The recording industry doesn’t have the most respectable history when it comes to lawsuits. Between asking for millions for trivial acts of piracy, and asking potentially for trillions in more serious cases, they’ve shown that they’re not only completely disconnected from reality, but totally unheeding of the actual effects of their litigation. So it’s not surprising to see them tilting at yet another windmill.
Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune slammed the department's review as “an insult to anyone who expects government to work for the interests of the American people.”
Phi Beta Iota: Neither the Department of State, nor any other branch of government nor even the environmentalists themselves, are doing holistic analytics. At root this project is wrong for two reasons: it uses water we cannot afford to waste to flush the tar, and it creates a third rate oil follow-on ecology–doing the wrong thing writer as Russell Ackoff would say. The US Government lacks the ability to do holistic analytics, and therefore it is incapable of rendering sound decisions in a complex world.
But really, the reason Square is exciting isn't as a direct swap-out of existing payment methods. Square is exciting because its mobility and low up-front costs allow entirely different types of business to move money with credit cards. Individuals, freelancers, farmers, nursery owners, Etsy DIY types, and a whole bunch of other people can actually treat cards as cash.
The police found about 10 grams of marijuana, or about a third of an ounce, when they searched Penelope Harris’s apartment in the Bronx last year. The amount was below the legal threshold for even a misdemeanor, and prosecutors declined to charge her. . . . The police had reported her arrest to the state’s child welfare hot line, and city caseworkers quickly arrived and took the children away.
In February, it was reported that the NYPD arrested 50,383 people for having marijuana in 2010. That made it the number one reason for arrest in the city. In March, news broke that New York spent $75 million last year putting people in jail for pot possession.
Phi Beta Iota: Michael Bloomberg is not stupid, but many of his advisors are. The magnitude of this error in judgment is in our view sufficient to disqualify Mayor Bloomberg from ever being seriously considered for President. What this makes clear is that New York City is not just the epicenter of global financial fraud, but also the epicenter of the US prison-industry. This is a national disgrace.
This [ten-page] paper started as a note to myself as I sought to explore the disparity between my home here in Maine, the forest, lake, and loons…and the rushing maelstrom of the world about me that showed up in the instant on my computer screen.
Call it anxiety adjustment, therapy, or just an attempt to make some sense out of thing.
Perhaps it should have remained in that personal, private compartment, but I also felt the need to share, and so I have. You have to decide the wisdom of that decision.
Dr. Trachtenberg is a very active but post-presidential presence at George Washington University and in global educational circles. I first read Reflections on Higher Education. Completely different from that first book, which was a well-edited compilation of non-replicative speeches and articles, this book follows his departure from the long-held position as President of George Washington University, and provides seventeen chapters. Uses “Inside the Book” feature to see those in detail.
Along with these two books I recommend at a minimum four others I have also reviewed:
2008 Sequel to 2006 Reflections,August 27, 2011