What are the prospects for political reform in California? [City Journal, New Geography]

Gamer keeps same session of Civilization II game going for 10 years [Slashdot]

Jews in America love open immigration; Israeli Jews, not at all. [Foreign Policy]

What can you do when kooks want to join the "Adopt A Highway" program? [Slate]

With Euro Instability, Can Bitcoin Now Compete with Hard Currency? [Vice]

"Don't give panhandlers money", says the [Ann Arbor] Mayor's Task Force [AnnArbor.com]

Ann Arborites feed homeless strays and are somehow surprised when the strays decide to hang around

The Ann Arborite do-gooders open homeless shelters: Give them a free breakfast every day: We tolerate their loitering, trespassing, and loafing around public spaces; We even give them  money for cigarettes, alcohol and dope when they "ask" for it while we pass down the street doing our daily business. Given all that then how are we surprised that there are so many of them around? Go figure? Psychologist B.F. Skinner would have had an explanation.
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Weblog

Homeless in Ann Arbor: The street view of a professional beggar
"'If you want to have any kind of spending money for tobacco, coffee, extra food, whatever, then you've got two choices,'  says Storm, who is homeless. 'You can either collect cans, which is really time consuming and doesn't pay off that well … so panhandling is kind of the way I make my money. And I don't really consider myself a panhandler. I'm a professional beggar.' "
Bomb undiscovered for weeks at Detroit federal building says union chief
The whistle-blower here is a union official for the unionized security officers employed there, so keep that in mind. Still though...