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British Petroleum (and the government) apparently provided implausibly estimates of how much oil was spewing into the Gulf. This was obvious from the start. If reporters were more numerate, they would have known.
Archive for August, 2010
August 25th, 2010
August 24th, 2010
The greatest generation was pretty great, but my post on intergenerational transfers may have given them a little too much credit relative to voters of the last three decades or so. My colleague Bob Reich points in an email to …one big reason why middle-class Californians began thinking more about themselves than posterity starting in [...]
August 24th, 2010
I try to fly only on a single airline so as to be treated less like an anonymous bovine by a company that somewhat values my business. But I got stuck the other day flying an airline on which I have no elite status, and thereby discovered that some airlines no longer allow free “same [...]
August 24th, 2010
On my current trip to South Dakota, I felt thirsty as I waited for my plane. I walked to one end of the terminal and did not see a water fountain. I walked to the other end and did not see one either. I was sure I had missed it, so I repeated a loop [...]
August 24th, 2010
Category: Disasters, Science and its methods
550 million eggs recalled for possible [sic] salmonella contamination will be destroyed. 150 [fixed 24/VII/10] million Pakistanis are sitting under tarpaulins in the mud with no food. Eggs are halal. Irradiation, FDA approved since 2000, would make them perfectly safe to eat and storable without refrigeration. Just sayin’…
August 24th, 2010
Category: Terrorism and its control
Is it ironic that a Saudi prince is the second-biggest shareholder in the Muslim-baiting Murdoch empire? Not really.
August 23rd, 2010
Category: Watching Conservatives
In case you doubt that the Republicans will impeach President Obama, take a look at Amazon’s #1 Politics bestseller today.
August 23rd, 2010
Welcome to Berkeley, probably still the best public university in the world. Meet your classmates, the best group of partners you can find anywhere. The percentages for grades on exams, papers, etc. in my courses always add up to 110% because that’s what I’ve learned to expect from you, over twenty years in the best [...]
August 22nd, 2010
Category: Religion and Politics, Watching Conservatives
I missed this when it came out. Eugene joins a disappointingly small group of conservatarians in upholding basic Constitutional principles against bigotry.
August 22nd, 2010
Category: Religion and Politics
Whether, what, and where to build is for the New York Islamic community to decide, with no need to ask permission of anyone else.