Tag Archives: technology

More on Food Truck Regulation

More on the plight of food truck operators in NYC, from the Times: There are numerous (and sometimes conflicting) regulations required by the departments of Health, Sanitation, Transportation and Consumer Affairs. These rules are enforced, with varying consistency, by the New … Continue reading

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Net Neutrality: Why You Should Care

What is net neutrality? It’s the idea that Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all traffic equally, not giving preferential treatment to certain users, types of data, or equipment. With FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on the way out, nominee Tom Wheeler … Continue reading

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Great Gatsby, Copyright, and the Public Domain

Is the Great Gatsby in the public domain? The book was written in 1925 and Fitzgerald passed away in 1940. Copyright generally expires 70 years after the author’s death, so you could be forgiven for thinking the answer is “yes.” If … Continue reading

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Internet Sales Tax FAQ

We’ve got a week of Internet politics-related topics queued up for you this week. Today we’ll take a look at the prospect of an internet sales tax. Later in the week we’ll discuss why The Great Gatsby still isn’t in the public … Continue reading

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Python for Political Scientists, Spring 2013 Recap

This spring Josh Cutler‘s Python course was back by popular demand. (This time it was known as “Computational Political Economy” but I like the less formal title.) I participated this time around as a teaching assistant rather than student, and … Continue reading

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Micro-Institutions Everywhere: The Five-Day Work Week

When it came about in the early 20th century, the five-day workweek was a triumph. Labor unions bargained collectively to get workers another day off, doubling their free time to enjoy the country’s booming prosperity. Now, though, it is an anachronistic … Continue reading

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When will telephone polls have their “Literary Digest” moment?

Mention the name Literary Digest to a pollster and they will instantly know what you are talking about. Literary Digest is well-known for their famously wrong prediction that Kansas Republican Alfred Landon would beat Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the presidential election of 1936. … Continue reading

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Communication Technology and Politics

We have been on a technology kick this week, first talking about modern etiquette and then how technology improved traffic in LA. Today I want to point out two neat papers at the intersection of communication technology and politics. The … Continue reading

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Reducing the Hidden Costs of Urban Living

USC graduate student Jeremy Fuller put it eloquently when he said, “Traffic really just defines your possibilities at any given time.” When traveling from one side of a large metro area to another in the US, a single individual has very … Continue reading

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Just Don’t Call It Moneyball

Situated in the tech startup capital of the world, it should come as no surprise that the San Francisco Giants are leveraging data analysis to give the team a competitive edge: Within the organization, there are three programmers who maintain … Continue reading

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