A Chicago Blog

There was a great article in last week’s New Republic on why we curse and why we care. Steven Pinker:
… perhaps the greatest mystery is why politicians, editors, and much of the public care so much. Clearly, the fear and loathing are not triggered by the concepts themselves, because the organs and activities they name [...]

Seriously. From AP:
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — A barber who killed himself during a City Council meeting was well known for supporting soldiers from the nearby Fort Campbell Army post and was once recognized by its former commander, Gen. David Petraeus.
Ronald “Bo” Ward pulled out a small handgun and shot himself in the head Thursday night in [...]

According to this web site you can hire an admin in India to work for you while you sleep. Wow! A brave new world indeed. Next thing you know Americans who can afford it will all have their own admins doing their work while they sit at their desks shopping at the GAP.

Dan mentioned this interview in the comments yesterday and I was able to find it on Google Video. It is perhaps an even more fitting tribute to Tom Snyder than the Howard Stern interview I linked yesterday.

The guys at Positive Liberty offer this link to Tom Snyder interviewing Howard Stern as a fitting tribute.

It was really the pants.

If you didn’t catch the Tribune’s “Perspectives” section on Sunday. There was a great article on Reason and our emotions by Jack Fuller. Fuller takes on Al Gore’s hope that the internet will usher in a new age of reasoned discourse. Along the way, he makes note of the tension between Gore’s argument against fear [...]

This morning, after arriving at the office, I went into the kitchen and grabbed a coffee mug. I couldn’t deface office property so I wrapped the mug in masking tap and wrote in big letters across its face: TIPS. I figure if everyone else has a tip jar why can’t I?
(PS> Thanks Dan, for emailing [...]

Barry Schwartz has written a fascinating commentary for The New York Times questioning whether or not the city should be offering its public school children cash rewards for good behavior.
To paraphrase Schwartz’s (accurately I hope), financial incentives undermine the intrinsic value of education. That is, entering self-interest into the education equation will diminish the more [...]

Some one emailed this to me. The only one of these I admit to having seen myself is Manowar: Anthology, though I am a little surprised they chose this one over other great Manowar album covers, like …