11.21.08
Posted in politics at 1:36 pm by kevin
Islamists say they’ll fight Somali pirates
This has a tinge of Alien vs. Predator about it, and isn’t unambiguously sunshine and roses (note that the group’s point isn’t to discourage piracy per se, but to limit piracy against Islamic nations). Still, it poses an interesting point to the folks who group all malefactors together in one giant bundle of badness.
Of course, I suspect that the population segment that will see this story doesn’t overlap too much with the population segment that lumps all “evildoers” together.
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Posted in politics at 12:14 pm by kevin
Dionne: What Next for Obama’s Network?
If you’re a politics junkie, this is the billion-dollar question ($1 billion is the valuation some put on Obama’s fundraising and email list). More than a fundraising machine, of course, Obama For America (now Powered By Hope… and Victory!) is likely to become a powerful advocacy mechanism - a MoveOn directed, at least implicitly, from the White House.
For instance, if the health insurance industry weren’t inclined to support universal health care of its own accord (helped, no doubt, by the prevailing winds), I could see OFA as the counterpoint to a new round of Harry and Louise ads.
Update: Ed Rollins alludes to this in his argument to keep the White House Office of Political Affairs:
…that’s why he needs a political operation in his White House — to stay connected to the supporters who elected him.
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10.02.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:01 pm by kevin
Mackerel Economics in Prison Leads to Appreciation for Oily Fillets
Besides the topic of the article itself, two observations:
…says Ed Bales, a consultant who advises people who are headed to prison
Well, I guess I shouldn’t be shocked that there’s a consultant for everything. I wonder whether Oz is good or bad for business…
…says Jonson Miller, an adjunct history professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia who spent two months in federal prison after being arrested at a protest on federal property.
It’s quite possible that there’s more to this story that explains the sentence (perhaps violence?), but if not, color me shocked that you can get several months in prison just for showing up at a protest.
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09.09.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:22 am by kevin
The Pitfalls of Linking Doctors’ Pay to Performance
It’s a difficult issue. While the metrics and pay-for-performance programs profiled in the article are obviously crappy, and by all accounts antibiotics are grossly over-prescribed, it’s important not to take that as an indictment of metrics and data altogether.
A lot of professions fall into this trap where we say, “well, [medicine/law/teaching/programming] is really complex, and it’s really hard to design good metrics, so why don’t we just bank on the fact that the professionals in this field are really good people who work really hard and have the best of intentions, and it’ll all work out for the best.” That’s all true, but it also ignores the fact that data - particularly in the aggregate - can help us make better decisions. And sometimes - not always, but sometimes - this data goes against conventional wisdom, or individual expertise.
One of the neat things I learned from one of the Gladwell books or articles (can’t recall which one) was how important the Apgar score proved in improving neo-natal care. Simply by having a consistent and statistically useful measure of how healthy a baby is (even if it papered over or ignored the individual complexities of each situation), doctors and researchers were able to learn from thousands of cases and derive best practices. Were those best practices always applicable? No. But they were a whole hell of a lot better than what we had before.
By and large, people have an anecdotal bias - we tend to learn and internalize the lessons of our most memorable experiences, with far too little heed given to unbiased data that all too often better reflects reality. Should we draw a straight line from data to compensation? No. Systems like that are easy to game and not particularly helpful. But at the same time, we shouldn’t minimize the importance of gathering good data, developing valid metrics and - without putting all of our eggs in one basket - using it as a component in compensation.
[via Marli]
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07.24.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:03 am by kevin
For those of you that know my renaissance-man friend Greg Wilson: the author/professor/musician has a new site, www.gregoryawilson.com.
(Yes, the last two posts have been pimping things I’ve had a hand in; that’ll probably keep happening for a while).
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07.07.08
Posted in politics at 8:37 pm by kevin
I realize I haven’t written here in a while. Sorry, that’s how it goes. However, the project I’ve been working on for much of 2008 - Polihood - is now in a private beta. If you’re reading this, shoot me an e-mail and I’ll get you an invitation code (or just fill out the form and ask for one!)
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12.01.07
Posted in entertainment, politics at 10:46 pm by kevin
Judge suspended for jailing court
A US judge has been removed from the bench for jailing an entire courtroom audience after none of them admitted being responsible for a ringing phone.
Yeah… that’s what we call an overreaction.
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10.28.07
Posted in education, politics at 9:44 pm by kevin
I Just Couldn’t Sacrifice My Son
This heartbreaking story of giving up on D.C.’s schools - public and charter - is a telling and worrisome sign for education in the District, and a stark reminder that even the most involved parents and significant funding can’t solve for apathetic administrators and overworked teachers.
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Posted in politics at 8:30 pm by kevin
Obama Promises a Forceful Stand Against Clinton
I like Obama; I really do. I just like Hillary more. So I’m wondering whether this “new”, more forceful Obama will be a detriment to Hillary, or a boon - by forcing her to fight back and come out stronger, which is something that both Clintons excel at.
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10.27.07
Posted in entertainment at 2:13 am by kevin
Writing in The New Yorker a few weeks back, Adam Gopnik analyzed some recently released abridged editions of the canon - including that old terror of American Lit students everywhere, “Moby-Dick”. Some choice quotes:
[The abridged version] still has its phallic reach and point, but lacks its flaccid, anxious self-consciousness: it is all Dick and no Moby.
Books can be snipped at, and made less melodically muddled, but they lose their overtones, their chesty resonance - the same thing that happens, come to think of it, to human castrati.
And, my personal favorite:
Who was the mohel of “Moby-Dick”?
I’m wondering if there’s a theme here…
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