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Slate.com readers got a taste on Saturday of what Financial Times readers have been enjoying for a long time now. Slate picked up the latest installment of Tim Harford’s “The Undercover Economist” column from the FT. Which economic mystery of daily life does Harfod solve this week? “The Mystery of the Rude Waiter: Why my […]
Norman Ornstein and Thomas E. Mann opined in the New York Times yesterday that Congressional Republicans should go beyond their current proposals for lobbying reform and adopt rules changes, like 15 minute time limits on all votes and credible ethics oversight, that will ensure “a return to the regular order and to a reasonable deliberative […]
“A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the […]
by Harm de Blij Since New Year’s Day, a troubling series of events has caused Europe to wonder just what kind of neighbor Russia plans to be. By virtue of a network of pipelines leading from Russian reserves to European consumers, Europe has become strongly dependent on Russian natural gas, now accounting for nearly one-quarter […]
Charlayne Hunter-Gault reported yesterday on a group of American women who have traveled to Southern Sudan to help build a girl’s school there. Reporting for NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Hunter-Gault follows the Americans, who call their group My Sister’s Keeper, to the village of Akon in the predominantly Christian, southern part of Sudan. One of […]
Resolute we are, usually from January 1st, until just about now, right around Martin Luther King Day. Perhaps it is no coincidence that our individual, personal resolve founders just as we’re celebrating a holiday commemorating one of America’s great heroes—a man who was committed to combating the systemic forces at the heart of so many individual troubles.
What are the implications of Ariel Sharon’s stroke for the Israeli government? It is clear that, even if he survives, Sharon is out of the political game. Constitutionally, there is going to be no problem. The transition to a new leader/leadership will be smooth. Israel is a solid democracy. What does the end of Sharon’s […]
Ray Arsenault, the author of Freedom Riders spoke with Terry Gross on Fresh Air today. Arsenault was preceded on the show by the rebroadcast of a segment with James Farmer who was a co-founder of CORE, the Congress on Racial Equality. Arsenault’s segment ends with the CORE chorus singing a delightful version of “Hit the […]
Roberto González Echevarría, the author of The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball wrote in the NYTimes editorial page yesterday on the US refusal to allow the Cuban national team to travel to the US for the World Baseball Classic in March. Echevarría supports the ban and says that protesting it is akin […]
According to Joseph Stiglitz, the Iraq War will cost the U.S. $2 trillion, 10 times more than the original estimate of $200 billion given before the war started. Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, an economist from Harvard, whose joint paper “The Economic Costs of the Iraq War” was released last week, arrive at the larger figure […]
The New York Times carried a Q&A entitled “Conversation with Kerry Emanuel” yesterday. The lead was Emanuel’s apparent shift on the connection between warmer oceans and the intensity of hurricane winds. Still, Emanuel says “not so fast” to those who see Katrina as evidence of global warming. But conservatives should take note that America’s inability […]
Over most of the first half of the twentieth century, America’s public colleges and universities functioned quite autonomously. They were mostly small, enrolling less than ten percent of the nation’s eighteen to twenty-one year olds, and, for the most part, financially self-sufficient. None of the public institutions were competitive with the best international universities.
The barren setting in this picture of the Purdue University campus in 1900 reflects the modest beginnings of the public institutions. Now, Purdue is an internationally renowned institution, especially for scientific research.
Black students seeking higher education during this period were most likely to find it in a segregated institution. Among the best of the segregated institutions was Tuskegee where these young women learned mattress making early in the twentieth century as part of their “higher education.”
Some items of note from the weekend… Tim Harford, aka The Undercover Economist, gave Slate.com readers a peek behind the Starbucks curtain on Friday. Careful OUP Blog readers may recognize Harford’s economizing tip (we gave you a link to it back in November): Ask for a “short” at the counter and you’ll save money. Harford […]
by Steve Rivkin A good brand name is golden. As a Kraft Foods executive says, “Kraft has thousands of trademarks and they are among our most treasured assets. To the outside world, they represent who we are and what we do.” But over the years, lots of false notions and fuzzy thinking have crept into […]
by Andrew Jack Much hot air has been generated in recent days by the New Year’s dispute between Russia and Ukraine over gas prices. The saga has highlighted, to misquote Winston Churchill, commercial interests wrapped up in economics, and justified by politics. On the surface, the squabble looks ugly and one-sided: the great Russian bear […]
by Ben Keene Looking back at the last twelve months, the publisher’s mind reels trying to keep up with changes to borders, placenames, and shifting populations. Inspired by the multitude of year-end round ups, I decided to collect some of the most noteworthy geographical developments in a short—but incomplete—list of my own. Just to emphasize […]