THIS WOULD GET MORE COVERAGE IF THE PARTIES WERE REVERSED: Death Threat From DNC Delegate: ‘Mitt Romney… I Would Like To Kill Him!’
Archive for 2012
September 6, 2012
LEGAL EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Law Dean Gives Worst Advice To Minorities Since Someone Told Native Americans To Have A Drink. “I’m all for racial diversity, but I fail to see the social good of encouraging black people to make ruinous financial decisions just because they are underrepresented in the group of people making this particular stupid purchase.” It’s fine to go to law school, so long as you don’t borrow money to do it.
Related: 2010-2020 Math: 200,000 Lawyer Jobs, 450,000 New Lawyers. Okay, even then it’s iffy.
KIDS PLAYING OUTDOORS: So everybody seems to agree that kids need to play outdoors more, but there’s no clear path to getting that to happen. Media fearmongering, and the desire of parents not to look like they aren’t taking care of their kids, have reached the point that a friend actually got calls from his neighbors recently to tell him that his mid-elementary-school aged kids were playing outdoors, with no adult supervision.
So how do you change the dynamic? My thought was to make unsupervised outdoor play a matter of upper middle class female status competition. But how? His suggestion: Have tony prep schools and colleges ask about how much unsupervised outdoor playtime the applicants had. “We don’t want to hear about the obstacle course you built for underprivileged kids; we want to hear about the treehouse you built for yourself, or the games of tag you played with neighbor kids.” Voila — instant change.
Hey, it might just work. . . .
HARVARD IS HAVING A BAD YEAR: Report on Misconduct by Former Harvard Professor. “Hauser was found to have fabricated data, manipulated results in experiments, and incorrectly described how studies were done. A lengthy internal investigation led him to leave Harvard, but details have been minimal until now about what he did.”
I INTERVIEWED FRANK J. EARLIER TODAY ABOUT HIS NEW BOOK, but his last book, Obama: The Greatest President In The History Of Everything, is now free on Kindle for a limited time. That’s right — free Frank J!
ARE TECH COMPANIES REACHING “PEAK PEOPLE?” “For sure. I think there’s a lot of lottery-playing going on right now. Companies staffing up, raising a bunch of money, hiring a bunch of people, and burning them out in the hopes that they’ll hit the lottery.”
A CLASSIC 1939 SOVIET COOKBOOK, NOW ON KINDLE: Book of Tasty and Healthy Food.
Via reader Michael Bogdanov, who writes:
Hi Glenn,
We are a bunch of ex-Soviets living in the USA and we read your site daily.
Recently we’ve launched our blog, SovietKitchen.com, which introduces American and other English-speaking readers to best recipes from all former republics of the USSR.
We’ve also compiled our first recipe book – “Book of Tasty and Healthy Food”, based on the Soviet best-seller, with original illustrations, available on Kindle now.
It should be an interesting read for all foodies as well as history buffs interested in the Soviet period.
Enjoy!
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): CBO Projects Unemployment To Rise to 9.1% in 2013.
Related: Surprise! Steelworker Featured at DNC Didn’t Work for Bain. He was actually a union organizer employed by the Steelworkers Union. “So in less than one hour they had a fake Bain employee and a fake Indian.”
I DRIVE THIS “REALLY SHITTY CAR:” “Connecticut First Lady Cathy Malloy said Wednesday that scrutiny by the media is driving people, including women, from public life. Malloy’s comments came during a question-and-answer portion of a town hall meeting sponsored by the Democratic pro-choice group EMILY’s List coinciding with the party’s national convention in Charlotte. They were heard — and recorded — by Albany Times Union political reporter Jimmy Vielkind.”
UNSURE ROBOTS MAKE BETTER TEACHERS THAN KNOW-IT-ALLS. “Matsuzoe and Tanaka found that the children did best when the robot appeared to learn from them. This also made the children more likely to want to continue learning with the robot.”
THE MILLION-DOLLAR SPACE AGE CAR: “Despite its futuristic lines the Plymouth XNR was designed and built over 50 years ago and is the only one in existence.”
TAXPAYER FUNDED ELECTIONEERING: FAA supervisors told employees they could be fired if Republicans win. “The Hatch Act prohibits executive agency employees from engaging in political activity intended to affect the result of an election. After the May 23 meeting, whistleblowers came forward and alerted FAA officials in the Northwest Mountain Region Office.”
INVENT A BETTER APPLE, AND THE DOCTOR WILL BEAT A PATH TO YOUR DOOR: Or something like that.
IN THE MAIL: From Daniel Betti, Establish the College of Electors: How the Electoral College Is Failing and Why a Direct, National Election Is Not the Answer.
JUST A REMINDER: Repeal The Hollywood Tax Cuts!
Also, crack down on shady “Hollywood Accounting!”
THE RISE OF Generation Smartphone.
This is no surprise to anyone who’s been reading Vernor Vinge.
JENNIFER RUBIN: Poverty? Not a word at the Democratic convention. It’s the party of Sandra Fluke now. Margaret Carlson isn’t sure that’s a good idea.
But the press is cooperating: “Meanwhile, the media are complicit in diverting attention away from the poor. How many front page stories have you seen on the topic? In the Reagan era the plight of the homeless was a constant feature in news reporting. Now, poverty — even childhood poverty — is ignored almost completely. It’s a bad topic for the president so the media avert their eyes.” It’s all about the narrative. But then, it always is.
THE HOUSING BUBBLE? Clinton Built That.
WILL SELF-DRIVING CARS make high-speed rail irrelevant? Yes. “Not only are innovations like these relatively cheap to implement, they are much better suited to meeting the needs of a large and sparsely populated country like the United States. It’s becoming clear that the infrastructure lobby, with its love of expansive, expensive rail networks, is fighting an increasingly irrelevant battle.”
LIBERTY ISLAND IS NOW IN PHASE TWO OF ITS CROWDFUNDING. If you tried to donate before and couldn’t, you might want to try again — there was some sort of glitch that’s been fixed.
AT AMAZON, the 2012 Hugo Award winners.
Also, today only: Stuhrling Original Men’s and Women’s Swiss Quartz Stainless Steel Bracelet Watches, $49.99.