From the ancient Greek for equality in freedom of speech; an eclectic mix of thoughts, large and small
The benefits of automatic license plate readers outweigh the dangers, Richard Hanania argues: There are now around 120,000 Flock cameras in operation across the US. These devices automatically read license plates and make their locations available to law enforcement. Flock now also makes it possible to look up cars by their descriptions, rather than just [ ]
One of the Soviets’ most successful biological warfare programs, Ken Alibek explains (in Biohazard), was created by the Ministry of Agriculture: A special division was established to research and manufacture anti-livestock and anti-crop weapons. The division was given the uninspired title of Main Directorate for Scientific and Production Enterprises. The biowarfare program was code-named…
The honest list of homeschool benefits — the ones supported by representative-sample research, not advocacy material — is shorter and more conditional than Internet listicles might suggest: Homeschooling done well delivers six evidence-backed benefits: pace customization, stronger family relationships, escape from a measurably toxic peer environment (40% of U.S. high schoolers report persistent…
The Soviet Union’s approach to biological warfare took a new turn in September 1945, Ken Alibek explains (in Biohazard), when Soviet troops in Manchuria overran a Japanese military facility known as Water Purification Unit 731: The unit, commanded by Lieutenant General Shiro Ishii, experimented with anthrax, dysentery, cholera, and plague on U.S., British, and Commonwealth [ ]
I didn’t realize that Tubi was owned by Fox, but I’m not at all surprised that it has taken off, with more than 110 million monthly active users: “It really feels like we are seeing both in Tubi’s results and in the market a clear validation of a strategy that Tubi has believed in and [ ]
A year after taking power in 1917, Ken Alibek explains (in Biohazard), the Bolshevik government plunged into a savage conflict with anti-Communist forces: Red and White armies clashed from Siberia to the Crimean Peninsula, and by the time hostilities ended in 1921, as many as ten million people had lost their lives. The majority of [ ]
Rafael A. Mangual argues that the pushback against Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) is misguided: One company, Flock Safety, has become the movement’s primary target. Flock cameras, like other ALPRs, capture information about vehicles—not the people inside them—as they pass. They record license plates, along with details such as a car’s make, model, color, and [ ]
Biological warfare was the furthest thing from his mind, Ken Alibek explains (in Biohazard), when he entered the military faculty of the Tomsk Medical Institute in 1973 to begin graduate studies as a cadet intern: I was planning to become a military psychiatrist, until a professor gave me an assignment that changed my relationship to [ ]
I was listening to the Everyday Abundance podcast, when they did an episode on handkerchiefs getting replaced by tissues: I didn’t realize where the name Kleenex came from: Kleenex began during the First World War when the Cellucotton company developed a crepe paper gas mask filter. In the 1920s, the product was modified into the [ ]
I don’t recall ever hearing the name tularemia growing up, but I’m pretty sure I was vaguely aware of something called rabbit fever — if only because I’d seen the warning against rabbititis in Hare Tonic: “And then suddenly everything’d go black!” Tularemia is a debilitating illness, Ken Alibek explains (in Biohazard), rife among wild [ ]