At just about noon, GMT (4 a.m. in the real world, 7 a.m. in the time zone where the big political and financial disasters are planned) the Sun will (speaking Ptolemaically) stop heading south and start coming back.
There’s a message here for dark times, reflected in all the traditional solstice observances from lights in the window (originally to welcome Lord Mithra), to Yule logs, to burning one candle the first night, two candles the second night …
Light will return.
Light will increase.
May it be so this year: for you, friends, and for the world. We could use a little light just about now.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman