robwicks's New Writeups

The Dismal Science (thing)

2007-03-26T19:12:30Z

The phrase "dismal science" as it applies to economics was introduced by Thomas Carlyle in Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question. In this work, Carlyle argued for slavery and against a free market on moral grounds (of all things). He claimed that the slaves' lives had gotten worse since the end of slavery. More free market oriented economists such as John Stuart Mill disagreed with him. Apparently, he had called Malthus' predictions dismal in an earlier work, so the phrase is erroneously associated with that criticism.

Carlyle was a "law and order" type of person. He regarded the elimination or minimization of government and lords as undesirable and the study of free markets (leaving men to themselves) as a dismal endeavor.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismal_Science

John C. Calhoun (person)

2006-06-15T20:16:13Z

"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
The Go-Between (1953) - L.P. Hartley

It is difficult to analyze the past sometimes. The people lived in a different environment and had different priorities. It is difficult (though by no means impossible) for me to condemn a person for refusing to impose hardships, ranging from marginalization to death, upon themselves for a principle. If the ramifications of sticking to that principle are so dire, many of us never really develop the principle to the extent that we would be faced with such a stark choice as integrity or death.

John C. Calhoun, like so many politicians was a study in contradictions and disconnects. He was a great champion of liberty, recognizing that democracy, in the the most literal sense, would inexorably lead to tyranny, as the majority would have essentially absolute power, whereas the minority would have essentially non-existent power. He also was a racist with…

French press (thing)

2006-05-20T17:41:57Z

Brewing coffee with a French press (also called a press pot) can yield an excellent cup of coffee. It is my favorite way to brew a large cup of coffee (my absolute favorite coffee drink is espresso). Due to the large amount of contact of coffee grounds with hot water, the flavor extraction, and the resultant cup of coffee, can be excellent. Due to the manual nature of the process, there are a number of errors which can be made.

The History of the French press

The history of the French press is largely lost in the mists of time. It was probably invented in France in the mid nineteeth century. Like so much of human history, however, commercial contact between people allowed this device to be improved over the years. The original French press was a metal pot into which a meshed material (often, but not always metal as well) was pressed to allow the grounds, which had been put into the pot of boiling water, to be separated from the brewed coffee. At some point, it was…

unpotable (idea)

2006-05-17T17:32:00Z

As this word is neither listed in the online Merriam-Webster dictionary nor the Oxford compact dictionary (I don't have an unabridged copy on hand), I am somewhat suspicious that it isn't actually part of those "official" works. But usage determines the word in English, like all "natural" languages. Unpotable is simply the opposite of potable, i.e., water which is not fit for drinking. No doubt with the increased usage of the word, we shall soon see it grace the pages of college dictionaries everywhere.

Rescued via the Random nodeshells node

7th Son (thing)

2006-05-06T01:45:03Z

7th Son: Book One - Descent is the first in a trilogy of science fiction podiobooks written by JC Hutchins. Hutchins begins his novel with an extremely provocative first line, "The President of the United States is dead. He was murdered in the morning sun by a four year old boy." In the tradition of many of the great novelists of the past, Hutchins is releasing his novel in serial form, chapter by chapter.

The book (in audio form) is available for free on http://www.jchutchins.net. You can subscribe to the podcast using Itunes or your favority podcatcher. The story is one of madness, cloning, and government cover-ups. As of this node's creation, the first 12 chapters have been released, and I have found the story completely gripping in a manner few books, written or spoken, have been. This is, so far, an impressive debut for a young author, and I look forward to many more hours of rapt listening (and hopefully, eventually, reading) to Hutchins' work. Rather than spoil the…

March 18, 2006 (idea)

2006-03-18T13:23:38Z

My brother and I went out to a basketball game last night. We had a good time, but my wife called when the game was ending. She and my sister-in-law were coming home last night when they saw that most fearful sight to black people everywhere: a burning cross. It was in a field on the side of a fairly busy state highway. I do find this rather distressing, frankly. Now that I'm a family man, especially, I have to be very concerned about safety. I have people who I have pledged to defend.

The curious thing about this, or at least it would be curious to a lot of the people who make fun of my home state, is that I never saw such a thing in Mississippi during all my years of living there. And now I see it, in metropolitan Atlanta, the city too busy to hate. Now, I am not the one to extrapolate this incident into some vast infestation of racists, but, even one, who is actively attempting action near my home, is enough to give me pause, not unlike having a convicted…