Recent days have seen a number of articles like this one from the New York Times, in which it is claimed that people are changing their commuting patterns because of the high price of gas. The equation is pretty simple: higher gas prices = more expensive to drive to and from work = more use of mass transit. Although the article also cites increased urban congestion and the availability of wireless connections (and hence to ability to do online work while traveling) on mass transit trains as reasons for this change in commuter behavior, the main logic claimed involves cost-benefit...

Never knew the word "bleg" before today, when Dan asked me to put up the following request from Russell B:"How can I send a bleg to the readers of the Duck? Being the Ultimate Part-timer, I've finally secured myself some rather stable work but have to concoct a course on Globalization and Security (like a globalization version of a traditional Security Studies course). So I'm looking for input, as I have no priors."Any thoughts?

I've been following the steroids controversy in baseball for some time. In 2005, major league baseball implemented a restrictive policy that was meant to be taken seriously. Since then, Congress has held hearings, many players have been outed as users, and even more draconian policies have now been adopted.Has the policy been working? Yesterday, a (relatively obscure) major league player was suspended for 50 days. That's interesting, but not very revealing in light of the amnesty recently granted to players named last winter in the Mitchell Report.Take a look at the numbers in this...

Happy 2008 everyone.

This weekend, the AP's Katherine Shrader wrote a fine story about the "myth" of suitcase nuclear bombs."The suitcase nuke is an exciting topic that really lends itself to movies," said Vahid Majidi, the assistant director of the FBI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate. "No one has been able to truly identify the existence of these devices."Many of the fears about suitcase bombs originated years ago in statements by a couple of Russians who may have had ulterior motives for inflating threats -- including retired General Alexander Lebed who told "60 Minutes" about missing suitcase nukes...

I'm already de facto on hiatus from blogging, so I might as well come out and say it: I'm not going to be writing much, if anything, on the Duck for a bit longer.Our regular readers may have noticed my lack of posting lately, and that I haven't contributed anything of substance in an even longer period of time. The short explanation: I'm about midway through my junior-faculty leave, and I'm swamped with work. My book is due on January 15th, and, being my normal self, I've got a lot of other stuff I need to finish. So thanks to the rest of the team--particularly Rodger and Peter--for keeping...

How much more excitement can the Senate handle? With prospect of a confirmation hearing heating up the Hill, this crosses the web-page of the Washington Post: Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested back in June and plead guilty to disorderly conduct.First, how on earth does this not come out until now? He's a sitting Senator pleading guilty to a criminal offense. A misdemeanor, yes, but still a crime. And he's now on probation. A sitting Senator, on probation. And no one knew.Second, what on earth was Craig doing in the bathroom of the Minnesota airport when arrested???Roll Call, citing a...

Posting at the Duck has been thin of late. Some quick explanations:I'm tied up by teaching responsibilities and the task of finishing my book manuscript. Patrick's similarly swamped with his own responsibilities. Peter's a new dad. Rodger's probably thick into the Grawemeyer-award process. Peter's a new father! Bill Petti is on long-term hiatus. But, if past trends continue, the fact that I've posted this probably signals an imminent avalanche of content.