“…[T]he theory put forth in Freakonomics examined why crime had fallen all over the country, not just in New York, and one of the many arguments against “broken windows” as a major cause was the fact that such innovative policing wasn’t being practiced elsewhere—and yet crime was falling in those places as well. A smaller point to also consider: Gladwell left out one other major reason that, according to Levitt’s research, crime did begin to fall in the 1990’s: the waning of the violent crack trade.”
Daily Archives: 13 Mar 06
The Neurocritic
“Deconstructing the most sensationalistic recent findings in Human Brain Imaging, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Psychopharmacology“. Recent discussions about the fMRI lie detection hullabaloo and the neurological correlates of empathy, among others.
Saving Nazi Church for Posterity
“A group of German priests and parishioners have begun a politically sensitive fundraising campaign to save the country’s last Nazi-era church. The Martin Luther Memorial Church in Berlin has embarrassed the authorities for six decades.
The image of a Nazi storm trooper side by side with Jesus Christ has been carved into the pulpit, the entrance is lit by a chandelier in the shape of an iron cross and the organ was used to stir the spirits at a torch-lit Nuremberg rally. Throughout the church, consecrated in 1933, there are bare patches where swastikas, illegal since the end of the war, have been ripped out.
“There was a bust of Adolf Hitler in the nave,” Isolde Boehm, dean of the church, said. “A carved face of Hitler has been replaced by one of Martin Luther. There is even a rumour that the church was supposed to be called the Adolf Hitler Church.”” (Times of London thanks to walker)
Moussaoui Death Penalty Case May Be Tossed
According to US District Judge Leonie Brinkema, it may be “very difficult for this case to go forward” after prosecution lawyers admitted they had coached prospective witnesses in direct defiance of her order that they be shielded from any advance exposure to trial proceedings. She said she had “never seen such an egregious violation of a rule on witnesses” and considered, at the least, excluding the seven witnesses involved, who prosecutors say are “half of the government case.” She could also bar the government from seeking the death penalty, which would automatically end the trial and impose a sentence of life without parole on Moussaoui (given his guilty plea), pending a likely government appeal. The judge also indicated that she might reconsider a defense motion for a mistrial on an unrelated issue. Brinkema has been courageously independent-minded from the first in the face of US attempts to trample on his defendent rights. Brinkema also put the Church of Scientology in its place in a momentous 1996 decision.
The Skin You’re In
Think the web is colorblind? Think again [via Bill Hooker]
