I was a little taken aback by some of the mail I received after last week’s column; for a group of readers who appear to have absolutely no idea what “Down with Madden” could mean, a lot of you are surprisingly knowledgeable when it comes to hip hop. Even stranger, the mail was unanimously positive, save for Craig, who is a man of few, albeit pungent words.
you’re a f- – – – – – a- – – – – –
– Craig
This critique, so typical of the Left, is presented in its entirety. Notice the lack of any charge of inaccuracy, logical failure or intellectual dishonesty, the total absence of any attempt at debate, honest or otherwise. Indeed, there is nothing but the pure ad hominum attack of the self-styled moral superior. Sadly, Craig left out the required aspersions of bigotry, stupidity and undereducation, so the best we can give him is a gentleman’s C.
I was wondering about one thing you said. You said no one knows when life begins. Because, obviously, the sperm and egg are both alive, so life has already begun, so to speak. But as to the beginning of an individual human being’s existence, it’s not true that no one knows; any biologist, physician or embryologist knows, whether they’ll admit it or not, individual human life begins at conception, when the individual human genome is formed and a unique individual human comes into being.
– Jeremy the M.D.
This may come as a massive shock to those of you who cherish the notion that I think I know everything, but I am incredibly ignorant when it comes to biology, among other things. I mean, I pretty much grasp that babies are not, in fact, delivered by the stork, but that’s pretty close to the limit as far as it goes – I’m still trying to get over the fact that cloning is no longer just another science fiction staple.
Anyhow, the fact that the baby has discernibly different DNA from the mother at conception is close enough to proof that I’m quite willing to accept this as the point at which life begins, with the caveat that I am, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, no student of biology.
So you’re against abortion, fair enough I suppose. Now that leaves a question, where do the unwanted kids go? Are you one of the many against abortion who would force a socialized adoption system on the taxpayers?
– Mike
Adoption is certainly preferable to infanticide, in my opinion, and considering the two-year waiting lists and the number of child-seeking couples who travel to China and Eastern Europe to adopt, I believe that a reasonable percentage of the increased supply would find demand. I would never support a taxpayer-supported socialized adoption system, though; I would instead suggest the novel concept that mothers and fathers be held responsible for the welfare of the pre-natal child just as they are held responsible for the welfare of their post-natal children.
If you don’t want to become a father or a mother, then don’t do the one thing that will cause you to become one. This is not exactly rocket science. As for not wanting a child, well, it’s not like you can avoid paying your credit card bills simply because you don’t want to deal with them either. And speaking of rocket science….
I figure you have already got a lot of irons in the fire, and are already pretty good at verbally shooting your enemies full of holes, but if you ever want to know how to insult the flavor of French cheese, based on the chemistry of it, give me a shout. I have done some rocket-science research in flavor chemistry, which will no doubt help to define what makes American cheddar the king of cheeses. … By the way, do you like cheddar? I just can’t get enough of that extra sharp Vermont stuff.
– Joe the Ph.D.
Joe, I do like cheddar, and should I ever need a cheese expert, for any reason, I can think of no one better to consult. Personally, I am rather partial to the Cotswold variant.
Sounds like you are getting into technical analysis. Any favorite books or websites? Technical analysis seems more like an art than a science.
– Ron
It is an art, certainly, and its beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A lot of people are still e-mailing with questions about the markets. It turns out that I’d inadvertently developed a crude variant of basic Elliott Wave principles, which is arcane, but intriguing stuff. I have more confidence in wave theory than in the generic technical analysis, which I feel is far too simplistic and easily manipulated by would-be market makers. As for sites, 321Gold, PrudentBear and SentimenTrader are good places to start.
