Category: General Interest

Tim Wu has an interesting series of posts on how laws are quite different in theory and practice. Specifically, he talks about how lots of laws – important laws – are not enforced, resulting in a world that operates rather differently that what you would expect based on a strict reading of the existing laws. He takes some great examples from copyright law, pornography, legal (prescription) drugs, to argue that sometimes, it is not the congressmen and courts that are making the laws, but rather a de facto standard that emerges out of the actions of various public prosecutors, police, and juries that really determines what is “legal”. (Had you thought of the rule of law in this way? I hadn’t!)

Long, but definitely worth reading. Link.

See this page for a neat little video of how the major religions spread across the world from their beginnings until now.

Not only is the content interesting in itself, but I also think this is a great example of presenting data well. Think about it: if you were asked to present the information in 90 seconds, how would you have done it? Would it have been as effective?