Andrew Sullivan's Blog, page 2663

First Impressions

Scott Adams wonders why we are often accurate:

One theory is that we're good at predicting the quality of things
scant clues. But can you really tell if a movie will have a good
which presumably matters, from the first two minutes?

A secondtheory is that we make up our minds about things based on the first fewirrational cues, and everything that follows is rationalization. So ifthere's something in the first two minutes of a movie that I like, forwhatever subconscious reasons, I...

Paul Ryan, Fraud?

I have to say that Paul Krugman made a very strong case that the young GOPer is still drinking supply-side Kool-Aid. But it's somewhat unfair to say he opposes any revenue increases. Here's the Roadmap itself:

Claim: The Roadmap does not bring in the amount of revenue specified to the CBO according to the Tax Policy Center, and therefore it does not reduce the deficit as is claimed. (pg. 2)

Reality: The Tax Policy Center does not give official revenue estimates, and in their analysis admit to...

On Charity

Philosopher Slavoj Zizek explains the merger of charity and capitalism. Entertaining:

Zizek: A Critical Introduction - Web Design and Development - Hosting - Free - Slavoj Zizek

If At First ...

Melinda Henneberger:

At the age of 6, James King announced his intention to
a novelist. And in his 50s, that was still
plan. Yes, he paid the bills (and two college tuitions) with his
job writing corporate training materials. But every morning at 5
turn on the computer in his basement in Stamford, Conn., and after a
minutes of staring at the screen, spend the next couple of hours
fiction no one ever wanted to buy.

Fifty-four book agents had taken a pass on his...

Last Words, Ctd

The New Yorker's Book Bench highlights Last Words of the Executed and interviews the man behind the project, Robert K. Elder:

Modern last words tend to be more political, as illuminated by thepassionate...

Face Of The Day

A paratrooper in the First Brigade of the US Army's 82nd Airborne
Division stands in summer heat after a parachute training jump August 6,
2010 at Camp Mackall, a training ground of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
The First Brigade, which just returned from a year-long tour in Iraq,
were required to take the parachute jump as part the 82nd Airborne
regulations in keeping all paratroopers' jump training current. By Chris Hondros/Getty Images.

Fort Bragg - 82nd Airborne...

Creationism Lives

Science magazine obtained the numbers left out of the National Science Foundation's Science and Engineering Indicators report this year.

When presented with the statement "human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals,"just 45 percent of respondents indicated "true." Compare this figurewith the affirmative percentages in Japan (78), Europe (70), China (69)and South Korea (64). Only 33 percent of Americans agreed that "theuniverse began with a big explosion."

...

2053 Mushroom Clouds

Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto created an animation showing every nuclear bomb explosion from 1945 to 1998. It starts slow, but by the three minute mark the light show is incredible.

Nuclear weapon - Nuclear - Warfare and Conflict - Weapons - Japanese people

Mental Health Break

Watching time pass us by:

Clock from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Vimeo - Business - Multimedia - Development Frameworks - Flash

The Violence In All Of Us

Courtney Martin makes various questionable assumptions in this article, but her basic point is valid:

According to new
unveiled this month, women were far more involved in the
committed during the Holocaust than previously thought. Wendy Lower
American historian living in Munich, uncovered that thousands of
women ("a conservative estimate") willingly went out to
Nazi-occupied eastern territories to take part in the "war
otherwise known as genocide...