It’s that time of year again: it’s time for us to get off the Internet to spend more time with our family and friends, so we are taking a sabbatical from blogging during the holiday season. In the meantime, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Credit: xkcd.com
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What’s up, doc? As you may be aware of, a growing number of establishments are beginning to flat out ban the practice of tipping. But what if, instead of abolishing tipping, patrons had the option ex ante of giving a “negative tip.” In other words, why is the practice of tipping an asymmetrical one? By way of example, let’s say the standard tip (or “service charge”) for good service at Restaurant A is 20%. Then, in the alternative, why can’t customers deduct up to 20% of their bill for bad service? (It turns out, by the way, that we are not the first to propose this. See this and this.)
Credit: retailhellunderground.com
Check out this fun blog post by math wizard Ben Orlin, who calculates the total number of gifts in “The 12 Days of Christmas.” In the words of Mr Orlin, “The song invited a lot of questions, but one in particular leapt out to the mathematical mind …: How many gifts, in all, did my true love give to me?” (Tip of our hat to fellow math lover Cliff Pickover.)
Credit: Ben Orlin
What is “law”? In a forthcoming essay, Brian Leiter provides an excellent summary of H.L.A. Hart’s influential legal positivist theory of law. (The cover of his classic tome, “The Concept of Law”, is pictured below.) In particular, Professor Leiter, who teaches legal philosophy at the University of Chicago, claims that Hart’s account of legal positivism has three advantages over competing theories: (1) Hart’s theory provides a common sense or plausible account of the ordinary man’s understanding of law, (2) it can be tested empirically, and (3) it is parsimonious. Let’s examine each of these claims in turn: Continue reading
Among many other things, the Miami Herald’s extensive obituary of Fidel Castro describes the March 1959 trial of 44 Cuban pilots, bombardiers, and mechanics from Cuba’s pre-revolutionary air force (referred to as “el juicio de los aviadores” in Cuban legal history). In summary, after a revolutionary tribunal acquitted the accused airmen of crimes against the Revolution, an enraged Fidel instantly created a right of appeal for prosecutors. When he was told that Cuban law did not permit prosecutors to appeal acquittals, Fidel replied: “Revolutionary justice is not based on legal precepts but on moral conviction.” A second tribunal then condemned the airmen to prison for 30 years. In the words of the Herald: “the airmen were lucky. Though Cuban law did not allow capital punishment, the revolutionary tribunals were sending a steady stream of men to the firing squad, often after trials televised from sports stadiums where handpicked mobs of Castro supporters howled in unison, paredón! — to the wall!”
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Hat tip: killerjag, via Reddit.
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Submitted For Your Perusal is a weblog wherein Matt Thomas shares and writes about things he thinks are interesting.
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