Month: July 2010

How to Deter a Coin Thief?

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My colleagues and I have recently discovered that there is a thief in Binghamton who travels around  poorly lit neighborhoods at night, breaks into cars, and steals coins. What is puzzling about this situation is that this individual does not try to steal more expensive things, such as the cars themselves or expensive car parts like GPS units. Nevertheless, even though the person is just stealing coins, they still could damage someone's car.   So here's the scenario: a person wants to deter this coin thief, but they do not want to spend too much time, effort, and money doing so. All they're really losing is Continue reading How to Deter a Coin Thief?→

The Imperative Of Military Spending — OR — Fun With Defense Numbers

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A lot of debate has been stirred up recently regarding the levels of military spending in the US.  Two wars running for the better part of a decade have dramatically inflated our defense expenditures, and the recent global recession has forced many to consider where costs can be cut.  This recent article by Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin discusses the push by Sarah Palin and other conservative leaders to “exempt” defense spending from the Tea Party movement’s calls for drastic cuts in social spending.  Rogin specifically references a speech Palin recently gave, the text of which can be found here.  One Continue reading The Imperative Of Military Spending — OR — Fun With Defense Numbers→

Jefferson’s First Draft: Subjects versus Citizens

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Scientists at the Library of Congress have recently discovered that in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson referred to the residents of the colonies as subjects and not as citizens. However, based on the evidence, it appears that Jefferson almost immediately decided against using the word and wanted to hide any record of using it. He did so by smudging out the word while the ink was still wet and then carefully wrote the word citizens over it. (It is important to note that the sentence the word was used in never appeared in the final version, but Continue reading Jefferson’s First Draft: Subjects versus Citizens→