current-events

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Historical Libraries Closing Nationwide

My local historical society (Oregon Historical Society) has fallen on hard times lately, and recently closed its research library, temporarily permanently laying off most of its librarians (update: 15 were permanently laid off, 4 were later hired back). Oregon isn't alone in this -- as our local NPR station pointed out, historical societies in New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, and Virginia have been cutting hours and staff, if not closing entirely. The Oregon Historical Society has managed to keep its public... READ ON

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Clay Shirky on Newspapers: How the Unthinkable Happened

Clay Shirky is an adjunct professor of New Media at NYU. He writes about technology (okay, pretty much just the internet) and its effects on relationships and culture. Recently he posted a brilliant essay called Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable, about what happened to newspapers in the 90s, how they saw the internet coming (and what it meant for the newspaper's business model), and what happened to those pragmatists who observed what was happening. In short, Shirky explains "the unthinkable... READ ON

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The Crisis of Credit, Visualized

Having trouble figuring out what the Credit Crisis (ahem, Global Financial Meltdown, Great Depression II, Credit Freeze) really means? Media designer Jonathan Jarvis has created a simple video explaining the situation step by step. There's no alarmism here, just a straightforward explanation of the financial realities leading to our current, uh, predicament. Discussed: treasury bills, credit, leverage, how banks make their money, mortgages (uh-oh), mortgage brokers, collateralized debt obligations... READ ON

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Nate Silver's Oscar Predictions, Reviewed

Statistician/poll-predictor Nate Silver (previously discussed) analyzed the Oscars before last night's telecast, and attempted to forecast the outcome of the six most popular categories: Supporting Actor (Ledger), Supporting Actress (Henson - wrong!), Lead Actor (Rourke - wrong!), Lead Actress (Winslet), Best Director (Boyle), Best Picture (Slumdog Millionaire). So he got four out of six right. Decent, but not great (the Intrade predictions actually got the Cruz win right, thus doing better than... READ ON

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How Nate Silver Predicted Obama's Win

Throughout last year's election, Nate Silver ran a fascinating website called FiveThirtyEight, named after the number of electors in the United States electoral college. Silver is a statistician, and he spent every day applying his considerable math chops to the various problems of the election -- namely, who would win, where, and by how much. By aggregating and analyzing publicly available poll data, Silver developed a series of statistical models that predicted, with stunning accuracy, what would... READ ON

List

4 Governors Who Did Time

When I met Rod Blagojevich at a Chicago Cubs game in 2007 (that's us), he was a wily incumbent who had just won easy reelection despite longstanding rumors of corruption. Today, facing a federal corruption trial, Blagojevich may soon join the fraternity of governors who have gone to prison. With help from the chaps at the Political Graveyard, I identified at least 17 governors who achieved this unfortunate distinction. Here are four who make me gag. 1. "A truly heartfelt apology" Ironically, Rod... READ ON

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Twitter from 1937

Blogger David Griner recently came across a "line-a-day" diary kept by his great aunt from 1937 through 1941. Griner's great aunt (Genny Spencer) kept the diary during her early teens, while she lived on a farm in rural Illinois. The entries in the diary are all very brief -- one line a day -- which caused Griner's sister to observe, "This is the Twitter of the 1930s." A bit of planning and programming ensued, and now we've got it -- a day-by-day Twitterstream of entries from more than seventy years... READ ON

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The Million-dollar Office Redecoration: It Could've Been Worse

Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain spent $1.22 million in company dollars to redecorate his office in early 2008. The Daily Beast has a list of all the items on which he spent all that money. Shortly after, it became clear even outside the company that Merrill Lynch was headed for financial disaster. The company was taken over by Bank of America, who announced that Thain resigned his position last Thursday. But was $1.22 million really that extravagant? He could have spent much more on office furniture.... READ ON

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Documentaries I Like: Frontline

Frontline is a PBS documentary series that has consistently offered the best reporting on a huge range of topics for over 25 years. Since 1983, Frontline has produced more than 480 documentaries on everything from politics to religion to personal finance. I can enthusiastically say Frontline produces documentaries I like, though I will caution that their war coverage in recent years has been so grim that it's often hard to watch. Starting in 1995, Frontline took much of its programming online,... READ ON

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Celebrating the Inauguration

President Barack Obama's inauguration is being celebrated and watched not just around the U.S., but all around the world. Each group is celebrating in their own way. Here at my school, Chestnut Hill College, we incorporated President Obama's call to service with our Catholic, service-oriented mission by having students, faculty, and staff pledge commitments of service to specific organizations as well as to more general themes, such as fighting for tolerance. Our theme was "Be the change we... READ ON