Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Things in China got off to a rough start: President Barack Obama downplayed dust-ups involving the U.S. delegation and Chinese security officials during the opening hours of his trip to Hangzhou for the G-20 summit, but said Sunday the U.S. would not apologize for its efforts to expand media access in the country. "We don’t …
Continue reading "If You Want to Support Press Freedom, Start At Home"
Megan McCardle has a great revelation, now that Obamacare is in serious trouble: Here’s my radical plan: If the Obamacare exchanges are going to result in, at best, people being able to buy Medicaid-style plans with limited choices and benefits, then why not just eliminate the middleman and give them … Medicaid? Where was she …
Continue reading "Waking Up Too Late on Medicaid Expansion and "Fixing" Obamacare"
The Guardian laments the sameness of the "new" look: It’s no accident that these places look similar. Though they’re not part of a chain and don’t have their interior design directed by a single corporate overlord, these coffee shops have a way of mimicking the same tired style, a hipster reduction obsessed with a superficial …
Continue reading "Hey Hipsters, Like the Industrial Look? We've Got the Site For You!"
That's what Uber and others have found out the hard way in China: “Uber’s approach to markets around the world has been fairly arrogant,” from flouting local taxi regulations to threatening to sabotage media critics by digging up personal dirt, says Zennon Kapron, managing director of Shanghai-based consulting firm Kapronasia. “But arrogance is a very difficult …
Continue reading "It's Hard to Humble Americans, But It Can Be Done"
Right in the heart of Istanbul: But now Turkey is going in the opposite direction. President President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party has called for a new Islamic constitution. In May, some of his followers demanded that the Hagia Sophia be made into a mosque again. The coup attempt this month against Erdogan has not only …
We're pretty much in a war zone these days between police, black people and just about everyone else being the shooter or the shot. I find it hard to really say anything meaningful about it. One of the "spin-offs" of my PhD pursuits is riding the "city" bus. Actually we have a regional authority called …
No, this is not CAIR's newest idea of subversion. Look to the right at a page from the 1913 edition of the Arabian Nights by Frances Jenkins Olcott, an American librarian. There at the top is the traditional Islāmic invocation "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful," which I have seen (with variations) …
Continue reading "An American Children's Book in the Name of Allah"
One of the more amusing moments I've had here at UTC has been the visit of the new Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, Dr. Daniel Pack, to the SimCentre, where I just finished my PhD. He wanted to meet with the students; it's been a rough road for the program, and …
Amidst the tragedy of the Orlando massacre earlier this week, we have yet another major event facing us: the "Brexit" vote on 23 June, where the UK's voters express their wish to stay in the European Union or leave. The "Establishment" in the UK (and that, sad to say, includes the Church of England) have …
Continue reading "Brexit: Something Tells Me, It's Time to Go…"
And radically, too: National Honor Society (NHS) stoles are frequent sight at high school graduation ceremonies around the country, but one Plano Senior High School student is frustrated that he won't be allowed to wear one when he puts on his cap and gown next month. According to school practices, students are not allowed to …
Positive Infinity 