Author Archive | David Post

I suspect others have pointed this out already, but it strikes me as odd that, with political power in this country moving inexorably towards the “Sunbelt” states, the Supreme Court looks like it’s getting more and more Rust Belt-ish. If Alito is confirmed, by my count that will leave only one sitting Justice — Kennedy […]

A truly wonderful idea from the bleat: buying, but then destroying, lottery tickets (so that you can experience the delightful sense of relief when your numbers are not chosen . . .)

Though most stuff in this genre is pretty mediocre, this is an exception: an adaptation by “mister snitch” of Dylan’s great “Hurricane” [about the imprisonment of Ruben “Hurricane” Carter] to the actual hurricane that just swept through the Gulf region. With a nice, hard political edge to it, worthy of the original. Good stuff.

David Brooks had an outstanding column reflecting on the miserable performance of the rescue operation in New Orleans here. As he puts it, “Each institutional failure and sign of helplessness is another blow to national morale. The sour mood builds on itself, the outraged and defensive reaction to one event serving as the emotional groundwork […]

. . that the Internet is either the last gasp of civilization as we know it, or proof that mankind’s highest calling is to find as many outlets as possible for goofing around. The Fantasy Drafts website,where participants, instead of the usual boring football or baseball fantasy teams, put together teams by drafting States, or […]

In yesterday’s New York Times (July 6, page C15) Lynn Zinser reported on the frenzied final days in the race to be named Olymnpic host for 2012, noting the “frantic and expensive campaign among five national capitals” for the Games — the five being, of course, London, Paris, Moscow, Madrid, and New York. OOPS! That’s […]

The unanimous Supreme Court decision holding Grokster & StreamCast liable as contributory copyright infringers for distributing peer-to-peer file-sharing software turns out, on close examination, to be not nearly the victory for the entertainment industry it might have seemed at first glance. [This, interestingly, repeats a pattern in these cases – Sony v. Universal Studios (the […]

It’s a unanimous victory for the entertainment industry plaintiffs — but actually not quite as one-sided as all that. The full court says: even if you meet the Sony standard (i.e., even if you have “substantial noninfringing uses”), you can still be liable for inducing copyright infringement, if there’s evidence that you actively encouraged or […]

Helpful readers have responded to my posting and sent in some neat stuff from the world of Scam & Anti-Scam, including the remarkable 419eater.com “scambaiting” site [check out the photo gallery!] and a truly hilarious response sent in response to one of those WINNING NOTIFICATION!!! messages.

I usually don’t read these ridiculous scam notices before they get deleted from my inbox, but for some reason this one caught my eye as a particularly idiotic version of the great Mariam Abacha Ur-Scam, the Nigerian bank account transfer hoax. I particularly like the way it is addressed to “USA inhabitant,” and the reassuring […]

A few months ago I fearlessly predicted that the Supreme Court would side with the entertainment industry plaintiffs, reverse the 9th Circuit, and find Grokster liable for “inducing” copyright infringment (through the distribution of its software). Maybe I’ve just talked myself into it, but having spent a fair bit of time with the case the […]

What a terrific column by David Brooks in yesterday’s NY Times. Spot on, in tone and substance. His main point (inartfully paraphrased — Brooks can write awfully well) is: the “key to conservatives’ success” is that there’s been intense argument, among conservatives, about Big Questions, and First Principles: “the order of the universe, and how […]

The Economist this week has some sensible words about the Larry Summers “women in science” brouhaha. As they put it: “What is happening at Harvard would be funny if it were not so outrageous.” Precisely. The reaction to Summers’ speech has exposed the appalling hold that political correctness has on substantial elements of the Harvard […]

OK, it hasn’t happened yet, I admit — the MGM v. Grokster case hasn’t even been argued before the Supreme Court yet (that comes in March), and the Court won’t issue its decision until later in the Spring. But I’ve just spent the weekend going through the briefs that have been submitted thus far, and […]

as I was a while back, there’s a wonderful little essay by Tim Whitaker in the Philadelphia Weekly that hits the nail on the head: “Today everybody tries to be a hipster, which is why there aren’t any. . . . It’s become a designation without import. Trying to be a hipster today requires acts […]