Bits and Pieces - November 22, 2011

Many thanks to The Reaction for pointing out that this song (which I mildly liked at the time) is sung by the two guys who became known as Simon and Garfunkel. The record would have been a 45, though, with a bigger hole in the center.

An interactive map of US highway deaths. There really are a lot.

This is wonky and a bit convoluted, but the bottom line is clear: if you don't want your infrastructure hacked, insert an air gap. In other words, don't connect it to the internet!

Preparing for tonight's Republican debate: questions from Thomas Fingar, a China expert, and Jon Huntsman tries to get a leg up by writing a coherent article.

A reminder that we do have someone competent in foreign policy running things, and why he'll probably win next year.

Since this post is on what some have called "the nuclear taboo," and since this one of this blog's topics is philosophy, let's put in a few seconds of thinking about that. There are some very good points made in the comments that the idea that nuclear war is a bad idea does not amount to a taboo. And, in any case, it appears that many Americans have a fairly low threshold for using nuclear weapons.