One of the better quizzes out there

Although I normally don't post this sort of thing, this personality quiz seemed to do a good job of having a balance of analyses and topics, as well as having an easy-to-answer format, and questions that don't (always) give away the answer.

You scored as Batman, the Dark Knight. As the Dark Knight of Gotham, Batman is a vigilante who deals out his own brand of justice to the criminals and corrupt of the city. He follows his own code and is often misunderstood. He has few friends or allies, but finds comfort in his cause.

Batman, the Dark Knight		79%
Indiana Jones		67%
William Wallace		63%
James Bond, Agent 007		63%
Neo, the "One"		61%
Lara Croft		58%
The Amazing Spider-Man		54%
Maximus		42%
The Terminator		42%
Captain Jack Sparrow		38%
El Zorro		25%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com


And for your laughter and enjoyment, on HP quizzes, I do normally come up as Hermione Granger. Occasionally, I show up as Bill Weasley, although that one is probably related to the fact that I am about to marry a Veela and sometimes bear, in personality, a resemblance to a werewolf when I wake up... ;-)

Growing Pains of Evolution

In this article, BBC reports that animal behavior changes do not appear to be coordinated very well with the environmental changes they appear to be aimed at and with other species. For example, certain catepillars seem to be emerging earlier in the year, and some birds haven't responded, some have begun laying eggs earlier in the year - but by too much.

Although changes deal with behavior, not genetics per se, it does make one wonder about the grand processes that are held as the sacred cows of science and education. So apparently evolution is all fine and well to explain how the universe came to exist, but is inadequate when it comes to common observable changes?

If only she had read "Never Been Kissed"...

Girl Dies in Peanut Butter Kiss

-or-

How reactionary horse-and-buggyist homeschool conservativism could have saved the life of a Canadian teen.

PHC Prof Published

Dr. David Aikman, PHC's new history prof, was recently published in UPI, having written a quick outline of his views on US-China relations. The article is available here.

Cool (well, warm) clothing review

Being busy with after-Thanksgiving and preparations for final exams, I leave you with just a reference to an interesting article about how the clothing worn by 1920s European Himalayas climbers appears to have been better designed, lighter, and more versatile than modern "high-tech" climbing outfits.

Alcohol Consumption

It seems the Russians' reputation for drinking is not as well deserved as is popularly believed. The World Health Organization has recently released alcohol consumption statistics for Europe, and Russia is ranked 22nd, behind most western European countries in average liters of pure alcohol per person. Among others, Ireland, the UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, and Finland came in wetter than Russia.

A real surprise on the list was the fact that Luxembourg drinks the most, per capita, in Europe - 14.61 liters of pure alcohol per capita. In terms of American-strength beer, this works out to more than two and a quarter bottles of beer per man, woman, and child every day throughout the entire year.

Obscure quote

"If we used steel money,
priests would have magnetic gods."

Wedding story

There was great rejoicing this weekend as TF and CJ tied the knot. I thought I would share one incident from the event that, if nothing else, has increased the merriment of those who heard.

I arrived in town early, and, among other things, still needed to get a wedding card. I found a drugstore, purchased a card, went to the church, and (while sitting in my van) began writing a note. Suddenly, I realized I couldn't remember whether the word I was in the middle of was spelled "indelible" or "indellible." I couldn't write them both down and see which looked better, so I walked over to the church, intending perhaps to see if there was a dictionary in the church office. As I walked around the building, however, I noticed a public library across the street. Wearing my suit and carrying the card, I went into the library, found the reference section, pulled out the trusty OED, and found "in-del'-i-ble." With this assurance, I finished the card and went in to the wedding.

Republican Party: Here's a Band-Aid for your fiscal cancer

The good news: public attention and ridicule over the now-infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" has finally motivated the Republican leadership to cut the funding for the two Alaska bridges.

The bad news: that was $454 million out of more than $24 billion in such special projects, and the money isn't saved, just shuffled to Alaska's discretionary fund. And even the $24 billion is less than 1% of the budgeted government expenditures. This budget carves out 20% of the country's GDP and adds to a public debt that is already at 65% of GDP, crowding out businesses and inhibiting investment.

And so the runaway spending continues. "Small government" party indeed.

Nigerian Scammers

Most of us, particularly MouseCrap afficiandos, are familiar with the Nigerian Scam, where a person contacts the mark by letter or email, claims to be a petty official with the Nigerian government and needs help getting millions in ill-gotten gains out of the country, then milks victims for money for bribes, transfer costs, etc. and finally drains whatever accounts the victim has given him access to.

According to the FBI, however, some victims, upon losing most of their liquid possessions, have actually gone to Nigeria to try to sort things out. And that is where things get dicey, because under Nigerian law, as in most countries, it is illegal to attempt to steal or illegally transfer money, from the government or otherwise. They start asking questions, some prosecutor finds out why they are there, they go have a chat with a judge, and often even get to notify their families that they won't be back very soon. So remember, kids, losing all your posessions in the US is still a lot better than serving five-to-ten in a Nigerian big house.

And there is your random law of the day.

PSA to phishers

I have recently begun receiving a steady stream of notices from "eBay," "PayPal" (with whom I don't even have an account), and so on notifying me that my accounts have been compromised and demanding that I click their link or have my account cut off.

Some of these notices are done better than others, although they have certain elements in common, such as hyperlinks not lining up with the given address and an attempt at the sort of small print you might expect to find on an official email. Some of the emails leave a bit to be desired, however. To that end, I offer a few suggestions based on things that tipped me off:

• Exclamation points are not generally accepted in business communications. "Security Center Advisory!" isn't convincing.



• Putting an "ID" number on the communication is commendable... unless the ID is only three digits long. A company the size of eBay is going to run out of numbers if it follows that convention.



• Using proper English syntax is helpful. "Make sure you never provide your password to fraudulent persons" doesn't work. Persons aren't fraudulent, just their actions. Unless they aren't persons. But I don't know many hamsters who know html, so I think that rules that out.



• You aren't "try[ing] to verify [my] identity." You are resolving suspected unauthorized logins. You don't care whether I am who I say I am, you are worried about the guy who tried to get into my account. It would have been pointless to email me if you were trying to verify my identity; by sending the email, you indicate that you already believe me to be the proper account holder.



• Ditto spelling. Writing "you leave us no choise but to temporaly suspend your account" should be reworked before sending it out to the world (not to mention that temporary and temporal are only confused by weak minds).

• Companies need customers. Successful companies (such as the ones you are masquerading as) don't threaten them. "If you choose to ignore our request, you leave us no choise but to temporaly suspend your account" is more aggressive than any company would write. Additionally, the amount of independent action suggested to the customer ("If you choose...") is usually only seen in letters from collection agencies.

So in conclusion, here's to incompetence doing its part to keep my online information secure.

Zorro

I saw Legend of Zorro, or Revenge of Zorro or Banderas Rides Again or Zorro Unmasked or whatever it was called, this weekend. To say nothing of the money, it was a waste of two perfectly good hours, though not quite bad enough to joins the club of sequels-that-should-never-have-been-made.

Spoilers follow, but given that I hope to dissuade you from seeing it, I in no way apologize.

As always, Banderas and Zeta-Jones demonstrated that they are good at acting, good looking, and fun to watch. They also had a few good lines (e.g., when Zorro's son, who doesn't know he is Zorro, springs him from his jail cell, then watches with amazement as his dad unexpectedly displays martial skills in getting out of the building, Zorro replies with, "Prison changes a man.") But these things can only go so far to make up for an awful story.

First, I will dispense with some easy targets. The movie started off badly, with the bogey of Anachronistic Weapons. While this anachronism is funny in Spaghetti Westerns such as The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, having the rapier-and-sharp-edged-hat hero face a Henry (lever action) Rifle in 1850 in the first five minutes of the flick gave the movie a definite acid-on-the-tongue taste. Additionally (as pointed out by Ceil), in 1850, the Pinkerton Detective Agency was still local to Chicago, and was still working largely in the railroad larceny niche market, not involved in federal covert ops.

The story line and themes of the movie were the real losers, though. The first hour of the movie was spent watching Zeta-Jones get fed up with Banderas' Zorro fixation, arguing about his letting his hero-stuff get in the way of his family priorities, that she worried about him not coming home some day, etc. She then divorces him (maybe I didn't pay close enough attention, but they didn't seem to work out the who-gets-the-house details, and while I haven't researched it, I would put better than even odds on divorce being really hard to get in pre-US Catholic/Spanish California) and starts going out with another guy. The amount and intensity of "making out," while perhaps not unusual in a movie, was a little hard to stomach given the triangulation involved. One can only hope that she washed her mouth out with soap and water between guys.

For Banderas' character, being Don Alejandro was simply the means by which he could carry out his pursuit of equity and defense of the weak as Zorro. It was who he was. His wife Elena knew that going into the marriage. When she demanded that he give that up, then, she was breaching her marriage covenant to honor who he was. The movie has him being right in the end and everyone in the family reaching some sort of copacetic peace, but there is no reason to spend two hours getting there.

Her major complaint seems to be that his son doesn't know who he is, that is, that the mask is between himself and his son. Decisions on when to tell children certain things are important and always open for legitimate discussion and debate between spouses or other responsible adults. A particular child may not have the necessary background, maturity, and skills to properly assimilate, use, and be responsible for the information. The most recent Harry Potter book illustrates this well, with Dumbledore, justifiedly initially, holding off on talking to Potter about his role in the war against Voldemort. Mistakes in timing should be corrected and forgiveness sought, but they are inevitable and should be charitably treated by all parties involved.

We find out at the end of the movie that Elena was also under some duress because she was being blackmailed with the exposure of Alejandro as Zorro; this source of duress she had refused to reveal to Zorro. As an excuse, this is pathetic at best. First, one would think that if Zorro could deal with an international secret society (on this point, the similarities to Nick Cage's National Treasure assisted in the boredom factor, although I suppose there are only so many available story lines out there...) or the hacienda system's upper crust (in the previous movie), he could have taken care of a handful of Pinkertons. But second and more importantly, Elena hiding her decision to "protect" him and the circumstances behind her decision reveal a fundamental lack of trust Elena had in Alejandro and his ability to make intelligent decisions in consultation with her. Watching this kind of soap-opera distrust for two hours is worse than boring, it is painful.

It is my earnest hope that they do not come out with Zorro III - the caped crusader in New York, as was foreshadowed in a conversation between the hero and his lady (why is it that sequels taking place in New York seem to always take a set of characters to new lows?).

Random Over-Detailed State Law

In Louisiana, Rev. Stat. § 40:1379.3(N)(3) provides that state judges are permitted to carry concealed handguns in their own courtrooms (although it doesn't say anything about the hallway between judge's chambers and the courtroom, but who is going to stop a judge and frisk him in the back rooms of a courthouse???).

This raises a new twist to the age-old question "What do judges wear beneath their robes?"

(It also raises an interesting interaction problem with § 40.1379(I)(2), which says that any armed CCW permit holder to notify any police officer "who approaches the permittee in an official manner or with an identified official purpose" that he is carrying. Assuming that in La. the bailiffs are sheriff's deputies, if the bailiff approaches to inform the judge that a witness is ready, does the judge have to tell the bailiff that he is packing? Every time?)

Word of Wisdom

Do not cook bacon in an open pan if you are not wearing a shirt. Even if you consider yourself tough. There are other ways of proving that.

Randomnost

Beat up the cat if you need someone else on the mat,
I put a rock in the coffee in your coffee mug.
Which one of us is the one that we can't trust?
You say I think it's you but I don't agree with that.

--They Might Be Giants, "I've Got a Match"

Sauce of the Week

(Note - not every week gets a sauce. The title simply assures that no sauce gets cheated by being on top of the pack less than a week.)

The sauce this time is a hot sauce called

Melinda's Original Habanero Hot Pepper Sauce

I have long been a fan of the habanero with its dry, fiery taste as opposed to "wetter" peppers like jalapenos (which, by contrast, could almost be called "greasy"). At roughly twice the heat rating of a chile, a little of this pepper goes a long way.

In this sauce, however, the habanero has a sparse presence. Using carrots to dilute the pepper's strength, this sauce is not an organic powder keg. While the flavor of the habanero is noticeable, this sauce keeps its power in check, and requires application in salsa-like quantities - far more than a good hot sauce should.

The sauce merits review, however, for its breadth of flavor. The combination of habanero heat with the sweet-tartness of lime (and to a lesser extent, onion) leaves a broad swath of pleasure on the taste buds, with flavor continuing to grow and morph after the food has left the mouth. I was also pleasantly surprised by the back seat that the vinegar took. Vinegar in hot sauces is normally an irritation at best, and a serious liability when it overpowers the sauce (e.g., Texas Pete's, a sauce which casts an undeserved slur on the good name of Texas). Here, however, it adds background bitterness, giving depth without interfering with the primary flavor of the sauce.

Commentary on the uses of hot sauces seems out of place, as their culinary place seems well established. I will mention only that Melinda's is good on quesadillas.

Problem of the Commons, Global Scale

In economics, there is a postulate that what everyone owns no one cares for, because (in a rough form of the argument) I get more enjoyment out of appropriating it entirely to my temporary use than having a share that is of uncertain future use because I know that others think the same way I do. The world's high seas fisheries are a current illustration of this point.

The law of the sea is one of the best developed bodies of international law, in large part because it has been around long enough that practices and norms have had a chance to develop. Additionally, seafaring states are generally also coastal states, and vice versa, so that all states have a stake in a stable system that balances free navagability with the security, commercial, and environmental interests in protecting coastlines. This has led to the current UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) regime, which allows countries territorial rights and responsibilities up to 12 nautical miles out to sea (so long as they respect flagged vessels rights of transit for non-military and non-exploitative purposes), and an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) up to 200 nm out to sea (this mostly deals with fishing, oil, and mining).

Beyond the 200 nm limit, however, are the open seas, and ships are only bound by their own flag. In theory this would work fine, as each country would enforce its own laws and treaty obligations on its own ships, and because all coastal parties to UNCLOS have strong incentives to make sure that its terms are respected, complaints about abuses are generally dealt with quickly and effectively.

For a handful of countries, however, particularly landlocked countries, countries with minimal economic interests (e.g., St. Vincent), or countries with unusual maritime circumstances (such as Panama, which has few locally-owned ships, but controls the canal), a ready means of making money and creating influence is to allow ships to register under its flag, with minimal restrictions on what it can do. For example, several American-operated non-profit organizations with ships register them in Panama instead of the United States so they are not subject to OSHA regulations.

When it comes to fishing, however, the UNCLOS gives deference to regional fisheries authorities such as the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO). UNCLOS also recognizes that some conservation duties are best carried out by the nearest country and gives limited environmental jurisdiction beyond the 200 nm EEZ limit where there are fish populations whose habitat straddles that line (Canada was particularly active in getting this concession, since the continental shelf around them is both extensive and rich in commercial fish and was being overfished outside the EEZ, particularly by Spanish flag ships).

Because no one owns high seas fish, there is no incentive for any fishing vessel or any country to unilaterally limit its catch. Some multilateral law exists in the form of regional fisheries authorities, which seem to work reasonably well so long as their member states enforce their restrictions. Getting the flag countries to enforce their obligations can be difficult in the case of flag-of-convenience countries with limited contact with their ships and limited ocean-going enforcement power. (Canada at one point was so fed up with Spanish fishing vessels' depridations that they began capturing and boarding them on the high seas.) Of particular interest in this area is the EU, which, as economic authority for Europe, undertakes fishing negotiations for its members. As the EU grows in power, it will hopefully also grow in influence over flag ships such that it is able to enforce its agreements without having to defer to the local politics of member states. This may end up being an important test of the EU's ability to function as economic head of Europe and influence the rest of the world's willingness to trust its agreements.