NY Times
The new racism?
I just read the New York Times article “Blacks Debate Civil Rights Risk in Obama’s Rise;” perhaps its time to stop managing public policy just on race, but instead start focusing on how to help poor people have better lives, regardless of whether they are in Appalachia or inner city Detroit. Perhaps Barack Obama’s nomination […]
August 4th, 2008 by alephnaught
I read the news today, oh boy
I read the NY Times with sadness today. First, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has died. I remember reading his books in high school, most notably The First Circle, but also Cancer Ward and of course “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.” I even selected one of his books, the first book in the Gulag trilogy, […]
July 28th, 2008 by alephnaught
New search site: Cuil
Its been a good day for reading the NY Times. I found an article (“Former Employees of Google Prepare Rival Search Engine“) on a new search engine, Cuil (pronounced “cool”), that’s being built by former employees of Google. The Wall Street Journal also has an article, “Former Google Engineers Launch Search Engine.” So I tried […]
July 28th, 2008 by alephnaught
We are subsidizing the increased price of oil
This one should be obvious – governments subsidize the price of goods or add tariffs to imports as a way to stimulate the local economy. The problem is, you can’t just turn it off; when you do, people feel real pain as jobs are lost, capacity is lost, and the general economy depresses. After reading […]
July 28th, 2008 by alephnaught
Only loan money to people that can pay it back
I found this quote in the article, “Worried Banks Sharply Reduce Business Loans,” from the NY Times today: “Mr. Epstein, forced to limit his production to what he can finance with his existing cash flow supplemented by his own money, has been tightening credit himself: He has been turning down orders from companies with any […]
July 20th, 2008 by alephnaught
Tolerance
This morning I read a short article in the NY Times that got me thinking again about tolerance, “At the Intersection of Synagogue and Boardwalk, a Feud.” The author writes about the last Synagogue on Venice Beach, which is next to a store that sells tee shirts, string bikinis and undergarments; apparently there have been […]
July 15th, 2008 by alephnaught
U.S. criminal law and blogging
Just finished reading the N.Y. Times article, “At the Uneasy Intersection of Bloggers and the Law.” For those of you blogging in the US, you should read this article. It talks about a recent attempt to gather the real identities of people blogging anonymously, without their knowledge. The subpoena said that anyone disclosing information about […]
June 25th, 2008 by alephnaught
What makes for a common culture?
In these days of declining birthrates in the developed world along with greater immigration and rising third world economies, what makes for a common culture? What makes the US a desirable place to live, and what makes us Americans as opposed to Italians or Dutch? I thought of this while reading a NY Times article […]
June 16th, 2008 by alephnaught
Stop using the 1-click button then
I guess Amazon.com is learning that it too can play Microsoft’s game. In the NY Times article ” Small Publishers Feel Power of Amazon’s ‘Buy’ Button“, Doreen Carvajal discusses the plight of publishers that are being squeezed for profits by Amazon. Now that Amazon.com is one of the largest book distributors globally, they can use […]
June 8th, 2008 by alephnaught
Changing minds in small ways
I read an article in today’s NY Times with some interest: Giving Young French Muslims a Close Look at the US. While working a lot in Amsterdam, I came to realize that many Europeans view our government policies and the opinions of people on the street as the same; so, I’ve wondered how we could […]
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+Bob Hays
- I'm a father and husband, have two schipperkes, like to read, compose music, travel. And I manage a couple software development teams at DIRECTV.
English
August 25th, 2008 by alephnaught