Events

What do you call a system in which: Massive and increasing private wealth; Increasing inheritance of that wealth, reducing social mobility; Private control over traditionally public resources; Debts to private interests that persists after death, sometimes burdening families for generations; Increasing economic growth in non-productive ("rentier") sectors with declines in productive sectors, like manufacturing; Public officeholders continuing to use their former titles of office long after leaving...

The view from my office window:

The Affordable Care Act has helped 3.1 million people get health insurance: As a result of the law, the proportion of insured adults ages 19 through 25 has increased to nearly 75 percent. The Affordable Care Act requires insurers to allow young adults to remain on their parents' family plans until their 26th birthday, even if they move away from home or graduate from school. This policy took effect on September 23, 2010. "Today, because of the health care law, more than 3 million more young adults have...

A few months ago, when Chicago finished its 10th warmest winter (followed by its warmest spring ever), I predicted a warm summer. Actually, the state climatologist predicted a warm summer, and I repeated this prediction. Regardless, the mechanics are simple. Warm winters and springs keep Lake Michigan warm, which means come summer the lake can't absorb as much heat on hot days. This means, all things equal, a warm spring leads to a warm summer. (Oddly, though, warm summers have no effect on winter...

Before coming to 10th Magnitude, I was an independent consultant, mostly writing software but occasionally configuring networks. I hate configuring networks. And yet, since 2008, I've had a 48U server rack in my apartment.* A “U” is 25mm, so this means I have a 1.2 m steel rack behind an antique dressing screen in my living room home office, which sits between my dining room and my bedroom in a compact apartment in Chicago: It looks modest enough, yes? On the server rack are three 2U and one 1U rack...

As promised, Parker's birthday photo from yesterday: 1/250 at f/5.6, ISO-3200, 116mm

Parker turns six today: That was then (September 2006, when he was about 11 weeks old). The "now" picture will come tomorrow.

...and only four blocks from my house:

The Dept. of Homeland Security announced today that most undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children will not be deported: Those who demonstrate that they meet the criteria will be eligible to receive deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal, and will be eligible to apply for work authorization. “Our nation’s immigration laws must be enforced in a firm and sensible manner,” said [Homeland Security] Secretary [Janet] Napolitano. “But they are not designed to be blindly...

Because it sounds utterly ridiculous when grown-ups use her arguments: Sen. Paul is basically reading from Atlas Shrugged. And it's nonsense, as Sen. Sanders demonstrates. Further, I think Paul knows it is. If you're just tuning in, Ayn Rand believed (as apparently Rand Paul believes) that taxes were only taken by force, and were therefore always illegitimate. She believed that a government levying taxes and providing services from those taxes was doing so "at the point of a gun," even if nearly...