Drum Machine/Sequencer Software

I don't know if anyone who reads this blog cares, but I have historically used rhythm rascal as my free* drum machine software. However, I recently tried Hydrogen. It does everything I want, is intuitive and free, and other kits that are easy to use and incorporate. I have yet to find a flaw.

*Rhythm Rascal was free if you didn't want to export your files in wave form, which is kind of important feature (although I did manage to find a work-around).

The Volokh Conspiracy

The Volokh Conspiracy: "Oh, and to answer the inevitable objections. Yes, I realize this is unscientific. Yes, I realize that the categories are vague. No, I don’t think this would be acceptable in a peer-reviewed journal. I’m thinking that this is better than nothing, but if it’s not, then please feel free to ignore it."

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lol.

Cafe Hayek — where orders emerge

Cafe Hayek — where orders emerge: "Implicitly, this methodology treats the political process as if it is a corrective device available to impose ideal social outcomes, something like a pinch hitter that always delivers the game-winning hit.  But this is a fantasy.  A choice between the real world of markets and the hypothetical ideal of government intervention is not an option.  Instead, the choice is always about how markets work compared to the alternatives.  Put another way, the relevant choice is always between the real-world operation of markets and the real-world operation of the political process."

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Althouse

Althouse: "I don't live in NYC and would never live in a city that prefers to allow armed criminals run free while disarming it's citizens. In the midwest city where I live, there were three recent attempted armed robberies. In all three instances, the robber got shot dead by the victim. No expensive trial or costly incarceration. Just dead criminals, each of whom was no stranger to the justice system"

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 I should clarify, this is a quote within a quote, not Ann Althouse's own words.

The Democrats have lost on sequestration

The Democrats have lost on sequestration: "The Democrats have lost on sequestration.
That’s the simple reality of Friday’s vote to ease the pain for the Federal Aviation Administration. By assenting to it, Democrats have agreed to sequestration for the foreseeable future."

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Yes!

Ace Of Base's Nazi Past Revealed In Disturbing Lyrics Of Ulf Ekberg's Former Band (UPDATED)

Ace Of Base's Nazi Past Revealed In Disturbing Lyrics Of Ulf Ekberg's Former Band (UPDATED): "Ace of Base fans will be disappointed to learn that one of the band's founding members has a disturbing secret: He was in a Nazi band and has ties to a political party that also leans uncomfortably toward the hate-group side of the spectrum."

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Fans--as in plural?

The Volokh Conspiracy

The Volokh Conspiracy: "A mandatory 4 percent cut to the budget of the Federal Aviation Administration (to what it was in 2010) results in furloughing 10 percent of air traffic controllers and delays are projected for 40 percent of flights. The Administration says it has no choice, and such consequences are unavoidable, and yet the office in the Department of Health and Human Services is able to avoid furloughs altogether. As Rich Lowry notes, greater mandatory cuts under Gramm-Rudman in the 1980s did not affect air traffic. Moreover, in 2007 the FAA was able to handle more air traffic with fewer controllers. It’s almost as if the Department of Transportation is trying to make the sequester as painful as possible."

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Creatures of Coherence: Why We're So Obsessed With Causation -

Creatures of Coherence: Why We're So Obsessed With Causation -: "“We are pattern seekers, believers in a coherent world, in which regularities appear not by accident but as a result of mechanical causality or of someone’s intention.”
Daniel Kahneman’s words ring true for all of us; humans are creatures of causality. We like effects to have causes, and we detest incoherent randomness. Why else would the quintessential question of existence give rise to so many sleepless nights, endear billions to religion, or single-handedly fuel philosophy?"

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Instapundit

Instapundit: "But the problem might be less with Obama and more with democracy itself. To be a citizen in a mass democracy is to live in a permanent state of political frustration. There are so many people in the country with so many different views, and the institutions of a mass democracy are inevitably so clunky, that the political process isn’t going to give you what you want very much of the time."

The Corner | National Review Online

The Corner | National Review Online: "One gentleman asked if he ever spent the night with Elaine on his sitcom.

“Let me explain to you something about Elaine, George, and Kramer that you may not be fully grasping,” Jerry Seinfeld replied. “These people, while being very amusing and enjoyable, are in reality fictional characters. They are not really real as you and I are real. I am the only character who survived the end of the show.”"

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The Corner | National Review Online

The Corner | National Review Online: "“When I was single, I had married friends,” Seinfeld said. “I would not visit their homes. I found their lives to be pathetic and depressing. Now that I am married, I have no single friends. I find them to be meaningless and trivial individuals. In both cases, I believe I was correct.” "

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The Unbroken Window

The Unbroken Window: "By the way, it took a dozen years to rebuild a single building when an entire country supports that getting done. Remember this when folks believe we can rebuild the entire US energy infrastructure in the next 30 years using “green” energy. It took 60 years in a far less restrictive legal and economic environment to build out that much infrastructure and that was using “conventional” fuels.

Have a lovely weekend."

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Why Does Evil Make Liberals Stupid? | Power Line

Why Does Evil Make Liberals Stupid? | Power Line: "This piece in The Atlantic is a good exemplar of the mushy liberal commentary that has proliferated in recent days. Authored by one Megan Garber, it is titled: “The Boston Bombers Were Muslim: So?” Before taking a close look at Ms. Garber’s article, let’s advise The Atlantic not to put away that headline. It could come in handy so often. “The Cole Bombers Were Muslim: So?” “The Embassy Bombers Were Muslim: So?” “The First World Trade Center Bombers Were Muslim: So?” “The September 11 Bombers Were Muslim: So?” “The Madrid Bombers Were Muslim: So?” “The London Bombers Were Muslim: So?” “The Shoebomber Was Muslim: So?” The Underwear Bomber Was Muslim: So?” “The Fort Hood Shooter Was Muslim: So?” “The Beslan Child-Murderers Were Muslim: So?” “The Times Square Bomber Was Muslim: So?”"

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The Unbroken Window

The Unbroken Window: "I don’t think many people actually know what is good, and I surely don’t. But Earth Day, as you know, is about deeming which side you are on. By having a special “Day” it pits those who celebrate it (presumably they are the only ones who care about the land, water, air, flora and fauna that sustain us) with those who do not celebrate it (presumably those that don’t care about that which sustains us). I find such an implication gut wrenching and plain wrong. Because if folks really were all acting in good faith, the presumption of all would be that we have an individual and shared interest in making the Earth as wonderful a place for us as it can be, and for our children and future generations. You’d have to be something close to a psychopath not to want life to be better. And a natural corollary to that idea would be that we all have a shared interest in actually figuring out what is “good” for the Earth and what is “not.” "

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The Corner | National Review Online

The Corner | National Review Online: "What was so extraordinary about the president’s performance yesterday is that this is the version of himself he’s always tried to keep under wraps. He made his career on sounding reasonable, positioning himself as the middle between two extremes, pretending to afford respect for the arguments of his opponents, and never, ever showing anger. You always knew this was all a pose, but he never fully let loose until yesterday when he vented his rage at and his contempt for his opponents, and after a defeat in the most traditional of all liberal causes, gun control. It’s amazing how he believes that everyone else in Washington engages in politics except for him, even though the way he reacted after Newtown was textbook political exploitation of a tragedy–using the victims and their families to the maximum extent possible and pursuing policy goals that he’d always favored but that wouldn’t have prevented the shooting. In his own mind, he’s the brave and sincere one, and everyone opposed to him is an insincere coward. We already knew all of this about him, but it was revealing all the same."

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Best of the Web Today: From Roe to Gosnell - WSJ.com

Best of the Web Today: From Roe to Gosnell - WSJ.com: "A law protecting every human life from the moment of fertilization would be draconian or unenforceable, and probably both. Would a free society really tolerate its government's forcing a rape victim to carry her attacker's child to term? Surely not--but an exception for rape would also create a loophole, an incentive for women seeking abortions to claim rape falsely. Norma McCorvey, the anonymous Roe v. Wade plaintiff, did just that, albeit unsuccessfully, before filing her lawsuit.

The reductio ad absurdum of the pro-abortion side is Kermit Gosnell. That is why the Gosnell case has crystallized our view that the current regime of abortion on demand in America is a grave evil that ought to be abolished. It is murderous, if not categorically then at least in its extreme manifestations. Maintaining it requires an assault on language and logic that has taken on a totalitarian character. And it is politically poisonous."

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Sic et Non —

Sic et Non —: "I definitely don’t understand the hostile secular critics who want to detach believers from their faith, and, if possible, to pull the Church from its foundations.  I think, in this context, of the words of the high priest Giddonah to the anti-Christ Korihor in Alma 30:22.  Giddonah seeks to know why Korihor wants to destroy the faith of the ancient Nephite saints, and “to interrupt their rejoicings.”

I’m curious about the same question.  Do the secularists have anything better to offer?

I think not.

I’m a believer.  I’m convinced that the claims of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, incredible as they certainly seem to many, are actually true.  But even if they turned out to be false, even if our lives are merely a flickering candle surrounded by an eternity of pointless darkness and soon to be extinguished by it, the Mormon way of life, in the company of the Saints, is a very good place to be."

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EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty: "The point about warnings as white noise does, though, raise a more-serious issue. Within a few miles of where I live in coastal California is Monastery Beach, where the undertow is particularly severe. Many people have drowned at the beach. I remember one time in the last 10 years when a whole visiting family drowned.

Notice the word "visiting." Almost all the people who drown there are tourists. Why is that relevant?

The locals tend to know about the undertow. Outsiders do not. On the beach for well over 15 years has been a big sign warning of the undertow. I think many tourists simply think the sign is typical government overstatement. When I went through the San Jose airport Saturday morning in a long line at TSA, we passengers were subjected to John Pistole's warning, on an infinite loop, of the dangers of terrorism. We've all seen enough to know that it's not that dangerous. So we tend to ignore government warnings. So when there really is a high-probability threat and the government warns us, we tend to dismiss that too. Government cries wolf way too often."

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Margaret Thatcher dead: Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten says hate mobs are 'loathsome' & calls for respect | Mail Online

Margaret Thatcher dead: Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten says hate mobs are 'loathsome' & calls for respect | Mail Online: "Former Sex Pistol John Lydon says those now celebrating Margaret Thatcher's death are 'loathsome'.

Lydon, famously known as Johnny Rotten when he was the singer in Punk icons The Sex Pistols back in the 1970s as Maggie was rising to power, added: 'I'm not going to dance on her grave.'

He said: 'I was her enemy in her life but I will not be her enemy in her death.'"

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Philadelphia abortion clinic horror: Column

Philadelphia abortion clinic horror: Column: "Regardless of such quibbles, about whether Gosnell was killing the infants one second after they left the womb instead of partially inside or completely inside the womb — as in a routine late-term abortion — is merely a matter of geography. That one is murder and the other is a legal procedure is morally irreconcilable."

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Cafe Hayek — where orders emerge

Cafe Hayek — where orders emerge: "But I believe there are still hundreds of thousands of workers, those with the lowest skills, who are priced out of the labor market by the minimum wage. I am not a utilitarian. Giving some workers a raise while other workers lose their jobs, is to me, a repugnant policy."

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The Corner - National Review Online

The Corner - National Review Online: "Kamala Harris no doubt works hard to look as good as she does. Why shouldn’t she be proud of it?

Yes, it’s unfair. Not everyone is born with the capacity to be beautiful. Or smart. Or a great athlete. Why single out beauty as the one inborn gift (developed through hard work) which we all notice, but never speak of?"

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G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews: "The Joes, as they are called, are needed to counter "nanomites," a secret weapon that eats up people and buildings and stuff. This weapon has been invented by the evil disfigured scientist named McCullen (Christopher Eccleston), who steals it back from the people he sold it to, and plans to use it to conquer the world. Why is McCullen so pissed off? His Scottish clan was insulted centuries ago. Those Scots."

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Althouse

Althouse: "No, Obama characterized his 5% as sharing the sacrifice that the sequester is forcing some public sector employees to make. It's just not the same kind of sacrifice. He won't even feel his sacrifice. And if he does, he can ease his tiny pains with another deluxe vacation and a few more concerts at the White House performed by whichever pop stars his daughters are enthusing over this month."

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Princeton's Marriage Market Theory Worked for Me - Bloomberg

Princeton's Marriage Market Theory Worked for Me - Bloomberg: "However, my own finely tuned algebraic simulations of an optimal spousal-search model find that while college provides an ideal time to accumulate a large stock of good friends (prospective spouses), it is typically suboptimal to wed at age 21 because of preference uncertainty and the benefits of continuing to meet alternatives.

In my own life, which has always been based on a rigorous application of optimization methods, the equations dictated that I meet my future wife in line at a Princeton dining hall at age 17, but that we should not date for another 15 years and not wed until after our 15th reunion.    "

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The anti-drone hoodie that helps you beat Big Brother's spy in the sky | Art and design | The Guardian

The anti-drone hoodie that helps you beat Big Brother's spy in the sky | Art and design | The Guardian: "It does not, it's fair to say, make its wearer look especially cool. But that's not really what this hoodie is about. It has been designed to hide me from the thermal imaging systems of unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles – drones. And, as far as I can tell, it's working well."

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Obamacare Incompetence | TIME.com

Obamacare Incompetence | TIME.com: "Let me try to understand this: The key incentive for small businesses to support Obamacare was that they would be able to shop for the best deals in health care super-stores—called exchanges. The Administration has had 3 years to set up these exchanges. It has failed to do so.

This is a really bad sign. There will be those who argue that it’s not the Administration’s fault. It’s the fault of the 33 states that have refused to set up their own exchanges. Nonsense. Where was the contingency planning? There certainly are models, after all—the federal government’s own health benefits plan (FEHBP) operates markets that exist in all 50 states. So does Medicare Advantage. But now, the Obama Administration has announced that it won’t have the exchanges ready in time, that small businesses will be offered one choice for the time being—for a year, at least. No doubt, small business owners will be skeptical of the Obama Administration’s belief in the efficacy of the market system to produce lower prices through competition. That was supposed to be the point of this plan."

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How Obamacare Is Like the Iraq War - Reason.com

How Obamacare Is Like the Iraq War - Reason.com: "Similar analyses last year had already forced MIT's Jonathan Gruber to admit that his projections that the law would lower premiums for young and old alike were wrong — even though his projections were instrumental in securing Obamacare's passage. Gruber's revised estimates now show that even the least affected states, such as Colorado, will experience premium hikes of nearly 20 percent by 2016.

Clearly, the word "affordable" should be scratched from the law for the sake of truth in advertising. But what about the "protection" part—namely, universal coverage?"

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BBC News - Melt may explain Antarctica's sea ice expansion

BBC News - Melt may explain Antarctica's sea ice expansion: "Climate change is expanding Antarctica's sea ice, according to a scientific study in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The paradoxical phenomenon is thought to be caused by relatively cold plumes of fresh water derived from melting beneath the Antarctic ice shelves.

This melt water has a relatively low density, so it accumulates in the top layer of the ocean."

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Greg Mankiw's Blog

Greg Mankiw's Blog: "I have the same problem with my other insurance policies.  My homeowner insurance doesn't cover the cost when my gutters need cleaning, and my car insurance doesn't cover the cost when I need to fill the tank with gas. Instead, the policies cover only catastrophic events, like my house burning down or a major accident. Now that the Obama administration has fixed the health insurance system, I trust they will soon move on to solve these other problems."

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Roger L. Simon » The Economist Breaks with the Climate Orthodoxy

Roger L. Simon » The Economist Breaks with the Climate Orthodoxy: "IT MAY come as a surprise to a walrus wondering where all the Arctic’s summer sea ice has gone. It could be news to a Staten Islander still coming to terms with what he lost to Hurricane Sandy. But some scientists are arguing that man-made climate change is not quite so bad a threat as it appeared to be a few years ago. They point to various reasons for thinking that the planet’s “climate sensitivity”—the amount of warming that can be expected for a doubling in the carbon-dioxide level—may not be as high as was previously thought. The most obvious reason is that, despite a marked warming over the course of the 20th century, temperatures have not really risen over the past ten years.”"

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