22 February 2009
by andrew
2 Comments
If you’ve been following the California budget crisis in any detail, there’s a good chance you’ve come across talk of reforming the state constitution. Now it looks like that talk might lead somewhere. Robert in Monterey has the details at … Continue reading
22 February 2009
by andrew
3 Comments
I visited the FDR memorial not too long ago and came away thinking it would have been much cooler had it been designed in the 1930s – except for the problem of monumentalizing a sitting president; I don’t think that … Continue reading
19 February 2009
by andrew
Comments Off on big sky, country
Who would have thought that in a democracy based on geographic representation, elected officials would have the effrontery to announce that their policies would help their constituents? But it’s happening. Despite all the talk about not having earmarks in the … Continue reading
18 February 2009
by andrew
Comments Off on lactose prejudice
I used to have dairy products all the time as a kid: milk with cereal, milk with cream of wheat, ice cream, milk with cookies, and less often, milk on its own. Then I noticed that drinking milk by itself … Continue reading
16 February 2009
by andrew
Comments Off on outside the lines
This biography of Clarence King, geologist, geographer and more, sounds fascinating. I don’t know why it takes the New York Times review (via) so long to reveal that: What they did not know was that when King was not living … Continue reading
6 February 2009
by andrew
Comments Off on in the long run, we are all relieved of our tax burdens
…but, apparently, not of our credit card obligations. Or so Bank of America would have you believe.
5 February 2009
by andrew
Comments Off on arduous days ahead
While reading FDR’s first inaugural recently, I was struck by just how forceful it is. Most of the time when I see quotes from FDR’s speeches they’re statements about specific events: “date that will live in infamy”; universal statements: “only … Continue reading
3 February 2009
by andrew
Comments Off on the old ways
I see that I’m not the only one making the 0.2/2.0 contrast. Here’s Eric Johnson, in comments to Dan Cohen’s recent write-up of the Smithsonian 2.0 conference (I hope it’s ok that I excerpt the entire comment): The thing that … Continue reading
1 February 2009
by andrew
2 Comments
I’m a huge fan of re-photography – the practice of re-staging old photographs as precisely as possible and then comparing the earlier and later. Third View, focusing on the American west, is a good example. But these shots of St. … Continue reading
1 February 2009
by andrew
Comments Off on how amusing
The new administration and new Congress are bringing change to the federal government and that change has to be covered. But how deeply? Institutions are important, but except to those who love this sort of stuff, reading writing about institutions … Continue reading