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Archive for 2013
December 23, 2013
THIS DAVID BYRNE INTERVIEW is a lot better than the headline makes it sound.
FROM MY COLLEAGUE LUCY JEWEL, Tales Of A Fourth-Tier Nothing, a response to Brian Tamanaha’s Failing Law Schools, based on her experience teaching at a for-profit law school in Atlanta.
THE IUD MAKES A BIRTH-CONTROL COMEBACK. “The IUD is 20 times more effective than birth control pills, the patch or vaginal ring, according to a 2012 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. That is because the IUD virtually eliminates the risk of human error.” It most emphatically does not, however, protect against STDs. Of course, neither do those other methods.
But the main reason for the IUD’s fall from popularity isn’t science, but fearmongering from the Dalkon Shield lawsuits.
JERRY BOWYER: What Was Charles Dickens Really Doing When He Wrote ‘A Christmas Carol’? “What was Dickens really doing when he wrote A Christmas Carol? Answer: He was weighing in on one of the central economic debates of his time, the one that raged between Thomas Malthus and one of the disciples of Adam Smith.”
If Dickens could have seen where England was heading, he might have taken a different angle on Scrooge.
AT 6:00, I’LL BE ON TheBlaze TV talking with Dana Loesch about my new book, The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education from Itself.
SO NOW EVEN AQUAMAN ISN’T SAFE FROM OBAMA, I GUESS: The Navy’s Amazing Ocean-Powered Underwater Drone.
CHANGE: Why Apple’s Suburban Spaceship Could Lose the War for Tech Talent.
Beware of Parkinson’s Law Of The Perfect Building. “When a company or other organization is finally able to plan and build the perfect building for itself, the building best suited to its needs, that organization is in the throes of petrification and death.”
MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Obama Had An Average Year.
UPDATE: Robert Gibbs: Yeah, 2013 was Obama’s worst yet. Key word: “Yet.”
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Realtors Accused of Using Home for Sex Trysts. I had a friend whose house was being used that way, and it did take a long time to sell. I don’t think he ever wondered if the realtor was slow-walking the sale so she’d have a place for assignations, though.
OBAMACARE ENROLLMENT DEADLINE EXTENDED A DAY, UNTIL CHRISTMAS EVE. I suspect this is just to ensure that the bad numbers don’t come out tomorrow, but on Christmas Day, when fewer people will be paying attention.
I, FOR ONE, WELCOME OUR NEW ROBOT RESCUERS: Japanese Team Dominates Competition to Create Generation of Rescue Robots. “An international competition to pave the way for a new generation of rescue robots was dominated by a team of Japanese roboticists who were students in the laboratory of a pioneer in the design of intelligent humanoid machines.” Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto!
MARK RIPPETOE: Squats Are Safe, But You’re Probably Doing Them Wrong.
Not me, you magnificent bastard. I read your book! Yesterday, I saw a guy at the gym who looked so much like Mark Rippetoe that I did a triple-take. But then he went over to the hip-sled machine and I knew he was just a look-alike.
TAXPROF: The IRS Scandal, Day 228.
OBAMACARE: It’s Panic Time!
The Obama administration is doing everything it can to save the Affordable Care Act in advance of tomorrow’s deadline to sign up for coverage, and the panic is showing. For weeks now the administration has been delaying provisions, tweaking standards, and exempting people from the law’s initial rules (e.g. here), and now it has delivered the coup de grace. The New York Times reports that people who have had their insurance cancelled will be exempt from any penalties for non-compliance with the individual mandate in the coming year. They will also be allowed to purchase catastrophic insurance, even if they are over thirty. Insurers are furious that they may now see less healthy customers sign up for plans this year. . . .
Republicans have just been given a very easy argument for delaying the mandate in its entirety, and it will be very hard for Democrats to argue against it. Just as the administration’s quickness to dole out certain kinds of exemptions undermined its case for the contraception mandate in a recent case, so too will this announcement make it hard for the administration to explain why it’s exempting some parties and not others.
It’s still very unclear where all this is going to lead, but this is one of the clearest signs of crisis we’ve seen yet from the administration.
Where it’s going? By June, Obama will accept Rand Paul’s health care plan, and label it a “modification” of ObamaCare. So it’ll kinda work out like a slow motion version of the Putin/Syria deal.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Pajama Boy Nation.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The highly educated, badly paid, often abused adjunct professors.
In my forthcoming book, I suggest that instead of teaching, we outsource administration to low-paid, contract-labor “adjunct administrators.”
YOU CAN STILL ORDER FOR CHRISTMAS WITH ONE-DAY SHIPPING, but today’s the last day.
Plus, free one-day shipping on Last-Minute Gift Ideas.
And, today only: 68% off Select Imprint Comfort Mats.
Also today only: 13 Inspiring Books, $1.99 Each.
MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Obama Had An Average Year.
THE WAR ON PHOTOGRAPHY ISN’T GOING AS PLANNED: Atlantic City Cop Ordered to Pay $250,000 From Own Pocket to Citizen He Abused.
HAPPY FESTIVUS: “I’ve got a lot of problems with you people, and now you’re going to hear about it.”
UPDATE: CNN Poll: Health care law support drops to all-time low. “Only 35% of those questioned in the poll say they support the health care law, a 5-point drop in less than a month. Sixty-two percent say they oppose the law, up four points from November. Nearly all of the newfound opposition is coming from women.”
LLOYD MARCUS: Merry Christmas To My Tea Party Family.