The ownership society
Krugman: The homeownership rate has fallen sharply again. At this point it’s back down to levels of fall 2001. Two implications. First, everything you’ve heard about how subprime lending at least made...
View ArticleThe IT infrastructure as Web utility
Interesting column: When the founder of Microsoft retires this year, it will not only mark the close of a remarkable business career. It will signal the end of an era in computing. “The next sea change...
View ArticleTwo good books
I’ve already mentioned The Bush Tragedy, but now I’ve finished it. Fascinating view of the underlying psychological causes of what we see now. Not judgmental, and even showing some degree of empathy,...
View ArticleMy mouth is on fire! Yum!
If you like spicy—as who doesn’t?—you probably envy me my little pepper mill (red, naturally) filled with crushed dried habanero peppers. Hah! I thought you would, so I decided to blog it. (I’ve been...
View ArticleSuperb shave today
I went all-out. First, the Allison mango-oil shaving soap, lathered with the Rooney Style 1 Size 1 Super Silvertip. Then the Edwin Jagger ivory-handled Chatsworth with an Astra Superior Platinum blade...
View Article80% efficient solar panel!
This is a BIG advance. Now just to figure out how to tap the energy: The most expensive, carefully designed, and complicated solar panels in the world operate at about 40% efficiency. That means that,...
View ArticleSick: kill off the polar bears
The Bush Administration’s goal for its waning hours: do as much damage as possible in the time left. This one is sickening: Source: The Independent (UK), January 22, 2008 Scientists in eight Arctic...
View ArticleA dark side of France
Whistleblowers prosecuted: Source: Le Monde (France), January 29, 2008 The case of Pierre Meneton is fueling demands for legal protections for whistleblowers in France. Meneton is a researcher for the...
View ArticleWhy we’ll miss John Edwards
John Edwards was my choice, for reasons like the following (from an email sent by the Center for American Progress): Returning to where he began, former North Carolina senator John Edwards ended his...
View ArticleBasic meat soboro
This seems like an excellent thing to have on hand for lunches and quick snacks/dinners. And as a bento box lunch, all the better.
View ArticleSo corrupt they don’t even see it
Corruption is bad when it becomes so common it’s just part of the day-to-day scenery. Glenn Greenwald: Yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, featuring day-long testimony from Attorney General...
View ArticleReality vs. Bush
Mark Kleiman makes a good point: George W. Bush asserts that when Congress appropriates funds but then forbids their expenditure for a specific purpose, he may and will spend them for that purpose if...
View ArticleNote: must read this later
And how do you mark that when you’re on the Web? Like this: If you’re anything like us, you probably run across dozens of web pages, news articles, and blog posts every day that look interesting, but...
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Shopping fun
Just back from Whole Foods with a haul. For shaving: to continue the oil-based polish-pass experiment, I got some jojoba oil and a small vial of Pacific Shave Oil (the US answer to Total Shaving...
View ArticleWar on Drugs claims two more lives, senselessly
Why on earth do courts allow no-knock searches: they are hazardous for the police and the risks are not worth the potential benefits. Take a look: Ryan Frederick was arraigned today. He was charged...
View ArticleMoving toward a police state
This is grim: When a Seattle cop kicked the legs out from under a woman, fracturing her cheekbone as she fell face-first onto the pavement, the captain in charge of internal investigations recommended...
View ArticleWhy I don’t like Hillary
There’s the vote to invade Iraq. And there are things like this: In six years as a member of the Wal-Mart board of directors, between 1986 and 1992, Hillary Clinton remained silent as the world’s...
View ArticleMust all companies be evil?
Interesting question—and the Scientific American has an article on it: People compete against one another to come out on top—and they also collaborate with others to succeed. This yin and yang of our...
View ArticleWhat a sensible government can accomplish
Would that it were the US: STAVANGER, NORWAY — To stroll along the harbour of this pretty town on Norway’s North Sea Coast is to follow the history of an economic explosion. To the south, the old...
View ArticleGood words (and insights) about John Edwards
Paul Krugman: So John Edwards has dropped out of the race for the presidency. By normal political standards, his campaign fell short.But Mr. Edwards, far more than is usual in modern politics, ran a...
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