Daily Links From Glimpse From a Height
- Patent Trolls Under Siege
Patent reform is getting a boost in Congress and, possibly, in the Supreme Court. The House voted 325-91 last week for serious reform, beating back a number of Democrat amendments that would have gutted reform. Passage of the bill is a big step for patent reformers, which would have been hard to imagine even one […]
- Han Solo’s Blaster For Sale
Via Design Taxi: Those familiar with the Star Wars franchise will remember the scene where Darth Vader uses the Force to get a hold of Han Solo’s DL-44 Blaster. Now, this iconic pistol will be up for sale on 21 December 2013 via Invaluable.com. “I know you’ve got a certificate and a great story, but I need to be […]
- Raul Candy Store
- Ah, Reform, Peking Style
Not exactly encouraging: When the screening in Jiangsu ended, state media reported, local party chief Luo Zhijun exhorted the assembled officials to “correctly understand the lessons of history.” The film’s message: The Soviet Union didn’t fall apart because of the communist system itself, but because of individuals who betrayed it, especially Mikhail Gorbachev. The film […]
- Science of Snowflakes
A profile of Kenneth Libbrecht, the man who wrote the book on snowflakes (literally, as BoingBoing points out). Over the course of his research, Libbrecht’s work has grown to encompass art and science. He’s produced both scientificpapers and hundreds of beautiful photos of natural snowflakes (which he’s published in severaldifferentbooks and had featured on U.S. postage stamps), and also devised ingenious ways […]
- Sean Trende Offers Hope for Colorado Republicans
Even with a contentious Senate primary getting underway for the Republican nomination, some are writing off the seat and conceding it to Udall. Sean Trende, not so much: If Republicans had a stronger field, this race would probably move up a tier. But there’s no doubt that Udall is benefiting from a field of relatively […]
- 50 Years, 50 Toys
What people who can’t afford authentic Star Wars memorabilia have been buying for the last half-century:
- Saving = Happiness?
Yes, you’d expect a bank to say that. But isn’t savings actually earned success for most people? I know it makes me feel happier.
- Climate Deniers
That would be James Hansen, last seen “adjusting” historical climate data to show the “correct” increases. He’s still at it, plugging away, claiming that while we’ll have to suffer through 1-degree changes, we have a moral obligation to cripple our economies to prevent 2-degree warming. The new study is a departure from the typical climate science […]
- Detroit, Illinois, Colorado
Yes, pensions. No, we are not Detroit or Illinois, and won’t be for some time, even if we left things as they are. Still, our problems are far from solved, and rather than writing foolish columns about what Detroit could have learned from PERA, we’d do better to learn from Detroit and Illinois. Eileen Norcross from […]
