Author Archive | David Bernstein

Via Drudge: An individual allergic to cheese claims to have taken every step possible to ensure that his McDonald’s quarter pounder didn’t have cheese on it–except opening the bun and looking at the burger before biting into it.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the […]

I’ve seen many, many, articles on the unraveling housing bubble, but few that give readers an idea of just how much and how quickly prices have come down. So let’s take my own home market, the D.C. metro area, which of late is one of the worst performing regional markets. According to the Housing Tracker […]

This is the name of a device that you plug into a USB port, allowing you to make phone calls from a regular phone to U.S. [and Canadian] numbers for free. The license fee is $40 for the first year (includes the device), and $20 for the next year. It supposedly works over any high-speed […]

These are available at Whole Foods and maybe elsewhere. They are canned in watr, not syrup. I love berries, and usually dislike canned fruit of any kind. But chill these puppies, and they taste better than fresh (they are also a different variety than you get fresh). They also come frozen, but I haven’t tried […]

Okay, I’m not sure this qualifies as a “food,” but this is really excellent iced coffee, and at an unbeatable price. And I don’t even like coffee much!

Costco pizza. As a native New York pizza snob, I wouldn’t call this “good pizza,” but it is better than the vast majority of pizza available in the D.C. area. (Vapiano’s, a European chain that just opened an outlet in Ballston, has the best pizza I’ve had in the area).

The hedge fund, run by the former manager of Harvard’s endowment, is liquidating after losing 57% of its value. Fortunately for Harvard, it had “only” 500 million dollars invested in this fund. This follows the high-profile collapse of two Bear Stearns credit market hedge funds, victims of the subprime debacle. Well, Harvard can’t say it […]

A while back, I liked to collect esoteric libertarian books; in the days before the internet and Amazon.com, there was something cool about finding an obscure book from the early days of the modern libertarian movement. Unpacking today, I found a 1960 hardcover edition of “This Bread is Mine,” by Robert Lefevre, one of early […]

My friend and Northwestern U. Law School prof Eugene Kontorovich is guest-blogging about international law (what else?) at Opinion Juris. A provocative question from Eugene: if Israel agrees to a broad amnesty for convicted Palestinian terrorists with “blood on their hands,” will any of the human rights organizations that routinely oppose amnesties for other human […]

Back in January, I had a post about poor customer service. One example was speakeasy.net, my DSL provider. A salesperson had told me that the company wouldn’t hold me to my contract if I moved, but that turned out not be true. When I transfered my service in January, I was told that this would […]

The imminent formation of a liberal new party not tied to Hamas or Fatah, with many prominent supporters: “This movement would be based on liberal ideas and advancing democracy and human rights in the PA,” said Zakut. “The idea is to have a pragmatic movement that would support the idea of two states on the […]

Ha’aretz: The head of American intelligence, Admiral (ret.) Mike McConnell, revealed a secret a week ago: Hezbollah sleeper cells are waiting in the United States for the order to carry out terror attacks. The unclassified version of the intelligence assessment, the one distributed to the public, has been stating for years that Hezbollah has the […]

If, as Orin points out, the Carpenter’s Union is hiring workers for $8 an hour to picket on its behalf, it’s obvious that what we need is a private sector Davis-Bacon Act for “hired feet” picketers. The picketers would then just need a sympathetic government official to do a skewed “wage survey” that would determine […]

I didn’t see the trial, so I don’t have an opinion whether the verdict was justified on the facts. But more pertinent to me is what strikes me of the infantilization of people who should be considered adults. According to this news report, the “kid” holding the party was 18 years old. Two “teens” who […]