September 2011

Government as racketeer

A racketeer, writes the historian Charles Tilly, is one who “creates a threat and then charges for its reduction.” When governments…create threats and then offer citizens protection from those threats, the state is running a protection racket… Through…conjured threats, the public is treated to a simulation of a real terrorist attack, yet at each post-arrest …

Government as racketeer Read More »

Self-promotion: the fine line between shameless and lameass

I’m a big fan of The Moth podcast, stories of real-life experiences recorded live and without notes, but self-promotion by the show’s host – which is always nestled among his closing-show commentary, and voiced by an unnamed woman (so we’ll think it is she who is imploring us to buy the book, therefore it’s not self-promotion, …

Self-promotion: the fine line between shameless and lameass Read More »

I drove today…

…and every time I touched the gas, it was like stomping on bunnies. I felt with every acceleration (injection, compression, explosion, exhaust, times six cylinders, times an average of 1500 RPM), with every act of breaking (valuable momentum converted to heat in the break pads), every turn (rubber wearing against asphalt, more momentum lost), even …

I drove today… Read More »