confusion

I don’t know if the whole thing is a joke or not (I would not put it past the people at Berkeley,) but this article [ berkeley.edu ] on the ‘psychology of conservatism’ is quite interesting. I don’t know if I can buy the whole ‘meta-analytic calculations’ which led to the conclusions… So what makes a conservative? Well, according to them:
  – Fear and aggression
  – Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
  – Uncertainty avoidance
  – Need for cognitive closure
  – Terror management
Sounds about right… :-)

Yes, the flat (you’ll see why I said flat at the end.) hunt has officially begun. I was going to go home this weekend but instead I have appointments to see several flats in he Dupont area. There are many issues to overcome: Space vs. Price, Location vs. Price, getting out of old lease more than a month early, Income vs. Price (Basically I need to win the lottery so I can buy that damn loft in Adams Morgan!) Anyway I’ve got a couple of good leads and some time to look around I’ll find something… But remember, be wery wery quiet, I’m hunting fwats.

1) go to google [ www.google.com ]
2) Type in ‘weapons of mass destruction’
3) press the ‘I’m feeling lucky’ button
4) laugh your ass off…

Congressional Subcommitte Vets Anti-Spam Bill
Tuesday, July 8, 2003; 12:16 PM

At a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, a representative from the Consumers Union told legislators that Congress can regulate spam on the internet much in the same way it did with the Do Not Call legislation.

( story link [ washingtonpost.com ])

So we have a national do not call list [ donotcall.gov ] (open for registration now, goes into effect Sept 1, 2003) Maybe next will be the national-do-not-spam-me list and, one can only hope, a national-do-not-junk-mail-me list. I just want a national-do-not-advertise list. It’s become so pervasive and in your face that I just wish I could avoid buying things from ANY place that had ANY advertising…

On a completely different note: why did the Swiss give Federer a cow [ hindustantimes.com ] for winning Wimbledon?

The Supreme Court today declared a Texas law banning homosexuals from, well, having sex—even in their own bedrooms—unconstitutional. The ruling will also invalidate laws in a bunch of other states (Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia.) Good to see the law starting to catch up with the rest of the world. What is it that scares so many people about what two consenting adults do to each other in the privacy of their own home? It’s should not be the laws concern…. or the Christians. (full story [reuters.com] )