Consider This…
Reflections on Life, Standards and Everything
The study of standards has a reputation for being, how to say tactfully, not exactly riveting. Or, as Monty Python's John Cleese might pronounce it: "Dreadfully dull — dry as dust and thoroughly drab and awful, really". The purpose of this section of ConsortiumInfo.org is to convince you that the study of standards, as they are used everywhere in the world around us, can be interesting as well as necessary. And sometimes, perhaps entertaining as well.
Recent Entries:
January 2011
#66 Here We Go Again: How to Tell a Bubble When you See One
The symptoms of an investment bubble are as obvious as the disease. Heaven forbid we should ever wise up.
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November 2010
#65 Measuring in the New Year
Despite our inexorable march into a digital future, one hardy (and very analog) survivor soldiers on — ten yards at a time.
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September 2010
#64 Standards of Political Civility and Darwin's Finches
Heaven help us all in these United States. It's election time again.
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March 2010
#63 How Now, Gold Bug?
To William Jennings Bryan, the gold standard was a cross upon which the monied classes would crucify the working man. But in times of economic turmoil, some yearn for a return to a standard you can see, touch, and even hide under your mattress. Really, though, it's just another case of "turtles all the way down."
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January 2010
#62 The New Yorker Story (J.D. Salinger, R.I.P)
Once upon a time, a roustabout named Harold Ross created a magic magazine that managed to define sophistication while remaining accessible to everyone. When he died, his successor and authors like J.D. Salinger set out to redefine what sophistication in fiction was (supposed to be) all about, and a new type of story was born. Pity, that.
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