I SHOULD’VE MENTIONED THIS IN MY EARLIER DISASTER-PREP POSTS, but if you’re interested in this stuff you should check out Bill Quick’s discussion forum.
Archive for 2012
November 9, 2012
BURN GASOLINE TO PREVENT CLIMATE CHANGE: Human Carbon Emissions Seen by Researchers Holding Back Ice Age.
It’s more and more like Fallen Angels all the time.
A GLIMPSE OF TEENAGE LIFE in ancient Rome.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Why Mid-Life Marital Sex Is So Hot.
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (FOREIGN AFFAIRS EDITION): War Plans For Mali Leaked. “It sure looks like the US has some more leading from behind in Africa ahead of it. Reuters reports that plans are solidifying for what Theodore Roosevelt might have called a ‘splendid little war’ in Mali.”
KATRINA ON THE HUDSON: After 11 days without power, Sandy victims want answers.
Related: Disaster Shelter Doesn’t Protect From Bitter Cold. And a coverup: “As Sotelo tells it, when it became clear the residents were less than enamored with their new accommodations Wednesday night and were letting the outside world know about it, officials tried to stop them from taking pictures, turned off the Wi-Fi and said they couldn’t charge their cellphones because the complex didn’t have enough power.”
JOHN CHUBB: The Best Teachers In The World: Why we don’t have them and how we could get them. “Of those elements that are within the control of schools, teachers are the most important determinant of how much students achieve. . . . For all the talk among political leaders about being first in the world in math and science or otherwise having the best schools and highest achievement in the world, there is little talk about having the best teachers. Yet, research is increasingly clear that that is exactly what the aim of top achievement requires. If the United States wants the best achievement in the world, it will need to seek out, train, and retain the best teachers in the world. The United States is not currently serious about that aim.”
IN THE MAIL: From Denise Mina, Slip of the Knife: A Novel.
MICHAEL WALSH: It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing. A must-read. Key: “The big GOP money should henceforth divert at least a tiny fraction of the dough it poured into Karl Rove’s useless American Crossroads super PAC and its ilk and establish its own, alternative media (not Fox News) that functions both as a sword and shield against the decaying, corrupt journalistic establishment. After all, the Republicans lost with the super PACS, and they can just as easily lose without them, and at a fraction of the cost. But they can’t win without a media operation that can neutralize the 15 to 20 points that MSM advocacy regularly contributes to the Democrats. The only way to beat the media is to replace the media — and if you don’t think the media won this election for Obama, you’re delusional.”
AMERICA AS SEEN BY EUROPE: The Next Greece.
THE MAN WHO SMELLED TOO MUCH. Homeless man comes into money, buys a place, is rejected by supposedly sensitive, pro-diversity Downtown Los Angeles hipsters. “I was on the other side of the fence for a long time. I’m exactly who they don’t want around. I didn’t fit the demographics of that building. . . . I’m not the stereotype you think I am.”
PETER INGEMI: Mitt Romney And The GOP Meet George McClellan. “It doesn’t matter if they are Demoralized as Hell if you don’t Ride Right Through Them.”
L.A. TIMES DISCOVERS “PRE-DRINKING,” something that was around when I was in college. Good grief. What do they teach them in J-schools these days? I mean, I at least expect journalism students to graduate with a working knowledge of alcohol. . .
MICHAEL GREVE: A Constitutional Moment. Sometime? “For advanced democracies in the transfer state predicament, there are only two ways out. One is a responsible Social-Democratic party that is (1) cognizant of the fact that a wrecked economy would also wreck its constituencies and (2) capable of holding labor unions in line. Successful reform countries—Canada, Germany, Sweden, and (more arguably) Brazil—all have that dynamic in common. America had but forfeited that chance in 2008, with Mr. Obama’s victory over Mrs. Clinton. The moment is gone for good, and Mrs. Clinton (should she enter the 2016 sweepstakes that started yesterday) will go nowhere. The new face of the party is Elizabeth Warren et al.—brutal, ruthless hacks from Harvard.”
I HAVE A POPULAR MECHANICS PIECE: Lessons Learned From Hurricane Sandy.
INSTAVISION: I talk with Greg Lukianoff about his new book, Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship And The End Of American Debate. From Lukianoff: “I think one of the solutions for the problem of free speech and due process on campus is more competition.”
JAMES TARANTO CALLS OUT RACIAL BIGOTRY AT THE NEW YORK TIMES: “The lack of self-awareness here is something to behold. Krugman identifies a racially defined out-group, excludes it from the ‘real America,’ and declares the in-group to be a ‘better nation’ than the out-group (which is, in fact, part of the same nation). All this in the name of tolerance.”
He hasn’t just gone beyond parody, he’s gone beyond self-parody.
RELATED (From Ed): What can you expect from a newspaper so out of touch, it sings the praises of “Bruce Springstein”?
AN UNEXPECTED parade of events.
GREG GUTFELD’S The Joy of Hate: How To Triumph Over Whiners In The Age Of Phony Outrage comes out next week. Follow the link for a review by Jonah Goldberg.
CHANGE: Czech Government Pushes Through Crucial Bills. “Czech government bills aiming to partially privatize the country’s state-run pension system and allow religious organizations to claim back $2.9 billion worth of property seized by the former Communist regime were approved by the lower house of parliament late Wednesday, hours after the country’s government won a vote of confidence.”