State Department Employees Fired For Snooping Obama Passport

One big problem with databases: maintaining privacy. The biggest threats are not just 'hackers', but insiders. This is seldom considered, even as large databases of personal information are gathered, particularly in the US. This instance was relatively harmless, and one even wonders how the

Just Tell Us Whom You Want to Win

A New York Times review of the new book on the mathematics of elections by William Poundstone: Just Tell Us Whom You Want to Win. Poundstone has written a few popular treatments of math subjects over the years that I have enjoyed, including Prisoner's Dilemma and The Recursive Universe.

The Myth of the Surge

A sobering article from Rolling Stone about recent events in Iraq: The Myth of the Surge

'Severe' jobless problem in China

From the BBC: 'Severe' jobless problem in China

... 20 million new workers entered the labour market each year, chasing only 12 million jobs.

'Severe' jobless problem in China

From the BBC: 'Severe' jobless problem in China

... 20 million new workers entered the labour market each year, chasing only 12 million jobs.

Supreme Court Inc.

An interesting article on the pro-business slant of the current Supreme Court: Supreme Court Inc.

Oil Price increases caused by DoE?

Interesting presentation to the US Senate Homeland Security Committee claiming that oil price rises starting in August 2007 were caused by -- the US Department of Energy (!) Seems they are re-filling the strategic reserves: http://hsgac.senate.gov/_files/STMTVERLEGERPhilip0.pdf

Keeping Iraq in the Dark

There was a good New York Times article on the ongoing effort to get power restored in Iraq. It seems the situation is even more bizarre than your might think. Check out: Keeping Iraq in the Dark by Glenn Zorpette. There was a longer and more technical article by the same author in IEEE Spectrum: Re-engineering Iraq

Iraq contractor indicted in cash smuggling case

A small local story that didn't get much attention. One wonders how much US currency is floating around Iraq and what is happening to it. This guy seems like a small operator. You have to wonder what the big boys are doing: Iraq contractor indicted in cash smuggling case

Land of the Free

While the numbers has been disturbing for at least two decades, the US prison population reached a new landmark recently: 1% of the adult population. And it's still growing. It has become a strange sort of business in some communities where prisons are big employers. One local in a small Texas town was quoted as saying "We lock up half the people and pay the other half to watch them": U.S. Imprisons One in 100 Adults, Report Finds

The Conscience of a Liberal

I've been enjoying Paul Krugman's The Conscience of a Liberal blog. Since Krugman is an academic, it tends to be more factual data than opinion, which is fine by me.