Category Archives: Society
Putting a Stop to Traffic Signals?
November 9, 2006 – 11:22 pm
The Telegraph describes how a Dutch town gave up traffic lights. Strangely enough the result was reduced accidents and increased traffic flow. The project is the brainchild of Mr Monderman, and the town has seen some remarkable results. There used to be a road death every three years but there have been none since the […]
Another Thing Us Bearded Guys Miss Out On
March 19, 2006 – 11:44 pm
With the recent advent of the five-bladed “Fusion” razor, the Economist predicts that the fourteen-bladed razor should appear no later than 2100. Their analysis would benefit from that of Dave Barry’s several years ago, which explained the intricacies of the razor industry’s R&D: Mine was a lonely adolescence. The razors of that era had one […]
Google’s Signs of the Times
December 20, 2005 – 6:52 pm
Google has published just a handful of some of the most popular search terms of 2005. As you can see in the graph, when Google charts the popularity of the search phrase “the force” and the “dark side” over the year, “the force” wins overall. I suppose we can take that as good news. By […]
Law and Revolution
September 24, 2005 – 10:30 am
I’ve been reading the Gulag Archipelago on and off for a while. Solzhenitsyn wittily lances the Soviet insanities while recognizing that the problem is not mainly with a particular government but with the human condition. I credited myself with unselfish dedication. But meanwhile I had been thoroughly prepared to be an executioner. And if I […]
Hurricane’s Danger Not What You Might Think
September 19, 2005 – 12:37 pm
There’s an interesting tidbit buried in this CNN.com article. Apparently doctors are concerned that they won’t be able to handle the increase of accidental injuries that will occur as people return to New Orleans and try to clean up. Here’s the tidbit: this kind of injury forms a significant part of hurricane casualties. After Hurricane […]
Yahoo’s Ethical Dilemma
September 8, 2005 – 3:58 pm
Information Yahoo provided to Chinese authorities led to the essentially political arrest of journalist Shi Tao. Most of us would applaud Yahoo for providing information that led to the arrest of a murderer or a child-molester, in which cases Yahoo would similarly be helping local authorities enforce the law. However, what Yahoo did to Shi […]