WFMU’s Beware of the Blog has a rundown of the latest fines imposed by the FCC. The agency is on a role and is using what appears to be a rather arbitrary system for finding fault and assessing fines.
I honestly thought that the Harper’s editorial that ran last month, “The Case for Impeachment”, was really nothing but some wishful thinking on the part of the authors. However, it appears that things have gone past the wishful thinking stage into real action. Congressman John Conyors has two blog entries on his site. The first is about the call for censure introduced by Conyors. Senator Feingold has joined the call for censure. Secondly, the call for a committee to investigate impeachable offenses has grown to support from 30 congressmen.
John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics is a monthly newsletter which provides alternative analysis of government statisitcs. The newsletter itself costs a steep $175.00/year, so I won’t be subscribing. However, he provides some interesting notes on the structure and flaws in reporting of unemployment, federal deficit, consumer price index, and gross domestic product. Granted, if you have a background in economics (even at an undergraduate level) you’ve already heard about many of the flaws discussed in your macro or even principles class. If you don’t have a background in economics, I recommend reading them even if this kind of stuff makes your eyes glaze over – people really do make decisions based on these figures (your employer for example) and it’s important for you to be aware of them. Here’s an interview with the author of the newletter and articles.(found via Metafilter)
I have often wondered what happened to Whit Stillman, director of Metropolitan, Barcelona, and The Last Days of Disco. After making these three literate and charming movees, he totally dropped out and was rumored to be living in Paris. It turns out that he’s done very little since then, and he’s a little embarassed about it. Better than Fudge recently posted an (exclusive?) interview with the director, in which Stillman discusses his career and what he’s done since.
South Dakota’s governor has signed a law banning almost all abortions in the state. The bill is work of anti-abortion fundies who wish to bring Roe Vs. Wade to a new test by the Supreme Court. Get ready for this country to get torn apart.
R. Preston McAfee, who teaches at Caltech has already had a pretty extensive and busy career, so I don’t know how exactly he found the time to author a textbook as well. His book, Introductory Economics is quite good and is an excellent reference even for those who already have a basic background in economics. In addition to the “principles” these textbook also contains intermediate microeconomics material. He’s made it available for free as a PDF download and will sell you a printed version for only $11.60. That’s way more reasonable than any of the other commercially available textbooks I’ve seen. McAfee’s book is also broader in coverage and includes many topics related to business strategy (another one of his interests.)
Yummy is one of my favorite sites. It’s a library of PDF books ranging across a number of subject areas such as economics, food, and sex (all favorites of mine.) Generally it’s pretty tech heavy, but there’s a lot goos stuff out there and it’s linked to a print-on-demand application that allows one to get printed, bound version of the PDF at fairly reasonable prices.
Edward Tufte is taking pre-orders for his forthcoming book Beautiful Evidence. He’s also got a pretty nice deal offering all four of his books (including the new one) for only $150.
There’s a Hammond wiki for fans of the classic organ. The site has a useful guide to those all important drawbar registrations. There’s also info on Hammond clones, assuming you aren’t going to buy a real one, or much worse, try to move one.
American’s overwheliming want to end the war in Iraq according to this recent Zogby poll. Meanwhile, CBS puts Bush’s approval at its lowest point ever. If there’s any mandate now, it appears to be a mandate of disapproval.