Thursday, November 6, 2025

Book Review: America’s Long Struggle to Tame Its Greatest Rivers

Rivers are live entities. Alter its flow, and a river will respond — though it might take humans time to notice.

Starbucks Launches Reusable Cup Program

Starbucks rolls out a reusable cups initiative in some markets and restarts programs suspended during the pandemic- much more is needed.

Links 6/13/2021

What Bagehot Means for 21st Century Central Bankers

Is Victorian writer Walter Bagehot, whose adage “lending freely against good collateral at a penalty rate” has been gospel for central bankers, still relevant in a post-Great Financial Crisis world?

Musical Interlude: “Know Your Rights” by The Clash

An incandescent concert in Harvard Square, and lyrics for today.

Links 6/12/2021

There Is No Labor Shortage, Only Labor Exploitation

Conservatives and corporate employers are weaving an insidious web of myths, lies and exaggerations to justify maintaining low-wage jobs.

2:00PM Water Cooler 6/11/2021

~ Today’s Water Cooler ~

Space Trip: Bon Voyage Jeff!

A story in yesterday’s WSJ says space tourists fly at their own risk. But do they?

Links 6/11/2021

New York State Senate Passes Right to Repair Bill

The New York State Senate passed a comprehensive electronics right to repair measure, but the legislative session ended without State Assembly Action, so the legislation remains stalled.

Standard Inflation Theory Leaves Out Social Conflict and Costs

What That Means For Biden’s Inflation Policy Trilemma

Parking Reform Could Reenergize Downtowns – Here’s What Happened When Buffalo Changed its Zoning Rule

Rezoning cities to prioritize people instead of parking would free more space for affordable housing and encourage use of public transportation.

A Nation that Runs on Bribes: Civics Lessons from our Vaccine Rollout

If we start bribing citizens to get vaccinated, what else are we going to end up needing to bribe them to do?

2:00PM Water Cooler 6/10/2021

By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Readers, I have thrown in the towel on fixing my trackpad — clearly a software issue, since the mouse works on the login screen — and so I am reinstalling MacOS (just like we used to do for Windows). It’s only going to take three hours, also like Windows. Ugh. […]