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Author Archive | Jonathan H. Adler
More Studies on Studying
The NYT reports on studies on effective study habits. Among other things, the it discusses studies showing that some simple, and potentially counter-intuitive, techniques can enhance recall and retention. In particular, it suggests that varying study environments and mixing up content in study sessions enhance the effectiveness of studying. So don’t always study in the same […]
Letting the Bedbugs Bite
Once virtually eliminated in the United States, bedbugs are back with a vengeance. Earlier this summer Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the little pests had made an “alarming resurgence,” possibly due to increased resistance to available pesticides and a decline in local pest control programs. Some pesticides once used for […]
Sunday Song Lyric
It’s Labor Day weekend. I’m not ready for summer to be over, but it’s not like I have much choice in the matter. Death Cab for Cutie‘s “Summer Skin” seems appropriate. Here’s the second verse: I don’t recall a single care Just greenery and humid air Then Labor Day came and went And we shed […]
On the Latest Eco-Terrorist
“Grover Cleveland” at Pileus offers these thoughts on James Lee: James Lee (the Discovery building hostage taker and crazy environmentalist) no more represents left-wing environmentalists than do violent “right-wingers” (such as Timothy McVeigh) represent those people who are conservative, libertarian, or anti-government. I can see conservative demagogues using Lee to bash left-environmentalists, but I think this is quite unfair even if liberal/progressive […]
“Evidence-Based” Study Tips
The Psychologist (published by the British Psychological Society) rounds up some of the academic research on effective study habits. (Hat tip: Tyler Cowen)
113 Pages Deciding Nothing?
This morning the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the petition for rehearing en banc in Al-Bihani v. Obama — only it did so with a two-page order and 111 additional pages of “statements” respecting the denial. The vote was unanimous, but there appears to be a fair amount of disagreement within […]
A Farewell to Firefox?
I’ve been a devoted Firefox user for many years, but it may be a time for a change. I had always found Firefox to provide a relatively stable and bug-free browser. No longer. With the latest updates (v3.6.8), my Firefox crashes and freezes-up all the time. This may have something to do with the way […]
Time to Reform the IPCC
By Jonathan H. Adler on August 31, 2010 10:40 am in Climate Change, Environment, Politicizing Science
Yesterday the Inter-Academy Council, a consortium of the world’s leading national academies of science, issued a report highly critical of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (Full report here.) The report does not challenge the IPCC’s central findings about the science of climate change, but strongly criticizes the IPCC’s procedures and management structure, […]
A Lomborg About-Face on Warming?
The Guardian reports on an “apparent U-turn” by Bjorn Lomborg, the “skeptical environmentalist,” on the issue of global climate change. (See also here.) The stories report that Lomborg has a new book, due out this fall, in which he calls global warming “one of the chief concerns facing the world today” and urges adoption of […]
Sunday Song Lyric
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) will no longer allow D.C. metro riders to exit the system with negative balances on their SmarTrip cards. Instead, riders will have to use the cash-only “ExitFare” machines to pay the remaining fare. Before, a rider could exit with a negative balance but could not use the card […]
Vaccine-Autism Link Rejected (Again)
Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Special Master’s finding that plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate any link between childhood vaccines and autism or autism spectrum disorders. More from BLT here. I’ve previously blogged on the efforts to link autism and vaccines here, here, here, and here.
Writ of Mandamus Sought in Comer v. Murphy Oil
It’s a big week for climate change litigation. In addition to the SG filing I noted below, the plaintiffs in Comer v. Murphy Oil, a public nuisance suit against multiple energy companies, have filed a petition for a writ of mandamus with the Supreme Court in an effort to revive their litigation. It’s an interesting […]
The SG’s Brief in American Electric Power v. Connecticut
The environmental law community is buzzing over a brief filed by the Solicitor General’s Office this week on behalf of the Tennessee Valley Authority in American Electric Power v. Connecticut. As reported by the Washington Post, the WSJ‘s Washington Wire, and Greenwire, environmentalist groups are shocked and dismayed by the SG’s decision to enter the […]
Do Law Schools Seek the “Wrong Stuff”?
The faculty hiring season is well under way. The first distribution of AALS FAR forms are out, appointments committees are dissecting reams of resumes and scheduling interviews, and pre-meat-market anxiety is building. Do faculty hiring committees focus on the “right stuff” in prospective faculty hires? Georgetown adjunct (and Sentencing Commission deputy staff director) Brent Newton […]