BBH Labs thought it was being clever, and perhaps even slightly humanitarian, when, at this year’s South by SouthWest technology conference, it enlisted thirteen volunteers from a homeless shelter, strapped Wi-Fi devices onto their bodies, gave them business cards and T-shirts that read, (for example), “I’m Clarence, a 4G Hotspot” and sent them out into theContinue reading “Houston, We have a HotSpot Problem in Austin #SXSW”
Category Archives: Politics
This Summer I Hear The Drumming, Sixteen Dead in Panjwai
It seems a peculiarly American destiny, hovering over the heads of this nation and its people, to keep on reading, in the morning papers, news paragraphs like the following: Any accelerated withdrawal would face stiff opposition from military commanders, who want to keep the bulk of the remaining American troops in Afghanistan until the endContinue reading “This Summer I Hear The Drumming, Sixteen Dead in Panjwai”
Statutory Interpretation, the “Nietzsche Rule”, and Stevens and Scalia in Zuni
From Chapter 8, (‘Doctrines of Statutory Interpretation’), Section 1, A. ‘Textual Canons’, 2 ‘Grammar Canons’, (f) ‘The Golden Rule (Against Absurdity) – and the Nietzsche Rule. of William N. Eskridge, Jr., Philip Fricket, and Elizabeth Garrett, Cases and Materials on Legislation: Statutes and the Creation of Public Policy, Thomson West, American Casebook Series, Saint Paul,Continue reading “Statutory Interpretation, the “Nietzsche Rule”, and Stevens and Scalia in Zuni”
Pat Robertson Thinks its High Time Marijuana was Legalized
Cliches about broken clocks being right twice a day might need to be dragged out for this one. Pat Robertson wants pot to be made legal. He is on the straight-and-420 for this one. Robertson isn’t indulging in just idle, pass-the-bong, give-me-a-hit, don’t-bogart-that-joint talk. This is a serious policy recommendation, which gives off the aromaContinue reading “Pat Robertson Thinks its High Time Marijuana was Legalized”
The NYPD as Domestic Intelligence Force: Kelly and Browne Need To Go
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has a vexed relationship with civil liberties. The department’s long and troubled history with minority populations is perhaps the best indicator of a kind of systematic confusion in its training institutions, its rank-and-file, its leadership, and thus, in its deeply-ingrained institutional culture, about the very notion: “Civil liberties?Continue reading “The NYPD as Domestic Intelligence Force: Kelly and Browne Need To Go”
Nietzsche on Olympia Snowe’s Departure From the Senate
Olympia Snowe’s announcement that she would not seek reelection in November 2012 and would instead retire when her third term ends in January 2013 has, understandably, been the cause of much gnashing of teeth among those ostensibly committed to a more tolerant politics and to ‘pragmatism’ in legislation. Snowe herself wrote an Op-Ed in theContinue reading “Nietzsche on Olympia Snowe’s Departure From the Senate”
Black Money, Parallel Economies, Marxism, Corruption, and All That
Corey Robin heard of the term “black money“–untaxed income from under-the-table transactions–for the first time yesterday. (Unsurprisingly, he heard about it from an Indian friend, because if there is one place in the world where there is a lot of it, it’s India.) He was sufficiently intrigued to write a very interesting post, which, inContinue reading “Black Money, Parallel Economies, Marxism, Corruption, and All That”
Ann Althouse on Rush Limbaugh: ‘Smart People’ Offer Weak Tea
Some nineteen years ago, I was working at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, surrounded by a host of seemingly very intelligent men and women. Name the best technical schools in the country and the chances were you would find a graduate from most of them in any average corridor in the five-storied building of theContinue reading “Ann Althouse on Rush Limbaugh: ‘Smart People’ Offer Weak Tea”
Allison Arieff on Architecture and Jargon, and Why Ethical Theory Should Listen
Allison Arieff’s article, “Why Don’t We Read About Architecture” (New York Times, March 2nd, 2012), concludes, roughly, that the use of jargon in descriptions of architecture interferes with our appreciation of, and engagement with, the sciences and arts of the ‘built environment’. Arieff’s complaint is a familiar one in bemoaning jargon in fields of writingContinue reading “Allison Arieff on Architecture and Jargon, and Why Ethical Theory Should Listen”
Labor Relations in Low Earth Orbit: The Skylab Strike
Three weeks ago, the world celebrated the twenty-eighth anniversary of the end of the manned portion of the Skylab mission. Well, not really. Enthusiasts of manned space exploration certainly did; others had to be reminded. Students of the history of science can edify us about the scientific value of the three Skylab missions (meant toContinue reading “Labor Relations in Low Earth Orbit: The Skylab Strike”
Samir Chopra 