Archive for November 2008
On Nitrogen
Thermodynamically, nitrogens bonded to each other are always regarded as guilty until proven innocent – there’s always the fear that they’re going to find a way to throw off their civilized clothes and revert to wild nitrogen gas. That’s a hugely stable compound. If your structure goes that route, all that extra bonding energy it used to have ends up diverted into flying shrapnel and loud noises.
Things I Won’t Work With: Polyazides
Derek Lowe, 26 AUG 2004
The Gandhi Quote
Somehow, this evaporated from my blog, so I’m reposting it to make searching for it easier.
The Gandhi Quote
For a year or so now I’ve had this quote as my .sig:
"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest." — Mahatma Gandhi
I have been asked many times for the source, and just as many times I have been challenged on the accuracy of the quote. Surely this is taken out of context, people ask. To end the debate once and for all, here is the complete quote:
GANDHI: An autobiography. The story of my experiments with Truth
Page 446, on which Gandhi is relating his struggles raising volunteers to fight for the Crown in World War I:
I used to issue leaflets asking people to enlist as recruits. One of the arguments I had used was distasteful to the Commissioner: ‘Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act of depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. If we want the Arms Act to be repealed, if we want to learn the use of arms, here is a golden opportunity. If the middle classes render voluntary help to Government in the hour of its trial, distrust will disappear, and the ban on possessing arms will be withdrawn.’ The Commissioner refereed to this and said that he appreciated my presence in the conference in spite of the differences between us. And I had to justify my standpoint as courteously as I could.
In this wonderful book (go and buy it now, it covers everything from gun control to home schooling to constipation (a lot on this last topic, actually) Gandhi repudiates his views when they have changed, and calls out very clearly even minor errors he has made. Never in this book does he step back from condemning gun control; in fact, on page 477 he touches on the classic "when is it time to shut up and shoot the bastards" argument:
As I proceeded further and further with my inquiry into the atrocities that had been committed on the people, I came across tales of Government’s tyranny and the arbitrary despotism of it’s officers such as I was hardly prepared for, and they filled me with deep pain. What surprised me then, and what still continues to fill me with surprise, was the fact that a province that had furnished the largest number of soldiers to the British Government during the war, should have taken all these brutal excesses lying down.
T-day
The girls and I headed over the water to 13 Coins for dinner; I didn’t realize it at the time, but they run a turkey special every year. I greatly enjoyed Thanksgiving at 13 Coins; the girls, did, too. Sitting at the bar is always fun; sitting at the bar with cooks that seem to spawn from Hades is like a side of fun with your fun. The cooks had a constant stream of flaming whatevers to cook; we were a good 10’ down the bar from the grill, and we were well warmed by the flambé.
Last night, I took them to the Austin Cantina. I keep trying to like this place; however, I’m certain last night was my last go. I wish them well.
Cross HS Precision off my list
Looks like HS Precision hired “Teflon” Lon Horiuchi as a spokesman. Click for the full-sized ad:
It’s possible he’s merely being quoted instead of having been hired; either way, party foul.
Update: Yossarian said: I called them and asked about the endorsement. The lady who answered said Horiuchi knows the owner and confirmed the endorsement.
Dear Lazyweb
I posted my movie question over on arfcom and had the answer in two minutes. The answer is “Head Office” with Judge Reinhold and Danny Devito. I ordered it from Amazon; hopefully it doesn’t suck.
Simple argument against automaker bailout
Over at Volokh Conspiracy. Why didn’t anyone in Congress advance this argument?
Every student pilot’s dream
The (Air Canada) pilot (of a Boeing 767) then asked flight attendants to find out if any passenger was a qualified pilot. When none was found, one stewardess admitted she held a current commercial pilot’s license but said her license for reading cockpit instruments had expired.
Kim Griffis nominated for Emmy in 2006
I came across a document (word doc, 43k) listing the Northwest Emmy nominees for 2006; I was shocked to see:
Sports Segment
KING-TV, “Boomershoot”, Kim Griffis, Reporter, Mark Morache, Photographer/Editor
Joe may have already mentioned it, but it’s been a couple years and my memory goes back 10 minutes, max.
Interesting fourth amendment case
Engleman v. Murray. Do police have the right to arrest you outside of the jurisdiction they serve, if they believe you’re within that jurisdiction? If this belief is faulty, can you appeal the arrest and win? In this case, the mailing address of a house was in one state, but the house itself (on the same property) was in another.
