Couple points of interest: – Legislative misuse of graphics can be entertaining.   – How the NSA surveillance program fits into a post-9/11 authoritarian paradigm.   – Documenting gun violence: homicides, suicides, and accidents.   – Perhaps the most perfect example of America’s dysfunctional health care system: childbirth.   – White privilege in a coupleRead moreRead more

The last few weeks have entered into a period of crazy-busyness, kicked off with my move from the existential hell I’ve written of before.  Though there is a lot going on, I will make efforts to update more regularly – as it is I’ve accumulated quite a backlog of links to share:   – Firstly,Read moreRead more

This post contains spoilers for all books in “A Song of Ice and Fire” and the entire series to date of “Game of Thrones.”   “There is no such thing as society.  There are only individuals, and families.” -Margaret Thatcher   “I am yours.  And you are mine.” -Ygritte to Jon Snow; Shae to Tyrion;Read moreRead more

Is this how it’s supposed to be? Is learning forever winding through these strange and foreign places?  Is study the opposite of home?   –TNC   I’ve been thinking about teaching and learning quite a bit lately (an appropriate reaction when one is, uh, becoming a teacher); I’ve also been very much enjoying Mr. Coates’sRead moreRead more

The “Veronica Mars” Kickstarter project has just closed, but the conversations about how it might impact film financing have only just begun.  The idea of bottom-up financing for major projects – with profits going to the rights-owning studio, rather than to the individuals who have invested in the project – is disconcerting, to say the leastRead moreRead more

To keep you occupied over the holiday weekend:   – A fascinating (and vitally important) detailing of the process by which laws are actually enacted.  It’s not short, but then, it is a complicated process, and one in which significant pieces of publicly supported legislation endure dramatic alterations in often-underreported fashion.   – Who hasRead moreRead more

Do you read Zen Habits?  The Minimalists?  The Four-Hour Workweek?  Any one of dozens – hundreds – of other blogs purporting to simplify your life, to offer solutions towards a stripped-down, out-of-the-rat-race kind of happiness?   These blogs tend to share a few common characteristics: namely, they’re written by successful white guys.  By “successful,” IRead moreRead more

In lieu of a life spent online, I’ve been lately throwing myself into a study of European history.  Books and (judiciously downloaded) podcasts are filling the gaps left by years of bad teachers, and I find myself marveling at the thrill and relevance of the never-too-distant past.  In particular, I’ve become minorly obsessed with theRead moreRead more

Yesterday I wrote about how our penchant for judgment precludes the formation of a just society; when we formulate our responses to systemic injustice in terms of personal responsibility we sabotage progress and turn it instead into a blame game.  But whereas it’s all too easy to point fingers at the abdication of personal responsibilityRead moreRead more

I really loved Ta-Nehisi Coates’s recent reflection on the “working definition of an asshole.”  I think he summarizes things nicely in describing such a specimen as “a person who demands that all social interaction happen on their terms”, although I wonder if he doesn’t quite go far enough – for it’s not only social interactionsRead moreRead more