In case you are unaware, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) staged an impressive 13-hour filibuster on Wednesday of John Brennan’s nomination by President Obama to head up the Central Intelligence Agency. The filibuster was in response to a white paper issued by Attorney General Eric Holder, who implied that it was within the President’s constitutional authority … Read more
A recent study by our very own Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health, in conjunction with Boston Children’s Hospital, provides evidence that stricter gun control laws work in reducing gun-related homicides and suicides. States with stronger gun laws experienced significantly lower levels of deaths involving firearms than their counterparts with loose gun laws. … Read more
I’ve heard about computer algorithms that can create classical music, but I’ve never heard of a search algorithm that creates a new form of poetry. And yet, that’s exactly what has happened. “Google poems” were created today, and are characterized by five lines, each starting with the same phrase and the last four ending in … Read more
“I’m presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don’t take it means that I should somehow, you know, do a Jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do what’s right.” After President Obama referenced a so-called Jedi mind meld at his press conference on the sequester on March 1, news outlets … Read more
I wrote a column a few weeks ago about the rapid decline of science coverage in the media-a decline partially related to declining profits in print journalism, and partially related to the decline in prestige associated with science since the Cold War ended. I was thus saddened to see on March 1 that The New York … Read more
New York Magazine provides us with an amusing imagined conversation between newly appointed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and the photographer assigned to coax a rare Hagel smile for his official photo. Be sure to follow the links at the bottom of the “conversation” for some of Hagel’s most famous sad-faced moments. Enjoy.
The recent protests at Emory University over the comments of James W. Wagner, the school’s president, have sparked a debate on the New York Times Web site that asks the question: was the three-fifths compromise in the Constitution really as necessary as we are taught? Still not intrigued? One of the arguments is titled: “The Union Wasn’t … Read more
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who is testifying before Congress this week in defense of the Fed’s monetary easing practices, will speak at Princeton University’s Baccalaureate ceremony in June. Princeton Economics Professor Alan Blinder is excited to hear his former colleague speak, but adds: “The only problem is that he got his education at Harvard,” Blinder said, … Read more
Interesting news out of the Yahoo HR Department yesterday regarding a memo discouraging employees from working remotely. It sounds like the new policy will mostly affect employees that work remotely full-time, but the wording of the memo also seems to indicate that teleworking for normally on-site employees is something to be avoided: To become the … Read more
Interesting news out of the Yahoo HR Department yesterday regarding a memo discouraging employees from working remotely. It sounds like the new policy will mostly affect employees that work remotely full-time, but the wording of the memo also seems to indicate that teleworking for normally on-site employees is something to be avoided: To become the … Read more