May 2013

Josh Marshall thinks it outrageous that there are 10 U.S. military bases named after Confederate generals: “Why are men who turned traitor against our country for a terrible cause and were responsible for the deaths of so many American soldiers honored by having some of our largest military bases named in their honor?” Part of the answer, says Marshall, “was the decision to mollify Southern defeat by elevating Southern ‘valor’ above that of the North.”

Difficult to Broach | TPM

May 28, 2013

Gulp…

May 24, 2013

BuzzFeed

May 21, 2013

Troy Patterson hazards an answer:

A conspicuous monogram is classy only in the sense of business-classy, bespeaking time lost loitering at the SkyMall which invites the striver opportunities to attach his initials to golf bags and playing cards and coolers that convert into portable stools. The people most likely to be impressed by the embroidery are by definition allergic to the ideas that elegance is restraint and discretion the better part of not looking goofy.

Ultimately, unless you’re headed to summer camp (in which case your belongings might get mixed up with others’) and/or you have a “Memento”-like case of amnesia, it’s probably best to avoid the monogram:

”[You’ll] want to know that some of your superiors believe it correct to monogram only linen and silverware—and that your superiors include people of the servant class. One never tires of quoting the words of Stephen Fry’s Jeeves to Hugh Laurie’s Wooster, on the subject of a monogrammed handkerchief: It was the valets understanding that this sort of thing was “only for those people who were in danger of forgetting their names, sir.”

I Got Monograms on My Shirts. Am I a Jerk? | Slate.com

May 21, 2013

Writing for MIT Technology Review, roboticist Illah Nourbakhsh urges us to consider the consequences of an automated workforce:

The elephant in the room is how robotics will play out for human employment in the long term. New robots will take on advanced manufacturing, tutoring, scheduling, and customer relations. They operate equipment, manage construction, operate backhoes, and yes, even drive tomorrows cars.

It is time for not just economists but roboticists, like me, to ask, How will robotic advances transform society in potentially dystopian ways? My concern is that without serious discourse and explicit policy changes, the current path will lead to an ever more polarized economic world, with robotic technologies replacing the middle class and further distancing our society from authentic opportunity and economic justice.

Its Time to Talk about the Burgeoning Robot Middle Class | MIT Technology Review

May 21, 2013

Untitled (Louisiana), William Eggleston
Currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through July 28.

via Slate

May 20, 2013

According to Jonathan Mercer, the worst reason to get involved is to preserve our “credibility”:

The debate about what to do in Syria has been sidetracked by discussions of credibility and reputation. But both logic and evidence prove that reputations are mostly imaginary. Obama should not let fears that others might think him irresolute drive him to disaster.

If Assad thinks Obama is irresolute, that makes Assad a total dumbass (strategically speaking), which means he’s even less of a threat to our national interests than we thought. Mercer:

Say that Assad interprets Obamas backing down on his red line remark as irresolute and that Assads reasoning stops there. He might decide that Obama will always be irresolute in the future and that Obama will play the second round of the game as if the first round had not happened. Neither the political context nor the interests at stake are important. In this case Assad, perhaps like McCain, is rather simple-minded when it comes to strategy.

And if Assad is not as dumb as McCain?

Now, if Assad is a master strategist and game theory devotee, he might engage in three rounds of reasoning. In this case, Assad would believe that Obama is actually more likely to bluff because Obama thinks that Assad thinks that Obama is less likely to bluff. Keeping the logic straight is difficult, but it is also irrelevant: no one knows how many rounds the game will go on, for there is no logical place to stop.

(Btw, doesn’t that remind you of this scene from “The Princess Bride”?) Mercer’s conclusion:

Those who argue that reputation and credibility matter are depending on strategists to be simple-minded, illogical, and blissfully unaware of recursion. And if Assad is illogical, then calibrating U.S. foreign policy to elicit particular responses from him is pointless. The same goes for other adversaries. No one can know what the North Korean leadership will make of U.S. behavior in Syria. They might think that Obama has no credibility, that he is, in fact, resolute, or that he is driven by other U.S. interests. Whatever conclusion they come to will be driven by their own beliefs and interests.

Bad Reputation: Has Obama Blown His Credibility — And Syria? – Foreign Affairs

May 17, 2013

From the Times:

After years of warnings to cut sodium consumption to reduce heart attacks and strokes, it is disturbing to learn how little evidence exists that such reductions would actually be beneficial to health. There is even emerging evidence that some groups in the population could suffer harm from levels that are too low.

Doubts About Restricting Salt – NYTimes.com

May 16, 2013

An inspired choice of song to accompany this great montage:

May 15, 2013

May 15, 2013