At least at first blush I feel happy about the Google Book search settlement - though I haven’t thought long and hard about it yet
Mainly, I want to get my hands on those books!!! Save some trips to the library.
A draft of my first piece for The New Republic, a review of Jonathan Zittrain’s book, The Future of the Internet (and how to stop it). Here is an excerpt that might not make the final cut:
I’ve known Zittrain since 1997, when we met in a strange class called “The Law of Cyberspace,” taught at Harvard by an obscure visiting professor named Lawrence Lessig. Zittrain was sort of cyber-teaching assistant, tasked with duties like running a “Multi-User Dungeon” for the class. He was, and is, hilarious, as you needed to be when trying to get a room of uptight law students to “explore cyberspace.”
Then and now, Zittrain and I agreed on a lot. Having grown up as computer and networking hobbyists (geek is another word)…
The man, who has equipped himself with many things for his journey, spends everything, no matter how valuable, to win over the gatekeeper. The latter takes it all but, as he does so, says, “I am taking this only so that you do not think you have failed to do anything.”
The question to think about is how many of the things you do are, in fact, exactly this category.
“Both individuals stated they would dress in all white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt.”
That’s not a white tuxedo, but close.
Economist Greg Mankiw has a post that fascinates me. As a professor who makes over $250,000 a year, he notices that under Obama’s tax plan he may make less money, and pass on less to his children. Since he’s pretty happy with the amount of money he has, as he should be, he says he has very little reason to do any more work.
Here’s what fascinates me about his post:
1. It assumes that his only incentive to do any work outside of his regular teaching and research is to make money. This seems so counter to what the idea of academia is for, and is passed over so easily.
Tenured academics like Greg M. have an incredible luxury: the time, freedom to work on what he wants, and a guaranteed paycheck (in his case, a large one). To say in that position you’ll only do “more work” if paid seems an offense to the idea of academia itself. Academics aren’t supposed to be on sale or work only on commission.
Greg M. himself is disproof of his own ideas. He spends alot of time blogging, and writing advice for junior professors and so on, all for free. If Obama wins, it looks like he’ll be doing more of that in the future. Obama, if his blog post is right, will alter the balance of commercial and non-commercial work he does. The irony is that that result might be better for society than Greg M. doing a bunch of consulting or paid-speaking.
2. The implication, taken by other writers like “Beldar” though not by Greg himself, is that Greg working less is proof that Obama’s tax cut will hurt the country. But hold on - Greg represents 5% of the country. The rest — the 95% percent who get a tax cut, will presumably have reasons to want to work harder, because their taxes are going down.
It’s a simple calculation. The tradeoff is those who make more than $250,000 doing less commercial and more non-commerical work, versus 95% percent of the population who have reasons to do more.
Its at least ambiguous. And since the money is worth more, on the margin, to people who make less than $250,000, they have more reason to want to work for it. $1000 means more to someone who makes $60,000 than to Greg M.
The upshot: Obama’s tax plan will encourage a rich man like Greg M. to devote more time to the public and his children instead of paid speaking gigs, and gives a lot more other people more incentives to earn more money. Sounds pretty good to me.
on Friday, in New York city, at the borough office. Call me a cultist, but in my voting life I think this ballot was the most satisfying.
From canvassing in Iowa onwards through our big Obama fundraising party, and Texas and the Convention and Florida next week, this is the election I’ve done the most work for. And it is the first time, maybe, that I’ve felt like part of a truly mass movement.
That being defined as something where your own effort doesn’t real make a difference, in the grand scheme of things - Obama would have won or lost whether I’d done anything or not, but collectively everyone whose supported Obama from the beginning has done a pretty good job, whether we win or lose in the end.
Last night. Thanks to Kathryn Tucker and to Josh Silver for having faith
White Spaces - this FCC is proving itself a champion.
In Murakami’s After Dark the hotel was named alphaville - where this eye comes from