Category Archives: Uncategorized

We Should Probably All Calm Down a Bit: Kevin Drum

We Should Probably All Calm Down a Bit: Kevin Drum
“Oh, and smart people on both sides of the aisle should start thinking seriously about how to handle a future in which smart machines do more and more work and humans do less and less. I’m dead serious about this.”

Status Quo Ante | RedState

Status Quo Ante | RedState
“Yes conservatives, we must account for this. The Romney campaign to the hispanic community was atrocious and, frankly, the fastest growing demographic in America isn’t going to vote for a party that sounds like that party hates brown people.”

Is Demography Destiny? by Megan McArdle

Is Demography Destiny? by Megan McArdle
“I’m not sure how enduring this ‘Emerging Democratic Majority’ will prove to be. Some reasons for my skepticism”

U.S. Republican Party will recover when they stop behaving like yahoos | Full Comment | National Post

U.S. Republican Party will recover when they stop behaving like yahoos | Full Comment | National Post

Immigration is only part of the problem Republicans have with hispanic voters – Spectator Blogs

Immigration is only part of the problem Republicans have with hispanic voters – Spectator Blogs
Because it is not just about immigration. It is about belonging. It is about respect. It is about being part of the American family.

The Best | Dustin Curtis

The Best | Dustin Curtis
“Everything I carried had to fit into a backpack, so I spent the time to carefully research and buy only the very best of each individual item I was carrying. The best towel. The best pen and notebook. The best headlamp. The best headphones. The best wallet. Everything I owned had been carefully designed by a person who cared deeply about the problem being solved.”

When quants tell stories | Felix Salmon

When quants tell stories | Felix Salmon
“At heart, the campaign was marrying quantitative skills with storytelling, to unbeatable effect. Which stories should the campaign tell, to any given group of people? How should it tell those stories? And who should it get to deliver those stories? The database answered all those questions”

The Prattleground States | Bill James

The Prattleground States | Bill James
“First, divide the nation into 50 Districts, each District into 50 Regions, each Region into 50 Wards, and each Ward into 50 Precincts. There will be 50 Districts, 2,500 Regions, 125,000 Wards and 6.25 Million Precincts. If you had 312.5 million people voting—about the population of the United States–then there would be 50 voters in each Precinct.”

Blog: Bronx Banter: Good as Gold

Blog: Wired Science: Study: The Universe Has Almost Stopped Making New Stars

Money talks, but NHL fans don’t want to hear it

Money talks, but NHL fans don’t want to hear it
“the fan is saying: don’t treat me as if I don’t matter… Don’t make me think about the money. I don’t want to think about the money.”

Blog: The American Conservative » Rod Dreher: Conservatism: What Next?

Rany Jazayerli: The GOP And Me.

Rany Jazayerli: The GOP And Me.
“Look, I don’t want to be a party-line voter. It does Muslims no good to be identified with a single political party – we run the risk of being taken advantage of by the Democratic Party, while having our needs completely ignored by the Republicans. And I look forward to the day, hopefully in the near future, when I once again vote for a Republican candidate.”

Blog: Brain Pickings: The Beatles Perform Shakespeare in Color, 1964

Sabermetric Research: Arguments vs. studies

Sabermetric Research: Arguments vs. studies
“In social science, the best arguments prove more than the best studies. Hands down.”

Worse Than You Ever Imagined

Worse Than You Ever Imagined
36 million unnatural deaths in China from 1958-62. That’s a World War scale of magnitude, and we barely ever hear of it.

Blog: Barking Up The Wrong Tree: Can one personality trait determine your future?

Purifying Our Political Culture

Purifying Our Political Culture
“Robespierre, who did more than anyone else to bring about the king’s execution, sat in that house with the windows closed, unwilling to look upon the result of his work (he was squeamish). Later, when he had arranged for Danton, once his dear friend and fellow Jacobin, to go to the guillotine, he sat inside his rooms on the rue St-Honore a second time. Danton, who had a booming voice, wailed as he made his way past Robespierre’s place; Robespierre had to have heard him, but he averted his gaze.”

Blog: The American Conservative » Rod Dreher: Pinker On Left/Right Clash

State of the Species

State of the Species
“Margulis was no apologist for unthinking destruction. Still, she couldn’t help regarding conservationists’ preoccupation with the fate of birds, mammals, and plants as evidence of their ignorance about the greatest source of evolutionary creativity: the microworld of bacteria, fungi, and protists. More than 90 percent of the living matter on earth consists of microorganisms and viruses, she liked to point out.”