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Showing posts from July, 2013

Weekend Blogging Roundup

I was blogging for the Monthly  this weekend, and this time I'm actually going to do a compilation of all the posts I wrote, because I'm rather pleased with how they turned out. To wit: 1. There was a bit of a fracas around pictures showing a meltwater lake at the North Pole. Turns out that's something of an exaggeration . 2. What can we learn from PayPal accidentally giving some guy $92 quadrillion for a few minutes ? 3. Why my fellow broke young men won't be slickered by conservative scumbags into bailing on Obamacare . 4. Social Security evades the effective demand problem with forced saving by transferring the money rather than storing it. 5. Walter Russell Mead is just completely full of shit about climate change . 6. Tom Coburn has this fascinating view that you should win elections if you want to implement your agenda . 7. An America where voting just broke down by race would suck balls . 8. Against the housing status quo . This one is almost enti

The Positive Power of Misogynist Trolls

Remember back last year when Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a slut and turned her overnight into a superstar women's rights activist? (A year later, the controversy is still dogging his career .) It occurs to me that this is almost the same thing that happened to Anita Sarkeesian, the feminist video game critic. Jim Sterling shows how: Of course it's terrible to be called a slut, or be threatened with rape, assault, or murder. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. But it's pretty striking how what used to be a tried-and-true tactic of enforcing existing hierarchies—aggressive slurs and threatening violence—often tends to backfire spectacularly. I'd add by the way that contrary to Jim's expectations Anita's video series actually turned out pretty well. The production values especially skyrocketed from the massive pile of outrage money she pulled down: If anything, I'd say the video could have benefited from being more aggressively feminis

RIP Randy Udall

Terrible news from the Sublette County Sheriff's Office : At approximately 2:03 p.m. today an aerial search team spotted a male subject matching the description of missing hiker James “Randy” Udall. The subject was in open/rolling terrain laying on his side. The helicopter immediately landed and deployed the two search and rescue members on board. The subject showed no signs of life and was identified as Mr. Udall. A search and rescue member, who is also a Wilderness First Responder, stayed with the victim while the helicopter returned to base to pick up a detective with the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office. The body was flown back to base and transported to Pinedale by the Sublette County Coroner. An autopsy will be performed in Loveland Colorado at the request of the Coroner and Mr. Udall’s immediate family. Foul play is not suspected. I didn't know Randy that well, though my father did. Both my parents worked with his brother Brad Udall in Grand Canyon back in the day,