"The world is a closed system in the way that a piano is a closed system. The instrument has only 88 notes, but those notes can be played in a nearly infinite variety of ways. The same applies to our planet. The Earth's atoms may be fixed, but the possible combinations of those atoms are infinite. What matters, then, is not the physical limits of our planet, but human freedom to experiment and reimagine the use of resources that we have."--Tupy and Pooley
18 Republicans have announced they aren’t seeking reelection in 2020. What a loss. But what will replace them?
I don't know which I hate more, Cole getting all that money or Boras getting a piece of it.
Piketty downplays the main reason that we are so much better off than our ancestors. The reason is not the character of distribution, but the ingenuity encouraged by letting people run their farms or their factories the way they want, taking the risk of failure and the rewards of success. We all agree that creative destruction is good in science and art and journalism and football, yes? Why not also in the economy?!--McCloskey
Sophia is celebrating a whole decade as the top choice of names for girls. On the boys list, Liam finally pushed out Jackson after six consecutive years as the most popular name.
Climate Accords Report:
China is set to add new coal-fired power plants equivalent to the EU’s entire capacity, as the world’s biggest energy consumer ignores global pressure to rein in carbon emissions in its bid to boost a slowing economy.
Educating Social Entrepreneurs
As if learning was not hard enough.
In 2016 Yale’s president announced a new mission statement, which no longer mentions knowledge. Instead, Yale is now officially “committed to improving the world” and educating “aspiring leaders”—not only through research, but also through “practice.”
American colleges and universities have been overwhelmed by a dangerous alliance of academic bureaucrats and student activists committed to imposing the latest social-justice diktats. This alliance has displaced the traditional governors of the university—the faculty. Indeed, nonfaculty administrators and activists are driving some of the most dangerous developments in university life, including the erosion of the due-process rights of faculty and students, efforts to regulate the “permissible limits” of classroom discussion, and the condemnation of unwelcome ideas as “hate speech.”
Russian prosecutors have accused a renowned historian of murder after he admitted shooting and then dismembering his student partner in St Petersburg. Oleg Sokolov, 63, was rescued drunk from the Moika river in the city early on Saturday and was found to have a woman's arms in his backpack. Police later found other body parts further downriver and in his flat, identified as Anastasia Yeshchenko, 24. She had been living with him. He sobbed in court, saying: "I repent".
Mr. Sokolov is a Napoleon expert who has received France's top state award, the Légion d'Honneur. He has written dozens of historical research papers, and Ms Yeshchenko, a postgraduate student, co-wrote some of them.
Russians.
Russians.
Jeffrey Epstein was a Mossad asset who was used by Israeli intelligence to blackmail American politicians, according to a former Israeli spy.
18 Republicans have announced they aren’t seeking reelection in 2020. What a loss. But what will replace them?
I don't know which I hate more, Cole getting all that money or Boras getting a piece of it.
Piketty downplays the main reason that we are so much better off than our ancestors. The reason is not the character of distribution, but the ingenuity encouraged by letting people run their farms or their factories the way they want, taking the risk of failure and the rewards of success. We all agree that creative destruction is good in science and art and journalism and football, yes? Why not also in the economy?!--McCloskey
Sophia is celebrating a whole decade as the top choice of names for girls. On the boys list, Liam finally pushed out Jackson after six consecutive years as the most popular name.
Climate Accords Report:
China is set to add new coal-fired power plants equivalent to the EU’s entire capacity, as the world’s biggest energy consumer ignores global pressure to rein in carbon emissions in its bid to boost a slowing economy.
Across the country, 148GW of coal-fired plants are either being built or are about to begin construction, according to a report from Global Energy Monitor, a non-profit group that monitors coal stations. The current capacity of the entire EU coal fleet is 149GW.
While the rest of the world has been largely reducing coal-powered capacity over the past two years, China is building so much coal power that it more than offsets the decline elsewhere.
From January 2018 to June 2019, countries outside of China decreased their total coal power capacity by 8.1 gigawatts, while China increased its coal capacity by 42.9 gigawatts.
But, nonetheless, the West insists upon beating itself and its fellows for the failure of others.
While the rest of the world has been largely reducing coal-powered capacity over the past two years, China is building so much coal power that it more than offsets the decline elsewhere.
From January 2018 to June 2019, countries outside of China decreased their total coal power capacity by 8.1 gigawatts, while China increased its coal capacity by 42.9 gigawatts.
But, nonetheless, the West insists upon beating itself and its fellows for the failure of others.
A 2018 study found that 65% of Americans believe they have above-average intelligence. In addition to about 2 in 3 Americans saying they are smarter than most other people, the study found that certainty of one’s superior intellect increased with income and education but decreased with age.
Educating Social Entrepreneurs
As if learning was not hard enough.
In 2016 Yale’s president announced a new mission statement, which no longer mentions knowledge. Instead, Yale is now officially “committed to improving the world” and educating “aspiring leaders”—not only through research, but also through “practice.”
American colleges and universities have been overwhelmed by a dangerous alliance of academic bureaucrats and student activists committed to imposing the latest social-justice diktats. This alliance has displaced the traditional governors of the university—the faculty. Indeed, nonfaculty administrators and activists are driving some of the most dangerous developments in university life, including the erosion of the due-process rights of faculty and students, efforts to regulate the “permissible limits” of classroom discussion, and the condemnation of unwelcome ideas as “hate speech.”
Maintaining that distinction between inquiry and action has always been crucial to academic freedom. It is difficult, after all, to obtain the truth while you are being bludgeoned into submission. But today that distinction has been blurred, with nonfaculty administrators doing the blurring.
It may surprise you to learn that the faculty plays almost no role in the admissions process at most universities. Instead, that process has been handed to specialized “admissions departments.” Faculty members who want to be involved in admissions are relegated to toothless advisory committees, where they are lucky to be invited to glimpse the making of the sausage. Admissions “professionals” are less interested in traditional academic criteria, such as scholastic talent and intellectual openness, than they are in flashier virtues such as “activism,” “leadership” or “overcoming adversity.” Students now arrive on campus having been instructed to promote themselves as “social entrepreneurs” or “change makers.” It has become common for applicants to claim to have “founded,” at 17, some shiny-sounding nonprofit devoted to beneficent acts.
The contemporary admissions process thus reflects and advances a transformation of the university from a place of thought to an instrument of social action. Is it any wonder that students go searching for windmills at which to tilt?
As the new species of bureaucrats and student activists have come to dominate the university, they have reshaped it in their image. Wherever possible, they have sought to muddle the distinction between intellectual deliberation and political action—thus making certain thoughts, like certain deeds, into crimes.
(Culled from an article in wsj by Judge Cabranes who serves on the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He was Yale’s first general counsel, and later served as a trustee of Yale, Columbia and Colgate universities. This is adapted from remarks delivered Oct. 18 to the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which bestowed on him its Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education)
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