Over at Popehat, blogger Ezra has a suggestion for future awards of the Nobel Peace Prize: I submit that the prize be awarded each year in perpituity to the nation of Bhutan. In 1972 their king uttered the simple phrase "Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product." Since then, Bhutan has systematically and doggedly worked towards increasing the … [Read more...] about Gross National Happiness in Bhutan
Blawg Review at Popehat
Popehat has Blawg Review #233 today, and the theme is based on the story of Joshua Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. If you haven't heard of Emperor Norton before, it's a cool story. By the way, thanks to my co-blogger Joel, Blawg Review will be coming here in about a month. … [Read more...] about Blawg Review at Popehat
Photography Is Not a Crime
A friend of mine sent me a link to a New York Times piece by Randy Kennedy about photographer Mitch Epstein. He's doing a series of photographs about America's energy policies, photographing things like gas stations and power plants. As you might expect these days, he gets stopped by police a lot. I agree with my friend's assesment: I remember stories about such things in the … [Read more...] about Photography Is Not a Crime
Bogus Pseudo Crimes
[I started writing this days ago, and the story's gone stale, but I'm posting so little these days that I figured I should get it out there.] Some time ago, Radley Balko brought us the story of Sally Harpold, who bought two boxes of cold medicine within a few days of each other, thus violating Indiana's law against buying more than 3 grams of pseudoephedrine within a one week … [Read more...] about Bogus Pseudo Crimes
Bloggers Are In For Some Federal Entanglement
The AP's Deborah Yao explains: The Federal Trade Commission will try to regulate blogging for the first time, requiring writers on the Web to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products. The FTC said Monday its commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the final Web guidelines, which had been expected. Violating the rules, which take … [Read more...] about Bloggers Are In For Some Federal Entanglement