1. My dad just got the international kindle.This doesn't sound very impressive, until he pointed out to me that this was the first gadget he has pre-ordered and received, in Rio, on the day of its release. He half expected it not to work as advertised. But it does. And people in Italy, Portugal, Australia and so on all report the same. Think of what this takes, logistically. Amazon had to negotiate contracts with cellular carriers in all of those countries. They negotiated subscriptions with newspapers in those countries. They worked with customs officials to get the devices delivered on the right day. And these are not countries with low entry barriers for new technology. These are places with entrenched bureacracies, and yet - Amazon pulled it off. Impressive.
2. With TARP and with health insurance reform, I don't understand the objection to oversight. I hear conservatives saying the money shouldn't have been spent, but then there's all this indignation about the oversight.
3. I've said it before and I will say it again: conservatives equate government intervention with lack of freedom. But a society where people are reluctant to take new jobs or follow their dreams for fear of loss of health insurance is a less free society too.
4. Wizards are off to a bad start, but I can live with it. It would be easier to swallow had opening night not been so great. In any case, in the world of things that I hate, a friend not too long ago asked me with whom I would rather get stuck on a deserted island for the rest of my days: Maradona or LeBron James. Sigh. LeBron didn't go to college; he probably hasn't read a book. Maradona may be a greasy turd, but he would at least have interesting (though shallow and predictably old-guard Latin American leftist) opinions.
5. Unibroue / La Fin du Monde.
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