September 30, 2005

24 Hours in Iraq: Deathtoll More Than 100

Link: 13 killed in Iraq as market, police targeted - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com.

Also Thursday, the U.S. military announced the deaths of five U.S. soldiers a day earlier in a roadside bombing during combat in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a hotbed of Iraq’s insurgency. It was the deadliest single attack against American troops in more than a month, bringing to 1,934 the number of U.S. service members who have died since Iraq’s war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Posted by Anupam Chander on September 30, 2005 at 10:31 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Half of U.S. Sees "Judicial Activism Crisis"

Link: HALF OF U.S. SEES %u2018JUDICIAL ACTIVISM CRISIS%u2019.

More than half of Americans are angry and disappointed with the nation’s judiciary, a new survey done for the ABA Journal eReport shows.

A majority of the survey respondents agreed with statements that "judicial activism" has reached the crisis stage, and that judges who ignore voters’ values should be impeached. Nearly half agreed with a congressman who said judges are "arrogant, out-of-control and unaccountable."

The survey results surprised some legal experts with the extent of dissatisfaction shown toward the judiciary. "These are surprisingly large numbers," says Mark V. Tushnet, a constitutional law professor at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.

"These results are simply scary," adds Charles G. Geyh, a constitutional law professor at Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington.

The Opinion Research Corp. conducted the survey, calling 1,016 adults throughout the country in early September. Participants included 505 men and 511 women aged 18 or older. Due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina, residents of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi were not polled.

Calls were made to a random sample of American households. Those surveyed were asked questions about their age and education levels, and were asked to give one of six answers—strongly agree, somewhat agree, neither agree nor disagree, somewhat disagree, strongly disagree or don’t know—in response to public statements criticizing the judiciary.

Fifty-six percent of the respondents strongly or somewhat agreed with the opinions expressed in each of two survey statements:

A U.S. congressman has said, "Judicial activism … seems to have reached a crisis. Judges routinely overrule the will of the people, invent new rights and ignore traditional morality." (Twenty-nine percent strongly agreed and 27 percent somewhat agreed.)
A state governor has said that court opinions should be in line with voters’ values, and judges who repeatedly ignore those values should be impeached. (Twenty-eight percent strongly agreed and 28 percent somewhat agreed.)
Forty-six percent strongly or somewhat agreed with the opinion expressed in a third statement:

A U.S. congressman has called judges arrogant, out-of-control and unaccountable. (Twenty-one percent strongly agreed and 25 percent somewhat agreed.)

Posted by Anupam Chander on September 30, 2005 at 10:26 AM in Law School | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 29, 2005

Peru May Require Consideration of Open Source Alternatives

Link: MercuryNews.com | 09/28/2005 | Peru to give open-source software equal footing with Microsoft.

Peru's Congress has passed legislation that would require public institutions to consider open-source software as an alternative to proprietary systems such as Windows. Peru joins Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and other countries in actively moving toward the Linux operating system and other open-source alternatives that can mean millions of dollars in savings. But a leading advocate for such alternatives said it remains to be seen whether President Alejandro Toledo will sign the bill into law. ``There are many associations on a national level that do not agree with this because they believe it will affect their interests,'' including revenues from the sale of proprietary systems, said Jose Cairo Gallardo, president of the Peruvian Free Software Association. The government palace did not respond to phone and fax requests seeking the president's position on the issue. In a move that went largely unnoticed, Congress voted 61-0 last Thursday to approve the legislation, which would prohibit any public institution from purchasing computer equipment that ties users to a particular type of software or ``in any manner limits information autonomy.''

Posted by Anupam Chander on September 29, 2005 at 09:50 AM in Digitization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 28, 2005

Do Newspapers Discriminate in Favor of Minorities?

Link: I Am Goldberg - Years ago, the Times turned me down because I was white. So what? By Timothy Noah.

Timothy Noah proclaims that he, like Jeffrey Goldberg of the New Yorker, believes he was denied a job at a newspaper because the paper reserved the slot for a minority.  Noah makes sure to note his "Harvard College" pedigree, but goes on to say, generously, that he doesn't mind losing to a minority.

The striking thing to me is that if the newspapers are practicising a quota system for minorities, it has not been very successful.  Consider the columnists now behind gated access at the NY Times.  (I recognize that Noah is talking about the reporting staff, not the columnists, but the columnist information is easier to gather.)  How many of the following are minorities?  I assume that the answer is more than just Bob Herbert, but I doubt that the number is very large.

TimesSelect Op-Ed columnists include:
David Brooks Maureen Dowd Thomas L. Friedman Bob Herbert	Nicholas D. Kristof Paul Krugman Frank Rich John Tierney

TimesSelect news columnists             include:
Business    Gretchen Morgenson     Joseph Nocera     Floyd Norris              New York/Region Peter Applebome Dan Barry Clyde Haberman Joyce Purnick	Sports Dave Anderson Harvey Araton William C. Rhoden Selena Roberts George Vecsey                          The International Herald Tribune Roger Cohen John Vinocur

UPDATE:  As far as the photos reveal, William C. Rhoden, one of five sports columnists, is the only obvious racial minority.  If that is true, two of the NY Times 22 columnists are racial minorities--less than 10%.  There are no apparent Latino or Asian columnists, and no apparent minority women columnists.  The NY Times' alleged affirmative action policy has been remarkably successful.  Or perhaps I should concede the truth: minorities are worse writers than whites, and a 9% rate reflects great effort on the NY Times to appoint minorities.

Posted by Anupam Chander on September 28, 2005 at 04:31 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Phil & Ted's double stroller

Link: Salon.com Life | My stroller, my savior.

"In the city, life changes radically when you move from a single to a double stroller. One kid's an accessory -- you and your partner are still you, but with a cute plus-one wearing a CBGBs onesie. But two kids, fuggedaboudit. You're parents. It's a lot harder to pretend you're still the you who went to Burning Man."

Posted by Anupam Chander on September 28, 2005 at 11:41 AM in Life | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Fernando Ferrer Proposes Giving Free Laptops to All NY Public School Students

Link: Fernando Ferrer.

Take New York Schools into the Future with Laptop Computers for Every High School Student - Studies have found that students with laptops do more homework, score higher in reading and writing, and have better research and analysis skills. Laptops will include security software to prohibit inappropriate computer activities and deter theft.

The possible benefits of this approach are indeed significant.

If this is implemented, Ferrer should ensure that there is active competition among Linux, Windows, and Apple vendors of operating systems, to supply the best combination of price and quality.

Posted by Anupam Chander on September 28, 2005 at 10:32 AM in Digitization | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 26, 2005

LA Times' new columnist? Imperial Cheerleader Niall Ferguson

Link: Niall Ferguson - Los Angeles Times.

Bringing the virtues of Rudyard Kipling to the 21st century.

There was once a time that I admired Michael Kinsley.

Posted by Anupam Chander on September 26, 2005 at 05:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Study of Effects of Stereotypes

Link: Cognitive Daily--When do stereotypes begin to threaten children?.

Nalini Ambady led a team that examined those questions by studying a group of Asian-American children ranging from kindergarten through 8th grade. All the kids were given grade-appropriate questions from the math section of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. To determine the effect of stereotypes on the children, before the test, they were asked to perform one of three activities based on age and gender. K through 2 girls colored one of three pictures: a girl holding a doll (gender identity), two Asian kids eating from a bowl with chopsticks (Asian identity), or a landscape (control condition). Older kids answered a set of questions designed to activate gender identity (”Do you think boys and girls are treated differently at your school?”), Asian identity (”Do you speak a foreign language at home?”), or neutral responses (”What is your favorite season?”). The questions and pictures were changed appropriately when boys took the test.

You might expect that younger children, less aware of stereotypes that boys are better at math than girls and Asians are better at math than non-Asians, would not be affected by the identity activation tasks. However, the actual results were quite different...

Posted by Anupam Chander on September 26, 2005 at 03:52 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Clever End-Run Around Times Select's Gated Access

Link: JohnTabin.com: Never Pay Retail FAQ.

John Tabin takes advantage of the fact that Times' columnists are syndicated widely, allowing him to link to those columns when they are published (with a short delay) on other sites. The Times is now asking its syndication partners to cease publishing the pieces publicly--but I wonder if that will lead them to turn to other columnists (after all, the Times isn't sharing the revenue with its syndicators, is it?). I should note that I'm available.

By restricting access, the Times risks losing its preeminence. People will search for, and find, alternative editorialists. This may prove to be a salutary development over time. But I would miss my Krugman and Dowd if I had to give them up.

Posted by Anupam Chander on September 26, 2005 at 02:44 PM in Digitization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Author Opts Out of Class Action Against Google Print

Link: FindLaw's Writ - Hilden: Authors Sue Google Over Its "Print for Libraries" Project Will the Suit Succeed? Should It? And Why, As An Author, I'm Opting Out of Any Class Action.

Julie Hilden discusses the lawsuit filed last week by three authors and the Authors' Guild challenging, as copyright infringement, Google's "Print for Libraries" project. The project would scan university libraries' book collections in, so that the books' content is searchable online.

Hilden argues that making this a class action may end up actually benefiting both parties.

She also argues that, on the merits, Google has the better argument. Google contends that because only a small part of each book will be shown as a result of a given search, its use of the material is "fair use" and thus falls under a well-established exception to the copyright law.

Posted by Anupam Chander on September 26, 2005 at 11:55 AM in Digitization | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack