Modern political money

From Rachel Maddow's blog:

[T]he playing field has changed in fundamental ways. In the traditional model, we'd see two major-party candidates, each backed by their respective national party. In 2012, President Obama's campaign team will effectively have two extremely well-financed opponents: Mitt Romney and the RNC, which are projected to raise at least $800 million, as well as a $1 billion outside attack operation. Obama, in other words, is going to face a far-right wall of at least $1.8 billion between now and Election Day. To say this is without precedent in a major democracy is a dramatic understatement.

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Elevator social pressure

Hilarious elevator fun. I'm assuming that this experiment was conducted by an old TV show called "Candid Camera." The results remind me of Soloman Asch's social psych experiments from the mid 50's. Actually you'll see and feel the social pressures of riding an elevator most days, as people typically become silent during the ride.

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Court secrecy dominates one of the biggest government leak trials in history.

Bradley Manning will be tried by the U.S. government, and there will not be open media access to the proceedings. This might suggest to a reasonable person that the U.S. government has something to hide. That's what the U.S. government would say about some other country that is not giving the media easy access to the proceedings. Kevin Gosztola of FDL explains:

A challenge against secrecy in court martial proceedings for Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is accused of releasing classified information to WikiLeaks, was filed in the Army Court of Criminal Appeals (ACCA) on Thursday. The challenge—a petition for extraordinary relief—is being submitted to order the judge to grant the press and the public access to court filings, such as government motions, court orders and transcripts of proceedings. . . . While I have concerns about the constitutional implications posed by a government intent to convict Manning in secret, I find that my experience as a credentialed media reporter, who has been attending Manning’s legal proceedings since December of last year, gives me the authority and obligation to oppose the ridiculousness that is the judge’s decision to dismiss concerns from the press about lack of access to court filings. And so, I support this challenge as a member of the press whose job has been complicated unnecessarily by the government’s penchant for secrecy in the Manning proceedings. . . . Secrecy makes it likely Manning’s trial will be improper and unfair. As a soldier who is accused of one of the biggest leaks or security breaches in history, Manning deserves a trial that is much more open.

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The efficiency of fish as a multi-faceted lesson

How can I be more efficient, both at work and elsewhere? How can I focus my efforts to be one of those people who gives annoying cliche, "110% effort?" I was recently reminded of a book that provides a metaphor for my personal quest to be efficient, but it also provides a powerful lesson on the topic of artificial boundaries. First, a bit of background. About 12 years ago, I had the opportunity to audit several graduate-level seminars taught by philosopher Andy Clark while he was on the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis. Andy often stressed that cognition should not be conceptualized as merely the firing of neurons within a human skull. This idea is central to his writings. In a book Andy wrote in 1997, Being There: Putting Brain, Body, and World Together Again, he tells a fish story. It is the scientific story of the astounding swimming efficiency of fish, and it is also a caveat that we humans are so utterly interconnected with our environments that we need to stop characterizing those things outside of our bodies and brains as obstacles to our accomplishments. The following excerpt is from page 219-220, the beginning of the chapter titled "Minds, Brains, and Tuna: a Summary and Brine."

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