YouTube and the Guggenheim Museum are offering a showcase of videos, based on submissions received before July 31st. Although I can’t produce anything like this, I bet there are many readers who are more than up for the challenge. Here’s a description of the contest: YouTube Play is a collaboration between YouTube and the Guggenheim…

Politicians begin their careers insisting that they’re public servants advancing the public interest, but soon become entrenched incumbents eager to keep public matters secret from the very citizens they supposedly serve. A recent example of this desire to keep public matters from the public, itself, is to be found in Milwaukee County. There, Milwaukee County…

Sixteen-year old American girl Abby Sunderland set out alone in a boat earlier this year, attempting to circumnavigate the globe alone. She ran into rough seas in the Indian Ocean, and became temporarily lost and stranded. She was located, and has now been rescued by a French fishing vessel. I know that an expedition like…

In Washington State, a drunk broke into a bank’s basement to sleep for the night. He apparently wasn’t looking for money, just sleep. Here’s a case of how alcohol impairs judgment in nonviolent ways. No one from Whitewater, in town or on campus, was involved in this incident. Motel 6 would have been a better,…

Reason.tv offers a nine-minute interview with historian Joel Kotkin on Why America Will Still Lead the World in 2050. I have no doubt that America can and will remain the envy of the world in the middle of this century. Our greatness lies in the freedom of our people, and the openness and fairness of…

Thomas Peno has been arrested forty times. Peno’s latest arrest came after he allegedly tried to sell a GPS he stole to its rightful owner – while he, Peno, was in court to answer a larceny charge filed against him. See, Suspect in Court Allegedly Tried to Sell Stolen GPS to its Rightful Owner.

Here’s the second of two videos about culinary freedom. This shorter video presents “The Case Against Jamie Oliver: Why the Naked Chef Should Take His “Food Revolution” Back Home.” No one doubts that some diets are more healthful than others. Choosing what to eat is a decision that people should make on their own, without…

Radley Balko of reviews Christopher D. Salyers’s Vending Machines: Coined Consumerism in the latest issue of Reason magazine. Balko observes that the anonymity of using a vending machine can make those devices subversive of the conventional standards. I think he’s right. Here’s a bit of his essay: In his quirky book Vending Machines: Coined Consumerism…

There’s much that’s unique about Wisconsin, but some of that is sad and odd. There’s no better example than that of a man who was convicted of stealing dirty diapers from someone’s home. Dillon Makuski was sentenced to thirty months’ probation and two hundred hours of community service. A man who broke into someone’s home…

Over at Skunkpost.com (great name!), there’s an Associated Press story entitled, “Food Bloggers Give Restaurants Indigestion.” Bloggers, at least according to the story, are going into restaurants and taking pictures of their meals, thereby sometimes actually eating the meals only after they’ve grown cold, or distracting other patrons. Many restaurants, including upscale ones, have come…

Libertarians correctly observe that a few too often rely on government when private discussion and resolution would be more effective. One finds an extreme example of an over-reliance on government in the case of Charles Dennison, aged 32, of Florida, who called 911 to complain that his mother had taken his beer. The La Crosse…

It might have been worse, though — it might have been this rabbit….

There’s good news from nearby Edgerton, Wisconsin, as members of the city council in that small town declined to reconsider a sensible decision to retire a biting police dog from service. See, Council Rebuffs Request to Reactivate Police Dog. The original council vote was unanimous to send back a dog that twice bit people (once…