This American Life: When Patents Attack
I’d long heard about how desperately we need to reform patent law in this country, but it wasn’t until I listened to this outstanding episode of “This American Life” that I truly understood just...
Monthly Archive: July 2011
“The Harrow and the Harvest”: Silver Dagger
(I’m writing about Gillian Welch’s The Harrow and the Harvest until I feel like stopping. But really, you should listen to the music more than you should pay attention to me.) More commented on in reviews than the...
Luck and Desert
Some people are mildly disappointed at the grocery store when they can’t find quite the perfect olive for their martinis (um, yeah, that’s me). Others starve to death at age five. E.D. writes below...
The Good German?
It’s midsummer and I haven’t written anything sports related in awhile. With the NFL going through perhaps the most insanely active week in its history, the MLB trade deadline fast approaching, labor talks finally...
Open-Source Unionism and Labor Scarcity
Ned Resnikoff has been putting out some really fascinating work lately. His writing on small-R ‘republicanism’ and non-domination is really excellent, and a nice twist in the broader debate over what sort of form...
Liberalism is a mighty big tent
Freddie writes: Before I get to it, can I just say that I find the endless posturing about the term “neoliberal” tiring and a dodge? The various poses that the term is meaningless, that...
Quote for the Week
In a pine grove on the southwest cusp of the interstate cloverleaf 5 P.M. / JULY 4 Now in these dread latter days of the old violent beloved U.S.A and of the Christ-forgetting Christ-haunted...
“Fiscal Indulgences”
Via the Economist, a poli-sci professor comes up with a clever way to describe tax credits.
Famine
Sometimes it’s worth remembering that the ridiculous political battles that take place here in the US, or the stupid petty things we worry and fret about are really not that important. Sure, the implications...
The League and Amazon Associates
So I’m trying to figure out how to make Amazon Associates work with the League. A number of people have suggested it as another good way to – I don’t want to say monetize,...
A Challenge to Law-Abiders
Via Radley Balko: Other kids were standing over the kindergartner’s assigned seat, yelling that Xander was slumped over. “Help, he’s not moving,” she recalled during a recent court hearing. “We can’t wake him up.”...
A Quick Question
Since I’m beginning the hunt for a new laptop: Does anyone have experience with/opinions about non-Word word processors? I view a laptop pretty much as a glorified typewriter, and if I’m going to have...
Plotinus: Enneads 1:1 Does the Soul Sense?
“Pleasure and distress, fear and courage, desire and aversion, where have these affections and experiences their seat?” In other words, are they rooted in the Soul, the Body, or some combination of the two?...
Fund-raising drive
Update: We are now at about 90% of our $1,000 goal at this time. Thank you so much to everyone. This has been our strongest showing ever, which is very cool. Update: We are...
All Deficits and No Jobs Make Homer Something Something
Deficits don’t matter during a recession. We should be running deficits during a recession. We should be running deficits when there is little to no inflation. We should be running deficits when unemployment is...
We wouldn’t be in this mess if John McCain had won in 2008
We’d probably be in all sorts of other messes if McCain had won the presidential election in 2008, but I think in many ways we’d be in a very different pickle than the one...
Perry nips at Romney’s heels
I knew that Perry would be Romney’s only credible threat, the only real contender in this race. Palin is too vapid for most center-right non-base voters. Bachmann is a congress-critter, not a governor, and...
Debt Ceiling Updates
Intrade suggests the debt ceiling isn’t getting raised until after July 31 — a nailbiter, in other words. But it also thinks we’re likely to get some kind of deal in August. What will...
Debt and the ticking clock
I have been watching the progress (what little there is) on the debt ceiling, and I have to say I’m feeling a little apprehensive. There is now less than a week before the US...
