Борьба с эпидемией изнасилований в университетах зашла в терминальную стадию, вливаясь (по американским стандартам не особенно ярким примером) в длинную череду паник, уходящих корнями в колониальное прошлое ( Read more... )

I thought Pakistan to be the most impressive example of a make-up name for a polity ( Read more... )

(Pseudo-)Italian food is so popular in America that we take it for granted. Why are there Italian-American restaurants on every corner, while German restaurants are so few and far between ( Read more... )

I have a friend, Bob; he is in his nineties. During the war, Bob was servicing planes in the South Pacific. War was great tedium for him, he spent most of his time playing poker and listening to the radio. So I asked him what did they listen to. It was Tokyo Rose, the Japanese radio broadcast on the allied troops. Was that because they were not ( Read more... )

I've always found the arguments for "enfranchisement" of this or that group (e.g., women) somewhat dubious. It sounds great, but it tacitly assumes that the voting patterns would not change, whereas the opposite is true.

...By 1840, voter participation levels reached 80% and remained high throughout the 19th century. By the end of the 19th century ( Read more... )

The story of woman's suffrage in ten words: Disenfranchized women have organized and undone the centuries of injustice. They've got their right to vote! Amen.

But there is a bit more to this story. Having the right to vote and voting are not the same thing. The suffragettes not only wanted the right to vote, they wanted to vote. Something was ( Read more... )

I've been discussing healthcare reforms and remembered my favorite story of American-style government cretinism, with its usual ingredients: a liberal statesman with the bright idea how to make everyone's life better, public-minded technocrats eagerly delivering on this idea using state-of-the-art models and "scientific methods", the promise of gr- ( Read more... )

...I saw coming towards us a Ghost who carried something on his shoulder. Like all the Ghosts, he was unsubstantial, but they differed from one another as smokes differ... What sat on his shoulder was a little red lizard, and it was twitching its tail like a whip and whispering things in his ear. As we caught sight of him he turned his head to the ( Read more... )

I've read a book by Professor X ( Read more... )

...If you get sick at older ages, you will die sooner in England than in the United States. It appears that at least in terms of survival at older ages with chronic disease, the medical system in the United States may be better than the system in England ( Read more... )