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SOTU: Cyber What?
In last night’s State of the Union Address, President Obama briefly reiterated the point that Congress has an obligation to pass some sort of legislation that would enable cybersecurity to protect...
Counting on the Media: A Reply to Mack and Pinker
It's always nice to read good news. And it's nice to read evidence-based arguments in the popular press. Over the holiday, Andrew Mack and Steven Pinker offered a little of each over the holidays in...
Vote Now for the 2015 (The Duckies) IR Blogging Awards
It's time to vote! We are asking readers to vote for the finalists in each category. ONce we have finalists for each category, a panel of judges that includes previous years' winners and permanent...
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Graduate School After Peace Corps
In 1998, while I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador, I decided to apply for a PhD program in political science. I had no idea what I was doing. Though I had majored in political science at UNC-Chapel Hill, graduating in 1993, I had a limited understanding of the "discipline." I barely knew what journals were. I had limited access to information about programs, with no access to the internet on a regular basis (I had a dial-up connection once a month or so if I took a two hour bus ride). In the end, two of the four programs I applied to required prior Master's and I didn't get in to those...
Friday Nerd Linkage
What can I say? It was a good week in the US for gender minorities. (On the other hand, this new list of "most influential people in armed violence reduction" includes only 25 women.) In other lighthearted nerd fare, this inspired the scientist in me who must complete the method(ologie)s appendix for my new book on human security issues by 5pm or (spontaneously com)bust. About that: here is a neglected human security threat I did not think to focus on in my book: mega-solar flares. Earth beware. Speaking of things cosmic, data streaming back to Earth from Voyager I is changing everything...
Friday Morning Linkage
Paypal has just launched PayPal Galactic "to figure out what currency can be used and how commerce should be regulated off Earth" once all the space travel and tourism picks up." More from MercuryNews.com: "...serious challenges such as space law -- an uncertain legal area still in its infancy -- concerns about pollution and the lack of government regulations could slow the commercialization of space, said Jill Tarter, of the SETI Institute." ICRC releases its first position paper on Cyber Warfare. ICG's latest report on Syria: Syria's Metastasising Conflicts Egypt is unraveling and...
Thursday Climate Change Special Linkage
Aside from some abortion rights Texas senate filibuster coverage, this week's morning linkage is all about climate change and President Obama's Tuesday speech at Georgetown University. The announced plan aims to use existing executive branch authority, including the EPA's ability to regulate pollutants under the Clean Air Act, to initiate measures to control carbon pollution and other greenhouse gases. This move obviates the need for additional legislative action, which isn't going to happen with this Congress. Beyond the headline announcement for new controls on power plants, the plan has a...
Wednesday Linkage
Yesterday was an exciting day in American politics, featuring legislative time-traveling, a Supreme Court turning back the clock on voting rights, and of course the invalidation of DOMA and the death-by-default of California's Prop 8. But I assume you have Facebook and that you already knew all that. Here's some items you might have missed: Former PM Kevin Rudd ousted Australian PM Julia Gillard as Labor Party leader but not (yet?) as prime minister. Question for our antipodean readers: Why isn't it the "Labour" Party? [The Diplomat] U.S. CEO held captive by PRC workers. I blame nobody in...
Tiwesdæg: the Left-arm of Non-linkage
Collection and promulgation of links today was interrupted by my daughter's minor sports injury. For all ten of you who care: my apologies. Go read Cherly Rofer's Edward Snowden timeline. Or about a nearby star "crowded with super-Earths." Or focus on today's gutting of the Voting Rights Act. Or about the game that's stolen my partner. Or something. Just so long as you change your profile image to an equality sign. Cause that will totally impact tomorrow's decisions. That's all, folks.
Become the Survey Participant! New Survey on Teacher Evaluations
In case you are interested in expanding our knowledge of the use/misuse of teacher evaluations, Lisa Martin of Wisconsin-Madison has a short survey that is worth taking: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KDWNCXS Results may make it into what looks like a very exciting APSA panel on "Minding the Gender Gap in Political Science."
Civil-Military Relations– Why A Little Conflict is OK
Robert’s review of The American Culture of War yesterday was both extremely funny and informative. It also mentioned a problem I’ve seen in a lot of the civil-military relations literature: too much over-identification with a political leaning or ideology. This area of scholarship reminds me sometimes of Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men” – if I’m walking around the annual conference of the Inter-University Seminar at Armed Forces and Society without a uniform on, I’m immediately put in a category by some scholars. That’s unfortunate – understanding the determinants of civil-military...