Sorry that all I'm doing at the moment is posting links, but absent the time to do anything more, I figure this is better than my usual total neglect of the blog!
- Quora is a the latest and greatest social media tool. It lets people ask, give and rate answers to questions. I joined last year and found it very narrow. Most of the questions were about running a tech startup! But since then apparently it's broadened a lot. Hard to see it being a breakout, because it's pretty nerdy. Then again, so was early Twitter! Anyway, here's their attempt to figure out whether Jay Z's 'legal advice' in 99 Problems is useful. HT Kottke.
- Kevin Drum advances the 'Unified Theory of Republican Flip-Flops' - taking their temporary adoption of policies they now oppose (like cap and trade) as tactics adopted only to fight off more liberal proposals. He rebuts Ezra Klein's argument that they're driven by animosity toward President Obama.
- A moving account of Saddam Hussein's last minutes leaves him as the one with dignity and his executors as the monsters.
- Ezra Klein christens the 'No-Brainer awards' for policy proposals that are... no-brainers. I'm not sure everyone would agree, but they probably are amongst his audience. The taxpayer receipt is a great policy I'd love to see implemented in Australia.
- It turns out that Liberal MP Jamie Briggs has previously supported buying set top boxes for seniors, the policy last night dubbed by Tony Abbott 'Building the Entertainment Revolution'. His speech in favour makes limited sense and basically consists of saying people need this, therefore the government should provide it. It's unclear why that is a sufficient argument for any government spending, let alone something as stupid as this.
That's all for me folks. Have a great weekend.