FORWARD, INTO THE PAST! Jerry Pournelle republishes a book of stuff sixth graders used to read in school a hundred years ago.
When I was in junior high in the 1970s, I often read the old textbooks from the 1950s, which seemed to be written at a higher level than the ones we were using. When the Insta-Daughter was the same age, she looked at old textbooks from the 1970s, which seemed to be written at a higher level than the ones her classes were using. . . .
I’M HOLDING OUT FOR THE MANNSCHENN DRIVE, BUT I’LL TAKE REACTIONLESS THRUSTERS: Fuel-Less Space Drive May Actually Work, Says NASA. I hope this pans out.
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED REPUBLICAN WE’D SEE OPEN RACISM IN OUR NATION’S CAPITAL — AND THEY WERE RIGHT! Florida Congressman: ‘White People’ to Blame for Collapse of Amnesty in Congress. J. Christian Adams comments: “Forget about Hastings’ impeachable past. What his statement represents is the increasingly open philosophy in Democrat Party circles that race explains everything, including the certain demise of the GOP in time. Instead of acquiescing to this evil, instead of accepting the premise of this immoral racialism, the Republican Party must strike back.”
AT POPULAR MECHANICS, LOVE FOR GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: “Guardians of the Galaxy is a movie that should not work. It has characters familiar to no one but diehard comic fanboys, a heavy, intricate storyline, and a character that repeats one line of dialog. Yet this space western is so fun and (we’ll say it) heartwarming that you’ll wish it came out when you were a kid.”
JOURNALISM: A Century Later, The New York Times Rejects The Anti-Marijuana Propaganda It Peddled. Only the targets of the misrepresentation have changed. . . .
IN THE MAIL: How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens.
Also, today only: Up to 78% Off Select BBC Collections. Red Dwarf, Fawlty Towers, and more.
TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 450.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE HARRIDAN KIND: The wrath of Pelosi, the cool of Marino.
SO ARE ROBOT MAKERS. BUT ONLY ONE OF THEM IS RIGHT TO. Unions Are Lovin’ McDonald’s Labor Ruling.
The most surprising bit of news this week was a ruling out from the National Labor Relations Board, saying that McDonald’s Corp. functions as a joint employer with its franchisees and can therefore be held liable for their employment decisions. The immediate effect is to join McDonald’s to a few dozen labor disputes at individual stores. But the goal is pretty clearly much larger: making it much easier to unionize McDonald’s, by allowing unions to organize the whole company, rather than trying to eke out victories one store at a time. If this ruling stands, it will have seismic effects on the franchise model.
I’m not sure this ruling will stand, of course; it seems crazy to me. Corporations that work on the franchise model do exercise substantial control over the operations of their franchisees, but at the end of the day, the franchisees are legally separate companies — and those companies are the ones that pay the paychecks, organize the schedules, hire, fire and so forth. This would hand McDonald’s legal liability for something it has limited ability to control. Oh, sure, the franchise agreement can state that owners have to obey the labor law, but franchise owners are owners; McDonald’s can’t just fire them for being jerks. It can terminate the franchise agreement, but that’s a lengthy procedure that frequently involves lawsuits. It’s not a very efficient way to enforce employment policy. This is the equivalent of saying that you can sue McDonald’s because some jerk in Omaha violated the local health codes.
Hint: It’s the robot makers.
NONSENSE, HE JUST LIED TO CONGRESS. HE DIDN’T SLEEP WITH HIS BIOGRAPHER. Senator Rand Paul: CIA Director John Brennan Should Be Fired.
THEY’D BE SCARIER IF THEY WERE COMPETENT: Hamas Boasts About Its Capture of IDF Soldier … Then Backtracks Four Times.
UNSURPRISING: Obama administration asks full D.C. Circuit to revisit Halbig decision.
On Friday, the Obama administration asked the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rehear a case concerning the health care law’s subsidies to federal exchanges, after a panel on the court sided with challengers last month.
At issue in the case, Halbig v. Burwell, are the subsidies that the federal government provides for individuals purchasing insurance through Obamacare. Though the text of the law says the subsidies were to go to individuals obtaining insurance through an “exchange established by the state,” a rule released by the Internal Revenue Service subsequently instructed that subsidies would also apply to exchanges set up on behalf of states by the federal government.
A good chance this won’t be the final stop.
VIA JOHN DVORAK ON TWITTER: Court case offers a peek at how H-1B-fueled discrimination works: One-third of Infosys worksites have 100% Asian workers, lawsuit alleges. “The lawsuit contends Bolten was harassed because she was not Indian and excluded from work conversations by supervisors who spoke Hindi. People with less experience were promoted over her, and she eventually quit.”
STEVEN HAYWARD: Conservatives & higher ed: A look at what has caused the dearth of conservatives in higher education, and why we should be concerned.
On the surface you’d think that the pool of conservative students who express satisfaction with higher education would lead more of them toward graduate paths, except for their evident alienation from the liberal dominance of the humanities and social sciences, perhaps along with a perceived higher salience for conservatives on pursuing “practical” professional vocations. While these factors can’t be dismissed, Neil Gross points to compelling data about how the most important determinants of whether students go into graduate study are not large ideological factors, but mundane things like whether students have close relationships with professors or find academic mentors to encourage them along graduate paths. And lacking mentors and direct encouragement means that liberal predominance in graduate education, and hence the ranks of left-leaning professors becomes self-reinforcing, even if there is zero political bias in hiring decisions.
It’s a diversity problem. The obvious solution is to set aside at least 50% of hires for conservatives until the left-right balance matches the overall population. Not enough applicants? Too few in the pipeline? Those are just excuses, and evidence that you need to work harder.
BECAUSE HILLARY ISN’T RUNNING IN 2016? Why Democrats Are Ditching Their “War On Women” Rhetoric.
Maybe it’s starting to chase younger women away.
BRETT KIMBERLIN discovers the Streisand Effect. He’s a slow learner.