imperial romance

Yglesias links to some recent Bush statements:

"I must say, I'm a little envious," Bush said. "If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed."

"It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks," Bush said.

What a POS. As Yglesias points out:

Need we note that when Bush had an actual opportunity to put his life on the line in a war, he chose to avoid doing so? The guy who sent me the link observed the connection between these sentiments and the point about Bush-style democracy-promotion as the return of Victorian imperialism -- shot through with daffy romanticism about dashing off to exotic lands to take up the white man's burden. The idea isn't to identify policies that are effective at boosting the prospects for democratic reform; instead, the idea is to identify policies that are pleasurable to the egos of the politicians and opinion-leaders who frame them.

Lovely. From a Reuters story "Bush says if younger, he would work in Afghanistan".

dogs and cats, living together...

...mass domestication!! Some interesting links from the Reality-Based Community concerning the timing of domestication of dogs and cats.

This one cites a date of 100k-15k years ago for dogs (with the author thinking 13k), while this one supports the 15k. (100k is the date wolves and dogs diverged, which could have happened through normal natural selection.) As for cats, looks like it's about 12k years ago.

But RBC also includes a cool link to Kipling's "The Cat Who Walks By Himself", about how Woman domesticated all the animals (including Man), but the Cat was the only one able to bargain on its own terms and retain some independence. Could be a cute read to go with Diamond.