A very thoughtful piece on the false notion that Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” implies a lack of government intervention. Rather, he felt that the invisible hand was the unexpected social good from private action made possible by industrious hard-work and proper precedence of the public good in politics. In other words, he’d probably see Goldman Sachs as a bunch of lazy wastrels.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Friday, September 28, 2012
Why Buses Have Vertical Steering Wheel Columns
Did you ever wonder why a bus has a big, horizontal steering wheel instead of one more like a car’s? Me too, so I asked Metro Transit in Minnesota why bus steering wheels are designed that way.
Here’s their reply:
The answer to your question lies in the fact that the room available in the front of the bus is very limited. Because the engine, transmission and other driveline components are in the back of the bus, the front area is kept as short as possible in order to increase space for passengers. At the same time, this area has to be large enough to accommodate the bus driver and the equipment needed to operate the bus.
One way to help maximize the driver’s area while keeping the front of the bus compact is to mount the steering column in a vertical orientation. I believe that all transit bus manufacturers use this strategy to accomplish this. Just so you know, the steering wheel can be tilted and it also telescopes to fit the needs of various operators, so the vertical orientation is not as much of an issue as it might seem.
Thanks, Charles Wurzinger of Metro Transit!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
"Ambition is fired by possibility, not by deprivation, as a tour through the world’s poorest regions..."
“Ambition is fired by possibility, not by deprivation, as a tour through the world’s poorest regions makes clear”
- Thurston Howell Romney - NYTimes.com
- Thurston Howell Romney - NYTimes.com
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
In U.S. today, no margin for illness | StarTribune.com
In U.S. today, no margin for illness | StarTribune.com: 
A great moral argument for public intervention in health care, if you’re not persuaded by the obvious market failure.
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
Maybe we should just pick the guy that’s more likely to...
Maybe we should just pick the guy that’s more likely to tell the truth.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
"Who among the Republicans has the courage of Alfred E. Smith or Hubert Humphrey?"
“Who among the Republicans has the courage of Alfred E. Smith or Hubert Humphrey?”
- GOP must slip its ugly skin | StarTribune.com
- GOP must slip its ugly skin | StarTribune.com
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
A sobering report about breast cancer | MinnPost
A sobering report about breast cancer | MinnPost: 
A lesson that you sometimes can’t push science, even with lots of money.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Charter Schools and Kudzu
Charter Schools and Kudzu: 
Once seen as a solution to stagnating educational outcomes, charter schools have become “a virulent, parasitic weed” in the garden of K-12 education.
100 million tons of unlovable plastic: The container-bottom numbers game | Twin Cities Daily Planet
100 million tons of unlovable plastic: The container-bottom numbers game | Twin Cities Daily Planet: 
A fascinating look at the issue of plastics recycling, and how consumers may be able to “recycle” all sorts of plastics, even those for which there really is not a recycling market…
Monday, August 06, 2012
Sunday, August 05, 2012
Fixing the "could not activate cellular network" problem on iPhone
This problem randomly hit recently. Phone calls worked, so did wifi. But I could not get on the cellular data network with my phone.
Forums suggested the following hierarchy of fixes:
- Switch to airplane mode and back
- Soft reset (hold sleep/wake button until red slider appears and power off)
- Hard reset (hold sleep/wake button AND home button until Apple logo appears)
- Reset Network settings (you lose all wifi passwords): Settings -> General -> Reset -> Reset Network Settings
- Restore phone
I did 1-4 without any luck and wasn’t thrilled with the idea of #5, but it turns out the fix was easier than that.
Fix: using a paperclip, I popped out the sim card tray, dumped out the sim card and then put the card back in the tray and the tray back in the phone (see video for play-by-play). Success!
Friday, August 03, 2012
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
The evolution of a creationist | StarTribune.com
The evolution of a creationist | StarTribune.com: 
I’m not sure “we can’t explain, therefore, God exists” is a winning argument. Why not just agree it’s all about belief and not fact?
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Jack Abramoff: Of course campaign contributions are bribes | MinnPost
Jack Abramoff: Of course campaign contributions are bribes | MinnPost: 
An interesting take: society cultivates a sense of indebtedness and gratitude so that we act civilly toward one another. It means that campaign contributions are inevitably asking for something in return.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
Goddamit, NYT, do your job
In a story about Republican plans to extend (again) tax cuts for the super rich, the NYTimes lets the #3 House Republican say this in print:
“The president said if you pass the stimulus, unemployment would never go above 8 percent,” said Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the No. 3 House Republican. “We’ve had a 41-month experience that that is not true and hasn’t been effective. One thing Republicans have always said is that they want a form of accountability.”
But if they had just Googled that first sentence (without quotes), they would have found this Politifact coverage of that statement, ruling it MOSTLY FALSE.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The long struggle: vaccines versus malaria | Ars Technica
The long struggle: vaccines versus malaria | Ars Technica: 
A good lesson that not all scientific goals can be achieved with a “moon shot”
Recyclers disagree on impact of glued-in Retina MacBook Pro batteries | Ars Technica
Recyclers disagree on impact of glued-in Retina MacBook Pro batteries | Ars Technica: 
This is really interesting article on the philosophy of eco-design versus consumerism. On the one hand, Apple’s devices are harder to separate into their component parts, but on the other hand, they have higher-quality materials (like metal) and their users keep them longer.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
"The Glaxo case is the latest and biggest in a series of Justice Department prosecutions of Big..."
“The Glaxo case is the latest and biggest in a series of Justice Department prosecutions of Big Pharma for illegal marketing prescription drugs. … The Department says the prosecutions are well worth the effort. By one estimate it’s recovered more than $15 for every $1 it’s spent. But what’s the point if the fines are small relative to the profits, if the wrong people are feeling the financial pinch, and if no executive is held accountable? The only way to get big companies like these to change their behavior is to make the individuals responsible feel the heat. An even more basic issue is why the advertising and marketing of prescription drugs is allowed at all, when consumers can’t buy them and shouldn’t be influencing doctor’s decisions anyway. Before 1997, the Food and Drug Administration banned such advertising on TV and radio. That ban should be resurrected. Finally, there’s no good reason why doctors should be allowed to accept any perks at all from [drug] companies… It’s an inherent conflict of interest. Codes of ethics that are supposed to limit such gifts obviously don’t work. All perks should be banned, and doctors that accept them should be subject to potential loss of their license to practice.”
- Economist’s View: Bigger is Not Always Better
- Economist’s View: Bigger is Not Always Better
Monday, July 16, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
"the process of polarization is not symmetrical. The parties have not become equally ideologically..."
“the process of polarization is not symmetrical. The parties have not become equally ideologically homogenous or moved equally far toward their extremes. They do not behave in the same way or share the same attitude toward established social and political norms. Republicans have moved farther right than Democrats have left.”
- The left’s gone left but the right’s gone nuts: Asymmetrical polarization in action | Grist
- The left’s gone left but the right’s gone nuts: Asymmetrical polarization in action | Grist
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Sunday, July 01, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
"A study led by Dr. Jessica Savage of Johns Hopkins University found that children who had high..."
“A study led by Dr. Jessica Savage of Johns Hopkins University found that children who had high levels of triclosan and parabens in their urine, were at increased risk of both food and environmental allergies. According to US News HealthDay, the children with the highest levels of urinary triclosan had more than “twice the risk of food allergies and nearly twice the risk of environmental allergies as children with the lowest levels.””
- Antibacterial soaps can double the risk of allergies in kids | BabyCenter Blog
- Antibacterial soaps can double the risk of allergies in kids | BabyCenter Blog
This is why unions are important
Fair wages and reasonable hours and vacations are all well and good, but the most important reason for unions is the same reason they are getting targeted by Gov. Walker in Wisconsin and the national Republican Party.
They are the one and only source of middle class political power that can stand up to corporations.
"If it were true that lower tax rates and more wealth for the wealthy would lead to more job..."
“If it were true that lower tax rates and more wealth for the wealthy would lead to more job creation, then today we would be drowning in jobs. And yet unemployment and under-employment is at record highs.”
- Was Nick Hanauer’s TED Talk on Income Inequality Too Rich for Rich People? | Business | TIME.com
- Was Nick Hanauer’s TED Talk on Income Inequality Too Rich for Rich People? | Business | TIME.com
Friday, June 22, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Why I will not buy the new Macbook Pro
MacBook Pro with Retina Display 15” Mid 2012
Repairability Score: 1 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair).
Proprietary pentalobe screws prevent you from gaining access to anything inside.
As in the MacBook Air, the RAM is soldered to the logic board. Max out at 16GB now, or forever hold your peace—you can’t upgrade.
The proprietary SSD isn’t upgradeable either (yet), as it is similar but not identical to the one in the Air. It is a separate daughtercard, and we’re hopeful we can offer an upgrade in the near future.
The lithium-polymer battery is glued rather than screwed into the case, which increases the chances that it’ll break during disassembly. The battery also covers the trackpad cable, which tremendously increases the chance that the user will shear the cable in the battery removal process.
The display assembly is completely fused, and there’s no glass protecting it. If anything ever fails inside the display, you will need to replace the entire extremely expensive assembly.
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