She finally arrived. Like a hot honey with a decent body and a bit of a fucked up grill, it ain’t nothing that can’t be fixed up. It’s a 1972 International Harvester Pickup - 345 V8. She leaks fluids but I’m told that most IH’s have a self-lubricating chassis. This one seems to be no different.

The good: Solid body, good lines, little rust, excellent interior for the age, has AC, also surprised to see that it has torsion bars for the age of the truck. Runs strong, wants to run as soon as it drops into drive.

The bad: surprise! power steering is out related to an issue with the smog pump (smog/air pump is tension for belt for power steering), exhaust is banged up a bit and the pimp is a bit crimped in a couple areas. Leaking fluids, it looked like oil but could have been any other dark liquid. Ball joints need replaced, tranny fluid needs flushed, cooling system needs flushed, sounds like it has a stuck lifter but could be just some carbon. Breaks may need to be done, hopefully I can see more after a couple cans of break cleaner.

I bought it off of eBay and I’m not the most mechanically inclined so she’s sitting at the mechanic’s getting a good twice-over to give me a rough idea on how much work is needed. From there I will start posting more photos. You can check it out by going to http://somewhat-hypothesis.com/photo/

Skulls confirm we’re all out of Africa

Unfortunately, God could not be reached for comment.

Jude Law pleads for end to gun law in Afghanistan | Lifestyle | Reuters

I love headlines sometimes. Especially when the topic of the headline isn’t discussed. So I ask: What gun law?

Asbestos in Manhattan explosion debris: officials | U.S. | Reuters

We all know that any time the word asbestos leaks into the press, personal injury lawyers will start lining up.

Tim Dickinson of the Rolling Stone blog has a quick blurb on Ron Paul - the highlight being:

    And then…I remember Hurricane Katrina, the darkest metastasis of the ideology those like Ron Paul and Barry Goldwater before him have given such an eloquent voice. New Orleans is where the sink-or-swim doctrine of hyper individualism and personal responsibility allowed many of our most vulnerable to sink — all too literally — beneath the storm surge.

Unfortunately Dickinson has a bit of a misguided view of Goldwater and Paul’s views on individualism. In the face of catastrophe, people will leave. That isn’t individualism - that is reality. Dickinson also does a grandiose disservice to those individuals who did stay to help others. No, it wasn’t the failure of individualism - it was the failure of collectivism at its finest.

Marginal Revolution: FDA Delay

Sad story of how the FDA logic works.

Interesting news from cNet. Feds were allowed to pass spyware through a third-party service (in violation of MySpace rules).

     FBI remotely installs spyware to trace bomb threat | Tech news blog - CNET News.com
The FBI used a novel type of remotely installed spyware last month to investigate who was e-mailing bomb threats to a high school near Olympia, Wash.

Federal agents obtained a court order on June 12 to send spyware called CIPAV to a MySpace account suspected of being used by the bomb threat hoaxster. Once implanted, the software was designed to report back to the FBI with the Internet Protocol address of the suspect’s computer, other information found on the PC and, notably, an ongoing log of the user’s outbound connections.

What is curious is that the FBI just didn’t get a subpeona for the user’s records from MySpace. Why a malicious tool was used when the courts already provide a means for acquiring data and information.

DeBeers is an interesting case study. When DeBeers controls a vast amount of the world’s diamond market it is funny how cocky they get. I’m watching “Diamond Road”, a show on Discovery Times. It is quite a study in the slow road of a diamond to market.

The show generally dwells on the two faces of the diamond market - the muddy fields of Sierra Leone and the high profile results going up for sale in New York (and various other places).

The one notable part in the first “episode” was that the producers did do their research and found out that diamonds, no different in composition and individuality, can be manufactured. I’m not talking about “moissanite”. I’m a talking about real diamonds. Gemesis can manufacture them - at even a price less than mining a real diamond. No blood, very little sweat and just a little bit of passion. Is it worth less because it is made by a man’s hand? If you didn’t know the difference - would it matter?

John Lott has a brilliant opinion piece at Philly.com. It gets right to the point in that gun control generally isn’t a means to an end in the War Against Murder. More gun control laws place a more significant burden on law abiding citizens than it does to the criminal element. If criminals want guns, they get them regardless of the channel’s legality. This seems to be one thing that escapes those who beg, cry, and stomp feet for more gun control.

Larry Elder makes some great points that have been glossed over regarding US health care statistics, including:

 ”Second, when Moore asserts that 50 million Americans lack health care insurance, he most assuredly includes some of the estimated 11 million to 20 million illegal aliens living here. Of people born in America, 86 percent have health-care coverage. For non-citizens, only 57 percent have health-care insurance. “