The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Ramona's picture

    Friday Follies: The Smalls, The Bigs, and On Wisconsin

    By Ramona on Fri, 02/18/2011 - 10:01am | Politics, Humor & Satire, Media

    This week DARPA unveiled its newest entry into the spy game, the Nano Hummingbird.  The teeny, tiny $4 million prototype flew around a parking lot and then through a standard-sized door, all the while showing us on a small screen what it was seeing through its teeny, tiny eyes.  The hope is that it can be used for reconnaissance and surveillance without anybody noticing, as it zooms in at eight miles per hour and gathers info we might find useful.

    Topics: 
    Politics
    Humor & Satire
    Media
    Series: 
    Friday Follies
    Donal's picture

    Fed Up With Decline

    By Donal on Fri, 02/18/2011 - 8:29am | Politics

    I started reading the Econbrowser blog because it's peak oil-aware founder JD Hamilton posted frequently on The Oil Drum. At some point, Hamilton brought in the very technical Menzie Chinn as co-blogger. Yesterday, in Analogy Watch: "Cairo has come to Wisconsin"? Chinn repudiated the claim Paul Ryan had made on MSNBC:

    Topics: 
    Politics
    William K. Wolfrum's picture

    Reggie Bush, a fire, and Twitter

    By William K. Wolfrum on Thu, 02/17/2011 - 10:45am | Sports, Media

    Here we have a short tale on Twitter of how professional NFL Player Reggie Bush handles a fire at his neighbor’s house.

    Reggie Bush - @reggie_bush

    Damn my neighbors house is on fire!!!!! Whoa!!

    about 1 hour ago 

    Topics: 
    Sports
    Media
    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Marching on Pittsfield

    By Michael Wolraich on Wed, 02/16/2011 - 5:16pm | Politics, Personal

    Williams College was never Berkeley. Founded in 1793 among the minor mountains of western Massachusetts, the red brick buildings of this tiny liberal arts college housed generations of white, Protestant elites from the East Coast. In 1961, the New York Times Magazine described Williams as "a gentleman's school -- fashionable, mildly snobbish, not too obtrusively intellectual."

    Topics: 
    Politics
    Personal
    Ramona's picture

    My mother, Irene, lived a Life

    By Ramona on Wed, 02/16/2011 - 10:35am | Personal

    My mother was born on this day in 1918.  It was the year the influenza epidemic spread across the world and became a pandemic.  By rights, and maybe in a more populous locale, my mother might have sickened and died before she ever had a chance at life.  She was a skinny, spindly little thing who always looked undernourished in early pictures.

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    Personal
    Michael Maiello's picture

    The Secret Plan To Cut Your Benefits?

    By Michael Maiello on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 6:03pm | Politics

    This Slate article is pretty darned amazing.  John Dickerson imagines that President Obama is secretly working with the Republicans on some hardcore budget cutting.  Dickerson writes of this approvingly, as if a back room deal is the only way that we'll get to the Social Security and Medicare cuts that he believes we need.

    Topics: 
    Politics
    Donal's picture

    The High-Priced Spread

    By Donal on Tue, 02/15/2011 - 4:20pm | World Affairs



    I thought oil was supposed to be fungible, so I was curious as to why a barrel of Brent could be selling in the low $100s while WTI was around $85/barrel. That sixteen dollar spread is some sort of record.

    Topics: 
    World Affairs
    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Will Iran Be Next?

    By Michael Wolraich on Mon, 02/14/2011 - 1:25pm | World Affairs

    "The conspirators are nothing but corpses."

    -- Hossein Hamadani, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran

    As Egypt glows bright and the media buzzes sunnily about the benevolent power of online social networks, anything seems possible.

    Topics: 
    World Affairs
    Doctor Cleveland's picture

    Being a Pseudonym

    By Doctor Cleveland on Sun, 02/13/2011 - 6:08pm | Personal

    Some of the folks who read me at Dagblog may have come to suspect over time that "Doctor Cleveland" may not be my actual name. Meanwhile, readers who have actually met me in three dimensions may have thought (but been too polite to say) that the name "Doctor Cleveland" is a pretty lame disguise.

    Yes, it is. It is a ridiculously lame disguise. And while I've never blogged about why that is, I think this is as good a time as any to explain.

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