Movie: Star Trek Into Darkness

There is substance to the criticisms that A.O. Scott up offers in the NYT. It would indeed be enjoyable to see a movie Star Trek that was like the more thoughtful episodes of the original or second television series. Still, this movie, which no one would call particularly thoughtful, is a lot of fun, and surely ranks above the median among Star Trek movies.

More prosaically, my dad the engineer would be pleased that the Enterprise actually has seat belts in this particular universe. He used to complain every time the Enterprise would get hit by something and all the characters would fly around the bridge on the original series, all because they had no technology for strapping themselves in. And I really liked the line "We're vulcan, we embrace technicality." I have some friends like that.

Elizabeth's review: "That was intense".

Recommended

Assorted links

1. Advances in civil liberties in Cleveland.

2. Coney Island update. When I was there in the late 1980s, it was notable mainly as an urban ruin. Glad to see that things are looking up.

3. One more reason not to look at p*orn at work.

4. Benny Hill, Ernie, and the fastest milk cart in the west.

5. Slate on what place names mean.

Hat tip on #1 to Charlie Brown and on #4 to Peter Dolton.

Bad news for Greg Mankiw

Cengage has gone bankrupt, and owes Greg $1.6 million.

Thought question: what does the negative income shock do to his labor supply?

This is likely bad news for Jeff Wooldridge too. His excellent undergraduate text, which I use in my ECON 406 class every fall, is also published by Cengage.

Addendum: apparently the bankruptcy is not a problem for Greg.

Hat tip: Ken Troske and others

Statement from Edward Snowden

Here is what he has to say.

It will be interesting to see where he ends up. I hope it is not in a US prison.

Time use in a picture

From the WSJ (where you can read a whole article about it), via portside.org (!)

Behavior that I have trouble explaining ...

... or, when bad things happen to good people, at Madison and at Princeton.

Assorted links

1. Nick Gillespie at reason on Alec Baldwin's latest scandal.

2. P.J. O'Rourke on space.

3. The story of one of Hitler's food tasters.

4. David Warsh on Charles Manski's new book (among other things).

5. Kaleidescope