Links

Costs of national prestige projects, and Whitey On the Moon http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/08/03/prestige_projects_why_big_countries_waste_money.html
Portland light rail http://actsofminortreason.blogspot.ca/2012/07/tunnel-visions-portlands-max-light-rail.html
Portland's urban freeways http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/08/03/portland_s_urban_freeways.html
The recent invention of tacos http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/humble-taco-is-subject-of-new-research/2012/08/03/3beaef00-db8f-11e1-8ad1-909913931f71_story.html?hpid=z5
Mexican rebellion against illegal loggers http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/world/americas/in-mexico-reclaiming-the-forests-and-the-right-to-feel-safe.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
Zoos and their animals: contraception or euthanasia? http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/science/zoos-divide-over-contraception-and-euthanasia-for-animals.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
Australia's experience with gun control http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/02/did-gun-control-work-in-australia/
Orctivism! http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/08/01
Long analysis of Pixar's Brave. Starts off interesting. http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/just-another-princess-movie/
USA doctor shortage. Because we have so many as it is *cough* http://theweek.com/article/index/231267/is-america-running-out-of-doctors
Defense of air conditioning http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/08/air_conditioning_haters_it_s_not_as_bad_for_the_environment_as_heating_.html

Obama's failure to trust-bust cable companies. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technocracy/2011/12/american_broadband_service_is_dreadful_why_won_t_obama_do_anything_about_it_.html
'A study for the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School found that “some
form of open access regulation has at this point been adopted by every
country in the OECD except the United States, Mexico, and the Slovak
Republic.”'