Men and women disagree on girth and staying power.

A comment left at Althouse on the subject of smartphones and what’s expected of them. 

Christopher Snowdon on nicotine and the prohibitionist’s dilemma: 

In scenario number two, you are a journeyman public health advocate picking up a nice, steady wage from the government every month. You hold lots of meetings and you go to lots of conferences. You and your colleagues developed a plan of incremental prohibition in the early 1980s and you have it all mapped out… And then something comes along that you didn’t expect. A new product that gives smokers a way to enjoy nicotine without the health risks of smoking cigarettes. You didn’t come up with the idea. The government didn’t come up with the idea. It came from the private sector, and private businesses are making money out of it. Worse still, after a few years of monitoring the market, the tobacco industry buys up a few companies and now they’re making money out of it. Sure, lots of people are giving up smoking as a result, but not in a way that was part of The Plan. Where does this leave you?

Brendan O’Neill on a popular conceit: 

The idea that there is a… culture of hot-headed, violent-minded hatred for Muslims that could be awoken and unleashed by the next terror attack is an invention… The thing that keeps the Islamophobia panic alive is not actual violence against Muslims but the right-on politicos’ ill-founded yet deeply held view of ordinary Europeans, especially those of a working-class variety, as racist and stupid. This is the terrible irony of the Islamophobia panic: The fearers of anti-Muslim violence claim to be challenging prejudice but actually they reveal their own prejudices, their distrust of and disdain for those who come from the other side of the tracks, read different newspapers, hold different beliefs, live different lives.

Thomas Sowell on milking pretentious guilt: 

Our schools and colleges are laying a guilt trip on those young people whose parents are productive, and who are raising them to become productive. What is amazing is how easily this has been done, largely just by replacing the word “achievement” with the word “privilege.”

And again, on the equality racket. 

And Daniel Hannan chats with some unhappy, scowling socialists:  

Don’t make the mistake of judging socialism as a textbook theory but judging capitalism by its necessarily imperfect outcomes. Judge like with like. In the real world, you find me a functioning socialist country that has delivered more than a free-market alternative.

As always, feel free to share your own links and snippets in the comments. It’s what these posts are for.

Real-time hand mutator. // Hotel made of salt. // Moon lamp. // Puppies with guns. (h/t, Ace) // Impress your friends by defusing a bomb. // Wi-Fi-enabled robotic bartender. // Icebergs. (h/t, Mick) // For all those butt selfies you take. // No biting. // Thomas Sowell on Basic Economics. // New York subway conductors. // Like Blade Runner, but real. // Surely everyone cleans their grubby baking trays with a laser? // Slovenian ski resort of note. // Carving. // Alternative survival gear. // Online Spirograph. // In other news. // The happening ladies of Edwardian England. // 24 hours of flights over the UK. // There ain’t no turbulence like TNG turbulence. // The great fuel cap mystery of 2014. // And finally, via Dr W, “The Beatles, as they were presented to us, never existed.” 

If it’s seemed a little quieter than usual, that’s because your host is now entering week two of Man Flu Fortnight™. And this year’s strain is a real humdinger. I’m assuming that the fever and shivers and sleep deprivation will eventually pass, at which point normal service will resume.

By all means chat among yourselves. 

Slurry tank explosion flings faeces on people and shops in Guangxi. 

A headline in the Want China Times. 

A slurry tanker containing human waste suddenly burst spraying innocent bystanders and nearby shops in Hechi in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Saturday… Several bystanders and the sidewalk beside several shops in the city’s Jichengjiang district [were] covered in faeces while shop signs were slathered in foul slurry.

And yes, there are photos.