On a reporting trip last week, mostly to New York, I made a brief stop in Washington to see Sally Satel, who continues to recover rapidly from her kidney transplant. She's now busy working on a book about the screwed-up system for allocating organs--a remnant of extreme central planning that needlessly kills thousands of Americans every year. And the system isn't even as bad as some "bioethicists" wish it were.
For an outrageous example of trying to curtail organ donations in the name of "fairness," go here and here.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on April 25, 2006 • Comments
Having lived all over the country, I'm acutely aware of regional differences--not all of which are political (or linguistic). Here's a map of the one I've always found the most striking: What background assumptions inform cultural discussions of religion? This isn't just a question of doctrine, much less voting behavior. It also reflects how people think about church authority and organization.
The folks in the counties colored blue here tend to assume the church is a worldwide hierarchy with bureaucracy, tradition, and deep pockets. Those in the red counties assume complete congregational autonomy, the right of members to hire or fire a preacher by a simple congregational vote, and a wildly free market for money and members. They may vote the same way in presidential elections, but their experiences of governance in their religious lives could not be more different. (The green, yellow, orange, and tan counties fall somewhere in between.)
(Via Marginal Revolution.)
Posted by Virginia Postrel on April 25, 2006 • Comments
Somehow I don't think appeasing Jihadists is official Borders policy. Note the bold-face print.
The photo is from my neighborhood store, where I've been using the comfy chairs a lot this week.
A reader who blogs as Wonderduck suggests where to find the real culprits:
Instead of looking at the various presidents, veeps, and the like, I'd look more towards the Merchandisers and/or Buyers. I used to work for the Borders group as a store manager, and they would be the people who told us what to put where, for what it's worth. It's still reprehensible, of course, but that'd be my guess.
If I didn't have so many deadlines this week, I'd make some phone calls to Borders HQ.
And reader Bob Basil provides some background on Free Inquiry. This sounds pretty familiar:
I was executive editor of FI for three years in the late eighties. I agree with you re newsstand sales: In my time they were never even sought. The goal was to get subscribers, who would then be solicited for additional money during biannual "fund drives." We even tried to get our older subscribers -- those village atheists often alienated from their families -- to leave the magazine in their wills. Many did. We also made money by putting on annual conferences. The magazine was a serious enterprise but in business terms it was a loss leader.
Paul Kurtz, who runs FI, is an excellent promoter. He has to be, as the material he publishes (he also founded Skeptical Inquirer, an antiparanormal magazine, and Prometheus Books Inc.) is usually a hard-sell.
UPDATE: Reader Jim Walsh writes: "Interesting story about Borders and Free Inquiry. It just so happens I picked up the latest FI the other day at my local Barnes & Noble. To be fair about it though, I don't imagine Bismarck, North Dakota is on the Islamofascists' short list of sexy targets..."
Posted by Virginia Postrel on April 18, 2006 • Comments
Allow me to plug a new advertiser--way down the page in the Blogads ghetto. Applied Genius is run by a friend of the Postrels who's a smart, generous cheapskate--the kind of guy who develops a spreadsheet so everyone he works with can figure out which health-care plan is the best for their particular circumstances. He treats saving money as a great game, and he's developed the site to share what he knows (and maybe make a few bucks in the process).
I can't fault his math, but I don't endorse his views on fluorescent bulbs. Aesthetics counts too. But at least "Mycroft" relies on persuasion rather than legal sanctions.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on April 18, 2006 • Comments
It's not "terror." Jonathan Rauch has a smart take, with some reading recommendations.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on April 16, 2006 • Comments
MetaCool's Diego Rodriguez, who's no technophobe (to say the least), explains why he went cold turkey recently: "I love the Internet because of its seemingly infinite potential for engendering connectedness and depth of thought and meaning. But I suspect that there's a curve of sorts at work here, and as one travels across that curve things start to trend toward the shallow and the trite."
I think the shallow sets in pretty quickly, which is why I don't blog--or even read other people's blogs--every day.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on April 10, 2006 • Comments
My Spirit Magazine article on pens as style statements is now online as a PDF file. My thanks to Spirit, which is the Southwest Airlines magazine, and to photographer Manny Rodriguez for permission to reproduce the article. And thanks to the blog readers who responded to my query about bar mitzvah gifts.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on April 10, 2006 • Comments
I'm pretty much the world's least mysterious person (read all about me here), but I wouldn't put up with this abusive, bureaucratic new policy--especially given the low pay and insistence on buying all rights. (I have special permission to post my NYT columns on my site.) The Times should just quit using freelancers if they hate us so much. After all, they have a building full of people making much more money. (Via D Magazine's FrontBurner, which also has several reports on the huge Dallas immigration protests.)
Besides, my brand is, if considerably less financially valuable, then also less sullied than the Times's. I don't act ethically for their sake, but for mine. Their assumption that they're ethically slumming when they use freelancers is insulting.
Here's the Times questionnaire. (I tried to use Movable Type's extended entry format, but it didn't work.)
1. Please list your other current employers, whether full time or part time
2. For what other employers have you worked in the last three years?
3. What sort of volunteer work do you do regularly, if any, and for whom? (Please include any public relations, advocacy or advisory board involvement.)
4. Do you do any work paid or unpaid in politics or government? Have you done any lobbying of governmental bodies?
5. Do you have any financial investments or financial ties that may limit your ability to cover specific topics free of conflict, and if so, what are the topics?
6. Although we don't regulate the activities of spouses, partners or immediate family members of our contributors, do any of their professional or personal involvements or any of their financial investments or ties make certain topics inappropriate for you, and if so, what are the topics?
7. Have you accepted any free trips, junkets or press trips in the last two years? Have you accepted any substantial free merchandise or discounts from people we might cover?
8. Has anything you've written later resulted in a published editor's note or retraction for deliberate falsehood or plagiarism or become the subject of a lawsuit involving allegations of deliberate falsehood? (If yes, please include details about the publication and your role in the article or story. If a lawsuit, please describe the disposition of the case.)
The old Times freelance contract already prohibited you from things like taking money from people you write about. But it trusted the freelancers' judgment about when to ask editors about possible conflicts.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on April 10, 2006 • Comments
The Hartford Courant reports. On a related note, reader Bob Sprowl writes:
I returned my Borders Rewards card today via snail-mail to
Borders Customer Care
100 Phoenix Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108-2202
888-812-6657
I'd like to know who at corporate headquarters is responsible for the bone-headed decision to take Free Inquiry off the newsstand.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on April 07, 2006 • Comments
As InstaPundit readers already know, Glenn Reynolds and InstaWife Helen Smith interviewed me about kidney donation for last week's podcast. (Listen directly here or download for free from iTunes here.)
I'm happy to say that my recovery is pretty much complete. The light blogging recently reflects how much time I'm spending on reporting and writing, a.k.a. "real work." I even made a trip to San Francisco last weekend to do reporting for my first Atlantic column. Sally Satel--the Three Kidney Wonder--is also doing well.
One great thing about getting a kidney from a healthy friend is that you can be sure it won't give you rabies.
Posted by Virginia Postrel on April 06, 2006 • Comments