Another Rhode Island Election Map

My fixation on obscure and forgotten election returns refuses to subside.

Now online: 1812 U.S. Presidential Election: Rhode Island Results.

An Incredible Optical Illusion

Optical illusions are always fascinating, but this one is especially cool. Take a look. (HT: Eugene Volokh.)

Of course, if someone wanted to be ardently philosophical about it, he could object that "the real color(s) of the spirals" is actually ambiguous. But for everyday purposes, it's straightforward and accurate enough to talk about a thing's "real" color.

The 1808 Presidential Election in Rhode Island

Now online: 1808 U.S. Presidential Election: Rhode Island Results.

Precise Enough?

From Amazon.com's Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade page:

This item will be released on October 22, 2009.
Pre-order now!
. . . .

Want it delivered Thursday, October 22? Order it in the next 2476 hours and 43 minutes, and choose Release-Date Delivery at checkout.

'Texting' in the 1500s

I had thought that to text was a strictly modern verb, but the Oxford English Dictionary (2d ed. 1989) shows otherwise. In the sense of "[t]o cite texts," the verb is attested all the way back to 1564-78. Another meaning, "[t]o inscribe, write, or print in a text-hand or in capital or large letters," goes back at least as far as 1599.

I guess language evolves in mysterious ways.

Questioning Sotomayor

The confirmation hearings for Judge Sotomayor are scheduled to begin on July 13, one week from today. Writing in the Weekly Standard,* Robert F. Nagel makes an interesting recommendation:

For [confirmation hearings] to be useful, . . . Judiciary Committee members must stop talking like the lawyers most of them are and start talking like politicians concerned about their country. They can do this in a way that would not require Sotomayor to indicate how she would decide specific cases. . . . All that the senators on the Judiciary Committee need to do is ask directly for the nominee's views about how the Court's decisions are affecting American politics and culture.

. . . . Instead of asking about whether a right to privacy can be found in some legal penumbra, Sotomayor could be questioned about the social consequences of Roe v. Wade. For example, she could be asked whether she agrees with the many serious observers who believe that Roe significantly intensified conflict over the abortion issue by making moderation and compromise less possible. Or she could be asked whether she thinks the decision increased public cynicism about what the Court does when it engages in what is called constitutional interpretation.

. . . .

. . . . Eminent observers have defended Bush v. Gore, the decision that determined the outcome of the 2000 presidential election, on the ground that in some periods of turmoil the Court's role is to prevent the political branches, including Congress, from creating chaos. Sotomayor could be asked whether she agreed with that assessment. And she could be asked whether the Court's intervention might itself have risked a certain kind of chaos by undermining the legitimacy of a presidential election. . . . On issues like sexual equality and gay rights does the Court risk being seen, in the way that Justice Scalia has charged, as taking sides in the culture wars? If so, what are the potential costs to public debate on moral issues and to public attitudes towards the judiciary?

Health Care Policy in the United States

Over at EconLog, Bryan Caplan has two excellent posts (1, 2) on the economics of health care. If you haven't read them, you should.