Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2615

Mental Health Break

by Chris Bodenner

Gorgeous nerdery:

emPolygonizer2 Official Release Video "go ahead, mesh my day!" from Eric Mootz on Vimeo.

This video was made for the release of emPolygonizer2 version 2.0
for Softimage 2011 SP1 (Win32, Win64, Linux64).
It contains about three and a half minutes of animations in which this plugin was used to create the polygon meshes based on ICE point clouds, nulls, Lagoa Topology Data, curves and input polygon meshes.

Vimeo - Polygon mesh - Autodesk...

Still a Confident Society

by Conor Friedersdorf

Over at Cato's blog, Jim Harper has eloquent remarks about the controversy over a mosque near Ground Zero:

There is a strategic dimension to the story. This episode is signaling to audiences around the world the current relationship between the United States and Islam. These audiences might support or oppose the United States and act accordingly to undermine or support terrorist groups. For these people, knowledge of a Muslim community, active in New York and proximate...

The Used Car Trade

by Patrick Appel

Radley Balko writes:

[The price:] of used cars jumps 30 percent.
So we have a government program whose stated aim was to shore up huge,
failed corporations by giving public money to mostly upper-income
people that in the end will penalize low and middle-income people. But
remember folks, it's the libertarians—who opposed [Cash for Clunkers:]—who are greedy
corporatists who hate the poor.

If you read the article, you'll see that certain makes and models of have jumped 30...

The Unstoppable Sarah Palin, Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

John Dickerson draws conclusions from her winning streak:

Palin now has more support for a favorite story line of hers: Thepundits and so-called experts said things were going to go one way butshe had faith; she knew the real deal. This is part of her largerpitch: that she understands something fundamental about conservativevoters. That, in turn, is what voters believe about her, which makesthem think she has a special light to guide the country out of themuck. How much real...

Can Church Be Hip? Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

A reader writes:

Starflyer 59 is one of the most consistent rock bands around, God-fearing or otherwise.  And with 17 years worth of stellar records populating Christian bookstore bargain bins everywhere, they practically define the term "underrated."

Another writes:

I love Jason Martin's band Starflyer 59.  I had several albums before a friend informed they were a Christian band.  I was lucky enough to have Jason Martin mix my (secular) band's first EP and he gave us his...

Renters as Second Class Citizens

by Conor Friedersdorf

Ryan writes about something I'd never heard about: rental safety inspections.

In the last two towns where I have lived (Burlington, VT and State College, PA) both had local laws requiring that rental units had to be inspected at regular intervals. In other words, once a year (or so) renters are legally required to allow a government employee to conduct a search for illegal [supposedly just safety-related:] activity.  If they catch a violation either the resident or...

Why Statism Is the Wrong Frame, Ctd

by Patrick Appel

Kevin Drum dissents:

It's useful to know where you can find political allies. If you canfind liberals who favor charter schools, less regulation of smallbusinesses, and an end to Fannie Mae, that's well and good. But that's10% or less of my worldview. I also favor high marginal tax rates onthe rich, national healthcare, full funding for Social Security, morespending on early childhood education, stiff regulations on thefinancial industry, robust environmental rules, a strong...

"It's Just A Cat"

by Chris Bodenner

Meet the most hated woman in Britain right now. They caught her with a combination of CCTV cameras and YouTube, a kind of global Big Brother.

YouTube - Big Brother - Television - Arts - Closed-circuit television

The Cheapest Rent in Downtown LA

by Conor Friedersdorf

Tim Cavanaugh writes:

Eli Broad's

If that figure is accurate (more below), this means one of the100 richest people on the planet is leasing a full block on GrandAvenue for $6,481.48 a month. The owner of the land (in this...

"I'm Sorry"

by Chris Bodenner

Evangelical Andrew Marin moved to Chicago's Boystown neighborhood and employed a unique approach to proselytizing to gays:

"I grew up the biggest Bible-banging homophobic kidyou ever met," he explained. "I grew up in a very white, veryconservative upper middle class suburb of Chicago." Marin explained when his turning point came. "The summer after my freshman year in college, mythree best friends all came out to me in three consecutive months" hesaid. "And it just ripped my...