I don’t know about the subprime mess, but ever since this interview I’ve thought there’s something dodgy about Soros.

If you don’t want to listen, around 11m30s he’s asked about the apparent contradiction between the ruthlessness of the investment business and his philantropy, and basically his position is that he invests in financial markets where his influence is infinitesimal, so it’s all right.

I find that abdication of responsibility a bit frightening (especially given the points the interviewer makes about the Southasian crisis and the British Pound and such things I don’t know much about) but what I really found shocking is that the reasoning he used to absolve himself of responsibility for his actions, while valid, is exactly the same reasoning used to prove there’s no point in voting. Except that while that reasoning is valid for voting, there’s a chance that it’s not valid for Soros’ investing because his money and fame as an investor might give him more influence on the markets than he credits himself for.
So the question I wanted the interviewer to ask was, why on earth are you encouraging people to vote when by your own reasoning it’s pointless ?

I don’t know whether he’s slightly self-deluded on that particular point or chooses not to think about it, or if he thinks all the good he does with his money makes it worth the consequences.

(from Wikipedia – source of all knowledge and not a little bs)

Additionally, Ditko shared a Manhattan studio with noted fetish artist Eric Stanton, an art-school classmate[13] who, in a 1988 interview with Theakston, recalled that although his contribution to Spider-Man was “almost nil”, he and Ditko had “worked on storyboards together and I added a few ideas. But the whole thing was created by Steve on his own… I think I added the business about the webs coming out of his hands”.

Heh – webs coming out of his hands

Bizarro Steyn, a Steyn that makes sense.

Which rules Mark out.

(Sadly, at least the latter is definitely not true–Ditko left Marvel, abruptly, eighteen months before that FF story was published.)

How sad. A fading Steyn.

A lot of this has faded over the years, particularly when old Conrad got nailed. If you have the courage to look at his website, most of his articles are from a while back, the only regular columns he seems to get now are McLeans (which a kooky, odd, unreadable PoS anyway) and a couple of low circulation papers in CA. A lot of other papers dropped him around about the time of his book, whent hey realised what a bigoted eliminatioist the guys was. Either that, or the realised how unreadable his columns had become.

I must say that imagining the voting preference of the DC/Marvel universe is a fun diversion from preparing physics lectures.

If you ever have any science questions – feel free to drop me a line.

Cheers,

Jim

…Celtic?

OK, Mr. Miller – tell me your favorite “football” team.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Physics Professor,

Jim

And is this THE Grant Morrison posting? – if so – I must defer to his opinion on the Brotherhood of Dada, though I think General Immortus and Vandal Savage would vote for their older brother – John McCain.

I asked a friend of mine who is a serious comic freak about Sim, and got a response that basically said “…we don’t really talk about him.”

Doom Patrol – Dennis Kucinich

Grant Morrison wins the thread.

Dr. Fate: Hillary

The Black Panther: Three guesses, and the first two don’t count.

The Riddler: McCain

Ultra, the Multi-Alien: Obama

The Brotherhood of Dada (assuming they don’t run their own candidate again) – Mike Gravel

Really, haven’t we all learned a determined person can see bias anywhere? Batman is a clear attack on the Second Amendment and a NAMBLA figurehead. Superman is an illegal immigrant and a member of the liberal media. He didn’t even build his Fortress of Solitude in America! Wonder Woman… okay, that’s too easy.