Archive for April 2010
The Chinese are coming! (maybe)
A couple of articles this week indicate that the Chinese economic presence in the US may be increasing in the near future. First, an article in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal reported that “Chinese companies are increasingly looking to invest in the US, and state and local governments are scrambling to win a share of the […]
The return of the consumer
“American consumers are finally coming out of hiding,” reports the New York Times today. Retail sales are up, and people are now spending on items other than food and medicine, such as clothes, jewelry and cars. Greater consumer spending is another sign – along with increasing employment and higher factory production – that economic recovery […]
NBC TV shows tell us to recycle, eat organic and exercise
You’ve heard of “product placement,” whereby companies pay to have their products displayed in the midst of movies or television programs. Well, now NBC Universal deploys “behavioral placement” in its TV shows, according to an interesting item in today’s Wall Street Journal. It turns out that it is no accident when “Tina Fey is tossing […]
“Race to the Top”: an irrational way to run education policy
The Obama administration’s “Race to the Top” competition among states for federal education funding was problematic from the start – and now its inherent irrationality is starting to show. The administration is offering $4.35 billion to states that it deems are the most innovative in reforming their education programs. Last week, the White House selected two […]
Classic March Madness final
(Video: Duke-Butler NCAA basketball final) Last night’s NCAA basketball final between Duke and Butler was one of the best, coming down to a last-second desperation shot from Butler’s Gordon Hayward (shown in the video) that would have been a storybook ending to his team’s Cinderella run – if it went in. Both teams put on a great show. Duke, a traditional […]
Misanthropic greens call for “no kids”
In the environmental website Grist (“we’re making lemonade out of looming climate apocalypse”), Lisa Hymas espouses her GINK Manifesto – Green Inclinations, No Kids: I am thoroughly delighted by the fact that the most humane thing for me to do is to have no children at all. Making the green choice too often feels like […]
Spring in the Finger Lakes
I’m feeling refreshed from a week’s vacation in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. The photo above is of Seneca Lake, the deepest of the eleven Finger Lakes. The region has more than 80 wineries – its Rieslings are world class – and the photo is from the perspective of the Glenora winery on the western […]
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