tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:05:49 +0000blogging since before you werehttp://www.thesnob.com/noreply@blogger.com (The Snob)Blogger215125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-1720820009631666815Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:41:00 +00002010-02-08T13:05:49.235-08:00Thomas Friedman writes,One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century. It is not an accident that China is committed to overtaking us http://www.thesnob.com/2010/02/friedman-terrible.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-5105136013888704521Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:14:00 +00002010-01-19T21:25:31.956-08:00Yes, Martha Coakley had two of the worst weeks a campaign could ask for, short of a bimbo eruption or federal indictment. The line is going to be that it's all her fault: if only Mike "you're screwed" Capuano had won the primary, Brown would still be an unknown state senator in Wrentham, and even I don't know where that is.Baloney, I say.Not to say the candidates aren't different: Coakley was http://www.thesnob.com/2010/01/not-just-bad-candidate.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-3991134801467847179Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:31:00 +00002010-01-18T12:24:54.117-08:00Apropos Martha Coakley's now-infamous rapemailer, I've heard several pundits say, 'after that, even if she wins, she loses.'Precisely which planet do these people call home? Al Franken won by much dirtier tactics, and his Senate career seems off to a perfectly normal start. The difference between a campaign and what one does in office is like the difference between high school and college. If http://www.thesnob.com/2010/01/even-if-she-wins-she-wins.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-3491913268356516115Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:18:00 +00002010-01-12T18:26:27.788-08:00Jaron Lenier's "You Are Not a Gadget" is probably well-suited for the zeitgeist of austerity-chic, and I predict endless positive reviews from newspaper writers delighted to have someone unmistakably of the Web somewhat on their side. Lanier joins St. Bono in the list of unlikely critics of the Web's admittedly dismissive approach towards intellectual property rights. I suspect this will start http://www.thesnob.com/2010/01/creative-destruction.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-1183376420723724710Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:43:00 +00002010-01-11T20:44:58.482-08:00As demonstrated earlier today by Mitt Romney, on Fox News:And right now, there's a lot of anger in Massachusetts, among independents in particular, about the Obama health care plan.Let's give credit where credit's due: Mitt Romney knows when to hop on a bandwagon, and having the benefit of choices not available to the family dog, when to dive off. He was happy to take author's credit for a healthhttp://www.thesnob.com/2010/01/chutzpah.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-7662735019687585309Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:14:00 +00002010-01-06T21:05:02.957-08:00Honestly, I appreciate Brian McGrory taking a few minutes to notch out a pro-forma "Martha Coakley really ought to debate Scott Brown" blog post before the inevitable coronation proceedings begin. But really, I can't let him get away with this piece of earnest, civics-class tripe:"Here's one problem with all this: When you're a United States senator, you're expected to get up on the Senate floor http://www.thesnob.com/2010/01/meanwhile-back-on-planet-earth.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-7635920312300131973Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:20:00 +00002009-12-07T21:26:52.868-08:00A recent comment on a TechCrunch article about the excessive focus on Valley sompanies whined that "even today, Europe is number one in new patents and research. The problem is commercialising things."If commercial success is like having a sold-out first show at an art gallery, patents are like your mother hanging your sketches on her refrigerator.If I had to quickly throw out a guess as to what http://www.thesnob.com/2009/12/europes-lesson-on-innovation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-6959583167384975567Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:57:00 +00002009-11-30T09:52:09.662-08:00If by fraud you mean "Bernie Madoff," then no. But right now it is looking a lot like those AAA-rated CDOs-squared where no one can figure out who actually holds the title anymore.For years we heard of hedge funds populated by all-star teams of mathematicians and computer scientists running Google-sized server farms, and to be sure, a few of them do really exist. But when the world blew up last http://www.thesnob.com/2009/11/is-global-warming-fraud.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-7007982315958356007Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:11:00 +00002009-11-27T08:39:36.987-08:00I don't entirely understand why many environmentalists are so dismayed by allegations that much of the evidence of man-made global warming may have been greatly exaggerated. Just as a thought experiment, if incontrovertible evidence were found that conclusively disproved the inconvenient truth, wouldn't that be like finding out that what you thought was cancer was just a kidney stone? And yet I http://www.thesnob.com/2009/11/climategate.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-3641812153851337556Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:04:00 +00002009-11-04T08:40:27.739-08:00Roger Simon joins David Frum in arguing that the GOP's loss of NY-23 proves that social conservatism and Palinism are losers for the party. His commenters predictably cited the loss of (yet another) pro-gay-marriage plebiscite in (relatively) liberal Maine as proof that social-con issues still win at the ballot box, while Chris Christie won in (extremely) liberal NJ despite carrying the pro-life http://www.thesnob.com/2009/11/social-issues-authenticity-and-party.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-2784230370186314824Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:39:00 +00002009-10-19T18:51:44.014-07:00Today's scandal featuring MSNBC's and Al-Reuters's publishing of the Yes Men's fake Chamber of Commerce press release is further proof of the free market's failure to provide adequate discipline to address shoddy industry practices. Given the universal agreement of the importance of the press, and the historic aberrations which have continued to allow it to operate in a completely "Laissez-Faire"http://www.thesnob.com/2009/10/combating-anglo-saxon-casino-journalism.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-2829043909441161053Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:29:00 +00002009-10-19T09:12:48.799-07:00The (alleged) suggestion by Oprah that tipping 10% is a good way to save money has predictably elicited vast indignation from restaurant workers. I would agree that 10% is possibly atrocious for genuinely good service, and yet, I also think that the tipping culture in the US, which has grown over the years from "10% is OK" to "15% is good" to "20% is reasonable" is itself in some ways badly out http://www.thesnob.com/2009/10/defining-gratuity-down.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-1805264369447105542Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:44:00 +00002009-09-22T12:53:38.008-07:00I'm not convinced that the White House's move to co-opt the "arts community" for the production of propaganda represents much more than the usual executive overreach that every new administration tries to get away with until the press, Congress, and public slap their hand. Bush, famously, tried and largely failed in a similar (though much larger in $) program to fund faith-based institutions thathttp://www.thesnob.com/2009/09/arts-and-myth-of-dissent.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-6326342419692086262Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:03:00 +00002009-09-14T20:38:02.456-07:00There's a staple stage card trick where the magician asks his victim to pick a card, stick it back in the deck, and then find it as he deals the cards back out. The person sits there, intently focused on the cards being dealt, while the magician has glued the card to his forehead, or if he's good, right on the mark's forehead.I thought of this while reading Mark Bowden's October headliner in thehttp://www.thesnob.com/2009/09/missing-story-behind-story.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-5742297689773205840Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:18:00 +00002009-08-25T12:23:10.679-07:00The widening call to boycott Whole Foods over its CEO John Mackey's insufficiently-humiliating self-criticism has yet to succeed in denting sales, but it has proven the substance of what we're up against. While the Left spent the Bush years proclaiming itself the "reality-based community" and praised Obama as embodying their desire for a politics guided by reasoned discourse, they are showing http://www.thesnob.com/2009/08/let-us-be-hoist-with-our-own-petar.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-5250137660966099913Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:27:00 +00002009-08-14T10:51:54.595-07:00It should surprise no one that "experts who track hate groups across the US are increasingly concerned" about hate groups. How often does one read that experts on the topic of A are 'decreasingly concerned' about A, anyway?Anyway, now that the White House and the Democrats have failed to tar the town hall anti-Obamacare protesters as pharma-shills and teabag-toting loonies, they're proceeding to http://www.thesnob.com/2009/08/reductio-ad-oswald.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-9202502026937120349Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:07:00 +00002009-07-29T11:43:08.582-07:00When I saw the CNN headline "Obama looks to sell health care at grocery store," I thought, now there's some change I could believe in!"Bending the cost curve" requires rethinking assumptions along the whole supply chain. While we lament the passing of the country general store, the efficiencies created by national chains like Target and Wal-Mart have a lot to do with why poverty is now defined http://www.thesnob.com/2009/07/so-close-to-great-idea.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-9195222691881252698Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:03:00 +00002009-07-28T08:43:12.572-07:00Somewhere on the list of problems with socializing private matters--in this case, payment for health care--is that private conduct becomes a matter of public concern. Now, having driven the smokers off the patios and into the cold (and a minimum of 25 feet from the doors), the nannies and scolds are coming after our cheeseburgers and fries.While the science behind second-hand smoke makes http://www.thesnob.com/2009/07/eat-fat.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-1239609083382471242Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:08:00 +00002009-07-23T10:38:36.737-07:00When I heard that Obama bit into the arrest-of-Henry-Gates imbroglio, the first thought that struck me was, "this guy still doesn't get the job description." When I saw that he cracked a joke about how he'd probably get shot if he tried the same thing, I just shook my head.If the arrest report on the Smoking Gun is reasonably close to reality, then Gates is a stark raving asshole. I don't know ifhttp://www.thesnob.com/2009/07/gatesgate.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-5661886615408443374Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:32:00 +00002009-07-21T11:03:04.962-07:00The American higher education system is not unlike our healthcare system: vast and world-leading in innovation, and often expensive out of all proportion to results. As such, my chief objection to Pres. Obama's plan for remaking the college loan system as we know it is that it is too dainty by half.1. Income-based repayment: Under the President's proposal, student loan payments would be capped athttp://www.thesnob.com/2009/07/immodest-proposal-for-higher-education.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-6359675059024350302Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:18:00 +00002009-07-20T12:06:16.310-07:00There is a joke in aviation circles that says that the airliner of the future will have a crew consisting of one pilot and a dog. The pilot's job will be to stand by the door in his spiffy uniform and greet the passengers, while the dog's job will be to bite the pilot if he tries to turn off the autopilot.Today marks the 40th anniversary of man's first steps on the Moon, and so everyone feels http://www.thesnob.com/2009/07/apollo-or-rise-of-machines.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-6998270846240807001Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:11:00 +00002009-07-13T20:10:12.800-07:00Many readers have long suspected that Robert X. Cringely writes things he knows to be complete and utter bullshit simply to stir the pot. After all, the world is full of technology pundits who try and fail to get it right, so why try to be as blindingly wrong as possible without being too obvious about it? Still, even by Cringely's unusually high standards, his Sunday op-ed in the NYT is so http://www.thesnob.com/2009/07/bing-vs-king-of-trolls.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-6417276151653221110Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:58:00 +00002009-07-13T09:46:06.171-07:00On one hand, hearing Deval Patrick tongue-lash Zoo New England officials for budgetary scare-mongering is welcome. But it's also like hearing Bernard Cardinal Law call out the Unitarians for buggery behind the altar.Every time anyone proposes a government budget cut we are greeted with cavalcades of caterwauling cassandras gnashing their teeth and rending their garments should even one shiny http://www.thesnob.com/2009/07/whats-good-for-goose-is-good-for-hack.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-8600859317941594201Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:55:00 +00002009-07-06T13:22:35.587-07:00Soon Missourians will enjoy the unique privilege of paying more for reducing their electricity usage. The way it works is as follows:As electricity use rises, utilities have to build additional plantsBuilding additional plants is expensiveThat cost gets passed on to rate payersWhen consumers use less power, it reduces the need to build expensive new plantsWhen consumers use less power, utilities http://www.thesnob.com/2009/07/when-using-less-costs-you-more.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390095.post-4089692472260404133Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:20:00 +00002009-07-04T09:57:30.883-07:00There are a few themes on which Americans broadly agree, one of which is our general loathing for quitters. While Americans as a rule hate to fail, in social terms it is often treated with a measure of nuance, as a step on the ladder of upward mobility, while the Europeans and Japanese seem to see it more as just desserts for an excessive level of personal ambition. It helps to fail well--c.f. http://www.thesnob.com/2009/07/palintology.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Snob)0