Links for 2011-08-16

  • Welcome to the Fall Semester | Wired Science | Wired.com

    "Sharpen your pencils and charge your laptops. It is time for the next semester to start.

    How about some tips to those that will be involved. Yes, I am talking to you. All of you."

  • The Only Time the Conservative Politicians Ignore Warren Buffett « Whatever

    "The worries for the tender sensibilities of the rich has been a hallmark of conservative American politics since time immemorial, but the current gag-inducingly lickspittle levels of it are a bit much. Among other culpable parties, I lay some blame for this at the altar of Ayn Rand, who imagined a world in which the titan of industries “go Galt” in the face of creeping socialism. Over time the rather silly book this scenario plays out in has been confused by the greedy and clueless (and cynically touted by the greedy but somewhat more crafty) as a reasonable simulacrum of the real world, to the extent that I think there’s a genuine fear by the credulous — which unfortunately correlates to the most vocal elements of both Republican primary voters and politicians today — that if the state moves to raise taxes on the wealthy, the lot of them will flounce in a huff, taking their money with them and retiring to a crevasse where they will await the end of the world."