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Plastic advertising?
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Wed, 2003-09-24 16:45Why does the plastics industry advertise?
I just saw a television commercial (watch it here), demonstrating some of the benefits of plastics. The description of the commercial, titled "Memories," is as follows: Read more »
Physics Fetish
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Mon, 2003-09-22 23:22David Adesnik, guest conspirator at volokh.com, criticizes the scientism of political scientists. The same criticism is often made of economists, as anyone familiar with Austrian, post-autistic, and heterodox economics is already aware. Read more »
I plead guilty
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Mon, 2003-09-22 21:27I think I'm in love with Elisabeth Rohm, of Law and Order fame.
Speaking of things appealing, check out Howard Bashman for news and analysis on the Ninth Circus Court's pending ruling, which will be issued tomorrow morning.
One more gratuitous pic for the road: Read more »
The myth of overproduction
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Mon, 2003-09-22 20:18The first time I heard the myth of overproduction, in a sociology course last semester, I brushed it off as a fluke - the mad ravings of an unreconstructed Marxist professor. But when I heard the same thing repeated last week in a philosophy course, I realized that these were not just isolated incidents; there must be some method to this madness. Read more »
Kozinski Kraziness
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Mon, 2003-09-22 16:09Catch Judge Alex Kozinski on C-SPAN before it's too late. He's hilarious and his Romanian accent just adds to the effect.
Update: Damn, the hearing just finished and I only caught the last few minutes of it. One of the ACLU lawyers made a great Freudian slip at the end: addressing the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, he said, "This is the strongest case that has ever been in this circus..." How apropos.
Root Speculation
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Thu, 2003-09-18 03:24Continuing with my discussion of the greatness that is Cryptonomicon, I'd like to offer some speculation about the story behind Enoch Root.
Root, as you may know, dies halfway through the book, in the past setting of 1944. Or does he? Later, in the present setting, he is alive and well. Is this the same Root? It appears so. Read more »
Amazingly kick-ass!
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Wed, 2003-09-17 00:25Sounding more like an overly excited twelve-year-old schoolgirl than a law professor, Eugene Volokh reflects upon the virtues of Neal Stephenson's excellent and "amazingly kick-ass" book Cryptonomicon. Read more »
<a href="http://www.catallarchy.net/blog/cgi-bin/archives/elderberries.wav">Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Mon, 2003-09-15 18:28Nick Gillespie, referencing this Wall Street Journal article, observes that political insults just ain't what they used to be: Read more »
Delong channels Krugman
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Mon, 2003-09-15 17:35The usually reasonable and moderate Brad Delong makes an uncharacteristically harsh observation: Read more »
Network Effects
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Mon, 2003-09-15 15:44Alex Taborrok of the excellent Marginal Revolution blog discusses some of network effects associated with public-key cryptography: Read more »
Secret <STRIKE>Agent</STRIKE> Bearded Man
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Sun, 2003-09-14 20:20I don't often agree with contemporary French intellectuals (certain exceptions notwithstanding), but this NYTimes piece on Tzvetan Todorov contains some interesting observations:
The prostitution of Buzz?
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Fri, 2003-09-12 18:55
The Georgia Tech student newspaper, the Technique [note: current issue not yet available online], is up in arms today about the Athletic Association's decision to sell autographed memorabilia, premium seats, and appearances by "Buzz", the school's mascot, through ebay. Read more »
Human Action, Not Human Design
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Thu, 2003-09-11 11:19Alternatively titled: The Incredibly Strange Meme Which Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Anti-Capitalism.
For those of you not following the Norberg vs. Kuttner debate, it's starting to get downright nasty. Read more »
Novus Ordo Mundi
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Thu, 2003-09-11 09:24One of the few areas where I differ with fellow libertarians is privacy concerns. As far as I can tell, knowledge itself is not a threat to liberty; rather, it is what is done - specifically by the government - with that knowledge. Read more »
Liberty worship
Submitted by Micha Ghertner on Tue, 2003-09-09 02:04There is a particular "meme," pardon the clich?, running rampant online that libertarianism is a religion. In response to this Tech Central Station article by Radley Balko, self-described "anarcho-syndicalist" Al Giordano repeats the "libertarianism as religion" slur, and makes a few additional (unwarranted) attacks on Balko as well. Read more »