Ideas and technology and politics and journalism and history and humor and some other stuff.
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David Epstein, author of The Sports Gene, is the subject of an excellent EconTalk interview by Russ Roberts. Among other things, he provides solid evidence to undermine the 10,000-hour mishegas, and explains why competitive female runners seem to be getting slower and Tibetan monks living at high altitudes don’t make for great marathoners as Kenyan athletes do. Listen here.
Tags: David Epstein, Russ Roberts
Not only do the branches of government in America serve as checks and balances, but different parties empowered in different wings keep us from moving too fast in any direction. But what if that keeps us from moving at all? The American system only works if there isn’t pure partisanship, if politics makes strange bedfellows. The opening of “The Shutdown Prophet,” Jonathan Chait’s customarily excellent analysis in New York:
“In a merciful twist of fate, Juan Linz did not quite live to see his prophecy of the demise of American democracy borne out. Linz, the Spanish political scientist who died last week, argued that the presidential system, with its separate elections for legislature and chief executive, was inherently unstable. In a famous 1990 essay, Linz observed, ‘All such systems are based on dual democratic legitimacy: No democratic principle exists to resolve disputes between the executive and the legislature about which of the two actually represents the will of the people.’ Presidential systems veered ultimately toward collapse everywhere they were tried, as legislators and executives vied for supremacy. There was only one notable exception: the United States of America.
Linz attributed our puzzling, anomalous stability to “the uniquely diffuse character of American political parties.” The Republicans had loads of moderates, and conservative whites in the South still clung to the Democratic Party. At the time he wrote that, the two parties were already sorting themselves into more ideologically pure versions, leaving us where we stand today: with one racially and economically polyglot party of center-left technocracy and one ethnically homogenous reactionary party. The latter is currently attempting to impose its program by threat upon the former. The events in Washington have given us a peek into the Linzian nightmare.
Tags: Jonathan Chait, Juan Linz
“He succeeded in convincing the awestruck onlookers that he had pulled a large wad of hair out of the girl’s mouth.”
The heart wants what the heart wants, but the mind doesn’t readily make itself up. So we can accomplish anything, even catching or spreading illnesses that don’t actually exist, if only we believe. Some true believers were profiled in the August 8, 1905 New York Times. The story:
“Orange–The Italian colony in Orange is all stirred up to-day. The residents of that section have an idea that a witch is loose and playing hob with the belles of the settlement. Two girls have been under the ‘spell.’ They are Clementina Carnizzo, seventeen years old, and Rosina Russo, nineteen years old, both of 11 Hurlbut Street. Drs. Frederico Loungo, John H. Bradshaw, and Giovanni Megaro, who have attended them, all diagnose the cases as hysterical convulsions.
The Carnizzo girl was the first to be ‘stricken.’ She was under treatment for a month. Then a ‘witch doctor’ was summoned to treat the case. He was successful to the extent of $30. By a deft sleight of hand trick he succeeded in convincing the awestruck onlookers that he had pulled a large wad of hair out of the girl’s mouth. The feat gave the girl’s friends much satisfaction, and the girl seemed relieved. Apparently the malady is communicable, for the Russo girl, who is a chum of Clementina, became ill with hysteria and convulsions a few days ago. The ‘witch doctor’ duplicated his interesting treatment with the aid of $30 and a wad of hair, and there was an improvement in that case, too.
“It was decided that she had a ‘dog devil.'”
Then Clementina started to bark like a dog, and it was decided that she had a ‘dog devil.’ The Rev. Father Romanelli, rector of the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, was called in. Father Romanelli has ordered the ‘devil’ to get out, and it is believed that the evil spirit is packing up now, for the girls had a good night’s sleep last night, after having had one or two convulsions, and to-day they seemed much better.
Dr. Loungo says the cases are simply examples of hysteria, and the communication from one girl to the other is merely a phase of hysterical contagion common in emotional people. The response to the treatment of the ‘witch doctor’ was due to suggestion by him coupled with seemingly tangible proof.
Nevertheless, the Italians take the matter very seriously, and it would not surprise the doctors if there were an epidemic of the cases for a while.”
Tags: Clementina Carnizzo, Dr. Frederico Loungo, Dr. Giovanni Megaro, Dr. John H. Bradshaw, Rev. Father Romanelli, Rosina Russo
Two John DeLorean videos made at the time of his fall from grace. The first is a 1984 report on the sad remains of the car company that barely was. The second, from the following year, sees the automaker appear on some sort of local San Francisco gabfest. The female co-host seems as if she would be most comfortable interviewing a poltergeist or homeowners who believe their walls are bleeding. DeLorean all but calls her a simpleton (if politely).
Tags: John DeLorean
10 search-engine keyphrases bringing traffic to Afflictor this week:
Afflictor: Thinking Condoleezza Rice’s career shift into college football administration is a step in the right direction for young Americans.
She’s gone from body bags…
…to brain concussions.
What can I say? I switched to decaf.
“Undertones of strawberries.”
In ancient Mediterranean cultures its quite healthy and advised to use human urine as a natural ailment for a variety of illnesses and conditions.In the Western culture many of us turn in vain to antibiotics and other such remedies that truly do not promote health at it’s most natural source. Here, at Organic Pee and Me we are on a mission to restore what many do not know is a natural and preferred means of health and rejuvenation. For you pleasure we offer a variety of tastes,. We recommend you select the taste and nutrient profile that is most beneficial to you based on what may be lacking in your diet. You may select from:
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“Bottled right from the source.”
In 1973, Radio Times asked British science historian James Burke to predict life twenty years into the future. He did a pretty good job of it. Here’s a new BBC report in which he tries to guess what the world will be like in 2100. Watch here.
Tags: James Burke
An update on Alpha Dog (LS3), the canine-ish robot from Boston Dynamics and DARPA which is being field-tested on the cracked earth of Twentynine Palms, California, and snowy grounds of Boston. They are your servants, for now. From Endgadget: “The humanoid machine can now negotiate a rocky walkway with relative ease, adding another party trick to its already impressive repertoire.”
To two great article’s this year about paranoid mental illness inside the surveillance state–Mike Jay’s and Andrew Marantz’s— comes this sad punctuation mark: Miram Carey, who was killed in Capitol Hill yesterday, believed she was being monitored by her own government. And she was, and well all are. And the government in turn is being watched. The prevailing culture feeds delusions, which often aren’t completely delusional–just a scary riff on the truth. It’s not that sick people are “visionaries” or “misunderstood.” No, they’re sick, but so are aspects of the society they’re responding to. It’s not that spying has just begun, but the technology has progressed. We’re new, we’re improved. From Susan Donaldson James at ABC News:
“ABC News’ sources revealed that Carey had started to show signs of mental illness around September 2012, and had a history of delusions and irrational behavior.
She reportedly told the father of her child and 54-year-old boyfriend at the time that she was the ‘prophet of Stamford’ and that President Obama had placed the city on lockdown and had placed her residence under electronic surveillance, which was being fed live to all national news outlets.
Carey told a social worker she had postpartum depression, but Galynker said that postpartum psychosis looks nothing like postpartum depression. Postpartum psychosis is associated with paranoia and delusions, said Galynker.
‘[Her] main symptoms were not depression but were paranoia and delusions,’ he said. ‘But it is all unclear because no one has looked at her medical records. What we have seen is close to a year of psychotic episodes and hospitalizations and [encounters] with police.'”
Tags: Miram Carey, Susan Donaldson James
Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller and writer William Peter Blatty, collaborators on the 1973 horror classic of The Exorcist, reunited for some unknown reason in 1984 for Good Morning America. According to legend, Blatty pretended to be an Arabian prince in the 1950s to get booked on the game show You Bet Your Life. He didn’t fool Groucho but did win $10,000, which helped him jump-start his writing career. I’ve never seen the footage online.
Tags: Ellen Burstyn, Groucho Marx, Jason Miller, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, William Peter Blatty
Buzz Aldrin, a great astronaut, sure, but more complex than just stoicism stuffed into a spacesuit, guest reviews Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity for the Hollywood Reporter. An excerpt:
“I was so extravagantly impressed by the portrayal of the reality of zero gravity. Going through the space station was done just the way that I’ve seen people do it in reality. The spinning is going to happen — maybe not quite that vigorous — but certainly we’ve been fortunate that people haven’t been in those situations yet. I think it reminds us that there really are hazards in the space business, especially in activities outside the spacecraft.
I was happy to see someone moving around the spacecraft the way George Clooney was. It really points out the degree of confusion and bumping into people, and when the tether gets caught, you’re going to be pulled — I think the simulation of the dynamics was remarkable.
We were probably not as lighthearted as Clooney and Sandra Bullock. We didn’t tell too many jokes when people were in some position of jeopardy outside the spacecraft, but I think that’s the humanity coming through in the characters. This movie gave great clarity to looking down and seeing the features of Earth … but there weren’t enough clouds, and maybe there was too precise a delineation from space.”
Tags: Buzz Aldrin
From the December 11, 1900 New York Times:
“Plainfield, N.J.–Frederick Hatfield, who for years has been noted as one of the eccentric and parsimonious characters in this section, died Saturday night in the tumble-down house that he and his brother have lived in for years on the old Frazee Lee property in Fanwood Township. He had been ill but a few days with pneumonia.
The two brothers lived alone, and were noted for their hate of women. No woman, it is said, had darkened the door of their home for over a quarter of a century. They never had their hair cut, and never wore hats. Whenever they came to town to trade they drove a donkey attached to a two-wheeled gig of their own make. The brothers are reputed to be worth $100,000. The house they lived in is said to have been built over a century ago, but had gone to ruin through neglect.”
From “Avoiding Our Dystopian Robot Future” at the Philosopher’s Beard, a passage that speculates on how an autonomous society that’s also a capitalist one might reconcile itself:
“The first dystopian threat has been well analysed by lots of people (eg, eg, eg). At present our political economy provides individuals with purchasing power claims on goods and services mainly through the labour market. That is, most people provide for themselves (and their dependents) by finding a job that pays enough to afford to buy what they need for a basic standard of living, and at least some of what they want as well. Government welfare policy is mainly oriented to supporting this central labour market mechanism, for example by providing public education for people to improve their employability, and social insurance nets for the disabled and temporarily unemployed.
The problem that robots pose is that they may make this labour market obsolete by causing ‘technological unemployment’ for humans. If robots can not only perform mechanical tasks more quickly, accurately, and tirelessly than humans (the problem the Luddites confronted), but also cognitive tasks (like exam grading, driving, legal discovery, etc) then what will humans have left to sell on the labour market? Our birthright – the ability to use our bodies and minds to create things that others find valuable – will be worthless. Yet people will still need food, shelter, and the rest. How will they get it?
Robots will revolutionise the supply side of the economy, resulting in much cheaper goods and services. Yet the economic gains of this efficiency will not be split between labour (wages) and capital (profits), since robots don’t need to be paid. Thus the owners of capital – the owners of the machines – will end up with an increasingly large share of whatever income the economy generates. (The ratio under capitalism 1.0 has historically been about 2/3 labour, 1/3 capital.) The pessimistic conclusion is that the society of the future would be characterised by an unimaginable abundance that only a very few can afford to buy.
Yet perhaps that scenario is not so likely. Not only can one expect the political mobilisation of the 99% objecting to their economic disenfranchisement. There is also a contradiction in the capitalists’ own position. For robots, unlike humans, are not consumers. That is part of what makes them so cheap to use in producing goods and services. Yet at the aggregate level that is a big problem. If no one (except the handful of capitalists, software designers, and hangers on) can afford to buy what you’re selling, then it hardly matters how cheaply you can produce it. Such an economy will be relatively small (‘depressed’) despite its enormous potential, and thus the capitalists as a class will be poorer than they might be.
Given the convergence of the interests of both capitalists and ordinary citizens, it seems reasonable to expect that some kind of accommodation can be reached to transform the political economy to cope with the end of human labour. Specifically, governments will have to reorient themselves from supporting citizens’ opportunity for waged labour to providing them with a direct rights claim on economic purchasing power (like pensions). Income is now redistributed from capitalists to ordinary citizens through the labour market. In future it will have to be redistributed through another mechanism, whether that be direct corporate taxation or perhaps some system of universal share ownership. That would be a radically different political economy than we have had for the last couple of hundred years. Call it Capitalism 2.0.”•
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Rod Serling, 1964:
Piers Morgan: Oh, it’s not the time slot.
The Top 5 foreign countries sending traffic to Afflictor during September:
Have you smelled any good books lately?
The worst argument against ebooks is the sensory one, that dead trees are more pleasing. That you miss how the paper and binding smell. You shouldn’t have been smelling your books anyhow. That’s disgusting. But there are some good points to be made against the digitization of books, in terms of privacy, memory and economics. For some thoughts in the latter category, here’s the opening of Art Brodsky’s new Wired article:
“This is not one of those rants about missing the texture, touch, colors, whatever of paper contrasted with the sterility of reading on a tablet. No, the real abomination of ebooks is often overlooked: Some are so ingrained in the product itself that they are hiding in plain sight, while others are well concealed beneath layers of commerce and government.
The real problem with ebooks is that they’re more ‘e’ than book, so an entirely different set of rules govern what someone — from an individual to a library — can and can’t do with them compared to physical books, especially when it comes to pricing.
The collusion of large ebook distributors in pricing has been a public issue for a while, but we need to talk more about how they are priced differently to consumers and to libraries. That’s how ebooks contribute to the ever-growing divide between the literary haves and have-nots.”
Tags: Art Brodsky
Robert Costa, the National Review editor who was interviewed by Ezra Klein about the government shutdown, just did an Ask Me Anything at Reddit on the same topic. A few exchanges follow.
______________________________
Question:
How long should we expect this to last and how will it affect my average day?
Robert Costa:
Anywhere from 1-2 weeks, but always remember, the situation is very fluid and a few key variables (Boehner buckling, Senate Democrats becoming divided) could quickly move the debate in a certain direction and break the logjam. If it does last 2 weeks, the talks will likely be folded into negotiations on the debt limit, which is set for Oct. 17. The standoff affects your day if you work or interact with the federal government in any way. Some parts of the government have been shuttered, while others are open, but with limited operations.
______________________________
Question:
If Boehner were to crack under the pressure, will there be a call for him to resign as speaker by the 30-40 hardliners you’ve written about?
RobertCosta:
I don’t think it’d be so much about whether he’d resign, but whether he could convince his conference to go along with him as he attempts to craft a larger bargain with Democrats on the debt limit. As I wrote about last night, unity within the conference is Boehner’s first and most important objective. Since the House GOP has such fragile internal politics, he spends a lot of time shoring that up. And because he knows he has a limited hand, I doubt he “cracks,” but he’s certainly trying to navigate through this while 1) keeping GOP members together, and 2) making sure the GOP isn’t totally blamed.
______________________________
Question:
If the shutdown lasts for 2 weeks and the debt ceiling gets tied into negotiations what percentage of the Republican House caucus understands how catastrophic a default would be?
Robert Costa:
Most of the conference is well aware of the consequences of default. In fact, over the past few years, the House GOP leadership has actually hosted private meetings for members about what default means and why it shouldn’t happen. But, at the same time, Republicans are very eager to get some kind of 2011-esque concession from the White House and Senate Democrats on the budget, when they were able to pass legislation that led to sequestration. Of course, the political climate then was different, due to the GOP having recently won the House, but the GOP is hoping for a similar outcome this time, and you have leaders like Paul Ryan publicly talking about a larger agreement being possible. I’m still skeptical though, since most Republicans are unwilling, at all, to bend on taxes, and Democrats aren’t exactly scrambling to cut a big deal with Boehner, who they think is in a weakened position.
______________________________
Question:
Republicans won’t be affected by this though since most of them are in secure districts after recent gerrymandering. Nothing will really change until after 2020 when the next Census occurs IMHO. From listening to the news, only one Republican representative is in a district currently deemed a toss-up in the 2014 elections, everyone else is secure.
If you watch Fox News they’re actually spinning the shut down as a good thing and pro-Republican viewers tend to watch that channel for their news. Fox was just saying this morning “Wow, only 6% of the EPA workers are deemed essential and at work today, that really shows we could cut the other 94% and save the government money.” I wanted to punch my TV.
Robert Costa:
Republicans will be affected in a big picture sense: they may feel the burn next November during the midterms. But you’re right-for many House Rs and Senate Rs who come from deep-red areas, the pressure isn’t to come to the center, but to hold firm on the right and battle for concessions that during most divided gov’t eras would never seem plausible. But because the conservative movement has become such a strong force within the GOP, the expectations are stoked daily about what is achievable, and this creates major problems for the leadership in both chambers. They’re constantly pushing back against the idea that they’re “not doing enough” for the cause or conceding too much ground.•
Tags: Robert Costa
The awkward career transition from loan shark to mohel.
I don’t want to hear no crying, sonny boy.
Damn you, Obamacare.
“I’ve bought meat of this man many a time, and now I’ll sell him for meat.”
Demand invites supply. Case in point: Medical schools need bodies for students to work on, so a trade arose in the nineteenth century that put grave robbers in cahoots with medical colleges. Shovel-ready entrepreneurs scanned local papers for death notices, headed to cemeteries, usually with doctors in tow, and welcomed back the recently departed. Sometimes the bodies of particularly wealthy citizens would be ransomed, but the corpses would usually just be sold for a couple of bucks to universities. An inside look at an Ohio operation in this strange “recycling” business appeared in the November 18, 1878 New York Times. The story:
“Cleveland–Joiner, the wretch who has been in all the recent grave robbing jobs in this section, continues to divulge the secrets of the trade. He pretends to be very contrite over what he has done, and ready to make amends by exposing his companions in guilt. His last story related to Mr. J.E. French, a son of the old gentleman who was ruthlessly torn from his grave, in Willoughby, on Sept. 16. The robbers watch the newspapers, and when death notices of persons thought to be available occur, the graves are visited and a resurrection takes place. In August last a young man fell over a ledge in Geauga County and broke his neck. The fact was published, and the night after the funeral Minor and Joiner repaired to Chardon, 30 miles distant, where the burial had taken place, with the intention of obtaining the body. As usual, the doctor was sought, who told them that the grave was watched by two men with shot-guns. This was unpleasant, but the robbers thought the doctor might be deceiving them with the intention of obtaining the body himself. They accordingly sought another doctor, who confirmed the story, and so they abandoned the scheme and returned. At Chester Cross Roads, in the same county, two robbers from this city were assisted by the Doctor and a medical student of that village. They went to get the body of an old lady who was very fleshy, and who had died of apoplexy. The coffin was reached and broken open without accident, and a hook fastened in the neck. Four men tugged and pulled in vain at the prize, but were unable to move it. They were in despair, when a happy thought struck them. Taking the reins from the harness and hitching the horse to the hook, the body was successfully brought to the surface. Another pull and the body was safely sacked and loaded. Another visit was made to Hampden, in this county, and this time the robbers were assisted by two doctors and a medical student. They did what Joiner calls a good night’s work, obtaining three bodies in a short time. One of these was that of a butcher, and as his body was sacked the home doctor remarked: ‘I’ve bought meat of this man many a time, and now I’ll sell him for meat.’ Some time after this the body of a young lady was stolen from the cemetery at Leroy, Lake County. After digging a certain distance they found water. This had to be bailed from the coffin before the body could be taken out. The corpse was found to be somewhat swollen but made a good subject. Mr. French, who is quite wealthy, expressed his determination to follow up this gang and will prosecute in every case. Dr. Carlisle, who is said to have assisted in the Willoughby job, has been indicted in the Lake County Court for disturbing the grave. The best counsel in this part of the State has been engaged on both sides, and important revelations will doubtless come out. The trial is set down for Thursday next.”
Tags: Dr. Carlisle, Joiner, Minor, Mr. J.E. French
In Felix Salmon’s critique of Dave Eggers’ new novel, he writes glowingly of “It Knows,” Daniel Soar’s 2011 London Review of Books piece about three volumes regarding Google and the place of the Plex in our world. (Or is it our place in the Plex’s world?) A passage about the late GOOG-411 service:
“Levy tells the story of a new recruit with a long managerial background who asked Google’s senior vice-president of engineering, Alan Eustace, what systems Google had in place to improve its products. ‘He expected to hear about quality assurance teams and focus groups’ – the sort of set-up he was used to. ‘Instead Eustace explained that Google’s brain was like a baby’s, an omnivorous sponge that was always getting smarter from the information it soaked up.’ Like a baby, Google uses what it hears to learn about the workings of human language. The large number of people who search for ‘pictures of dogs’ and also ‘pictures of puppies’ tells Google that ‘puppy’ and ‘dog’ mean similar things, yet it also knows that people searching for ‘hot dogs’ get cross if they’re given instructions for ‘boiling puppies’. If Google misunderstands you, and delivers the wrong results, the fact that you’ll go back and rephrase your query, explaining what you mean, will help it get it right next time. Every search for information is itself a piece of information Google can learn from.
By 2007, Google knew enough about the structure of queries to be able to release a US-only directory inquiry service called GOOG-411. You dialled 1-800-4664-411 and spoke your question to the robot operator, which parsed it and spoke you back the top eight results, while offering to connect your call. It was free, nifty and widely used, especially because – unprecedentedly for a company that had never spent much on marketing – Google chose to promote it on billboards across California and New York State. People thought it was weird that Google was paying to advertise a product it couldn’t possibly make money from, but by then Google had become known for doing weird and pleasing things. In 2004, it launched Gmail with what was for the time an insanely large quota of free storage – 1GB, five hundred times more than its competitors. But in that case it was making money from the ads that appeared alongside your emails. What was it getting with GOOG-411? It soon became clear that what it was getting were demands for pizza spoken in every accent in the continental United States, along with questions about plumbers in Detroit and countless variations on the pronunciations of ‘Schenectady’, ‘Okefenokee’ and ‘Boca Raton’. GOOG-411, a Google researcher later wrote, was a phoneme-gathering operation, a way of improving voice recognition technology through massive data collection.
Three years later, the service was dropped, but by then Google had launched its Android operating system and had released into the wild an improved search-by-voice service that didn’t require a phone call. You tapped the little microphone icon on your phone’s screen – it was later extended to Blackberries and iPhones – and your speech was transmitted via the mobile internet to Google servers, where it was interpreted using the advanced techniques the GOOG-411 exercise had enabled. The baby had learned to talk. Now that Android phones are being activated at a rate of more than half a million a day,4 Google suddenly has a vast and growing repository of spoken words, in every language on earth, and a much more powerful learning machine.”
Tags: Daniel Soar, Dave Eggers, Felix Salmon
“I am selling my bedbugs and bedbug eggs for people to use against people.”
Hi! New York can be a pretty difficult place to live! As they say, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere!
I’ve lived here almost a full calendar year, and have found that it’s super difficult to keep positive. There are so many things trying to keep you down – the subway track work, craigslist roommate scams, reappearing enemies from college, ex girlfriends finding out your account info…That said, I recently moved into a room that happens to be infested with bedbugs. Luckily for me, I’m not allergic, and barely notice them. My girlfriend, however, is blaming me for HER infestation, even though it’s totally NOT. MY. FAULT. I really didn’t know we had them, and by the time we found it, it was too late. She broke up with me. Unfortunately she was also my boss, so I need to find a new job.
So, I’m trying to make my challenges and hardships work FOR me instead of AGAINST me. I need some extra ca$h, and if I can help-a-bruthah out while I’m doin it, the more the merrier!
I’m aware that it’s impossible to live in this city without fucking someone over. So, I am selling my bedbugs and bedbug eggs for people to use against people. You can let it roam in their bag, their home, etc etc. I am simply selling bedbugs, how you use them is your business.
I will package them up so that they both a) live and b) stay in their container.
Via Liz Bury at the Guardian, here’s David Bowie’s list of must-read books that’s been released as part of an exhibition about the pop star at the Art Gallery of Ontario:
Tags: David Bowie, Liz Bury
When I was putting up the post about the Waterland boat-car hybrid, it reminded of another odd vehicle, the Davis three-wheel sedan which was produced by a short-lived California company in 1947-48. The automobile was nicknamed “Baby.” I may have put up this video before, but here it is just in case.
The opening of Terry Bennett’s new Wired opinion piece about the smart infrastructure that will be needed to handle interconnected, autonomous cars:
“Much has been written about the era of connected cars, especially as excitement grows around announcements that besides Google, Audi, Nissan, Tesla, Mercedes Benz, and others are planning to make commercially available self-driving cars, too.
The discussions range from the ethics of autonomous cars to every latest announcement around the technology involved in Google’s own self-driving car project — from wearables to manufacturing. But there’s a danger to these one-dimensional discussions: We can’t rely on the technology inside the car alone.
We need to think about what’s outside, too — a smart, interconnect infrastructure for our roadways.
It’s moving from thinking only about traffic lights, signs, and crosswalk lights to adding intelligence into pavement, utilities, and the like. This will require changes in how we think about business models, job functions, and more. Because our existing roadways aren’t inert objects: They’re dynamic systems comprised of the interplay between cars and traffic signals, as well as repaving and restriping.
With autonomous cars, infrastructure enters the realm of science fiction.”
Tags: Terry Bennett
If members of Congress weren’t paid for days the government is closed and they had no way to recoup the money, there would be no shutdown. And if you’re not making a sacrifice, you’re not making a stand. Of course, the GOP is sacrificing something huge–its last claim to being more than a fringe party–but that sacrifice isn’t intentional. There are three possible reasons for the shutdown:
The opening of Ezra Klein’s new Wonkblog interview with National Review journalist Robert Costa:
“Ezra Klein:
Walk me through the math of the House GOP a bit. Most people seem to think Boehner has around 100 members who largely back him and don’t want a shutdown, and it’s a much smaller group, a few dozen or so, who want to take this to the brink. So why doesn’t Boehner, after trying to do it the conservative’s way as he has been in recent weeks, just say, we’re voting on a clean CR now, as that’s what the majority of the House Republican majority wants?
Robert Costa:
Ever since Plan B failed on the fiscal cliff in January and you saw Boehner in near tears in front of his conference, he’s been crippled. He’s been facing the consequences of that throughout the year. Everything from [the Violence Against Women Act] to the farm bill to the shutdown. The Boehner coup was unsuccessful but there were two dozen members talking about getting rid of him. That’s enough to cause problems. Boehner’s got the veterans and the committee chairs behind him, but the class of 2010 and 2012 doesn’t have much allegiance to him.
The thing that makes Boehner interesting is he’s very aware of his limited hand. Boehner doesn’t live in an imaginary world where he thinks he’s Tip O’Neill and he can bring people into his office and corral them into a certain vote. So he treads carefully, maybe too carefully. But he knows a clean CR has never been an option for him.
Ezra Klein:
But why isn’t it an option? A few dozen unhappy members is an annoyance, but how is it a threat? Wouldn’t Boehner be better off just facing them down and then moving on with his speakership?
Robert Costa:
So there are 30 to 40 true hardliners. But there’s another group of maybe 50 to 60 members who are very much pressured by the hardliners. So he may have the votes on paper. But he’d create chaos. It’d be like fiscal cliff level chaos. You could make the argument that if he brought a clean CR to the floor he might have 100-plus with him on the idea. But could they stand firm when pressured by the 30 or 40 hardliners and the outside groups?”•
Tags: Barack Obama, Ezra Klein, John Boehner, Robert Costa