Archive for 2014
October 17, 2014
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Albany Law School Dean Steps Down Amidst 34% Enrollment Decline, Faculty Buyouts.
JERRY POURNELLE: A New Ebola Czar; Military deploys to plague zone. Competence in government. “God protects fools, drunks, and the United States of America. Of course we were a much more devout nation when Bismarck made that observation.”
Plus: “The rest of the article is worth your time. Five of the 58 medical professionals involved in the Science Magazine study died of Ebola before the paper was published. . . . Nine Doctors Without Borders physicians, all equipped with the best of isolation and prophylactic gear, have died of Ebola. Of the physicians and nurses who have died of Ebola in this epidemic, most (more than 60%) had what was considered more than adequate protective gear and were instructed in its use. The US Military being sent into the plague zone have had four hours of instruction.”
COMING OUT NEXT WEEK: Rush Limbaugh’s Rush Revere And The American Revolution: Time Travel Adventures With Exceptional Americans.
WELL, I’VE BEEN NOTING SECRET SERVICE MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS SINCE 2002: Exclusive: German tourists breached White House security in 2008.
YEAH, IS THAT A BAD REFLECTION ON AIRBNB, OR ON THE LAW? 72 Percent of Airbnb’s NY Rentals Are Illegal, Report Says.
IF WE COULD DIVERT IT TO HIT MARS, IT WOULD BE A START AT TERRAFORMING: Once in million years: Super-sized comet to pass Mars. It would donate a considerable store of volatiles, and the impact would liberate a lot of frozen atmosphere at the surface.
However, if I recall correctly — it’s been a while since I read Martyn Fogg’s magisterial treatment — it takes rather a lot of comets to create a Martian atmosphere, and if you try to shortcut by using bigger ones (like in excess of a mile in diameter for the head) the impact becomes so big that it blows a lot of the new volatiles right out into space. So, maybe not.
TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Warrant sheds new details on Stamford High School sex case. “The 26-page affidavit paints a picture of a troubled and jealous teacher who, according to the student, let him cut school, took him off campus to smoke marijuana and have sex, and warned his female classmates to stay away from him. A married mother of two, Watkins, 32, of Norwalk, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a child and possession of marijuana.”
METAPHOR ALERT: Obama: ‘My Credit Card Was Rejected.’
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READ THIS STORY ON HUNTER BIDEN, to see how the nomenklatura fare these days.
Plus: “Connecticut legal authorities say the youngest son of Vice President Joe Biden does not face automatic review of his state law license following his discharge from the Navy Reserve after testing positive for cocaine use.”
SECRET TREATIES: Leaked TPP IP Chapter Would Lead To Much Greater Online Surveillance… Because Hollywood Still Hates The Internet. “Over the last few years, after Hollywood lost the SOPA fight and realized that legislation was more difficult, it’s now seeking these so-called ‘voluntary’ agreements — even when they’re really done by the government with the threat of regulations if an agreement isn’t reached. These kinds of campaigns are hardly ‘voluntary’ in reality, and are generally designed to get Hollywood everything it wants without having to through any sort of democratic process. Kind of like trade agreements. Is it any wonder why the USTR has been so adamant about keeping the details of this agreement a secret?”
If Republicans were smart, they’d make an issue of this. So they won’t. Smart people would see it as an opportunity to (1) stick it to Hollywood, one of the Dems’ biggest funders; (2) Look good to libertarian-leaning tech youth; and (3) do the right thing. Instead, the GOP will reflexively side with Hollywood because, hey, it’s a big business, right?
SO AS PARENTS ARE GIVEN LESS AND LESS CONTROL OVER THEIR KIDS, THEY’RE HELD MORE AND MORE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT THEY DO: Parents face defamation trial over fake Facebook page their kid made.
LIKE IT’S ACTUALLY A DEATH STAR, MAYBE? WAKE UP, SHEEPLE!!!!! Saturn’s Death Star Moon Is Hiding Something.
TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Wallingford woman gets 17 years for filmed sexual assault of child. “A Wallingford woman was sentenced to over 17 years in prison for filming herself sexually assaulting a 3-year-old female child, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Connecticut. Angela D. Martin, 30, filmed herself with a cell phone sexually abusing the child and sent it to another individual in California, according to court documents.”
EBOLA CZAR RON KLAIN: Obama’s New Ebola Czar Was Deeply Involved in Solyndra Scandal. Klain’s a competent political fixer. By naming a lawyer/political fixer as Ebola Czar, Obama’s demonstrating that he sees Ebola as a political problem first and foremost.
UPDATE: Paul Rahe: Damage Control. “The mainstream press in its wisdom tells us that Klain is a good manager. His accomplishment? He managed the allocation of stimulus funds. Take a moment to think about that. . . . Klain’s new job is not to protect thee and me from an outbreak of Ebola. It is to protect the President from an outbreak of criticism.”
Meanwhile, whatever happened to prior Ebola Czar Dr. Nicole Lurie?
BRUCE THORNTON: The Politics of Victimhood. “The trump card of suffering might be politically useful, but using it is a dishonest tactic that inhibits informed deliberation and debate. Relying on emotion and sentiment, no matter how understandable they are as a response to suffering, have since ancient Athens been the agents of bad policies and dangerous political decisions, and tactics for pursuing political advantage at the expense of the public good. They have no place in our already conflicted and divisive public political discourse.”
The proper response is to treat this as the emotional bullying it is, and make the process unpleasant for the bullies.
IN THE MAIL: From Russ Roberts, How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness.
Plus, today only at Amazon: Up to 69% Off Select Rubbermaid Commercial Products.
And, also today only: 40% Off Merrell Casual Shoes for Men and Women.
TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 526.
METAPHOR ALERT: Kerry Flies Commercial After Jet Breaks Down in Vienna. “The Iranians had a laugh at the United States’ expense when Secretary of State John Kerry’s plane broke down on Thursday as he sought to return to Washington after high-level talks here on Tehran’s nuclear program.”
WILL FREEZING YOUR EGGS HELP YOUR CAREER?
What I haven’t seen anyone explain is when, exactly, you’ll be ready. For most people, your 40s and early 50s are your peak earning years — is that really going to be a good time to meet that special someone, or finally step back to invest some time in having kids? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m already noticing that I have a lot less energy than I used to. It’s not that I can’t get my work done or anything like that. But it used to be that if I had to travel for six days straight and then deliver a 2,500-word essay on the 7th, I could dial up my reserves and power through it — miserable and cranky, to be sure, but functioning. Then one day, around the time I turned 40, I dialed down for more power and there just … wasn’t any. My body informed me that it was tired, and my brain would not be doing any more work today, and we were going to sleep whether I liked it or not.
This is — as friends who have done it freely remark — a difficult age to be taking on your first newborn. I can’t even imagine trying the same feat 10 years from now, when my joints will be even creakier and my reserves even more depleted.
Well, my joints are a lot better than they were a decade ago, thanks to — you knew this was coming — the Rippetoe strength workout. But it’s true. And I was talking yesterday to a friend who used to run a lot, but who’s now switched almost entirely to weight training too (not exactly Rippetoe, but close) and he says all of his hip and knee pain has vanished. I believe it. A few months ago Helen and I thought he was walking like an old man. Now, he’s not.
Which is not a reason to put off having kids, just a reason not to accept all age-related decline as inevitable. Long-term, of course, it is inevitable barring new technologies I fervently hope to live to see. But there’s a lot of wiggle-room in the short- and medium-term.
Meanwhile, if I were a young single guy, I’d at least think about banking a bunch of sperm and then getting a vasectomy. That way I’d have control over my own reproduction.