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If you’re writing editorials for a formerly respectable newspaper tarnished by its acquisition by Rupert Murdoch’s criminal empire, writing a fully Murdochized editorial on the subject is probably a bad move.
Archive for July, 2011
July 18th, 2011
Category: Uncategorized
I have returned to Los Angeles after a ten day trip to Beijing and Tianjin. As you might expect, I ate great food, learned no Chinese and witnessed plenty of economic growth. While there is plenty of poverty in the countryside, China’s cities are experiencing an ongoing boom. Along every dimension of consumption and production, [...]
July 17th, 2011
Category: Uncategorized
… more to go? Scotland Yard chief quits over Murdoch link.
Here, please!
July 17th, 2011
Category: Science and its methods
Did Galileo discover Neptune centuries before its official identification? This is one of many fascinating questions explored in a delightful and informative BBC radio program that broadcast this week on the planet’s “first birthday”. It’s very much worth your time if you are an astronomy buff or just someone who enjoys high quality science journalism. [...]
July 16th, 2011
Category: Wayward press
The New York Times lays out the facts about Scotland Yard and the Murdoch empire.
July 16th, 2011
Category: Public management
I would like to think that the California Department of Motor Vehicles is persecuting me because of my comments on their terrible service here and here, but that is wishful thinking, so my sympathies to all those Californians who got a letter like I just did. It’s a bill for renewing my registration and it’s [...]
July 16th, 2011
Category: Popular Culture, Tradition
If you wanted to make the case that Akira Kurosawa was the greatest filmmaker of the 20th century, one leg of your stool would be the number of talented directors who copied him, including George Lucas and John Sturges. I watched Sturges’ “The Magnificent Seven” on the plane back to the states, and while it’s [...]
July 15th, 2011
Category: Debt ceiling
Why are the negotiations about raising the debt ceiling rather than abolishing it?