Academic Rants

Amazon Strikes Back There is a lot of discussion about the recent Amazon news. The selection of two communities for the second headquarters was a bit of a shock. Rumors of a two city deal trickled out for a few days before the big announcement. And when the winners were announced, there was massive joy and a significant amount of cursing. How could this announcement create such an uproar? Foremost, the locations made sense from an economic perspective and a political standpoint but not from a national consensus. The Northeast corridor is the most populated section of the country. Washington, D.C. and New York City are two of the nation's most important and powerful cities and they compliment the location of the original Amazon headquarters in Seattle. Unfortunately, the selection of the east coast is a predictable location but one that ignores Middle America where the need for jobs is great. The selection of the east coast further promotes the view of a bias against the Hear...

                        History often plays tricks on us. It never repeats itself, but there are lots of interesting twists and turns that remind us of things in the past. The mid-term elections are over and yet we are still speaking about the elections. In many cases we don’t even know who won. “The Big Blue Wave” that pollsters suggested might have occurred.   The uncertainty of the Georgia and Florida elections is clearly reminiscent of the presidential contests of 1876 and 2000.   Ironically, the state of Florida rather than the people of Florida is still determining the outcomes of America’s electoral politics.             This week is also the 100 th anniversary of the end of the first Great War. Armistice Day, usually referred to as Veterans Day, has brought world leaders to France to mark the event ...

--> Earlier this year several organizations decided to launch a massive protest against school segregation in New Jersey.   The hope is that pending litigation will lead to a court case and acceptable remedies.   The threat of legal action has awakened Civil Rights warriors as well as community protectionists.   According to several reports, New Jersey has some of the nation’s most segregated school districts. In fact, its overall ranking is fourth worse, placing this northern state ahead of many southern states that faced forced integration during the Civil Rights era. The following remarks are a reflection of my thoughts on the subject. There is a tendency to think of New Jersey as ten big cities (Paterson, Newark, Jersey City, New Brunswick, Atlantic City, Trenton, Edison, Toms River, Camden, Passaic, Clifton, and Elizabeth) several regional centers like Princeton, Bridgewater, Morristown, and Metropark, and then a mass of suburban communities. But...

I have a smart phone.  Supposedly, one of the elite ones that you often see in commercials. And I have been loyal to this brand for years. At first it works great and I am so happy with it, but over time, around its second anniversary, or at a certain time of year, it starts to act weird. It drops calls, gets stuck and freezes, and sometimes the volume changes. Several of my friends, with the same phone have noticed the same thing. Cellular carriers do not matter, the phones fail to perform. When my phone acts up, I have to concentrate on other things, and I pay greater attention to what is going on in the world. I wonder how many other Americans are experiencing weird phones and will spend time focusing on other things including world events? Or will they concede to their addictions and decide to buy the latest models that will be coming out in a few days. It says a lot about a nation that cries poor and then purchases cell phones at or near $1000. We care more about our ...