Final exit network members arrested

This is sad.
Four members of the Final Exit Network, including its president and its medical director, were arrested Wednesday and charged with assisted suicide in the death of 58-year-old John Celmer last June at his home near Atlanta. Investigators said the organization may have been involved in as many as 200 other deaths around the [...]

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The Pasadena freeway separates the boys from the men

I like driving fast. And no urban freeway rewards the skilled, fast driver more than the historic Pasadena freeway, the  section of the 110 north of downtown LA .
In many ways, the Pasadena Freeway is an anomaly. The oldest freeway in the US, it connects the business district of Los Angeles to the city of [...]

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Porn at work a ‘virulent cancer’?

The Washington Times says so in an editorial full of huffy misdirection and false alternatives. Radley Balko, rightly, takes the piece apart.

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Practising rappel skills near Mt. Baldy summit

I am the guy with the blue helmet.
(Photo courtesy of Stephan)

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No fairness doctrine: Obama

This is terrific news.
Around three months before the elections, I had listed the possible re-imposition of the fairness doctrine as one of the downsides of an Obama victory. Now that Obama has categorically ruled out that option, I think it is safe to strike it off from my list of fallouts.

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Discrimination against Islamic fanatics in India!

The Crapola network has the scoop.

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“Talibanization” is now a banned word

They say rightly that truth is stranger than fiction.
So Muthalik and his gang of goons beat up women at pubs because they deem the activity is against Indian culture. This sets off similar acts of violence and vandalism by other Hindu right-wing groups. One of their victims, a fifteen year old girl, is so traumatized [...]

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The problem with the word ‘nationalization’

Alex Tabarrok makes a good point:
Notice how the term nationalization confuses the issue.  First, it suggests government ownership of the banks which would indeed be a disaster.  People in favor of free markets will rightly want to avoid any such outcome but ironically it’s the current situation of “wait and see,” and “protect the banker,” [...]

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This is how our campsite looked after a night of heavy snow

 
Sorry for the poor photo quality. Conditions were not exactly amenable for good picture-taking.

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Packed schedule ahead

My calender for the next five weeks includes over twenty days when I am out of town. I am doing three mountaineering trips, each three days long (and occuring in altitudes above 10000 feet and temperatures twenty degrees below freezing); then there’s a talk I give in San Diego, a week-long conference in Arizona and [...]

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Republican Liberty Caucus tries to expose the Agitator

This is so freakin’ hilarious!
For those lazy to follow through the above link, here’s the story. The Republican Liberty Caucus published a piece of news that attempted to portray Radley Balko as a liar. Except that they forgot that Forbes.com is not the same as Foxnews.com. Here’s what the Caucus post stated:
Liberal (and ersatz libertarian) [...]

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Peter Schiff: “Stimulus will lead to unmitigated disaster”

I present below, without comment, a recent interview of Schiff (investor, Austrian economist, accurate predictor of the current crisis) where he talks about the economic crisis and the stimulus. He predicts hyper-inflation worse than anything we have ever seen if we keep going down this path.

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The moment it clicks

One of the most beautiful aspects of doing math is the flash of insight that lets you out of a mental block.
This may appear surprising to those not in the field but the fact is that research mathematicians fumble around looking for the light switch in a dark room for much of their waking hours. [...]

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British diplomat arrested for racial rant

The diplomat, 47-year-old Rowan Laxton, allegedly shouted “f***ing Israelis, f***ing Jews” while watching television reports of the Israeli attack on Gaza last month.
He is also alleged to have said that Israeli soldiers should be “wiped off the face of the Earth” during the rant at the London Business School gym near Regents Park on January [...]

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Moving base

I have accepted a three year postdoc position at ETH Zurich. I will move there in mid-August; my employment begins on September 1.

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