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Afternoon Links: Riding the Wave of the Web, the Fate of the Supreme Court, and a Brief Treatise Against Fan Mail

By Jim Swift

Kids these days… Don’t know how to code all too well, according to a report by HackerRank. As TheNextWeb reports:

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Those in the 18 to 24 age group overwhelmingly started their programming journey in their late teens. 68.2 percent started coding between the ages of 16 to 20. When you look at older generations, you notice another striking trend: a comparatively larger proportion started programming between the ages of five and ten. 12.2 percent of those aged between 35 and 44 started programming then. It’s obvious why that is. That generation was lucky enough to be born at the start of the home computing revolution, when machines bearing the logos of Acorn and Commodore first entered the living rooms of ordinary people.

The term “surfing the web” is apt here. We older folks caught the wave at the perfect time.

Justice Kennedy and the fate of the court. National Review‘s Michael Brendan Dougherty wrote yesterday on the importance of Justice Kennedy, and today Warren Henry has an interesting response:

During the 2016 campaign, Jonah Goldberg used to respond to the apocalyptic arguments of Trump supporters by observing that if America was one election away from destruction, it was already too late. The same principle applies here, though Dougherty lacks the hysteria of Michael Anton (indeed, MBD recognizes the Court has overstepped its role in our constitutional system). If the health of the republic rests on the shoulders of Anthony Kennedy, we are already where Dougherty fears we will be (and probably have been since classical liberals bought the argument that progressivism was saving capitalism from communist revolutionaries). And no one would be happier about being anointed indispensable than Kennedy.

Do read the whole thing.

Time what is time… I wish I knew how to tell you why. Acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin died yesterday, and circulating today on social media is a screen grab from her website, where she had a notice to fans who might want to email her. “Please don’t” she implored. As one gets older, their sense of the value of time heightens. I long never understood why my father was against text messaging. I do now. I unsubscribe from newsletters (except those of TWS and the Examiner!) with vigor.

It’s like Roger Murtaugh said: “I’m getting too old for this sh*t.” Every second on a newsletter I will rarely read is a second wasted, and time adds up. Sometimes you gotta simplify and enjoy life. It’s clear Ursula Le Guin understood that, and we can learn a lot from her.

Barney’s second career. Prepare to have your day ruined: The guy who played “Barney the Dinosaur” now runs a tantric sex business. Click through at your own risk.

Save the date! Join us at the 2018 Weekly Standard summit. This May 17-20 at the historic Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, join Stephen F. Hayes, Fred Barnes, and Michael Warren and other special guests as they discuss the future of American politics. Book your tickets now.

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