I write like . . . H. P. Lovecraft
The Old Ones have spoken . . . or rather, this incredibly unreliable website has determined I’m a bad Lovecraft knock-off. Sound off in comments with your own results (via).
Author: Will
One last salvo on immigration
Mark’s points about the relationship between American dynamism and immigration are well-taken. Again, I’d like to stress that I’m endorsing an exceedingly mild form restrictionism – perhaps a system that expands immigration quotas for...
My Immigration Dilemma
As someone who’s won the citizenship lottery (read: American born), I’m very reluctant to comment on immigration. But I do believe in certain mild restrictions on the influx of new arrivals, so here’s my...
“Dignity and Respect”
I’m not sure why this hasn’t taken the Internet by storm, but Wired found a military comic from 2001 explaining how army personnel are expected to deal with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Fortunately (or...
My Inception Mini-Review
I have some major reservations about Inception, so I’ll get the part where I praise the movie out of the way first. Inception is genuinely thrilling, and it’s nice to see a major studio...
A Blog of Fire and Ice
For the League’s fantasy aficionados (and Erik, who I know loves this stuff): Alyssa Rosenberg is blogging George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice. Here’s her latest entry.
Your Weekend Viewing Recommendation
I’d like to direct your attention to Alyssa Rosenberg’s appreciation of “House of Cards,” a decades-old political drama from our cousins at the BBC. Francis Urqhart, the show’s protagonist, is one of the great...
USA 2, Slovenia 2
To quote the immortal Joe Jacobs: “We wuz robbed.” A goal that should have capped off an epic comeback was inexplicably called back to allow the Slovenians to slink away with a draw. Time...
Why I watch soccer
The weekend beckons, so I thought I’d write something about the World Cup. At his personal blog, Jonathan Last links to a pretty apt take-down of soccer evangelists he wrote in 2002, when Americans...
“Incidentally, you should know that the Ambassador takes his steak like American soccer victories – somewhat rare.”
Even if you have no interest in the upcoming US-UK England World Cup match, the quality of the trash talk between our respective embassies is to be savored.
Against Progress
Provocative stuff from Robin Hanson: Social norms are slavery. Factory work is worse than farming is worse than foraging. “School, propaganda, mass media, and who knows what else have greatly changed human nature, enabling a...
Your 2010 World Cup Primer
From The Unlikely Fan, a great series on the history of the World Cup and an entertaining post comparing the history of each country’s national squad to professional American teams. For the highbrow set...
Please, read the whole thing
Short form reading recommendations are usually reserved for the sidebar, but I feel compelled to give this one front page billing. Sydney Schanberg – a Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose work inspired “The Killing Fields”...
The Tea Party’s Skin Deep Libertarianism
Jim Geraghty has a great article on the foibles of a movement candidate from Nevada, including one statement that sounds awfully close to an endorsement of prohibition:
The Innovation Boom
Given the recent discussions about social dynamism and technological innovation around these parts, you may be interested in Scott Sumner’s take on the 20th century’s innovation boom. The scope of technological change at mid-century...
The Criminal Diaspora
At his Future of the City blog, Conor Friedersdorf links to an Atlantic magazine piece from 2008 on a new suburban crime wave. Definitely worth reading.
Fixing the Service Academies
It’s a subject I know very little about, but this op-ed on Annapolis and West Point is a pretty searing indictment of how we educate our officer corps.
Department of Exciting Literary Developments
The first volume of Mark Twain’s autobiography (!) is about to be released.
