Jacob Christensen

A profound insight by Gideon Rachman of the FT:

On the other hand, the whole phenomeon of blogging is vain and self-referential. So here goes.

Now please excuse me while I get a life.

Apparently people in other countries are following the U.S. presidential campaign and trying to figure out how it all works.

It think that is a bit of an understatement. Anyway, John Sides has links to the American Prospect and NPR who try to enlighten us.

I’ll throw in Matthew Shugart’s posts on the primaries for good measure.

Enjoy your Sunday. I’ll be watching the final between Denmark and Croatia in the men’s European Championship in handball. And the state elections in Hesse and Lower Saxony. And write an over-due report.

Edit: Damn Apple keyboard. Since getting my new iMac, I always press “i” instead of “o”.

Matthew Yglesias is in Amsterdam (don’t ask me why) and discovers to his horror that

…the TMobile hotspot appears to be emanating from the McDonalds’ across the street…

Be afwaid. Be vewwy afwaid.

Tyler Cowen wonders:

Does the greater pessimism of Europeans produce more disciplined and respectful children? Or just more pessimistic newspapers?

Disrespectful kids? They’re here.

David Pogue of the New York Times asked:

Who are the morons who respond to junk-mail offers, thereby keeping spammers in business?

and received the answer:

Statistically speaking, half of ALL people are below-average intelligence. That fact can explain MANY things.

Even if it’s only 1 o’clock in the morning, this must be the quote of the day:

Apple is not happy with its customers.

Steve Jobs might want to consult the modern classics and quote the guy who recommended that as the government had lost its faith in the people, it should dissolve the people and elect a new one.

For nostalgic reasons – my father was born and raised in the Danish town of Vejle and a lifelong supporter of the local football team – I try to follow the fortunes of Vejle Boldklub. In the last decade or so misfortunes is perhaps a better word as the club has been in the doldrums for most of the time.

This season VB made it to the top division in Danish football but the team has been stuck in the lower part of the table fighting the prospect of immediate relegation.

Why? Well, according to Danish news agencies because the players are too healthy. This is what Ritzau had to say about the latest defeat:

Et Vejle-hold uden kræft og energi kom tættere nedrykning efter et 0-3-nederlag til FC Nordsjælland.

Or in English:

A Vejle team without cancer or energy moved closer to relegation following a 0-3 defeat against FC Nordsjælland.

I always thought sport was promoted because it was good for your health but obviously I was wrong: You have to ruin your health to make it in sports.

One of my fellow users over at macnyt.dk wanted a short and precise definition of a state (please don’t ask about the link with Apple and Mac OS).

Usually, we suggest a shortened version of Max Weber‘s definition of a modern state which goes something like this:

The state is the organisation which holds the legitimate monopoly on the use of force within a given territory.

It turns out that Professor Dr. Weber was a bit more detailed. Here goes (take a deep breath before you start to read):

Den Staatsbegriff empfiehlt es sich, da er in seiner Vollentwicklung durchaus modern ist, auch seinem modernen Typus entsprechend – aber wiederum: unter Abstraktion von den, wie wir ja gerade jetzt erleben, wandelbaren inhaltlichen Zwecken – zu definieren. Dem heutigen Staat formal charakteristisch ist: eine Verwaltungs- und Rechtsordnung, welche durch Satzungen abänderbar ist, an der der Betrieb des Verbandshandelns des (gleichfalls durch Satzung geordneten) Verwaltungsstabes sich orientiert und welche Geltung beansprucht nicht nur für die – im wesentlichen durch Geburt in den Verband hineingelangenden – Verbandsgenossen, sondern in weitem Umfang für alles auf dem beherrschten Gebiet stattfindende Handeln (also: gebietsanstaltsmäßig). Ferner aber: daß es »legitime« Gewaltsamkeit heute nur noch insoweit gibt, als die staatliche Ordnung sie zuläßt oder vorschreibt (z.B. dem Hausvater das »Züchtigungsrecht« beläßt, einen Rest einstmaliger eigenlegitimer, bis zur Verfügung über Tod und Leben des Kindes oder Sklaven gehender Gewaltsamkeit des Hausherrn). Dieser Monopolcharakter der staatlichen Gewaltherrschaft ist ein ebenso wesentliches Merkmal ihrer Gegenwartslage wie ihr rationaler »Anstalts«- und kontinuierlicher »Betriebs«- Charakter. (Max Weber: Wirtschaft und Gesellsachft, §17.1)

Okay, maybe we can say that Microsoft Corporation holds the illegitimate monopoly on the use of force (and everything else) on the internet and create a link in that way? And that those old German professors sure knew how to write complicated sentences.

The quote of the day is not from Naser Khader but from The Quick and the Ed:

People who support choice and diversity in delivery of publicly-funded education need to come to terms with the reality that real choice includes some schools that not everyone will like.

Of cause we always have to face the question about the limits of which approaches the government should accept so in a convoluted way depoliticising an issue carries an element of re-politicising it.