If you liked the time period of Gangs of New York, check out Copper, a show about a Irish cop in the 5 Points section of NY. BBC America and very high production value, if a little expository because so few folks really know the history. Fun show.

I'll second the reco for Sherlock- really excellent.

The teachers unions are low hanging fruit...ready for the picking? Sure. Thats why no one, ever, has taken them on and won. 

Here here! (I guess what drives me nuts is when such an obviously available free market solution is ignored by the participants, it invites in the loony regulators.) These guys appear to be the rotten apple that ruins it for everyone else.

It appears it’s a small, family owned company. 4 million a year in revenue. A bit more background here . 

If you like the guy, you’re willing to give him some rope. If not, well…

I suspect this video, like a previous version here, was produced for the local version of the Washington Correspondents Dinner as a sort of funny opening ice breaker video. The first version had no stars, was 3 minutes long, and I thought, quite funny and clever. 2 years later, more stars, 7 minutes long, less funny. As Rob Long instructs us, faster is funny.

If they are truly are self insured thru a captive or other shared risk pool then yes, this story is moot. And its not uncommon for high risk industries (fertilizer certainly qualifies) to be unable to purchase traditional insurance. But I think that would have been one of the first things the insurance commissioner mentioned and there wouldn't be this particular outrage. Stay tuned, I suppose. 

While I certainly agree with you with respect to health insurance, meaning if you drop dead (heaven forbid) from a heart attack, no skin off my nose. I'm getting at the idea that when your business involves things that go BOOM, that represents a very real hazard to people and property (unlike theoretical hazards like owls, CFCs in the ozone, biodiversity) and to have no protection in the event of a very large BOOM seems to give the Left ammo (only 8 rounds please) to say that the private sector cannot be left to sort its issues out. 

First Lileks introduced me to The Beast, now he commented on my thread. My Ricochet life is complete.

I think the other easy target is the broker. They have a serious Errors & Omissions suit coming, and that could be just the deep pockets the plaintiffs need. I suspect the broker was the brother in law or some similar close relationship. Clearly there was no reputable oversight of the account- and this kind of screw-up can (and should) take down even a large agency. 

While I am loath to defend the weak knee'd 20 somethings of the world, I think two factors should be considered: 1. peoples generally increasingly longevity. 2. the sheer ease of delaying adulthood. Allow me to explain. No there is too much, allow me to sum up. Many of our conceptions of adulthood are based on shorter lifespans. Getting married at 30 when you're likely to live to 90 is a not crazy ratio. Conversely, a lot of people are looking at retirement as a nearly equal number of years as their worklife. Don't believe me? Talk to your financial planner about how long that 401k is really going to last. And look at how much there is to DO. Think about how cheap it is to go abroad relative to 50 years ago. Look at how much content is produced! Back when TV Stations actually signed off for the night and played the national anthem, you knew it was time for bed. I think as adults its easy to shake our heads and wonder, but I think we'd be hard pressed to say we'd have made radically different decisions.

In addition to the fine examples above, I'd advise you to have a bookmark on your kindle or iPad for a basic timeline of the war. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_World_War_II The simple reason is "war" is too small a word. There is simply no undertaking in human history that encompassed more people, more places, more countries, more technology, more philosophy...you get the idea. I've read perhaps 50-100 books on the subject in my lifetime, and every time I learn something not just slightly new- entirely new. Something I had no idea about. There are whole libraries worth of books devoted to single elements of WWII- the Battle of the Bulge, the roots of the Holocaust, the Russian front, Japanese Imperialism, British counter intelligence, the home front, etc etc. Your knowledge probably isn't that spotty, rather the subject is perhaps the biggest after theology and medicine- and it took place in less than a decade.

There is no reason we shouldn't be seizing the conservation mantle, which is ultimately a far more intelligent response to environmentalism than simply refuting the science. (needs to be done, but we need to present an alternative, not the "do nothing" approach we're accused of. If you're big on nuclear energy, I highly suggest Terrestrial Energy, by William Ticker. http://www.amazon.com/Terrestrial-Energy-Nuclear-Revolution-Americas/dp/0910155976 And I was Sam the Eagle first... ha ha

I haven't been on Ricochet for a month because of the election and the first day back people are dumping on Rob. From reading many of the responses it seems people don't appreciate what a spectacularly unlikely event a hit show is, let alone one that runs for nearly a decade. More unlikely then a Superbowl, its closer to a perfect game. Now imagine how you'd feel if as you sat around hugging the trophy, one of the members of the team says, "ya know, we athletes are really overpaid and privileged. I hope the season ticket holders cancel. yada yada yada." For the adults who work to make it all happen, slapping is reasonable. Guess I'll take some more time off.

I agree with Adrian- its a reflection of ourselves, thats why they succeed.Movies dramatically out of sync with a culture don't, which is why so many "war" movies with a leftist bent have failed at the box office. Whereas a mainstream point of view "The Hurt Locker" wins Best Picture (to the collective shock of the Academy). The films reflect us, good, bad, and indifferent. They almost never lead the way.

I tired. Clubs, Fatigues & Barretts R' Us was fresh out in my neighborhood.

I agree with you. Lets hope you're right.