Author ArchivesJohn

I want to make this assertion: that five women of Ipswich, England would probably still be alive today if prostitution were legal. Our American friends won’t be familiar with this story since it received virtually no press here, but every British headline is reporting that an Ipswich man, Steve Wright, ...

Jonathan Rauch writes: “The eclectic McCain is a handyman, not an architect. His skills and positions are well suited to fixing the Bush-era mistakes and getting the country to listen to Republicans again. But he is not a man of ideas like Reagan, Barry Goldwater, or Newt Gingrich. He could ...

Christian attitudes to sex are so entertaining that it’s become one of my favourite subjects. Consider Book 22, a website for Christian married couples offering a variety of sex enhancement products like oils, aids and toys. I’ll say this: the site’s founder Joy Wilson is a brave woman. In her ...

Ah, how I’ve longed to write those words. After Dog the Bounty Hunter made this error of judgement, I thought he’d be down for longer. Back in November when the incident happened, I made this bold prediction: “This will be the last word from A&E on the subject for at ...

This is, singularly – patently – the best YouTube video ever. fast loan payday Now didn’t that brighten up your Tuesday?

Hey, it’s Monday. Toshiba is still considering its options on HD DVD. Ken Miller asks what they could possibly need to consider? It’s over, dammit. “There’s really nowhere to go except the exit, and there’s little reason to walk instead of run that we are aware of.” Uhuh.  (UPDATE 2/19/2008: ...

For those interested in the format war between the next-generation high-definition video disc formats, Blu-Ray and HD DVD, it’s now almost inevitable. Before Christmas, I bought an HD DVD player (on sale for $99!), bought and rented a few titles from Netflix. Within the past few weeks I’d started seeing ...

The Iowahawk blog has a hilarious new Archbishop of Canterbury Tale called “Heere Bigynneth the Tale of the Asse-Hatte“. Here’s an excerpt: 35 The Bishop sipped upon hys tea 36 And sayed, “an open mind must we 37 Keep, for know thee well the Mussel-man 38 Has hys own laws ...

In the worst shooting since Virginia Tech in 2007, 6 people are confirmed dead in a northern Illinois campus shooting at NIU yesterday: “The gunman dressed in black stormed into an oceanography class Thursday afternoon and opened fire with a shotgun and two handguns. In a matter of seconds, he ...

Point a remote control at your balls and click the off button if you want to have sex for fun. Point it again and click the ‘on’ button to get down to the business of making a baby. Yes… it’s an adjustable vasectomy. Love it. Happy Valentine’s Day, readers and ...

Are you sitting comfortably? So the U.S. launches a spy satellite in 2006 incorporating some top-secret U.S. technology to be used in the international war on terror and national defense in general. But a technical issue with the satellite makes it almost immediately inoperable, uncontrollable, and on a slow path ...

This legal dispute could only happen in California, summarised by the LA Times thus: “When the shade from redwoods casts a shadow over solar panels, what’s an environmentalist to do?” It’s a beautiful crystal of environmentalist angst. Which is more important? Planting (and conserving and respecting and embracing) the beautiful ...

The first part of Ron Paul’s letter to his supporters reads as though it could be the mission statement of this blog: “If I may quote Trotsky of all people, this Revolution is permanent. It will not end at the Republican convention. It will not end in November. It will ...

As Crawley reports this morning, it appears Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has trodden on a landmine of British legality with some comments made as part of his foundation lecture at the Royal Courts of Justice. In short, Williams’ comments are a thoughtful discussion-opener on the question of whether the ...

So, Mitt Romney is out. This is interesting, considering that many considered only him and John McCain to be the “serious” contenders for the nomination. Left in the race: John McCain (the inevitable?), Mike Huckabee (blah) and Ron Paul. So why didn’t Ron Paul do better on Super Tuesday? James ...

Both are compared and analysed in an article published today by Brian Doherty, senior editor at Reason. I love this show. Since the very first minutes of the very first series, I’ve been hooked on Lost. It’s the best-written, best-produced mythology of the past decade, and it has certainly seemed ...

Ted Mayhall is a beef patty short of a hamburger. He’s one of three Mississippi state legislators responsible for proposing a bill which would make it illegal for Mississippi restaurants to “repeatedly” serve extremely obese people. Is it a ridiculous law to propose? Of course. I would write at more ...

This week really puts the “United” in “United States”. A day after one of the most remarkable Superbowl games ever, during which I took a short drive on near-empty streets as everyone was watching the game, we’re now only one day from Super Tuesday, in which Republicans and Democrats in ...

I find it astonishing the things that people will get upset over. This photo is Carmen Kontur-Gronquist, mayor in the 500-resident town of Arlington, Oregon. The residents are so angry about this picture from her MySpace page that they’re issuing a recall petition against her (essentially trying to get her ...