Ape Man

I want to make it clear that I am not one of those who think that an armed populace is a guarantee of freedom. Moreover, I believe that an unarmed people can free. But I do not believe that America can be made free of guns with out giving up any pretense of being a […]

Wolfgang Lutz, Vegard Skirbekk, and Maria Rita Testa have a paper out called The Low Fertility Trap Hypothesis: Forces that may lead to further postponement and fewer births in Europe. If you like to maintain the illusion that you are well informed about the serious issues facing the world, you ought to read their paper. […]

I found this very interesting video off of a link on the Survival Blog. The guy who made the video apparently managed to get into Pakistan’s tribal areas. It is titled The Gun Bazaar of Pakistan. What seems to have impressed the narrator the most was the small machine shops that turned out homemade guns. […]

The shooting had barely stopped and wounded were still being carried out, but the pro gun control and the anti gun control camps must have felt that there was no time to lose. I could hardly read about the massacre without seeing constant references to the gun control debate. Was this really necessary? Psychologically, I […]

Ordinary mortals are naturally inclined to be afraid of derivatives. Especially those ordinary mortals who know that the nominal value of all derivatives is around 300 trillion dollars. But more sophisticated people would like to tell you that there is nothing to worry about. They would tell you that derivatives actually make the market safer. […]

This post is a response to a comment on the Ethereal Voice. But since some of you do not follow The Ethereal Voice, I am going to have to give some background. As one of its wired quirks, The Ethereal Voice selects an essay that can be found on the web to highlight each week. […]

I think of atomic explosions as art. Few things capture the sprit of the modern age as well as setting off the bomb. In the resulting explosions I see all the power and knowledge and beauty of the modern age combined with all horror and nihilistic furry that have accompanied it. An exploding atomic bomb […]

The balance of power is slowly shifting even though most people don’t notice it. It use to be that the British ruled the seas and India was their crown jewel. Now, the British navy is being cut to the point of irrelevance. And India? They are building nuclear powered subs. This from military.com’s Norman Polmar… […]

China’s behavior has just been insane over the last couple of months. There is simply no other word for their actions. They are engaging in activities that are so bizarre that I can barely believe that the people running China’s economic policy have enough intelligence to cause their hearts to beat. From Brad Setser’s Blog…. […]

When the high price of gas starts to bother me, I try to keep things in perspective. After all, I am truly a privileged person. People are being forced to go with out electricity so that I can have gas. You see, oil is something everyone wants, but not everybody can have. So some people […]