More Trouble for Jonah Lehrer:

New allegations have emerged that the public apology Jonah Lehrer released yesterday over fabrications in his book Imagine had itself been cobbled together from earlier public apologies issued by Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair and Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Lehrer, 2012:

I want to apologize to everyone I have let down, especially the people I worked with. I hurt my editors. I hurt my family. I hurt my friends. I hurt my readers.

Glass, 2009:

What I did hurt the people I worked with. It hurt my editors. It hurt my family. It hurt my friends. It hurt the readers.

Lehrer, 2012:

The quotes in question either did not exist, were unintentional misquotations, or represented improper combinations of previously existing quotes. 

Blair, 2003:

About those quotes: some of them didn't exist, some were unintentional misquotations, and some represented improper combinations of previously existing quotes.

Lehrer, 2012:

I am a journalist. With the exception of being a wife and mother, it is who I am. And there is nothing I take more seriously.

Goodwin, 2002:

I am a historian. with the exception of being a wife and mother, it is who I am. And there is nothing I take more seriously.

Honestly, it's like that guy's not even trying anymore.

Rice vs. Walt on the Future of Van Halen

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, from an op-ed in the Financial Times:

Eddie Van Halen has to be inspired to lead again. He needs to be reminded that Van Halen is not just any other hard rock band: they are exceptional in the clarity of their conviction that free markets and free peoples hold the key to the future, and in their willingness to act on those beliefs. Failure to do so would leave a vacuum, likely filled by bands that will not champion a balance of power chords that favours freedom. That would be a tragedy for Van Halen's interests and values and those who share them.

Harvard's Stephan Walt, writing on his Foreign Policy blog, counters:

To achieve these (and other) goals, she says, "Eddie Van Halen has to be inspired to lead again." What exactly does this phrase mean? What specific "leadership" tasks require a renewed commitment from Eddie Van Halen? Does she mean Eddie Van Halen has to be convinced to forgo investments here at home so he can continue to meddle (oops, I mean "lead") abroad?...

In fact, Rice isn't really talking about convincing Eddie Van Halen to lead; she's really saying he needs to be "inspired" to follow whatever missions foreign policy mandarins like Rice dream up. And the usual way the mandarins do this is by hyping threats, exaggerating their own omniscience, and insisting that other hard rock bands are incapable of taking effective action if Van Halen isn't there in the cockpit telling them what to do.

Dogs Playing Poker

When you think about it, this would be totally impractical. I mean, as long as their tails are visible, there's no way they can bluff, right?

So I was thinking...

If you get a voodoo doll made of somebody, that's generally considered hostile. But then if you take that voodoo doll to an acupuncturist, it'd actually be a pretty nice thing to do.

He'd be, like, walking down the street and then he'd be all "Hey, suddenly my back feels great! What the hell?"

Huh?