HOW’S THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): White House ramps up criticism of China, Russia following Syria veto.
Related: Special Relationship? Britain had to plead with US to take part in Iran flotilla. “Defence sources have revealed that the Americans only relented and allowed a Royal Navy frigate to join the mission following an intervention from Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.”
THE COURT THAT broke New Jersey.
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN: Bernanke Plan To Exterminate Savers Is Unsustainable.
TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: The Resurgence Of Anti-Semitism In Europe.
Plus this: “I’m deeply worried about where Europe is headed. I hope I’m wrong, of course, but I fear otherwise. I suppose the only safe thing to do is to get the French running as much of Europe as possible, so that whatever delusion sets in will be ineptly managed.”
YEAH, THERE’S A WINNING SLOGAN: Obama 2012: He’ll Do Better This Time, Honest.
LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: Stanford Law School Hosts Leading 9/11 Truther Tonight.
IS THE SIERRA CLUB in the pocket of the Gas Lobby?
HOW MASSAGE heals sore muscles.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Beware the Nympho Librarian. The illustration is classic.
AT AMAZON, top deals on printers.
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Beyond Blue Part Three: The Power of Infostructure.
The quest for a new social model has to start with economics. America could survive without growing prosperity and rising standards of living, but it would not flourish — and it would not be living up to its potential to create a better life not only for Americans but for people all over the world. Green dreamers and communitarians disagree, often eloquently but always futilely; the drive for economic prosperity is deeply planted in American politics and society. When the economy isn’t performing well, politicians lose their jobs while the public looks for alternative ideas.
The quest for economic prosperity helped make the blue social model, and the failure of that model to deliver continuing prosperity in contemporary conditions is both a symptom of and a leading reason for its decline.
Read the whole thing.
HOW TO HIDE FROM GOOGLE.
UPDATE: Note that the article’s reference to Scroogle.com seems to be wrong. I believe it should be Scroogle.org.
AT YALE, it’s Sex Week vs. True Love Week.
LESBIAN DIVORCE SHOCKER: Same-sex marriages between women are considerably more likely to end in divorce than either same-sex male marriages or heterosexual marriages, according to a study of Norway and Sweden. Well, women initiate divorce twice as often as men, so it stands to reason that a marriage composed of nothing but women would be more likely to split.
SCIENCE: To Compare Human and Monkey Brains, Humans and Monkeys Watch a Clint Eastwood Film. Sadly, it wasn’t one of the ones with the orangutuan.
PUTTING THOSE 40 MPG Claims To The Test.
NO POSTHUMOUS PARDON for Alan Turing.
IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, Naomi Schaefer Riley reviews Andrew Rosen’s Change.edu: Rebooting For The New Talent Economy. Key bit:
For-profits have largely opted out of the prestige game. The schools are not looking to turn away students. Their professors are engaged exclusively in teaching, not research. No one has tenure, so incompetence means dismissal. Teaching is quality-controlled and student performance strictly measured.
The for-profit schools can track “learning outcomes” because much (though not all) of their education is online. For a book with a “dot” in the title, Mr. Rosen’s “Change.edu” does not spend a lot of time defending this mode of education—it’s just, well, the future. And maybe it is. He is careful not to overstate the value of online learning, acknowledging that there is plenty to be gained in the traditional, seminar-room, residential model of college—he calls it the “meandering” model. But there are many students who want a “direct route” to knowledge and skills. Mr. Rosen makes a strong case that for-profits, when properly run, are ready to provide it.
My interview with Rosen is here.
BIG MARKETER IS WATCHING YOU: Surveillance Video Becomes A Tool For Studying Customers.
TERRY TEACHOUT on turning 56.
CHANGE: Civilian drones to fill the skies after law shake-up.
The US Federal Aviation Administration allows for recreational use of remote-controlled air vehicles, but the Columbia Packing case blurs the line because the UAV became a surveillance tool. Commercial use is also illegal – last week real estate agents in Los Angeles, California, were ordered to stop using helicopter drones to shoot aerial movies of properties they are selling. “Although the FAA allows hobbyists to fly model airplanes for recreational purposes, that authority does not extend to operators flying unmanned aircraft for business purposes,” the Air Division of the Los Angeles police department reminded the California Association of Realtors.
That could soon change. The FAA plans to unveil a new set of rules this year that will cover the burgeoning interest in flying commercial and private UAVs.
Hey, I saw the drone photo-shoot on Selling L.A. How can they outlaw that? It’s an outrage!
Related: A pro-civilian-drone editorial. “The first powered, fixed-wing aircraft ever to fly was an uncontrolled steam-powered drone built by American aviation pioneer Samuel Langley. That was in 1896. It’s high time we got our drones back.”
MY WASHINGTON EXAMINER COLUMN HAS VANISHED, and people have been writing me. I inquired and got this response: “We’re transitioning to new CMS, new design and everything is totally screwed up at the moment.” I assume it’ll reappear at some point later today.
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