Hamilton rap becomes a musical
In 2009, composer/lyricist/performer Lin-Manuel Miranda performed an amazing hip-hop piece about Alexander Hamilton (5-min video, with mostly-accurate captions) at the...
Archive for Politics
Lack of condemnation doesn’t equal approval
I still haven't finished writing any of the real blog posts I want to write about the Hugo situation. For...
Torture apologism
In the wake of the US Senate report on the CIA's use of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” plenty of prominent people...
This year’s big Hugo controversy
A couple months ago, someone on a mailing list asked for a summary of this year's Hugo controversy. (There are...
R.I.P., Pete Seeger
I've been trying to figure out why Pete Seeger's death yesterday, at age 94, is hitting me so hard. Part...
Group discussion can result in extreme views
In 2000, the Yale Law Journal published a fascinating article by Cass R. Sunstein titled “Deliberative Trouble? Why Groups Go...
Campaign advertising received
In election years, I normally get a flyer or two from each of half a dozen candidates, and a couple...
Mind the y axis
According to this chart from HuffPo, the US Presidential race is very close. Look at the two trend lines, close...
Not worried about Santorum
Pollster.com (now a part of Huffington Post) is my favorite site for watching political polls over time. Their tracker for...
Talking Union
In the version of “Talking Union” that's on Pete Seeger's Greatest Hits, Seeger explains the origin of the song. I...
Obama still funny
Just watched the video of President Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner. Much of the first six and...
Senate votes to repeal DADT!
The US Senate has just voted, 65 to 31, to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. As noted in my previous...