Not the conversation he expected, is it?

When he was campaigning for election, Barack Obama said the country needed to have a “conversation about race.”  In the wake of the Martin-Zimmerman tragedy, we’re getting it, but I don’t think it’s the I-talk-you-shut-up-and-listen conversation he imagined.  Black folks are disenchanted, and some white folks are tired of shutting up.  The President may have triggered a serious gunnysacking, one that could cost him re-election.

Update (7 April).  Derbyshire’s widely discussed article got him bounced from National Review.  Contrary to Dan Rielhl’s observations, things like this tend to support Derbyshire’s contentions.  And of course, right on cue, the usual suspects generate a rumor about the Neo-Nazis showing up (from Detroit, no less!).  Some conversation!

Talkin’ ’bout my g-g-g-generation

The bloom is off the Boomers:

Collectively the Boomers continued to follow ideals they associated with youth and individualism: fulfillment and “creativity” rather than endurance and commitment.  Boomer spouses dropped families because relationships with spouses or children or mortgage payments no longer “fulfilled” them; Boomer society tolerated the most selfish and immature behavior in its public and cultural leaders out of the classically youthful and immature belief that intolerance and hypocrisy are greater sins than the dereliction of duty.  That the greatest and most effective political leader the Baby Boom produced was William Jefferson Clinton tells you all you need to know.

Penn State alumnus Thomas Day spells it out in no uncertain detail.

Bayesian Gaydar

Sanjay Srivastava describes The Precisely Fuzzy Science of Gaydar: “…, a quick calculation tells us that for a randomly-selected member of the population, if your gaydar says “GAY” there is a 9% chance that you are right. Eerily accurate? Not so much. If you rely too much on your gaydar, you are going to make a lot of dumb mistakes.”

Tip from Andrew Gelman.

You’re not bored, you’re boring

Brian Jay Stanley explains–better than I ever could–why I’ve been saying this for years.

Tip from the Instapundit, who’s always “making the dumbest sh** interesting.”

Hey, Big Spender

An anonymous White House source has dropped a dime on Michelle Obama’s vacation spending habits.  Apparently it’s so bad even Barack-0 is alarmed

…Mrs Obama, whose fashion choices are widely followed, had been going on ‘wild shopping sprees’, much to the distress of her husband, who, its sources reveal, is ‘absolutely furious’ at his wife’s ‘out-of-control spending’.
….
…the situation sparked further anger after he and his wife elected to fly separately to the Massachusetts retreat – despite travelling on the same day.

My wife, ever alert to the nuances in behavior of people who misbehave, thinks this is an indication that Michelle is “getting even” with Barack for some transgression (hmm, whatever happened to those hotties  in the background when The One was speechifying?). My theory, totally unsubstantiated by any evidence, is that the anonymous White House source has the initials B.O.  If I’m even close, expect a progressive meltdown in the house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Update (25 August).  The Anchoress is thankful that we can all enjoy our staycations vicariously through the Obamas. “That Eva Peron was right, it really is just as satisfying for us to watch your families of four accessing private and government jets—even two at a time—to travel to your summer homes or Martha’s Vineyard or Bermuda, as it would be for us to fly to Disney or the Gulf Coasts…”  (Tip from American Digest)

“We need more Texans.”

Gary Jones sums up the recent discussion about Rick Perry and the Texas job market, and explains why working beats living on the dole:

The chief defect is “social death”. You may have a safety net, welfare payments and rationed health care but you don’t have a job. You have no career, no status, no place in society, no respect, no prospects and so no life. You are a dead man walking, a rider of the purple wage, a “shitter”. Worse, you are watched and regulated tightly, your freedoms are defined and limited to those that the majority considers sufficient, that satisfy their views of an “adequate” existence.

Texans, wherever you are, pull up your socks, and get to work. And don’t forget to vote, in every damn election that comes along.

Updates (28 August).  Here’s your basic Social Zombie, the Perfect Citizen of the Blue State.  (Tip from Parkway Rest Stop) Mark Steyn weighs in on the subject, too.

Update (9 September).  Richard Fernandez takes our education system to task for the problem:

What globalization implied, once embarked upon, was the destruction of whole series of gates which defined the privileges of established Western society. Once down that road you either destroy all the gates and accept both the costs and benefits of globalization or you keep all the walls of the city up. But embarking on “globalization” while maintaining the guilds and social contracts of a welfare state does not seem to work. You get the worst of everything. And once globalization takes hold, credentials become progressively worthless. The only thing that retains its value is real skill, real human capital.

And my students wonder why I insist they learn skills along with theory….

“I don’t know.”

Penn Jillette is the opposite of a Know-It-All:

It’s amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion. Helping poor and suffering people is compassion. Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral self-righteous bullying laziness.

Tip from Lynn Kiesling at the Knowledge Problem.

Over-rated virtues

It turns out that benevolence, like nice, is totally overrated.  I’m plumping for thrift and courage, myself.

Update (10 August).  Silly me.  I forgot industry, a sure sign that I’ve been goofing off.

Survival modeling on the job

I often joke that some bureaucracies are so tight that you can’t get hired unless one of their employees dies.  For a lot of the feds, it ain’t a joke.   The good news for grads in math, stats, and management science is that the staffs in Carter Administration outfits like the Department of Energy were all hired as a cohort, so they’re all dying or retiring right now.

My kind of guy

Read about the energy biz in the NY Times:

“Things are picking up,” said Cody Chase, 24, who had just finished an overtime shift at a coal mine north of here and was having a 7 a.m. burrito and beer at a downtown breakfast joint. Hours at the mine are up, said Mr. Chase, who makes $26 an hour after less than a year on the job, and new workers have started coming on.

Burritos and beer, the breakfast of Manly Men (and champions).
Tip from Planet Gore