Friday miscellaneous (3/1)

Today marks the end of the world. Or at least, the beginning of the sequester. Or at least the beginning of the last month before effects from the sequester. (Seriously, I think it’s high time that the world made up it’s mind whether it was going to live or die. This shilly-shallying with the question is absurd.)

Oh well, whatever it is, we know it’s bad. Really, really bad. Previously abolished agencies are losing funding and the entire American workforce is going to lose their jobs (some of them multiple times). It might even inhibit projects such as setting policy for Yeti hunters or parachuting dead mice by hand from helicopters over Guam.

Meanwhile, the White House is more concerned that journalists might discover that the sequester was actually a White House proposal (Obama White House, that is. Were it a Bush White House proposal...)

Meanwhile, Republican Governors are distancing themselves from the Republican Congress.

Moving to another branch, here are Justice Thomas’ thoughts on writing judicial opinions.

But enough about triviality. For Lego and/or Harry Potter fans, here’s something truly impressive (more pictures here).

In other news, China is trying to develop its liberal arts education system.

And it appears that Christianity is overtaking Judaism as the most persecuted religion in the world.

Continuing a year of train-wrecks, David Barton now admits to citing a Louis L’Amour novel as historically accurate. His defense: L’Amour said he once heard that anecdote was true. (Wait, wasn’t it Barton who said that a lack of primary sources was part of “the common method employed by those seeking to subvert American culture and society”?)

We’ve all heard “more guns, less crime.” What about “fewer streetlights, less crime” (and less light pollution, and lower energy bills, and...)? And we might actually be able to see the stars.

The Atlantic asks: What day most changed the course of history?

NPR asks: what is that one piece of knowledge that you didn’t learn when you should have?

The Atlantic asks: will the border ever be secure enough for immigration hawks?

This is a fascinating article challenging some of the presumptions of modern psychology. What if the American mind is a rather unique outlier when compared to the rest of the world? (In case you were still doubting, here’s more proof.)

Here’s a new idea: showing a mystery mini-series to those waiting for the subway.

And finally, my brother is currently studying computer animation. Here is his most recent project.