“ English’s emergence as the global language, along with the rapid progress in machine translation and the fragmentation of languages spoken around the world, make it less clear that the substantial investment necessary to speak a foreign tongue is universally worthwhile. While there is no gainsaying the insights that come from mastering a language, it will over time become less essential in doing business in Asia, treating patients in Africa or helping resolve conflicts in the Middle East.”
— Lawrence H. Summers on the future of higher education
tofias dot net
log | a bucket full of thoughts
10 Championship Games in 12 Years
The Hub of the Universe indeed.
Police Stations as Markets
As suggested by the Milwaukee police in response to several Craiglist-based robberies.
“ So I’ve had the experience of leadership. Now Speaker Gingrich has also been a leader. He was a leader for four years as speaker of the House. And at the end of four years it was proven he was a failed leader. And he had to resign in disgrace. I don’t know if you knew that. He actually resigned after four years in disgrace. He was investigated under an ethics panel and had to make a payment associated with that and then his fellow Republicans, 88 percent of Republicans, voted to reprimand Speaker Gingrich. He has not had a record of successful leadership.”
— Mitt Romney
“ It doesn’t have to be linear, but if you replace the longform text with video & twiddly knobs, it ceases to be an ebook. Text, and the presentation of the body of text, has to be the heart, spine and body of the story.”
— Baldur Bjarnason, “What is an ebook?”
Breeding PACs
Politico on hybrid PACs:
Here’s how it works: under new federal rules, a traditional PAC and super PAC may operate under one roof. These hybrid operations can raise and spend unlimited amounts of cash to promote or oppose candidates, as any super PAC can, while simultaneously giving limited amounts of money directly to campaigns and committees, like a traditional political action committee.
Teaching campaign finance is hard (via Taegan Goddard).
You're So Dodd to Me
Former Senator Chris Dodd (CT-D) speaking as a lobbyist on behalf of the MPAA:
Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.
Shameless.
But it gets worse. Dodd, August 2010:
Sen. Chris Dodd says he still doesn’t know what he’ll do come January 2011, when, for the first time in 36 years, he will no longer be a member of Congress. But he has ruled out one option.
“No lobbying, no lobbying,” Dodd said in a recent interview. That Dodd would forgo a trip through Washington’s “revolving door,” using his policy and political expertise—and a thick Rolodex—to launch a new career in the influence industry, may come as a surprise.
No lobbying indeed. Link via MG.
The Hand-Held Highlighter
Good-bye old friend.
“ How many major-league players have stood less than six feet tall and weighed (or rather, been listed at) more than 250 pounds? Five. Fielder, plus pitcher Bartolo Colon, Garland Buckeye, Rich ‘El Guapo’ Garces, and first baseman Tommy Everidge, who got into 24 games with the A’s in 2009.”
— Rob Neyer on forecasting
