Linked List

Glanced at briefly, filed away for future reading, and presented here for your edutainment.

• Sarah Hoyt has been a roll lately.  Check out Educating the Benighted, Drinking Their Own Ink, Two Sides Not Alike In Dignity and Keeping Grandma Atop The Cliff for some recent examples of her blogging awesomeness.
• The Czar points out that Minecraft is an advanced economics simulator.  Stealth capitalism.  Sounds like it will be the Oregon Trail of my daughter's generation.
• Parents in the LA school district work diligently to get a new charter school.  LA teachers union chooses to believe that they actually don't want a charter school.  Because... well, that's unclear.  On one hand, maybe they think that the parents are idiots who confused "charter school" with "not a charter school".  On the other hand, maybe they think that the public at large is made up of idiots who will actually buy their lame explanation.  On the gripping hand, maybe the LA teachers union is made up of a bunch of mindless jerks.
• Mark Steyn points out that the emperor is not wearing any clothes.  Oh, wait - I mean that Obama is a great performer, but a lousy leader.  Quelle surprise.
• William Jacobsen points out that we are loosing the internet because... well, really, because progressives lie.  Repeatedly, and vigorously, and most of all, entertainingly.  For them, what matters is the performance. 
• For example, it doesn't matter that Elizabeth Warren asked an irrelevant question at a Senate Banking Committee hearing.  She's being lauded not for doing a good job, but for putting on a good performance.
• Meanwhile, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio may be provocative, but not in a way that progressives like... which makes their performance nasty instead of good.  After all, they're not entertaining progressives like the darling, provocative Elizabeth Warren, and they should just shut up and sit down like good little boys and let their progressive betters get on with doing the important work.  Or something.
• Of course, the chances of Cruz and Rubio doing anything like that are slim to none.  Which means that they are racists.  Because shut up, peon.
• Oh, and if you are wondering why I try to make a distinction between liberals and progressives, it's because of people like John Pepples.  Rather than pushing a particular political philosophy, he is genuinely interested in identifying problems and finding solutions. Take a look at some of his blog postings about leftists and religion, or his discussion of The Left's Priorities for examples.  I honestly think that John is closer to a small-L libertarian than he thinks.
• John Robb discuses (among other things) standing pipe ground loop heat pumps.  Definitely of interest to me, as we have well water and a 60+ foot deep well.