Subscribe to Excerpts
Subscribe by Email
Bill Bryson said that Durham Cathedral had his vote for “Best cathedral on Planet Earth”. Nathaniel Hawthorne called it “grand, venerable, and sweet, all at once”. It is the most beloved building in the UK and not just among the faithful. A UN World Heritage Site, it is visited by over 500,000 people from more [...]
Archive for November, 2011
November 17th, 2011
Category: Uncategorized
Want to be Warren Buffet? Here is a new recipe: Buy land, find a home at another location that is slated for demolition, buy the home and drag it to your new land. For details on this funky arbitrage, read my cross-post.
November 16th, 2011
A colleague was just typing something on her iPad. When she typed “law review,” it auto-corrected to “laser Jew.” Discuss. UPDATE: Other excellent examples can be found here.
November 16th, 2011
OWS is losing public support, [correction: polling numbers ungarbled 16/XI] to 33 for-45 opposed from 35F-36O a month ago. The project is suffering from a variety of problems mostly related to the lack of focus and leadership that appeared to its adherents as a virtue when it began. This doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have happened, [...]
November 16th, 2011
Category: Constitutional politics, Crime Control, Feeling Safer Yet?, Firearms, Law Notes, Vote Casting and Counting
Well, this makes sense–if we make it nearly impossible for felons to regain their right to vote, they’ll surely want to regain their right to fire weapons instead.
November 15th, 2011
A rant against Tyler Cowen and for economic fundamentalism on the future of solar PV.
November 15th, 2011
Category: Humor, Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street on NYPD: “Demands Unclear.” Delicious.
November 15th, 2011
Category: Occupy Wall Street, Sports
This afternoon I went down to the campus protest rally (part of the strike called for today to demand increased funding for higher education in California). It so far has scored only one helicopter, and that since I left. Everyone was there: the drum and dancing group, the “Free Leonard Peltier” people, some really mysterious [...]
November 15th, 2011
Category: Britain, Elections 2010 and 2012
I have previously discussed some of the factors that make British politics more functional than U.S. politics at the moment, such the smaller gap between the parties’ views and the greater prevalence of cross-party friendships. Bagehot points out another critical force for good in UK politics: Non-partisan redistricting commissions that command wide public respect. Bagehot [...]
November 15th, 2011
Libertarians and conservatives have become fond of calling the individual mandate totalitarian–or at least a gross and unconscionable deprivation of individual liberty. But if so, why are they so comfortable with the prospect of courts finding it unconstitutional only when the *federal* government imposes it?