The Olympic Puzzle: Why does India only have 6 medals?
There is a correlation between population size and medals won. But India is the puzzle. Britain did well, which seems to suggest that having the games at homes leads to better performance.
Enter Mr. Ryan
No longer can anyone claim the two presidential tickets are not offering stark contrasts. Now a real debate about the future of government can take place. John Dickerson reports in Slate.
Someone Is Going To Be Very Disappointed By the Ryan VP Pick
Rejoice! It’s Ryan! Conservatives are thrilled by Romney’s VP pick. So are Democrats. One camp is very wrong.
JANESVILLE, Wis.— Mitt Romney has made his first presidential-level decision, picking Paul Ryan, the 42-year-old, seven-term Congressman from southern Wisconsin, as his running mate. The choice offers the first real hints about what kind of president Romney will be. Here’s what we learned: He takes risks, he can adapt, and he’s willing to campaign on a bold set of ideas rather than generalities. If you’re looking for the attributes of presidential leadership, these are all strong qualities. The Ryan pick also tells us less flattering things about Romney: He’s willing to discard what were once deeply held views about the necessity of business and executive experience and to cosset the GOP base for political reasons at the expense of independents.
Continue ReadingOn the Money
The economist lays out well what the issues facing the next president are. It will be interesting to see who they will endorse before the election.
The presidential campaign: Another fine mess
A useful debate has begun about America’s biggest domestic challenge, but it is comically shallow
AMID all the name-calling in America’s presidential campaign, a serious subject has begun to emerge: what role should government play? Earlier this month Barack Obama caused a stir when he said that entrepreneurs were not solely responsible for their success, but relied on the roads, bridges and other infrastructure which society constructs and which make commerce possible: “If you’ve got a business…you didn’t build that.” Meanwhile, Mitt Romney has told voters looking for state handouts to vote for the other guy.
Continue ReadingThe Election is fought over economic philosophy
David Brooks is providing the best possible interpretations what Republican intentions are all about. Instead of picking Spain and Greece he could have cited the Northern European countries which have been quite successful in reforming their welfare states. He notes correctly that Barak Obama outlined a very different position that economics policies will bring new prosperity to average American. I think that Obama is correct and hope that a majority of Americans will agree in November.
What Republicans Think
By DAVID BROOKS (NY Times)
Democrats frequently ask me why the Republicans have become so extreme. As they describe the situation, they usually fall back on some sort of illness metaphor. Republicans have a mania. President Obama has said that Republicans have a “fever” that he hopes will break if he is re-elected.
When the US shrank in the 19th century
The internet today is removing barriers between people living in different places. The railroads were one of the technologies (telegraph and telephone were others) that this for 19th century. The Writer’s Almanac reports:
The First Transcontinental Railroad was completed on this date in 1869. The project had been discussed since the 1830’s when Europeans were settling in California in increasing numbers, but people couldn’t decide on the best route. Some argued for a central route through Wyoming and Nebraska, and others felt a southern route through Texas was better because it would avoid the Rocky Mountains. Over time the Pony Express proved that the central route was passable even in winter, and Texas allied itself with the Confederacy in the Civil War, so the central route won out.
Continue Reading
Motorbike from Japan travels across the Pacific Ocean
I could never imagine that sea currents are strong enough to wash a motorbike across the entire Pacific Ocean. Read this amazing story.
TOKYO (AP)—It must have been a wild ride. Japanese media say a Harley-Davidson motorcycle lost in last year’s tsunami has washed up on a Canadian island about 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles) away.
The rusted bike was found in a large white container where its owner, Ikuo Yokoyama, had kept it. He was located through the license plate number, Fuji TV reported Wednesday.
“This is unmistakably mine. It’s miraculous,” Yokoyama told Nippon TV when shown photos of the motorcycle.
Yokoyama lost three members of his family in the March 11, 2011, tsunami, and is now living in temporary housing in Miyagi prefecture (state).
The motorcycle is among the first items lost in the tsunami to reach the west coast of North America. In March, an Alaska man found a football and later a volleyball from Japan; their owners were located last week using names that had been inscribed on the balls.
A Few Good Lines by Samuel Beckett
“Where I am, I don’t know, I’ll never know, in the silence you don’t know, you must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.”
“My mistakes are my life.”
“We are all born mad. Some remain so.”
“Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order.”
“Nothing is funnier than unhappiness.”
Continue ReadingSupreme Court is back at the center of attention ruling on “Obamacare”
Not since the Supreme Court stepped in and gave ruled in favor of George Bush and against Al Gore in the 2004 election is the third branch of government at the center of public attention. Will the strike down Obama’s signature legislation. Here is some useful background information that had me wonder: how would the conservative judges argue against the individual mandate to buy health insurance? June will bring the answer.
Obama’s insurance requirement not the only mandate
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR | Associated Press
The insurance requirement that the Supreme Court is reviewing isn’t the first federal mandate involving health care.
There’s a Medicare payroll tax on workers and employers, for example, and a requirement that hospitals provide free emergency services to indigents. Health care is full of government dictates, some arguably more intrusive than President Barack Obama’s overhaul law.
It’s a wrinkle that has caught the attention of the justices.
© 2026 Peter Murmann. Powered by ExpressionEngine.
