Elf Sternberg

How Public Transportation Really Works: The Geometry of Cities A very good essay on how conservative and technological fixes don't change how cities work. Elon Musk and Uber can't engineer our way to a better city; what's really needed is strategic allocation of public transport and infrastructure money to encourage walking within the city, and public transport such as busing and light rail, to reach the city.

Less than half of all stocks outperform US Treasury Bills

Which was more technologically advanced, the Roman Empire or Han China?. Spoiler: While the answer is "it's a tie," the differences between the two are very interesting.

Pre-Kindergarten programs for low-income students offer high-quality and long-lasting benefits

Stark divide in generational acceptance of Trumpism: Even young Republicans are disgusted with the Republican Party

The Coming Age of Genetics is Now. This one is really important, because I've long held that American squeamishness over stem cell research and other biological issues is going to cripple us; twenty years from now, the wealthiest Americans will be jetting to South Korea and Scotland to receive working cures for Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, and significant reversals of other gerontological defects, and the rest of us will be reduced to third world status, fit only to be discarded by time.

How to fold a fitted sheet

Observe, Orient, Decide, Act

The EPA is being dismantled from within I hope you've enjoyed the last 30 years of clean water and breathable air, because Trump's EPA wants you to have to pay for those things. They're not inalienable rights.

Why Personas Fail. I've seen this several times in my career. As a professional developer, I've often said and even written, "This software is meant to be used by people," and then had other teams end up writing software that made sense to them, but not to anyone who lacked their context.

If Statements: Guard Clauses may be all you need This is something I'm surprisingly passionate about: the use of if statements in programming as guard clauses is valid and useful, especially if the language permits early returns, but is otherwise a code stink; if statements create separate code branches which are not immediately visible and yet must both be tested well. One thing that deeply frustrates me about Rust is the lack of an if not let clause which would allow guard conditions with Option.

Podcast listeners actually do listen to the ads. Good stuff if you podcast; your message is getting through, and so are your advertisers.

Increasing Wealth Inequality Is A Warning Sign Of Instability

Forbes Magazine (!) posts a rather obvious review of the work of J. K. Galbraith, and admits that the biggest creating of "money" (not "wealth") in our country is the financial industry, which has made more money by moving money around, rather than manufacturing or building great stuff.

Apollo Flags Still Standing, Photos Reveal

But that's impossible. Everyone knows the landings were faked. I think this is 'shopped. I can tell by the pixels, and because I've seen quite a few 'shops in my time.

Phantom States and the Neo-Medieval Internationalists

I don't think this is so Neo. After all, Panama in the 19th century was more or less a phantom state; as long as it sent its tribute taxes to Colombia, Colombia was willing to not send troops into that thin isthmus. It wasn't until the US wanted the isthmus for itself that Colombia started freaking out about the little territory so far on the other side of impenetrable jungle and high mountains that the only reliable way to communicate with it was a four-day sea voyage.

Church refuses to marry black couple in Mississippi

The couple claims it was due to their race. Still, as the late Senator Anselm J. McLaurin of Mississippi once said, "The right of the community to rid itself of personae non gratae must be defended. They must submit to the will of their neighbors; that is the way of the South. I myself have known persons who were asked to leave town in twenty-four hours." I have no doubt the Senator did.

NASA will be able to monitor Curiosity Landing in real-time

Oh, good. I'd hate to miss the opening of the best adventure flick of the season.

The Secret Consensus Among Economists

Despite the willingness of some loudmouths to hog the spotlight, the fact is simple: the broad consensus among economists is that the stimulus worked and prevented deep depression, that cutting tax rates now will not help the economy one whit, and that energy policy won't change the price of gas. All of these are completely contrary to typical right-wing talking points.

Nice! The Dems speak truth to power for once.

Mitt Romney surrogate suggests Obama doesn't understand the 'Anglo-Saxon heritage'

Yep, no race-baiting from the Romney camp at all.

Richard Mourdock on 'Tyrannical Principles

The man who defeated Richard Lugar to run as the Republican senatorial candidate from Indiana called Barack Obama's rescue of Chrysler as 'tyrannical' and that Obama "fails to understand the types of Americans ... who work and sweat and toil."

Libertarianism has two paths to political power: (1) vote Republican, (2) there is no 2.

Political charity is seen as weakness, not compromise. The Republicans are no longer interested in governing; they are interested in ruling.

Mitt Romney calls on the US to adopt Israel's single payer health care system.

And yet, somehow, the US must retain insane profits for health company stockholders and outrageous compensation for the CEOs.

Puppeteer for Christian Television Network children's show busted for kiddie porn, "child cannibalism porn."

Eww. I'm just sayin'. Eww.

Democrats introduce 'Cure for AIDS' Act

It's to fund a Manhattan-project sort of system to find the cure. It's an interesting choice. HIV is a well-studied virus, a specific problem (unlike cancer), and curing it could be a breakthrough in discovering viri's weaknesses. It's also politically popular. People don't like fucking in fear.

Romney's speciality is destroying relationships

Paul Krugman on what Romney did for a living:

Bankers of yore operated by building relationships; Bain made its investors money in large part by breaking relationships, e.g. by walking away from implicit promises to workers. It’s not a style that makes for good diplomacy.

And again, it's the brokenness of the US Tax Code that makes creatures like Romney so impossibly successful.

Scalia rejects privacy rights

Can we just impeach this man already? Last week he said he wanted an 'originalist' reading of the Second Amendment, so banning the carrying of hand axes was legal since they're not "hand-portable firearms", but it was okay to walk around with a rocket launcher, since they are. Now he believes that Griswold, the decision that made conversations between a doctor and patient about birth control none of the State's business was wrongly decided.

Paranoid Delusion as Marketing Strategy

Dr. Science points out that since guns are among the most durable goods sold, and gun sales have been outstripping population growth over the past decade, sales indicate that an ever-shrinking population of gun buyers is buying whole arsenals. James Holmes didn't stand out because there are thousands of people who buy in the same pattern. What are these people buying them for? Are they hoping to arm the rebellion once it starts, or what?

Income vs. Tax Rates for last five presidents, and Mitt Romney

Look at that spike! It's like he's from another planet or something. What this tells you is that Romney is certainly the wealthiest man we've had running for president in a long time, and he's really good at gaming the tax system.

The Meth Labs of Democracy

A long article outlining just how psychotic red states are, how badly they fail their citizens, and just how badly they drag down the rest of the nation. The worst example for me is Louisiana, where Bobby Jindal is ready to turn over the state's education coffers to Christian schools exempt from any standards compliance whatsoever. An advisor to Jindal said it would "Release the word of God." Because that's what education is for.

Shark Sex

Nastier and skiffier than you already imagined. Breeding is basically rape. Sharks have two uteri to produce two progeny, although many eggs will be fertilized, because each will have eaten all its siblings in the womb.