Variety of Links

Some serious discussion of what forgiveness is, and isn't. I may have a go at this in the near future.

National weather patterns for a small country aren't climate. Still, this covers more than a day or two, and follows a harsh UK winter last year. 300 years is a long time - back to the Little Ice Age. In fact, this breaks the record for a lot of winters that were in the Little Ice Age.

AVI's fave general linguist John McWhorter wonders which foreign languages should be taught in school. People get testy about defending western European languages for that honor; others get testy that those languages have default eminence. I'm more radical still. I have come to believe that they should be quite optional, and not a necessary part of a complete education. We might insist on some instruction to catch the few who are good at it but didn't know it.

The brilliant and well-placed Austin Bay gives an overview on how we're doing in the War on Terror, and is clearly interested in truth, not partisan advantages. Good on him. Describing his daughter's flying at Christmas as being on a battlefield she didn't choose was not especially comforting, however.

Just because a collection of liberal groups is behind something doesn't mean it's a bad idea. But that's the way to bet, especially when they are taking pains to obscure that in the debate. Is net neutrality simply code for significant bias?

Are postliberals supposed to hate this kind of art? I liked some of it.

Another defense of the essentially moral nature of capitalism. Though I tend to use the term free market now. Not only for the connotations, but because capitalism is a pretty specific type of free market. I don't like to be crowded, y'know?

Ben Franklin collected 200 synonyms for being drunk.

Roald Dahl fans may recall that his daughter Tessa was quite a rebellious handful. She has quietly become a nun, and her story is a bit interesting.

Next up will be links to what friends have been writing lately.