TORTURE STATISTICS LONG ENOUGH, AND THEY WILL CONFESS TO ANYTHING
By Gregg Easterbrook
The New Republic, 13 April 2004

You may not like W.-onomics--I don't like his tax policy for the top bracket--but you've got to have a pretty badly jiggered index to hide the favorable current status of the unemployment/inflation comparison, always one of the best measures of the economy. If inflation were as out of whack as it was under Carter, or unemployment as out of whack as it was in the first Reagan term, current misery would be far more pronounced. Give me the "misery" of the George W. Bush numbers any day.

AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY
Gregg Easterbrook
The New Republic, 9 April 2004

A hush fell over the city as George W. Bush today became the first president of the United States ever to be removed from office by impeachment. Meeting late into the night, the Senate unanimously voted to convict Bush following a trial on his bill of impeachment from the House.

[See, I can do the Montag schtick, also... ;o)]

1-1 in Game 3 against the Habs in the 7th minute.

LG: it looks like we'll be the ones to blow the Habs out of the water. Though you're disappointed that it's not the Leafs breaking Montreal's heart, I'm sure you're not shedding a tear... ;o)

Let's go Bruins!

Under the hood, STS engine options include a revamped 4.6-liter V8... featuring four valves per cylinder, double overheard cams and variable valve timing. In the Northstar V8, the extra equipment is good for a 20-hp boost to 320 hp at 6400 rpm and a 20-lb-ft increase in torque to 315 lb-ft at 4400 rpm....

[The engine is] mated to five-speed automatic transmissions equipped with Driver Shift Control (DSC), which switches the gearbox from fully automatic mode to a driver-controlled auto-manual mode, and Performance Algorithm Liftfoot (PAL) that first appeared on the 2004 CTS. PAL is the neat trick, because it reads lateral forces and holds gears while cornering, preventing the transmission from automatically upshifting when the driver lifts off the accelerator in a curve. An engine drag control feature first offered on CTS and SRX allows the stability control to prevent lift oversteer. A limited-slip differential is also available....

Cadillac engineers say the quickest of the lot -- at least until the already designed and engineered STS V-Series arrives -- is the 3921-pound rear-wheel-drive V8-powered STS, with a 0 to 60-mph time of 5.8 seconds. The 4230-pound awd V8 and the 3857-pound rear-drive V6 models should post 6.6-second times.

As many of you may know, this GM fanboy likes Cadillac's Art & Science design theme. The STS is simply beautiful, with some of the CTS's more aggressive styling features removed in favor of elegance. This car looks to have a fine ass, with a blend of the DeVille and CTS rear ends. The interior looks, from the one photo I've seen, to be the best Cadillac (or any American make) has had in quite some time.

Prices are expected to be US$43k to US$66k. I expect that this will be available through Cadillac's expanding European dealer network as well.

The forthcoming STS-V will, I have heard, feature a 500 horsepower Northstar-and-a-half V-12.

Meanwhile, responding to the success of the CTS, Lincoln is planning its rip-off of Art & Science (though it seems that more and more designers are cloning that design theme) with the Zephyr, a front-wheel drive sedan based on the Mazda 6.

Memo to Lincoln: buyers of sub-$40k luxury cars want performance. This argues against the inclusion of FWD. At least you're joining the 1990s.

here

The JE circle's favorite New England chauvinist will be relocating for several months to Boone, Iowa for a consulting gig.

You have been duly warned.

Listing #1

There's also a series of interior photos that I can't be assed to deep-link to... the MLS# is 415810 and the offering price is CA$2,450,000. 87 acres of land is included, along with frontage on a secluded lake.

It is somewhat interesting

I have concluded that there are no atheists in the world, or at least that I have yet to meet an actual atheist.

Indeed, in my experience, all atheists are theists who do not happen to accept a particular brand of theism.

A man who has a higher conception of Deity than those about him, and who denies that their conception is Deity, is very likely to be called an atheist by those who in reality are far less believers in Deity than he.

Indeed, the early Christians, who said that the Greek and Roman gods were not gods, were accounted as atheists. If Deity is held to be the God of the New Testament, then it is the inexorable conclusion that every Jew is an atheist.

Of late, it has become fashionable for atheists to place science as supreme. But is it not that belief in science as supreme a belief in science as Deity? Could it not be that belief that Deity is science is itself a higher form of theism than Christianity?

Metallica will now be offering, through LiveMetallica.com, downloads of soundboard recordings of every concert within a couple of days of each show. The cost will be $9.95 for 128kbps MP3 or $12.95 for FLAC.

Note that these are completely free of DRM restrictions. The FAQ makes this clear, saying:

As you can all see, we have chosen not to encrypt or shackle these files in any way. There is a certain level of trust associated with LiveMetallica.com's operation.

You will have 48 hours from the time you start downloading to completely download each show you purchase. We'd be fooling ourselves to think that these files won't be shared by some friends, and there's nothing we can do to STOP you from doing so.

All we can do is to ask you straight up: Do the right thing. Please be cool and don't share your files.

No one's making a lot of money on this little wing-ding. There are a number of costs specific to each download, including publishing fees, bandwidth costs, credit card fees, venue origination fees and venue union fees. In addition to these show specific costs, there are general expenses such as hardware and software purchases/licenses and ongoing programming/design fees. In total, there are substantial costs associated with launching and maintaining this service, and its future viability depends on honest participation.

It's kind of interesting to note that Metallica, a band reviled by many Slashdotters for opposition to Napster, ranks, out of all major artists who have agreed to online distribution of music, one of the very few who have yet to allow the use of DRM'd formats (including Apple's iTMS) for distribution.

...Take my hand, don't turn away.
You've been sitting there all night long;
I know that something must be wrong.

Mademoiselle, voulez-vous danser?
A new moon has come out to play.
Take my hand, step outside.
These doors and windows open wide.

The stars are out and shining;
Hear the south wind sighing.
It'll be okay.
Let the breeze caress you,
The violin undress your heart.
On va danser.

Mademoiselle, voulez-vous danser?
It soon will be the break of day.
We all have so little time;
Oh, won't you put your hand in mine.

The stars are out and shining;
Hear the south wind sighing.
It'll be okay.
Let the breeze caress you,
The violin undress your heart.
On va danser.

-- With apologies to Lennie Gallant

• May 26: Nashville, TN
• May 28: Charlotte, NC
• May 29: Virginia Beach, VA
• May 31: Pittsburgh, PA
• June 2: Columbus, OH
• June 4: Indianapolis, IN
• June 5: Chicago, IL
• June 7: Milwaukee, WI
• June 8: Detroit, MI
• June 10: Cleveland, OH
• June 12: St. Louis, MO
• June 13: Kansas City, MO
• June 23: Dallas, TX
• June 25: San Antonio, TX
• June 26: Houston, TX
• June 29: Denver, CO
• June 30: Salt Lake City, UT
• July 2: Seattle, WA
• July 3: Portland, OR
• July 6: Los Angeles, CA
• July 7: San Diego, CA
• July 9: San Francisco, CA
• July 10: Concord, CA
• July 12: Sacramento, CA
• July 14: Irvine, CA
• July 16: Phoenix, AZ
• July 17: Las Vegas, NV
• July 29: W. Palm Beach, FL
• July 30: Tampa, FL
• August 1: Atlanta, GA
• August 3: Washington, DC
• August 4: Philadelphia, PA
• August 6: Hartford, CT
• August 7: Scranton, CT
• August 9: Saratoga, NY
• August 11: Wantagh, NY
• August 12: Boston, MA
• August 14: Holmdel, NJ
• August 15: Buffalo, NY
• August 21: Montreal, PQ
• August 22: Toronto, ON
• September 8: London, UK
• September 11: Birmingham, UK
• September 12: Manchester, UK
• September 14: Glasgow, UK

More dates may be added.

I've promised myself to go to every show within 400 miles of me; so I'll at least try to get tickets for the following dates:

• Washington, DC
• Philadelphia, PA
• Hartford, CT
• Scranton, PA
• Saratoga, NY
• Wantagh, NY
• Boston, MA
• Holmdel, NJ
• Buffalo, NY
• Montreal, PQ

In case you have not heard, dates for the 30th Anniversary Tour of Europe and North America will be announced within the next 24 hours.

Enact a flat tax with a rate of approximately 12%.

The only deduction allowable is $10,000 per filer (ie a $20,000 if married, filing jointly) plus $7,500 per dependent. Thus the first $35,000 of combined income for the hypothetical family of four is tax-free. Beyond this, the government should not be encouraging certain housing selections, transportation selections, or any of the millions of other choices it currently encourages or discourages through the tax code. Let the market decide!

Abolish the current capital gains tax.

Abolish the current estate tax.

Income to be defined as: the current definition plus a portion of income from estates and capital gains.

Capital gains and estates are to be added to income by the following formula:

f(d, g)=(360/d)*g, d>120
f(d, g)=3*g, d<=120

f being the amount counted as income, d being the number of days the asset was held (for capital gains) or the number of days the deceased was alive (for inheritances) and g being the amount gained (for capital gains) or inherited (for inheritances). This would naturally be computed for each individual asset and each particular inheritance.

I don't know what the hell this could possibly mean, but here's the story, absolutely true.

Some time ago, I was in an excellent relationship. Transcendantly excellent (at least until the 3 or 4 months during which it fell apart).

I recently put up an online personal ad (I might link to it sometime; I might not). Lo and behold, today I get a response in my inbox.

Like any good geek, I google her email address, discovering a livejournal.

Her birthday is the same as my ex's.

[cue Twilight Zone theme... or maybe not...]

Regarding the ethics of googling in this case, I shudder to think of the stunned reaction I would display when she told me. Not trying to say that the end justifies the means, but, maybe in this case, the end does justify the means...