Liberals are More Smarter

According to a recently published study, liberals are now definitely conclusively and obviously smarter than conservatives. I read it in the newspaper. It must be true.

Unfortunately, the actual study in question was so narrow in scope as to be practically meaningless. According to the LA Times, liberals were more likely to do the Right Thing (that is, a politically correct, and therefore, liberal thing) when confronted by a "W" on a computer screen. Strange, considering that it is the conservatives who are so infatuated with the letter that they put a "W" sticker on their cars.

I'm all for believing that liberals have smarter brains than conservatives. Now the question is, are we smart enough to win back the Oval Office?

Brains!

Parenting Advice from Burke, Hobbes, Sowell, and Woodlief

My buddy Tony Woodlief has been productive since our college days, having produced a PhD and 4 boys with his wife Celeste. He also writes about life as a parent in the modern age while quoting great thinkers and philosophers. Though his tone is quite critical of many modern parenting theories, he's also quite well read and funny to boot. I bought his short pamphlet, "Raising Wild Boys into Men" and enjoyed that. Today, he made the opinion page of the Wall Street Journal, where he waxes thusly on parental permissiveness:

Many parents in the unconstrained camp adhere to Rousseau's sentiment: "Man is born free, but everywhere is in chains." They not only fail to punish bad behavior but snarl at anyone who rebukes their precious darlings. In our house we have reversed Rousseau's theory: You are born in bondage and should be darn grateful for the free room and board. Besides, if you want to talk about restrictions on liberty you can take it up with your mother, who hasn't had an uninterrupted trip to the bathroom since 2001.

Worth a read!

What He Did Last Summer

My brother Brett was involved in a cool art project at Burning Man this year. He spent much of the summer helping to disassemble, then weld, machine, grind, and generally construct a large installation of two tanker trucks.

I visited the American Steel building in Oakland where the construction was taking place. It was noisy and dusty, but sculpture artist Mike Ross and crew were close to completion and planning the trip to the desert:

You could also climb through the structures.

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2007/08/big-rig-jig.html
http://flickr.com/photos/claudiagold/1333464429/