Monthly Archives: May 2008

William Gibson tribute

The air above the yard was like a smellovision, tuned to a dead cow. (Source)

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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Finished it this past Wednesday. A review excerpt on the jacket calls it (paraphrasing) an immigrant family saga for people who don’t like immigrant family sagas. I’m not really sure what that’s code for (is it meant to be broader … Continue reading

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The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (also: Darwinia)

I’ve been meaning to read this since it came out, finally started this week, and finished it today (link; warning, Wikipedia is now stuffed with unheralded spoilers; apparently they decided spoiler warnings look unprofessional). The book has been very well … Continue reading

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Thinking of visiting the US

Take advantage of that nice visa waiver? Wait a sec. . . .

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It’s true! Human dignity is for twerps

Pinker (2008), Macklin (2003). They’re both about how dignity concepts don’t add anything to bioethics discussions. Can we have a similar rant for the law?

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Old people are bad

Post on NYT blog about political generation gap (largely: young people like democrats and especially Obama) also contains some cool survey people about how bad old people are. For example, among people 65 and older, 35% disapprove of interracial dating … Continue reading

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Why has abortion been a constitutional issue in so many different countries?

Abortion is the subject of fairly detailed, judge-made constitutional law in at least four different countries (probably more): the US, Canada, Germany, and (I think) France. These countries have very different constitutions and different institutions and traditions of judicial review. … Continue reading

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The Player of Games

About 13 days ago, I read The Player of Games, a sci-fi by Iain M. Banks. It was solid. Wouldn’t be a top recommendation. No in-depth comments. I just wanted to keep up my practice of noting books here. I … Continue reading

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Nicholas Kristof in the Crosshairs | New York Times Video

I loved this blowgun demonstration, which winds up with some kind of squash on Kristof’s head, William Tell style. Link.

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A Moral Defense of Tax Law Practice: any takers?

It’s very easy to frame a plausible moral indictment of tax law practice: tax lawyers help their clients avoid big tax bills, which shifts the taxes onto other people. These are broad strokes (shifting taxes onto other taxpayers is probably … Continue reading

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