Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Le plus ca change…

Posted on October 22, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

I'm behind — very behind — on my pile of NYRB's. In the Oct. 23 issue, already succeeded by another, there is an article by Arthur Schlesinger Jr called “Eyeless in Iraq”. In it he quotes from a letter written by Congressman Abraham Lincoln in 1848, during the US war with Mexico,

Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure…. If to-day he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, “I see no probability of the British invading us” but he will say to you, “Be silent: I see it, if you don't.”

Posted in Politics: US, Readings | Comments Off on Le plus ca change…

Wills on Jefferson

Posted on October 22, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Gary Wills has a sharp and somber honesty that produces a sometimes contrarian clarity of vision and constantly acute prose. His Nixon Agonistes was one of the first serious political books I ever read as a child, and is still, I think, one of the best books on the man who later authored our 'long national nightmare'. His current article in the NYRB is about Jefferson — but unlike the celebratory stuff he's written on Jefferson in the past, this is about Jefferson's dark side. It's about the three-fifths clause, which Wills locates at the center of Jefferson's political strategy and career: lynchpin of the South's power, it was also the but-for cause of the supposed Great Democrat's election, and gave the Southern white establishment enough extra votes to distort national politics until the Civil War.

Wills has written a wonderful essay, again. But this time, instead of shaking my head in awed agreement, I find I have two reactions that he may not have intended.

Continue reading →

Posted in Readings | 2 Comments

Treasures

Posted on October 22, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

National Treasure Russel Baker discusses National Treasure Paul Krugman and the The Awful Truth in the current issue of the The New York Review of Books. A great read, as Russel Baker always is. I miss his weekly columns.

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A Catholic Law and Economics Argument for Respecting Picket Lies

Posted on October 21, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

You don't see stuff like this every day: Stephen Bainbridge's The LA Strikes and the Economic Analysis of Unions uses a prolix merger of Catholic Worker Social Teaching and Law Economics to explain why he doesn't cross picket lines.

Posted in Econ & Money | Comments Off on A Catholic Law and Economics Argument for Respecting Picket Lies

The Practical Nomad Learns to Blog

Posted on October 21, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Ed Hasbrouck, aka the Practical Nomad, has taken his wonderful mailing list on travel and privacy issues and turned it into a blog. A must-read if you fly or if you care about privacy, and a double must if you fit both categories. There's also an online archive of the traffic from his mailing list.

Posted in Blogs | 1 Comment

How NOT to Install Computer Hardware

Posted on October 21, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Anyone can put out a small, incomprehensible, and illegible sheet purporting to explain (in a language vaguely like English) how to install computer hardware. But only Hardware Analysis had the forethought to write a crisp, clean, manual on How NOT to install computer hardware. (Found via Slashdot

While an excellent and clearly presented exposition of the basics, this account does not include some of the more advanced subjects serious tyros might expect to see covered. For example, I did not see any discussion of the powerful advantages of bleeding on motherboards, subsequent to cutting onself on the sharp edge of the removed side of the computer case.

Furthermore, too much attention is paid to the dramatic effects caused by removal of large parts which should stay fixed. As a result, insufficient attention is paid to the magnificent effects that can be achieved by dropping a very small screw into invisible and inaccessible crevices. The process of picking up, shaking, and turning over the computer in an attempt to make the loudly rattling screw appear can, I recall, threaten to cause injury not just to the internals, but to the operator and to surrounding furniture as well.

Posted in Sufficiently Advanced Technology | Comments Off on How NOT to Install Computer Hardware