Today’s Boston Globe has a story about three of my law school classmates that includes commentary from several of my closest friends from that time (and a brief remark by me). I’ve mentioned parts of the tragic story before, but the Globe story provides the full picture.
Archive | 2010
Did “Trial by Ordeal” Actually Work?
Economist Peter Leeson has an interesting article in the Boston Globe arguing that the Medieval practice of “trial by ordeal” may have been more effective at convicting the guilty and freeing the innocent than we are inclined to believe. I’m not convinced, but it’s an interesting article.
Report: Laws Banning Cell Phone Use While Driving Don’t Lower Accident Rates
The NYT Wheels Blog reports: Laws banning cellphone use while driving apparently haven’t reduced crashes, according to a study released on Friday that compared the number of total crashes before the ban with the number after. The study found virtually no difference in the numbers, a finding that had the researchers scratching their heads. “We […]
The IPCC Under Siege
2010 has not been kind to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This U.N. sanctioned body is supposed to issue periodic reports that summarize the state of the science of global climate change based upon a comprehensive review and synthesis of the relevant peer-reviewed scientific literature. In the past few weeks, however, it has […]
Volcker on Financial Reform
For those following financial regulatory reform debates, Paul Volcker’s NYT op-ed today is must-reading (NYT Op Ed, Paul Volcker, How to reform our financial system, January 31, 2010) (Thanks to Paul for pointing out misspelling.) The specific points at issue are ownership or sponsorship of hedge funds and private equity funds, and proprietary trading — […]
Cities in Flight
Instead of a Stendhal post this week – I missed Saturday lost in the DC snow – and further to my Foundation post below, which has garnered some very interesting comments … do we have any fans of James Blish’s Cities in Flight novels? As an exercise in future history social theory, I actually think […]
Sunday Song Lyric
Who remembers the Housemartins? They were a fun British alt-pop band from Hull, England. They only put out a few albums, and their lyrics blended Christianity and Marxism, but it was fun stuff. After breaking up, one of their members formed Beautiful South and another created Fatboy Slim. The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death […]
“Spokespirate”:
Prof. Mark Liberman (Language Log) reports on this emerging term.
OPR Report “Clears” Yoo and Bybee
Newsweek‘s Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman are reporting that the soon-to-be-released report from the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility will “clear” former OLC attorneys John Yoo and Jay Bybee of professional misconduct. They report: While the probe is sharply critical of the legal reasoning used to justify waterboarding and other “enhanced” interrogation techniques, […]
Anti-Vaccine Scientist Acted “Dishonestly and Irresponsibly”
Claims that childhood MMR vaccines cause autism are unfounded and irresponsible. As Ron Bailey notes, “study after study has debunked” the claim that MMR vaccines are linked to autism, and there are credible allegations that the study that prompted the initial scare was faked. As the BBC reports, British medical authorities have also concluded that […]
The BCS Antitrust Bowl
The AP reports that the Justice Department is exploring antitrust action against the college football Bowl Championship Series and may seek to force the NCAA to implement a college football playoff. The Justice Department revealed this potential move in a letter to Senator Orrin Hatch in response to the Senator’s inquiry. In the letter to […]
ClimateGate Scientists’ Conduct: Unethical and Illegal
The UK Daily Mail reports: Scientist at the heart of the ‘Climategate’ email scandal broke the law when they refused to give raw data to the public, the privacy watchdog has ruled. The Information Commissioner’s office said University of East Anglia researchers breached the Freedom of Information Act when handling requests from climate change sceptics. […]
“The New Foundation”
By Kenneth Anderson on January 29, 2010 11:48 pm in Literature, Popular Culture, Psychology, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Peggy Noonan notes in her weekend column that President Obama’s SOTU address worked in a name for the new program – in the tradition of the “New Deal” or Kennedy’s “New Frontier. For the Obama administration, it is the New Foundation. She is skeptical: They’ve chosen a phrase for the president’s program. They call it […]
An Unusual Argument
The Petitioner’s Reply Brief in McDonald v. City of Chicago has an interesting passage in which the Petitioners urge the Court not to rule in their favor on grounds argued by the NRA, which will be sharing argument time with the Petitioners: NRA’s novel theory, at 40, that Cruikshank did not bar the Second Amendment’s […]
1957: Introducing Pizza Pie
A funny video from Canadian TV archives, about the recently discovered “popular Italian dish” called “pizza pie.” More on the history of pizza here.