About
My name is Aaron Jamison, and this is just a collection of things I find interesting and thought-provoking.I love Jesus. I enjoy good music, television & film. I live and work in Los Angeles.
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The Wisdom of Chesterton
"I may seem to have been talking a bit wildly, but let me tell you the time has come to be wild.Flickr
This is a moonbow.
On a clear night in Yosemite National Park, you can see a rainbow.
At night. Near both the upper and the lower falls. With the dark blue velvety, star-studded sky above, and lots of watery mist below …
Yet only for a few hours of a very few nights during the full moon in springtime and sometimes early summer, will a bow appear in the moonlight.
What really keeps a train on its tracks? (2:27)
Richard Feynman explains. What I love about this clip is that it gets me wondering why I’ve never wondered about this before. And what else I should be wondering about. If that’s whetted your appetite, here’s some more Feynman goodness. (via kottke.org)I’m embarassed that I never knew this
![davereed:
Crater Lake auto-reblog
[Photographer: Paulo Mernik]
via acropolis: kari-shma](http://5.media.tumblr.com/AZN7wsuV4po917b4JAmvrNkto1_500.jpg)
Crater Lake auto-reblog
[Photographer: Paulo Mernik]
sds:
- New Mother: “Is it a boy or a girl?” Obstretrician: “I think it’s a bit early to start imposing roles on it, don’t you?”—dialogue from “The Meaning of Life,” 1983
- “A couple of Swedish parents have stirred up debate in the country by refusing to reveal whether their two-and-a-half-year-old child is a boy or a girl. . . . In an interview with newspaper Svenska Dagbladet in March, the parents were quoted saying their decision was rooted in the feminist philosophy that gender is a social construction. ‘We want Pop to grow up more freely and avoid being forced into a specific gender mould from the outset,’ Pop’s mother said. ‘It’s cruel to bring a child into the world with a blue or pink stamp on their forehead.’ ”—Local (Sweden), June 23, 2009
h/t James Taranto
*sigh*
That poor kid is screwed up for life.
Parenting FAIL.
New Monkey Discovered In Brazil
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced on July 7 the discovery of a new monkey in a remote region of the Amazon in Brazil.
The monkey is related to saddleback tamarins, which include several species of monkeys known for their distinctively marked backs. The newly described distinct subspecies was first seen by scientists on a 2007 expedition into the state of Amazonas in northwestern Brazil.
“The Senate Finance Committee (SFC), in an effort to make health care into a bi-partisan effort, is considering a restriction on abortion funding with the passage of health care reform. This could mean not allowing a public health insurance plan to cover the cost of abortions for women.”—
I personally believe that abortion is an impossible issue; I don’t understand how either side can feel they see things clearly. But given that a very large percentage of Americans believe that abortion is highly immoral, is it ludicrous for them to object to the Government subsidizing abortion? And if no health care proposal will pass that subsidizes abortion, will progressives really give up their hopes for reform, rather than compromise to pass something palatable to abortion foes?
This is, of course, what happens whenever the Government takes over something—it becomes subjegated to politics. I don’t even mean this in a corrupt way—I mean it in the purest way possible. If you think that abortion is immoral, then of course you are rightly upset when your tax money pays for abortion. If you think abortion is a matter of choice, then naturally you are angry when your choice is limited by a government policy. The beauty of a free market is that companies can compete for your allegiance; if you don’t like the policies of one company, you can find another—and if you can’t find one that you like, you can start one. No, the market isn’t perfect. But with Government, you’re stuck—there’s only one federal government, and you have to live with its policies. Even worse, you have to pay for them, no matter how offensive they seem to you.
I do not believe that the Government can provide a better healthcare system. But even if the Government could, it probably wouldn’t be worth the politicization of health. It’s clear from the quote above that abortion will be a contentious issue in the coming healthcare negotiations. But everything has the potential to be a contentious issue when it’s wrapped up in Government. What you eat, what you drink, who you sleep with, how you breed—these things have huge health consequences. Are you ready for these things to be subject to political debate? I’m not.
I finally saw The Brothers Bloom made by the same guy who did Brick. I’ll own this movie when I can and may even catch it again at the cheap theatre (Regency Fairfax) before it’s gone.
Seriously, such a great film. Definitely one of the best I’ve seen this year.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — California’s campaigns introduce candidates not only to the state’s voters but also to its immensity. In Bakersfield, Meg Whitman, 52, the former CEO of eBay who is campaigning for the 2010 Republican gubernatorial nomination, learned about carrots.
In 1968, the Grimm brothers were selling vegetables at a roadside stand in Anaheim. They moved to Bakersfield, and today Grimmway Farms and one rival provide 80 percent of the nation’s carrots, partly because the brothers figured out how to make the vegetables pleasingly uniform in shape.
Who knew? Whitman didn’t, and the story, which she tells enthusiastically and at length, delights her because it confirms her conviction that California “was built by intellectual capital” and not just the Hollywood and Silicon Valley sort.
California’s cascading crises prefigure America’s future unless Washington reverses the growth of government subservient to organized labor. The state cannot pay its bills and poorly educates its young, and its taxation punishes whatever success that its suffocating regulatory regime does not prevent.
Whitman, a Roman candle of facts and ideas, insists, “We do not have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem of epic proportions.” Twenty-five percent of California’s revenue comes from income taxes paid by the 144,000 richest taxpayers, so “if one of them leaves, it’s a really bad thing.” Lots have left. Some never really arrive. Pierre Omidyar, after founding eBay in San Jose, resided in Nevada, which has no income tax.
Has my vote already.
Drinking Iced Tea May Increase Risk of Developing Kidney Stones - Digital Journal: Your News Network
[h/t jeff, who needs to change his beverage selection immediately.]
(via hilker)
It truly is excruitiating. I’ve had two and it is not fun. This article is helpful though:
Water is your best bet when you want to quench your summer thirst. You can always add lemon slices for some extra flavour.
“Lemons are very high in citrates, which inhibit the growth of kidney stones,” Milner said. “Lemonade, not the powdered variety that uses artificial flavoring, actually slows the development of kidney stones for those who are prone to the development of kidney stones.”
People concerned about developing kidney stones should cut back on eating foods that also contain high concentrations of oxalates such as spinach, chocolate, rhubarb and nuts.
Also, go easy on salt, eat meat sparingly, drink several glasses a water a day and don’t avoid foods high in calcium, which reduces the amount of oxalate the body absorbs.
