May 11, 2012
On The Economist website today: We are very sorry to announce that Peter David, our Washington bureau chief, Lexington columnist and former foreign editor, died in a car accident on Thursday night. He had worked at The Economist since 1984 and was a much-loved colleague and friend. We will pay fuller tribute to him in next week’s issue. I’ve been an avid follower of the Lexington column and blog for years, and although I never knew the author personally, this feels like a great loss. RIP, Peter. You, and your brilliant writing, will be missed. 

On The Economist website today:

We are very sorry to announce that Peter David, our Washington bureau chief, Lexington columnist and former foreign editor, died in a car accident on Thursday night. He had worked at The Economist since 1984 and was a much-loved colleague and friend. We will pay fuller tribute to him in next week’s issue.

I’ve been an avid follower of the Lexington column and blog for years, and although I never knew the author personally, this feels like a great loss. RIP, Peter. You, and your brilliant writing, will be missed. 

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April 9, 2012
Best friendz. (Taken with instagram)

Best friendz. (Taken with instagram)

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April 2, 2012
Rare, poignant, praise for political “minimalism”

Mr Obama made his first statement on the Trayvon Martin case last Friday, and it was pretty darn careful. He said he thought it was crucial that the case be investigated at every level so we can get to the bottom of what happened. He also noted: “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” Ta-Nehisi Coates called this “Stunning. Pitch perfect…a stunning exercise in political minimalism.” Minimalism is exactly right: in a case freighted with racial significance, where being black puts him in an especially fraught position, Mr Obama said exactly enough to register the moral weight of the situation, without saying anything that would imply partiality. The line demonstrates empathy and invites everyone else to share that empathy, without saying anything that might alienate anyone whose sons don’t look like Trayvon.

-The Economist

I highly recommend reading the rest of the article, which is actually about the politics of gay marriage. It contains truly inspiring analysis. 

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Filed under: gay marriage trayvon martin obama political minimalism race politics 
March 28, 2012
therealsaisai: newsweek: barackobama: Another reason to like Obamacare. The Obama campaign is pushing hard this week—on tumblr and twitter—to win hearts and minds in advance of what now sort-of-kind-of appears to possibly be a Supreme Court ruling against the President’s individual mandate clause. This would’ve been helpful—I dunno—in 2010 maybe? Instead we were talking about death panels and birth control coverage. The Right held the reins on this debate for far too long, and the SCOTUS Justices don’t care about infographics. Yep. 

therealsaisai:

newsweek:

barackobama:

Another reason to like Obamacare.

The Obama campaign is pushing hard this week—on tumblr and twitter—to win hearts and minds in advance of what now sort-of-kind-of appears to possibly be a Supreme Court ruling against the President’s individual mandate clause.

This would’ve been helpful—I dunno—in 2010 maybe? Instead we were talking about death panels and birth control coverage. The Right held the reins on this debate for far too long, and the SCOTUS Justices don’t care about infographics.

Yep. 

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(Notes: 3,424)
  
March 23, 2012
Google blowing my mind. Again.

This is just amazing. Google N-gram searches through over 5.2 million digitized books published from 1800-2000 to plot the frequency of whatever word(s) you want. My first thought was to see how popular Keynes vs. Hayek or Friedman have been over time. Apparently Friedman blows past Keynes in the late 60s - and Hayek barely even registers, despite being who I thought was Keynes’ most popular critic. My second thought was to see when really antiquated words/spelling like to’morrow were actually popular, and when we stopped using them. Turns out it’s popularity jumped up and down every 20 years or so, then a huge spike in the late 20s, early 30s, and now, obviously, it’s virtually gone. Crazy! 

Check out the Google’s user guide to “culturomics” here.

I haven’t been able to check out the TED talk yet because I’m at work… and I’m obviously busy … working. But definitely check that out as well. 

Thank you Brett.

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March 20, 2012

A bold Nowruz message from President Obama. 

Happy New Year!!!

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March 11, 2012

Neil DeGrasse Tyson making me feel good. 

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March 8, 2012
Haha. Thanks, Bren. 

Haha. Thanks, Bren. 

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March 8, 2012
Persian Kingpin

Here’s an interesting little tidbit: yesterday the US Treasury officially designated an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) General as a narcotics trafficker. General Gholamreza Baghbabi allegedly welcomed Afghan heroine traffickers to smuggle opiates through Iran in exchange for moving weapons to the Taliban - and my intuition says probably to Syria as well. 

Just one more notch in the ever tightening sanctions belt. 

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February 28, 2012
Iranian state-run TV touts "A Separation" Oscar win as a deathblow to Zionist warmongering

Because there was also an Israeli movie nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film, the Iranian film’s win is:

  • A victory over the “Zionist” regime, and
  • The beginning of the collapse of the pro-Israeli movement in the U.S. 

Lolz.

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