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Benjamin Espen

LinkFest 2020-09-17

I haven’t done one of these since March of 2019, but they used to be pretty popular posts, so I’m going to re-introduce the LinkFest format. Pox populi: Study calculates 18th century syphilis rates for first time Cities often provide more opportunities for infectious disease to spread, but

The Long View 2009-01-09: Hillary Taking Names; Stratfor is Optimistic; The Union of the West

John J. Reilly speculates here about a Holy Roman Empire style arrangement for world government: not a state, but a system of dispensing justice. Such a system would preserve the genuine benefits of international cooperation, but avoid directly ruling the various states within in it. Hillary Taking Names; Stratfor is

Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen Again

While the review I would write now would be a little different than the one I wrote six years ago, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen [Amazon link] is still a really good story. One of my working definitions of a great bit of adventure fiction is that you can come back

Thrawn Ascendency: Chaos Rising by Timothy Zahn Book Review

Chaos Rising [Amazon link], the first of Timothy Zahn’s new trilogy, gives us a glimpse into the fabled Chiss Ascendancy, and the rise of Thrawn. Everyone has to start somewhere, and this book shows us a time when Mitth’raw’nuruodo was a junior officer of the Chiss Ascendancy.

The Long View 2008-01-08: Self-Piloted Vehicles; Slaves & Servants; FDR on the Volga; Ceausescu in New Hampshire

John J. Reilly correctly notes the value of self-driving cars, especially the urbanist’s dream of eliminating parking from the city, although he didn’t phrase it that way. However, it is very funny to me to read this optimistic forecast from GM about how they could field autonomous cars

The Long View 2008-01-04: Lizards, Airships, Caucuses

Airships of all varieties are one of those things that seem to provide endless clickbait, as the relatively recent article I linked in the image demonstrates. Nothing of note has happened in the intervening years to make airships a thing again, but articles about it are hardy perennials. Whenever you

The Long View 2008-01-03: Warren on Dynasties; Sarkozy on God; Steyn on Trial; Nations on the Downslope

There is a fascinating bit here at the end of John J. Reilly’s blog post about how current “independence” movements are always really “dependence“ movements, as the states in question never have any ability to function or defend themselves without a more powerful sponsor. This can happen recursively, for