while you're married? I think most people would answer yes. Then consider: Is there any similarity between having sex with a prostitute while you're married and paying to watch a prostitute perform sexual acts for your voyeuristic gratification? Again, I think a lot of people would say yes: There's a distinction, obviously, but I don't think all that many spouses would be inclined to forgive their husbands (or wives) if they explained that they only liked to watch the prostitute they'd hired. And hard-core porn, in turn, is nothing more than an indirect way of paying someone to fulfill the same sort of voyeuristic fantasies: It's prostitution in all but name, filtered through middlemen, magazine editors, and high-speed internet connections. Is it as grave a betrayal as cheating on your spouse with a co-worker? Not at all. But is it on a moral continuum with adultery? I don't think it's insane to say yes.

Three comments:
(1) Each of the scenarios Douthat mentions is different from the others. These differences are cumulative. It's like saying that punching someone is similar to cutting them with a piece of glass, which is similar to stabbing them with a knife, which is similar to blowing their brains out. By the end, you've made a pretty big leap.
(2) Douthat apparently knows this, because he hedges his bets at the end by saying these things are on the same "moral continuum." But the original contention, which Julian Sanchez rightly labeled "obviously insane," was that porn and an affair are equivalent.
(3) Does Douthat's condemnation apply to cases where the spouse knows about the porn? What about if they look at it together -- is that equivalent to having group sex? Just asking!

UPDATE: I have another question: Is going to see a movie about a murder on the same "moral continuum" as murdering somebody?

The surrounded property owner, redux

In a recent post criticizing anarchocapitalism, I raised the possibility of an individual whose neighbor(s) won't allow transit across their property, and thus effectively keep that person prisoner. Here's Murray Rothbard on the question (criticizing Robert Nozick's belief that such cases require a proviso limiting property rights):

One example of Nozick's sanctioning aggression against property rights is his concern with the private landowner who is surrounded by enemy landholders who won't let him leave. To the libertarian reply that any rational landowner would have first purchased access rights from surrounding owners, Nozick brings up the problem of being surrounded by such a set of numerous enemies that he still would not be able to go anywhere. But the point is that this is not simply a problem of landownership. Not only in the free society, but even now, suppose that one man is so hated by the whole world that no one will trade with him or allow him on their property. Well, then, the only reply is that this is his own proper assumption of risk. Any attempt to break that voluntary boycott by physical coercion is illegitimate aggression against the boycotters' rights. This fellow had better find some friends, or at least purchase allies, as quickly as possible.

Rothbard's response strikes me as utterly lame. In the anarchocapitalist scenario, it wouldn't require the whole world to be against you -- just one or a handful of neighboring property owners. Thus, it would be vastly more likely that someone's freedom to, say, walk across town would be trampled under anarchocapitalism than under a system that has public streets. I'm not sure what an anarchocapitalist system would maximize, but it isn't freedom.

But not the Temple of Aurora

Mysterious white material found on Mars.

Bowery Wine event

Here's some hilarious performance art on the theme of "Gentrification is genocide." Actually, it's intended as a serious protest, but that's what makes it funny. (Via Alarming News.)

No donkeys here

The controversy over Judge Alex Kozinski's stash of NSFW photos strikes me as badly overblown. I just hope no one goes after me after finding out that this blog attracts people searching for catwoman fetish.

Grand New Party

My review of Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam is up at the New York Post.

Battlestar questions

Critic Alan Sepinwall has an absorbing in-depth discussion of last night's Battlestar episode, including a list of yet-unanswered questions such as about the identity of the final cylon. I'd add this question: Are you sure that was the Brooklyn Bridge?

UPDATE: More here, including a Brooklyn Bridge photo comparison.

No, not weird at all

Here's some news from Canada: Gnostics provide insight on alleged Manipulative Extraterrestrial "Trojan horses" operating against human free will.

But the really notable part is that Richard Hoagland, described as having "documented connections between ancient structures on the landscape of the planet mars and the ruins of ancient civilizations on Earth" recently addressed the Libertarian Party convention in Denver.

Visiting the sun

NASA has a plan:

At closest approach, Solar Probe+ will be 7 million km or 9 solar radii from the sun. There, the spacecraft's carbon-composite heat shield must withstand temperatures greater than 1400o C and survive blasts of radiation at levels not experienced by any previous spacecraft. Naturally, the probe is solar powered; it will get its electricity from liquid-cooled solar panels that can retract behind the heat-shield when sunlight becomes too intense. From these near distances, the Sun will appear 23 times wider than it does in the skies of Earth.

(Via SciAm long-timer Michael Battaglia.)

Empire, shmempire

Andrew Sullivan persists in using the loaded word empire to describe a possible enduring U.S. military presence in Iraq. But overseas military bases, agreed to by an emerging foreign democracy, do not in themselves equal empire, at least as the term is normally understood to suggest coercion and exploitation.

It may be, as Thomas Madden argues in his interesting new book Empires of Trust: How Rome Built--and America Is Building--a New World, that the U.S. has consensual alliances reminiscent of the Roman Republic's alliances -- an "empire of trust" as opposed to an "empire of conquest" or an "empire of commerce." But there is no such nuance in Sullivan's overheated accusations.

Finally reading Final Theory

Current reading: Final Theory: A Novel by my friend and part-time colleague Mark Alpert. I attended the book party last night at a gallery on the Upper East Side, with an overflow crowd. I smell bestseller.

Barr bar debate -- the video

Here's video of me and Avery Knapp doing our closing remarks at the June 4 debate, on whether conservatives and libertarians should vote for Barr or McCain, with Bob Barr in attendance. The video includes the vote.

More videos, with Barr's remarks after the debate, are here.

Rusalka

We spent the weekend in the Cleveland area, and saw the Dvorak opera Rusalka at Severance Hall. A bit of a bummer, that story, in which a water nymph falls in love but gets converted into a demon of death. But that's the way it goes sometimes.

Bob Barr, prescription drugs, and me

So, it was an interesting Debate at Lolita Bar. As was rumored in advance, Bob Barr himself showed up as I argued against his presidential campaign. Thus, he got a chance to heckle me, the crowd was raucous and packed with libertarian purist wannabees, and I lost the vote against my estimable debating opponent, Avery Knapp, by a 2-1 margin. A good time was had by all.

I stated in my presentation that Bob Barr had voted for the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, and Barr called out "I wasn't even in Congress then. Do your research." I then asked if he'd ever supported the legislation and he was oddly silent. I'd first heard about Barr's stand on the issue from a post by Ramesh Ponnuru at NRO and I hadn't seen this follow-up:

Rep. Bob Barr and Entitlements [Ramesh Ponnuru]
Earlier, I noted that Rep. Barr had voted to create a prescription-drug entitlement in Medicare. Clark Stooksbury points out that Barr had left Congress before the bill passed in 2003. That's correct. But Barr was still in Congress in 2002, and he voted for the idea then. (I phrased the post a bit clumsily, so it sounded as though I were claiming that Barr had voted for the bill in 2003.)

So again, I will point out to my libertarian purist friends that their nemesis, John McCain, voted against the Medicare expansion, and their new hero, Bob Barr, backed the idea.

Video of the event may be available soon. I'll keep you updated.

UPDATE: I'm told the video is of poor quality, and getting it online will take some time. But whenever it is ready, readers of this blog will be among the first to know.

UPDATE 6/9: Video here.

Presidential contenders 2040

I thought readers might enjoy seeing the image that Research magazine created for my article on "What Will Taxes Be Like (in 2038)?" That's "the likely Democratic nominee, Chelsea Clinton," and "the octogenarian Republican incumbent, Bruce Willis."

Bob Barr bar basement bout

Reminder: The Debate at Lolita Bar, in which I say "No" to "Should conservatives and libertarians vote for Barr instead of McCain?" is this Wednesday, June 4, at 8pm. Could be interesting....

UPDATE 6/9: Video here.

Hamilton Grange

Alexander Hamilton's house is being moved.

More here.

UPDATE: Scientific American has chosen to delete its "community" section, so the link above will not work.

More NJ wildflowers and wildlife

In addition to the previous post, here are some more pictures from Norvin Green State Forest, Ringwood, NJ.

Mountain laurel in bloom:

Deerberries:

Toad:

I've posted more at Scientific American Community. (Photo credits: C.B.C.S.)

UPDATE: Scientific American has chosen to delete its "community" section, so the link above will not work.