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27 Apr 2010 — Art for the country’s sake

In some parallel universe with slightly better taste than our own, this is the cover art for the May 2010 issue of Fortune, and this is the design for United States paper money.

25 Apr 2010 — Maybe he thought it was a commentary on Leviticus

At shul today, I noticed a guy reading Foucault’s History of Sexuality during the Torah reading.

23 Apr 2010 — Through brightest day, through blackest night, if evil escapes your sight it’s your own damn fault

Back during the reign of George the Younger, when public opinion on the war in Iraq began to sour, defenders of the administration would insist that really, we could coerce Iraq (not to mention Afghanistan and Iran) into becoming a peaceful and harmonious and pro-American democracy, if we only tried harder, and shame on those dirty hippies for sapping America’s mighty will. Matthew Yglesias lampooned this attitude by calling it the Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics.

22 Apr 2010 — Republican etiquette

In Japan, I am told, if someone asks you to do something, it is considered very rude to embarrass them by saying “no”. Instead, you say “that would be very hard”, or “let me think about that”, or some other euphemism for “I will accede to your request when hell freezes over”.¹

22 Apr 2010 — Bucky would have loved it

I dare say this is one of the most significant innovations in construction since the geodesic dome.

19 Apr 2010 — Annals of interethnic harmony

My younger brother once remarked to me that the most racially integrated institutions in Chicago were its street gangs. Over in the Holy Land, Jewish and Arab crooks used to do a brisk business with one another in stolen cars, although I don’t know if this is still going on.

14 Apr 2010 — Confederate necromancy

I hear that some politicians south of the Mason-Dixon line have proclaimed April to be “Confederate History Month”. The most eloquent commentary I have read on this subject comes from Ta-Nehisi Coates:

09 Apr 2010 — I, for one, welcome our new Nordic overlords

Like most of my co-workers, I have long expected that my happy little GeoStartup would some day be acquired by a much larger company—the IPO market being kind of shvakh these days—but I was surprised to learn which company ended up acquiring us. After having some time to reflect, though, I can appreciate what a far-sighted decision that was. A corporate group that purchases its raw materials in 55 different countries, manufactures its products in 10, distributes them from 16, and offers retail outlets in 25; a group with over a hundred thousand employees and over 20 billion euros in annual sales; a brand known worldwide for low prices, quality manufacturing, and social conscience; one that continually strives to improve itself—surely such a corporate colossus can find new and innovative uses for a cutting-edge Geographic Search and Reference Platform.

24 Feb 2010 — Why your e-book really isn't worth fifteen dollars

Recently, there was a dust-up between Amazon, an information technology colossus that happens to sell books, and Macmillan, one of the six conglomerates behind just about every book published in the United States. Amazon wanted to price all of its Kindle e-books at $9.99 or less; Macmillan, not wanting e-books to undercut its sales of paper books, wanted a deal where they set the retail price and guaranteed Amazon a fixed proportion of the take. As negotiations bogged down, Amazon, no doubt wanting to Send A Message, decided to remove all Macmillan books from its catalog—not just the e-books, but the paper editions as well. At which point authors and fans whose books had been delisted Sent Their Own Message, along the lines of, Amazon, You Suck. So Amazon caved, and now Macmillan is free to offer $14.99 e-books to the masses.

23 Feb 2010 — Health care reform: state of play

Every once in a while my wife asks me, “So what is in this health-care reform bill, anyway, and what good will it do us?” And I usually answer something like “a hummina hummina hummina”, because with all the negotiations and plans and bills and amendments and proposals that have been floated for the past nine months, it’s hard to keep track. Fortunately, Igor Volsky, of the Center for American Progress’s “Wonk Room” blog, has compiled a handy table showing the salient differences between the bill passed by the House, the bill passed by the Senate, and the compromise that the White House has proposed today.

29 Jan 2010 — Thinking outside the beis medrash

I’ve seen a lot of angst in the Jewish blogosphere over the ever-rising cost of day school tuition; this article, linked by someone on my LJ-friends list, is the latest example of the genre. The problem has a tragic dimension, because of a little-known wrinkle in economics called the Baumol effect.

24 Jan 2010 — A House divided against the other house

There’s a joke about a junior Democrat in the House of Representatives who, speaking to one of his elders, referred to the Republicans as “the enemy”. The old statesman corrected the youngster: “The Republicans are the opposition. The Senate is the enemy.”

22 Jan 2010 — Please call your Representative TODAY

Democrats in the House are now trying to decide what their next step should be with regard to health care reform. The main options under discussion seem to be:

22 Jan 2010 — Crossing genres

I saw a woman on the bus tonight reading Aprenda Inglés con la Ayuda de Dios [Learn English With God’s Help]. It makes sense that someone would come out with such a book; after all, los hispanohablantes should learn to read the Bible in its original language.

19 Jan 2010 — Overdrawn at the phone bank

I spent today volunteering for the Coakley campaign, helping it try and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat (after the Democratic Party spent a month going “jaws of defeat? what jaws of defeat? we can’t possibly lose!”—but every other liberal blog in the country has that rant). I told the Organizing for America coordinator that I was interested in canvassing, but not in making phone calls, because enough of my friends, not to mention my wife, had been complaining about the incessant phone calls. (What with the mayoral election in November, the special-Senate-election primary in December, and the election itself today, it has been the season for everybody and his brother to leave us a message explaining how So-and-So is the greatest politician since Pericles and could you please remember to vote on Tuesday.)

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