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Category Archives: Uncategorized
What is the optimal length of a blog post?
We can all agree that, ideally, blogs should be engaging and entertaining and even educational, but how long should a blog post be? On one extreme, we have the Twitter model in which “tweets” must be 140 characters or less … Continue reading
Should the US military offer immunity to members of terrorist groups?
Why not? It’s been done before. Specifically, the US military eventually used this approach in response to the gruesome massacre of civilians in Lawrence, Kansas on 21 August 1863, the largest mass murder of unarmed American civilians on US soil … Continue reading
Internet Population Map (circa 2006)
Via the science journal Nature, this is what a political map of the world would look like if the size of each country were correlated with the size of its online population. Here is a more recent internet population map.
Review of “David and Goliath”
A lot of envious academics and various haters (here is one egregious example) have been critical of Malcolm Gladwell’s lastest work David and Goliath. prior probability, however, loved it. Here’s why: 1. First and foremost, Gladwell is a great writer. True, … Continue reading
Should Puerto Rico default on its sovereign debts?
You may have heard about the Eurozone crisis (see also cartoon below) and the City of Detroit’s well-publicized decision to declare bankruptcy, but did you know about Puerto Rico’s debt crisis. If not, check out this in-depth report published in yesterday’s New York … Continue reading
Why are there no Nobel prizes in law or business?
The short answer is Alfred Nobel’s will. When Mr Nobel established the Nobel prizes in his will (back in 1895), he created prizes for the natural sciences–Physical Science, Chemistry, and Medical Science or Physiology–, another prize for Literature, as well as a … Continue reading
Are the recent US commando raids in Libya and Somalia legal?
The news media are reporting two military raids–one in Libya, the other in Somalia–led by US commandos (with support from the FBI and the CIA) over this past weekend. Do these military raids violate international law? More to the point, … Continue reading
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Tagged Constitution, International Law, Libya, Prize Cases, Somalia, US Commando Raids
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“The Story of the Water Droplets”
prior probability is reblogging our “Story of the Water Droplets,” a short personal memoir which won an honorable mention from The Writer Site, an award-winning blog whose main mission is to help writers write. Our short story is less than 400 … Continue reading
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Is the A-Rod lawsuit frivolous?
Yesterday evening, lawyers for the New York Yankees’ star baseball player Alex Rodriguez filed two complaints in New York State court, one against a local hospital and the team doctor of the Yankees baseball club, and another against Major League Baseball and … Continue reading
The Washington Monument strategy
Teagan Goddard‘s Political Dictionary (a kind of “urban dictionary” for wonks) defines the Washington Monument strategy as follows: Named after a tactic used by the National Park Service to threaten closure of the popular Washington Monument when lawmakers proposed serious cuts in … Continue reading
