Great column by John Noonan at The Daily Standard:
FOR NEARLY 200 years, cadets at the United States Military Academy have been guided by the “Thayer System,” a rigid structure of unyielding regulation, austere discipline, fierce loyalty, and strong emphasis on math, science, and engineering. The method is calculated to produce Army officers of the highest […]

[Hotel Tango: Lindsay]

Bad News: Lindsay broke it off yesterday. I’m crying like a little bitch at work, which is just perfect considering I’m filling in for the receptionist. Nothing like coming into an office where the receptionist is crying. People must think, “What do they do? Beat their employees?”
The problem with breaking up, of course, is envisioning […]

In Sunday’s The New York Times, Jeffrey Rosen questions whether the Supreme Court’s ruling (PDF) against using race as a factor in placing students in public schools will actually have an effect. As he notes in the middle of the column, there are a number of ways for school districts to get around the affirmative […]

The Communication Workers of America have just released a new report (PDF) examining Internet connection speeds around the United States. The study finds that the U.S. is trailing other nations in connection speed — which seems odd considering the U.S. built the Internet.

You can also search for your zip code’s average connection speed with a […]

Okay, so here’s where my writing nerdiness comes out. (Even if you can’t tell from the quality of my writing on this blog.)
Off the Kuff has a post discussing his belief that “they” and “their” should be accepted as valid, gender-neutral forms of singular pronouns. In responding to grammarians’ dislike of such a proposal, Kuff […]

I’m just going to lift John’s entire post on OP-FOR regarding a piece posted today by Gen. David Kilcullen, Senior Counterinsurgency Adviser, Multi-National Force–Iraq, on the Small Wars Journal Blog:

Via Small Wars Journal:
I’ve spent much of the last six weeks out on the ground, working with Iraqi and U.S. combat units, civilian reconstruction teams, Iraqi […]

Jordan Smith has a great column in the current issue of The Austin Chronicle regarding the shooting of Kevin Brown by APD Sgt. Michael Olsen after a pursuit by police officers.
The shooting especially concerns me as it happened mere blocks from my house on Austin’s East Side.
As Smith points out, fault lines between minority and […]

“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”
THIS is an obituary for a great American institution whose death was announced this week. After 155 years, Antioch College is closing.
Established in 1852 in Yellow Springs, Ohio, by the kind of free-thinking Christian group found only in the United States, Antioch College was […]