Terrorism: yer doin' it Wrong!

Islamic militants claim foiled attack This from the AP not the Onion, I promise!

BERLIN - An Islamic militant group designated as a terror organization by the U.S. claimed responsibility for foiled bombings that targeted the American air base at Ramstein, as well as U.S. and Uzbek consulates in Germany, the government said Tuesday.

The Interior Ministry, which is responsible for police and internal security, said the Islamic Jihad Union made the announcement on the Internet and that government computer experts viewed it as genuine. Three men were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of planning massive bombings against U.S. and other facilities in Germany.

"In an Internet appearance, the Islamic Jihad Union has taken responsibility for the foiled attacks in Germany and addresses the arrests of Sept. 4, 2007," the ministry statement said. "The attacks planned according to this for the end of 2007 were directed against the U.S. air base at Ramstein as well as U.S. and Uzbek consular facilities in Germany."

Uh, hi, we're the Islamic Jihad Union. Y'know those dudes that got arrested in Germany, the ones who didn't hurt anyone or blow up anything. The ones who didn't notice when the cops swapped out their explosive materials for dirt? Yeah, that was us. Ready to give up your wicked western ways NOW? No? Dam! Kthxybai!

All bad news, All the time

US exports are at an all time high and grew 2.7% last month. It was robust export growth that largely caused the recent upward revision of the second quarter GDP number. This is good economic news, but it gets buried in trade deficit hysteria.

Even though the headline is "Trade Deficit Declines Slightly" the story goes negative real fast. We are told by an "expert" that the number will probably be revised upward, we are told our "deficit with China" is at its "second all time highest" level, and we are treated to expert analysis by thug-o-conomist James Hoffa:

"Americans realize that our bloated trade deficit erodes our standard of living," said Teamsters President James Hoffa, whose union is leading a fight to overturn a Bush administration decision last week that opens up the nation's southern border to Mexican trucks.

With a little Mexico bashing thrown in, por gusto.

The 9th paragraph mentions the export record and the 11th paragraph points out its economic importance but again in the most negative way possible:

The boom in exports is helping cushion the U.S. economy from the adverse effects of the worst downturn in housing in 16 years and a serious credit crunch stemming from growing losses in subprime mortgages. Without continued export gains, some analysts worry that the country could be pushed into a recession.

If exports are so important to our economic growth (and they are), wouldn't it seem like a bad time to start up new protectionist measure and invite backlash/reciprocity?

Citizen Self-Arrest Form

An alert, but anonymous, reader sends in a delightful revelation!

The University of Oklahoma (The Angusian crib!) has a helpful website designed to make it easier for people to get to know police on the "beat." I have always thought "beat cops" was redundant, but that is their metaphor.

Still talking may not be enough: What if you need actually to ARREST yourself? As the site notes, it would save tax dollars.

Well, the OU information people are up to the job: Here is your citizen's self-arrest form. Ideally, you would put on handcuffs, on yourself, and wait for a big sweaty campus policeman to come "beat" you with a nightstick. In New Orleans, that will cost you an extra $100, but in Norman, you can get it for FREE.

That is one progressive place!

(Also, check this picture of the "chief": note the halo effect, a kind of medieval saint thing).














(Yes, I understand this may precipitate attacks on Durham. But these days, that is almost too easy)

More BANG, No Buck

The "Band Automatic Name Generator" (click here, then reload the page to get different names) is rather amusing.

In a few minutes, I got:

1. Splashing Regulators (with WHAT? Ick.)
2. Adequate Hot Buttered Parson (Larry Craig's band)
3. Replacing Data (not John's band. Repeat: NOT John's band. Right, Steve?)
4. Florida Chaos (Al Gore's band)
5. Green Constant (The LVMI Band. Though, just "The Rothbards" is a pretty good band name)

Guitar Hiro!

A new air guitar champ is crowned.

The story gives an enigmatic reference to another contestant, tho:

The talent on display was variable at best. The surprise of the qualifying round was Oulu native Hilkka "Gore Kitty" Suvanto, who has twice before scored the lowest points ever in that round but now achieved a perfect six from many of the judges.

"Gore Kitty"? From the lowest points total ever to perfect 6's? In AIR GUITAR? Does it matter that the contest had Finnish judges? I think a scandal lurks.

I had to know more. And, more I found, here. Gore Kitty is Finnish. I don't know why, but that kills me. A Finnish air guitar hero.

You might as well....JUMP!

Action bias among elite soccer goalkeepers: The case of penalty kicks

Michael Bar-Eli, Ofer Azar, Ilana Ritov, Yael Keidar-Levin & Galit Schein
Journal of Economic Psychology, forthcoming

Abstract:
In soccer penalty kicks, goalkeepers choose their action before they can
clearly observe the kick direction. An analysis of 286 penalty kicks in top
leagues and championships worldwide shows that given the probability
distribution of kick direction, the optimal strategy for goalkeepers is to
stay in the goal's center. Goalkeepers, however, almost always jump right or
left. We propose the following explanation for this behavior: because the
norm is to jump, norm theory (Kahneman, D., & Miller, D. T. (1986). Norm
theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives. Psychological Review, 93,
136-153.) implies that a goal scored yields worse feelings for the
goalkeeper following inaction (staying in the center) than following action
(jumping), leading to a bias for action. The omission bias, a bias in favor
of inaction, is reversed here because the norm here is reversed - to act
rather than to choose inaction. The claim that jumping is the norm is
supported by a second study, a survey conducted with 32 top professional
goalkeepers. The seemingly biased decision making is particularly striking
since the goalkeepers have huge incentives to make correct decisions, and it
is a decision they encounter frequently. Finally, we discuss several
implications of the action/omission bias for economics and management.

Disturbing. You hire a new CEO, or a new Dean for that matter, and they have to....go out and change something! Doesn't matter if it works pretty well already, the "goal" (soccer joke) is take action. That way, no one can say, "You didn't even do anything!"

The problem is that many times nothing is the best thing to do. Just stand there in the center, and try to reach out and block things that come right at you.

(Nod to KL, who is on a roll)

Costly Signals, and the Paradox of Rationality: Smiles Edition

Marc Mehu, Karl Grammer & Robin Dunbar
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming

Abstract:
One of the proposed functions of human smiling is to advertise cooperative
dispositions and thereby increase the likelihood that a social partner would
invest resources in a relationship. In particular, smiles involving an
emotional component would be honest signals of altruistic dispositions
because they are not easy to produce voluntarily. In this study, 60 people
were covertly filmed while interacting with a friend in two conditions:
control and sharing. Smiles were classified into Duchenne (spontaneous) and
non-Duchenne smiles. Participants also completed a series of questionnaires,
including the Altruism Scale and a self-report questionnaire of emotional
state. Interestingly, Duchenne smiles were displayed at higher rates in the
sharing situation as opposed to the control situation, whereas non-Duchenne
smiles were unaffected by the type of interaction. Furthermore, Duchenne
smiles in the sharing interaction were positively affected by a measure of
altruism. Self-reported emotional states did not vary between conditions and
were poorly related to smiling. This study shows that the Duchenne smile is
relevant to situations that involve the sharing of material resources
because it would reliably advertise altruistic intentions. The Duchenne
smile could therefore be an important signal in the formation and
maintenance of cooperative relationships.

A number of people have claimed that the reason humans got big brains was the advantages conferred in terms of detecting dissembling.

So....a big fake smile does you no good.

But a big real smile means you are altruistic, and (paradoxically) people are more willing to give YOU stuff.

That means you should learn how to smile in a way people can't detect as fake.

But that means that other people want to be able to detect tiny cues, and body language, that mean you are faking.

Angus and I solve this problem by never smiling. Nobody can call US fakers.
Grrrrrr......

(Nod to KL, who never fakes it, either)

You Aren't Going to the BIG House....

...You are going to the GREEN house! An article on Norway's innovative "World's First Ecological Prison." Read the article, and I'll share some thoughts in a moment.....

Prisons probably aren't the first buildings that spring to mind when you think about green design and architecture. Yet one small island in Norway is set to change that perception with the recent introduction of the "world's first ecological prison" — a facility powered by solar energy that will put its inmates to work coordinating daily operations, such as recycling and food production, and learning their part to protect the environment.

Norwegian authorities hope to thus instill a sense of responsibility in their inmates and to better prepare them for an eco-conscious life once they leave the prison. The facility, which is located on Bastoey Island (about 46 mi south of Oslo), houses 115 inmates. Justice Minister Knut Storberget explained that "from a social and economic perspective, this is cheapest for society," adding that it only made sense for a prison already renowned for its pleasant living conditions — resembling a summer camp more than a conventional prison with activities like tennis, horse riding and swimming — to go that extra step to rehabilitate its inmates.

Running costs at the Bastoey facility are lower than at most traditional prisons — which often require more officers to supervise the inmates. The prison produces its own high-quality organic food with the help of grants from several environmental organizations, and it is surrounded by beaches and verdant fields. Its solar panels cut its electricity needs by close to 70%.

The inmates have few complaints: "We are given full freedom within a limited area," said Erik, a hobby carpenter who helped put up the solar panels. Another inmate stated that, "This is like a holiday camp compared to a closed facility." It hardly even seems like a prison to us anymore.

All right. Here goes. (AHEM).

1. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDIN' ME? Tennis, horseback riding, and swimming? Beaches and verdant fields?
2. Getting grants from environmental organziations does NOT cut costs. It simply transfers costs from taxpayers to morons. I approve, mind you (think of the harm those bed-wetters could have done with those grants!), but let's not imagine that this is a solution for reducing costs at NC or OK.
3. Solar panels? SOLAR PANELS? Do you see a problem with that? Norway doesn't need air conditioning, for the most part. (weather data for Norway). So, when the sun is up for 15 or more hours a day, in the summer.....no HVAC is used. In Norway, in the winter, it is COLD. COLD and DARK. cold AND dark. Do you see where I am going with this? Solar panels? I choked when I read it.

If you cherry pick the best behaved inmates, put them in a resort area without charging yourself the opportunity cost of the real estate, or the capital costs of the incredibly expensive solar panels, and then take some of your operating costs out of grants given to you by dim bulbs (probably flourescent!), then: Yes, it will appear you are running a low cost prison. Now please shut up.

To Be A Football Hero.....

"To the consternation of local leftists, Berkeley, the campus and the
community alike, is in the grip of pigskin fever...Instead of smelly hippies
and fulminating Marxists, images of celebrating frat boys, cute and sexy
cheerleaders, and heroic athletes dominate media mentions of Berkeley."
[Lifson, American Thinker]

(nod to KL)

Talkin' Weed with the NY Times

According to the NY Times, a plant called jatropha is being hailed by scientists and policy makers as a potentially ideal source of biofuel, a plant that can grow in marginal soil or beside food crops, that does not require a lot of fertilizer and yields many times as much biofuel per acre planted as corn and many other potential biofuels.

As luck would have it, this plant is already being massively grown in Mali, one of the poorest nations on earth, on marginal quality land. And a Dutch entrepreneur, Hugo Verkuijl, has started a company with the backing of investors and assistance from the Dutch government, to produce biodiesel from jatropha seeds.

Mr. Verkuijl, 39, an economist who has worked for nonprofit groups, is part of a new breed of entrepreneurs who are marrying the traditional aims of aid groups working in Africa with a capitalist ethos they hope will bring longevity to their efforts.

“An aid project will live or die by its funders,” Mr. Verkuijl said, but “a business has momentum and a motive to keep going, even if its founders move on.”

Well said and well done Mr. Verkuijl, kudos to you. Sounds like a great project

However gentle readers, this being in the NY Times, you must be waiting for the other shoe to drop and here it goes:

Even if jatropha proves a success in Mali, it is still not without risks. If farmers come to see it as more valuable than food crops, they could cripple the country’s food production.

This is why I blog, people, this is the good stuff. What in the world could Lydia Polgreen mean by the above quote? If jatropha is less valuable than food crops, then the farmers won't drop food crops. If jatropha is only more valuable than food crops with some kind of production subsidy then there may be temporary trouble when/if the subsidy stops.

But in general Lydia, if farmers can earn more by planting jatropha than subsistence farming, BY ALL MEANS THEY SHOULD DO SO!! They will get this stuff economists call "money" and they can use it in "trade" to acquire food, clothes, subscriptions to the Times, you name it. If the jatropha is indeed more valuable they can buy all the crops they would have grown and have money left over.

But maybe, just to be sure, we should have the government of Mali, or better yet the UN set quotas for the production of all crops and commodities in Mali.

A Modest Proposal for a new KPC Logo:

Lets get rrrready to rrrrumble!!!

In this corner, Dani Rodrik, Harvard University:

"call me naive, but I also think that Mugabe would not have pursued his policies for this long if he had a better grasp of debt dynamics."

His opponent tonight, Anil Hira: Simon Fraser University:

"This article examines more carefully the oft-made hypotheses that (1) "technocrats" or politicians with an economics background are increasingly common and (2) that this "improvement" in qualifications will lead to improvements in economic policy....Using statistical analysis, the article finds that we cannot conclude that leadership training in economics leads to better economic outcomes."


So I ask you ladies and gentlemen, who ya got??

The best sentence I read today:

"The Fed will cushion the slowdown once weaker growth numbers appear, but there isn't much is can or should do to prevent the permanent unwinding of securities tied to undocumented-income, negative-amortization, 100%-loan-to-value mortgages rated triple-A by irresponsible rating agencies and sold to unsuspecting investors."

That was John Makin in today's WSJ.

That was so good I think I'll let John provide the punchline too:

"Perhaps the price we pay for that kind of collective stupidity is a recession."

Okies gotz Libarries too!

Today is International Literacy Day , according to UNESCO, and this year's slogan is: “Literacy, key to good health and well-being” (pretty snappy, although basically wrong, no?)

And over at MR, Tyler has declared it "Library Appreciation Day"


Here in Norman, it's "beat the 'canes day" but OU's original library building does have some very pretty parts:

Enforcement and Law-Breaking

An article of recent vintage:

"Investigating the impact of extended bar closing times on police stops for
DUI", Leana Allen Bouffard, Lindsey Ellen Bergeron & Jeffrey Bouffard
Journal of Criminal Justice (forthcoming)

Abstract:
Researchers have often studied whether changes in the availability of
alcohol impact associated problem behaviors like drunk driving. In July of
2003, the state of Minnesota approved legislation to extend by one hour the
closing time for eating and social establishments that serve alcohol. This
study utilized a time-series model to examine the impact of the extended
closing time on the number of police stops for DUI in one jurisdiction in
Minnesota. While results of the time-series indicated that there was a
significant increase in the number of police stops for DUI following this
legislative change, incident-specific analyses suggested that this increase
might have been largely a result of increased proactive responses by local
police. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Reminds of "Crime on the Court." Should adding another referee in basketball cause more, or fewer, fouls to be called?

Catching up is hard to do

Or so say Blonigen and Ma (NBER paper, access restricted) in a very interesting new paper:

Recent literature has documented the high level of sophistication of Chinese exports for a country at its general level of development. An important question is whether this is simply driven by the foreign firms in China of whether Chinese firms are also gaining greater sophistication from this foreign presence. The answer to this question has significant implications for China's long-term growth potential.

We explore the extent to which Chinese firms are gaining sophistication relative to foreign firms present in China using detailed Chinese export data that separatelyl reports exports from foreign and Chinese enterprises. The general patterns over our time period, 1997-2005 run exactly counter to what one would expect if Chinese firms were catching up - foreign firms' share of exports by product category and foreign unit values relative to Chinese unit values are increasing over time, not decreasing. We see these patterns despite the fact the FDI into China as a percent of GDP has not increased since before our sample.

Say it ain't So!

This story hit me like pee in the old cornflakes. The Duke Lacrosse story almost has a kinda sorta happy ending. Nifong is disbarred, doing time (ok, one day a la Paris and Nicole) and the players pretty much did get their reputations back. They are widely seen as innocent victims; heroes of a cautionary tale of political correctness and jumping to conclusions.

But then they go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like "I want 30 million" (my apologies to C. Carson Parks, please don't sue me).

Yes after settling Nifong's hash, our heroes turn to slightly deeper pockets, the City of Durham, demanding the creation of an ombudsman's office (sounds good), other "reforms", (ok) oh yeah and $10 million each (DOH!). If they don't get it directly, they are going to sue for it.

Maybe the city can bring back Iron Mike and prosecute the boys for extortion!

Does the Government really own everything?

Is my net income just a "tax expenditure" that a forbearant omnipotent government allows me to foolishly waste on my own tawdry desires?

It seems that many people would answer that question with a resounding yes!

In a long article on the costs of philanthropy Stephanie Strom writes:

The rich are giving more to charity than ever, but people like Mr. Broad are not the only ones footing the bill for such generosity. For every three dollars they give away, the federal government typically gives up a dollar or more in tax revenue, because of the charitable tax deduction and by not collecting estate taxes.

Strom says there is a growing debate over what philanthropy is achieving at a time when the wealthiest Americans control a rising share of the national income and, because of sharp cuts in personal taxes, give up less to government.

Then there is this pretty amazing statement:

A common perception of philanthropy is that one of its central purposes is to alleviate the suffering of society’s least fortunate and therefore promote greater equality, taking some of the burden off government. In exchange, the United States is one of a handful of countries to allow givers a tax deduction. In essence, the public is letting private individuals decide how to allocate money on their behalf.

So to summarize so far: (a) Philanthropy = lowering inequality, (b) too many rich people don't do the kind of philanthropy other people would like to force them to do, (c) all money belongs to the government, (d) rich people don't pay much in taxes, and (e) if we changed the tax system people would act exactly the same way, estates would continue to be the same size and the government would get a ton of new money that it would use effectively to reduce inequality so lets get a move on!

Is this a great country or what?

Goldbug Variations

Megan McArdle and Tyler Cowen play some chin music for the gold bugs here and here.

I remember discussing with Tyler back in the day the idea that if money was only needed for a few "loose change" type of transactions (everything else being digital), would the velocity of money rise so high that the quarters would burn your hand when you grabbed them. I'm pretty sure they would.

It always surprises me that people attack so vehemently one of the very very few things our government has done reasonably well.

Development: Yer doin' it Wrong!

The Congo is BIG, and not known for its highway system, so many rely on the railways set up by the Belgians to extract resources in the colonial era.

But there are problems as documented here.

During an eight-day, 530-mile train journey across southeastern Congo, there were two derailments, several dozen delays, one electricity failure and an ever increasing number of people and goods packed into crammed, stinking hallways, compartments and bathrooms.

The problems are legion. Of 80 locomotives, only 15 are operational. Only 2,262 miles of railway are being used, while 9,358 need repairs. Some tracks are 80 years old, so warped and bent that the trains literally bounce along, losing and loosening parts that must be fixed or remade at each stop.

and then there's this:

The railway employs over 13,000 people, but the last time paychecks were sent out was in May, and that was payment for the spring of 2005. So many employees do not go to work, and bribes are widespread.

“Sometimes it’s difficult to resist temptations,” said Agustín, the police chief at the Kamina station, who gave only his first name. “I do bad things.”

“I haven’t been paid in 29 months,” he added. “How am I supposed to send my children to school?”

What about the IFIs, you ask?

The World Bank has begun a program to manage the trains in a public-private partnership, but it hinges on a new, and unlikely, transparency from S.N.C.C.

“It is very difficult to get things going,” said a World Bank official prohibited from speaking on the record.

Oh. Well don't strain yourselves or anything.

Paitence really IS a virtue...

The origins of monetary income inequality: Patience, human capital, and
division of labor

Victoria Reyes-García, Ricardo Godoy, Tomas Huanca, William Leonard, Thomas
McDade, Susan Tanner & Vincent Vadez
Evolution and Human Behavior, January 2007, Pages 37-47

Abstract:
We present an explanation about the origins of monetary income inequality
when an economically self-sufficient society opens to a market economy. The
chain of associations runs from patience, to the accumulation of different
forms of human capital, to self-selection into different occupations, and to
the division of labor, which contributes to monetary income inequality. In a
self-sufficient society, patience is exogenously determined and people rely
on folk knowledge as the only form of human capital. With the establishment
of schools, patient and impatient people sort themselves out by the type of
human capital they begin to accumulate. Impatient people do not acquire folk
knowledge because return to schooling takes many years to bear fruit.
Schooling opens opportunities in occupations outside the village, whereas
folk knowledge enhances employment opportunities that draw on farming or
foraging. Self-selection into different occupations with different earnings
potential spawns monetary income inequality. To test the explanation, we
draw on data from a foraging–farming society in the Bolivian Amazon, the
Tsimane'. We collected data during four consecutive quarters in 1999–2000
and a follow-up interview (2004). Data came from 151 adults (age, 16 years
or more) from all households (n=48) in two villages with different levels of
market exposure. During 1999–2000, impatience was associated with (a)
greater folk knowledge and fewer years of schooling, (b) lower likelihood of
working in wage labor, and (c) greater likelihood of working in rural
subsistence occupations. People who had been patient in 1999–2000 had
greater wage earnings and more modern physical assets in 2004.

Is patience a virtue? Or is it just luck of the draw in preferences, a low discount rate, so you value future consumption?

And, interesting that they invoke division of labor. Adam Smith pointed out how little, in fact, people differ at the outset. It is the development of specialized skills, through division of labor, that create the big difference. As Smith says:

The difference of natural talents in different men is, in reality, much less than we are aware of; and the very different genius which appears to distinguish men of different professions, when grown up to maturity, is not upon many occasions so much the cause, as the effect of the division of labour.*46 The difference between the most dissimilar characters, between a philosopher and a common street porter, for example, seems to arise not so much from nature, as from habit, custom, and education.

46: [This is apparently directed against Harris, Money and Coins, pt. i., § 11, and is in accordance with the view of Hume, who asks readers to 'consider how nearly equal all men are in their bodily force, and even in their mental powers and faculties, ere cultivated by education'.—'Of the Original Contract,' in Essays, Moral and Political, 1748, p. 291.] (WoN, I.2.4)

(Nod to KL, who isn't patient at ALL)

Bill Murray Explains: Golf Cart, and 7-11 in Stockholm

Bill spills.

Migration Policy: A Good SWF Kick?

Optimal Migration: A World Perspective

Jess Benhabib & Boyan Jovanovic
NBER Working Paper, January 2007

Abstract:
We ask what level of migration would maximize world welfare. We find that skill-neutral policies are never optimal. An egalitarian welfare function induces a policy that entails moving mainly unskilled immigrants into the rich countries, whereas a welfare function skewed highly towards the rich countries induces an optimal policy that entails a brain-drain from the poor countries. For intermediate welfare functions that moderately favor the rich however, it is optimal to have no migration at all.

I am always interested in the perspective in these sorts of hive-mentality collectivist metrics of "optimality." They don't care about what individuals want, and they would prefer to control people and move them around like chess pieces. Or, in this case, make people stay in the little squares where they happened to be born.

(Nod to KL, who wonders, "Why We Can't All Just Get Along?")

Three Suitcases, Zero Dresses: Guest Blogger Ms. Mungowitz

A guest post....from my wife. Yes, this really happened.

I added some editing, and obiter dicta. But this is her story, so I'll let her tell it.


Went to Fundman's wedding in Chicago. (Editor's note: For my view, see here) Nice big Italian-style wedding with open bar. (Editor's note: It's also Irish style; my wife is from Rhode Island...EVERYBODY's Italian) So we decided to fly up and back overnight and leave boys alone for first time. We were a little worried about what the older younger Munger would do, given that he had done this the week before.

So, plan was flight to leave at 9:20 a.m NC time, gets in 10:20 am Chicago time. Direct flight. Rent a car. Go to hotel, about 20 min away. Get dressed up, refresh... wedding is at 2:00 and about 30 min from hotel. Should be no problem. Easy in fact. Well, pride goeth before a train wreck.

Since you can't carry on liquids, such as shampoo, toothpaste, perfume, etc. Have to check a bag. But even though direct flight, I wanted to make sure I had the necessary things to change into, dress, hairpiece (updo, thank God for that) shoes, purse, wrap. (Editor's note: It is terrifying to witness the full array of feminine battle equipment, laid out for packing. I ran screaming from the room)

What actually happened? We wake up Sat. am early. Get call from airlines, flight delayed 40 min. Go back to bed for 20 min. Get up, have tea, shower, finish packing. Had most done night before. (Ed: Three suitcases! One night, three suitcases!)

A friend of Michael's (Ed: Neanderbill!) is traveling with us. Get to airport. No problems. On the runway getting ready to take off, I start to doze off and all of a sudden I get this image in my head. My dress still hanging on closet door. I told Michael, I think I forgot my dress. He said, no you didn’t. (Ed: she forgets NOTHING. She never forgets). Get to Chicago, check luggage, no dress. That's right, I had forgotten my dress!!!! I didn't even have a nice pair of pants to wear, brought jeans. (Ed: It was only one night. Makes sense not to bring other clothes. Still hard to know what was in the three suitcases, though)

Figured I'd stay at hotel. Michael and Neanderbill could go to wedding, and maybe I could find something in between wedding and reception, which didn't start until 5:00.

Get to Chicago. Called hotel, they told me there was a big mall 10 minutes from hotel. Sounds good. Michael is Hertz Gold member, car rental should be ready, no paperwork.

Nope, not ready. Person in front of us taking sweet time deciding whether to upgrade or not. (Ed: she exaggerates not. The guy was actually saying out loud, "Do I want the SUV, or the minivan? $20....SUV...minivan?" I wanted to beat him). Another 20 precious minutes lost.

On way to hotel. Railroad crossing. Longest and slowest train ever. Another 10-15 minutes lost. (If car had been ready, would not have hit the train crossing). (Ed: Neanderbill pointed out this nonlinearity: "Gosh, if we hadn't gotten held up at Hertz, we would have missed this train, too!" The train was going slow enough you could safely have crawled under it, between the wheels, without getting hit. I suggested Neanderbill might want to try that, just to see).

Get to hotel. It's about 12:15 now. (Ed: Remember, wedding is at 2 pm, and we don't know exactly where it is). Nice receptionist wrote out directions to mall while we went up and got freshened up. Had jeans on, sneakers, pearl necklace and earrings (pearl bracelet broke when getting dressed) and my hairpiece, again so thankful I had that (and I had originally thought I would have time to hair done at the hotel, huh) Michael all dressed up in suit. Carried empty backpack so I could put in clothes and took the shoes, purse, wrap.

Get to mall. Have about 30 min to find a dress. Mall is huge. Tried Lord & Taylor. Ran in, told clerk situation. Showed me all kinds of dresses, just not me. Some awful ugly, can't believe people wear them. Did find one I kind of liked, black lace like. Clerk was nice enough to point out price, $585.00. I didn't pay that much for my wedding dress (although that was 21 years ago!) (Ed: JEEZE! I didn't even know this. Dodged a bullet there...)

Decided to try another store. Nordstrom. Again told clerk story. Found a couple to try on. Had been looking for something in a solid color, simple, but shapely. Most good colors gone, they have out fall colors, boring. Found a sleeveless dress, black and I didn't really want to wear black to a wedding. But it had taffeta and the bottom was like a ballerina dress. Shirred waist, very flattering. At first, did not go with the bra I had. Did not have time to find new bra. Took bra off. (Ed: !!)

Thankfully, everything fit ok, nothing showing. Through clothes in my bag (still had on old white sneakers, with tall white socks), walked out of dressing room, asked clerk if I could pay for it and walk out in it. She snipped off price tag. Couple of women looking, complimented the dress and my hair (told them it was piece). One of them said I looked like a ballerina. But they asked about my shoes, told them I had them in the car. Then ran to jewelry section and bought faux pearl bracelet. Again, snipped off tag and wore out.

Running out in mall in black dress and sneakers, trying to find way out. Michael and friend were at a restaurant having a drink (non alcoholic so far). Finally found them. Have about 45 min. Church is supposed to be about 30 min. Missed exit. (Ed: we were using wrong directions. My fault. But I blame Neanderbill). Went out of way and had to do U turn. Get to the church 5 minutes before wedding.

Very nice ceremony. Go back to hotel and nap. To reception. Many compliments on dress. Told story.

Interesting, gender-specific reactions to story. Nearly all men thought I had deliberately left dress behind so I could buy a new one.

They are crazy. No one wants to have to find a dress in 30 min. No women thought that.

But dress was great for the swing dances. We danced the night away. Had floor to ourselves sometimes. Now I have new favorite store. Nordstroms. Been looking on line at all kinds of pretty dresses, may get out to South Point next weekend. (Ed: AAAAARGH! SHOOT ME! Though, I have to admit, an outstanding dress. She looked incredible.)

She Blinded me with Science!

Jessica Alba that is. Or did she?

According to the Telegraph, a survey decided and then Cambridge scientists proved that Jessica has the most sexy walk

Its apparently all about the .7 waist/hip ratio which lets her shake it in a way more elfin stars cannot!! Hmmm..... ok.

However, not so fast says Ben Goldacre at Bad Science: apparently the survey was done internally at the PR firm pushing the story and Jessica actually finished 7th out of 10! Plus the Cambridge professor (who was paid around $1000) claims the following:


I suggested that as a bit of fun and nonsense, but no more, that they could say something like the following:

“I have studied how 10 celebrities have ranked for “sexiness of walk” in
relation to their bust-waist-hip measurements. (Angelina) Jolie’s measurements at 36-27-36 mean she has the biggest waist surveyed, and a waist-hip ratio
(WHR) of 0.75. Scientists have repeatedly discovered that WHR is a
significant factor in judging female attractiveness. See, for example,

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6444851.stm

Women with a WHR near 0.7 are invariably rated as most attractive.
However, it’s probably ‘the way she moves’ which attracts, not just shape.
Angelina’s slightly larger waist may give her the torso strength with
which to produce a better angular swing and bounce to the hips than
minuscule stars such as Eva Longoria and Kylie Minogue can achieve with
32-21-33 and a WHR of only 0.64.”

He mentions Angelina Jolie because she actually came in first in the survey.

Man oh man, how do you get on the list for gigs like this?

This just in from the department of Doh!!

Rock stars more likely to die prematurely

Yes, the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University has been busy pushing back the frontiers of science.

The paper clearly describes a population of rock and pop stars who are at a disproportionate risk of alcohol and drug related deaths," said Mark Bellis, lead author of the study.


Which leads us to ask: How in the world is Keith Richards still walking around soiling our planet?

Look Ma, no batteries

The electric car of the future may well not have batteries but instead a super-duper ultra version of the humble capacitor. Austin Texas based EEStor has patented ''technologies for replacement of electrochemical batteries,'' meaning a motorist could plug in a car for five minutes and drive 500 miles...without gasoline.

In the vacuum tube audio world I frequent, people argue about the sound of different types of capacitors (which tends to drive engineers crazy). Hmmm...... I wonder what one of these babies would do in my homemade amp.

We'll probably never know because GM will buy the technology and bury it, right?

dubya's gettin' 'er done!

or "Look out Iran!"

In 2002 Dubya told us about the axis of evil. Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. Iraq is now off the list (things may not be any less evil there, but I'm sure they are off), and the big news this weekend is that North Korea has agreed to provide a full declaration of all of their nuclear programs and will disable their nuclear programs by the end of this year, 2007.

For their part the North Koreans say the US has agreed to take them off the list. Now maybe this is a "wily Filipino" situation, but it does seem that they lived up (finally) to their promise to shut down the Yongbyon reactor and maybe they are really pulling a Libya here.

That just leaves the Islamic Republic of Iran and 16 more months of Dubya. Who can bet against him?

Viva Le Bron!!

It's "mission accomplished" for USA basketball in Vegas. All opponents smoked, the Olympic berth secured and only a meaningless rematch with already trounced Argentina left tonight.

The big three, LeBron, Kobe, and Carmelo did the job, but LeBron was first among equals.

From the stats department:

LeBron shot 76.5% from the field, 57.7 on his treys (15 for 26), while averaging 16.7 points in 21 minutes per game. He also led the team in assists (with 44 to JKidd's 42) and was second in steals (with 15 to Kobe's 16).

Kidd only took 10 shots but did have the 42 assists (to only five turnovers).
Kobe shot well (56%) and was the steals leader, 'Melo shot well (62.8%) and did nuttin' else (as his is custom).

KPC favorite from his turnaround year with the late lamented OKC Hornets Tyson Chandler made the most of his limited playing time (rebounding and blocking shots). I think he may well make the Olympic roster.

Weekend Roundup

As we head into that most ironic of American holidays (Thanksgiving being #2), KPC presents for your perusal the weekend roundup:

1. Tyler Cowen takes off his rose colored glasses and comes to his senses.

In his own words: "What does it really mean if some part of your brain lights up? Who really knows?" The idea that seeing what parts of your brain react to stimulii somehow explains what is actually going on is one of the dumbest ideas ever and economics has not proven immune to this so far useless practice. Kudos, Tyler for seeing the light.


2. Lee Kuan Yew explains the resource curse.

In his own words: “Supposing we had oil and gas, do you think I could get the people to do this?” Mr. Lee said. “No. If I had oil and gas, I’d have a different people, with different motivations and expectations.

“It’s because we don’t have oil and gas and they know that we don’t have, and they know that this progress comes from their efforts,” he said. “So please do it and do it well.”

3. Zambia loves chess!

25 year old Amon Simutowe, who learned to play from reading magazines and became national champ at 14 and international master at 16, is poised to become the first black grandmaster from Sub-Saharan africa. Amon went to UT-Dallas on a chess scholarship and is said to win by "grinding his opponents down". Is there any other way to win?

4. Who needs Raymond Carver when you have the Chadron Record Police Beat?

Examples: Caller from the 100 block of North Morehead Street requested to speak to animal control because caller felt that someone was coming into his yard and cutting the hair on his dogs. Dispatch advised caller to set up video surveillance on his house. Caller said he planned on it.

and: Caller on the 900 block of Parry Drive advised a squirrel has climbed down her chimney and is now in the fireplace looking at her through the glass door, chirping at her. (hat tip to Dan Barry at the NYT)

Three birds with one Stone

In a great post, Marc Hodak manages to take down the silliness of our financial press, the triviality of Dubya's plan to help borrowers and the perils of investing your ever falling dollar in a managed stock fund with high fees. Kudos to you, Sir. Well done.

my favorite line? after quoting one of the "experts" quoted in the financial press, Squire Hodak sez: Dear readers, you should know that this speaker hasn't said a g**d**n thing. The only sentence here that isn't fluff is the one contending that the Fed will correct the market--and that one is flat out wrong.

Andy Roddick is more like me than I thought

Ok people insert your favorite loser joke here and then go on to read the posting!!

6'-9" John Isner who only got into the Open on a wildcard has won two rounds and now faces Roger Federer this afternoon. There is an incredible, yankee-jingo buzz about Isner's chances in this match and as the legendary "future of american tennis".

When asked about the matchup, Roddick summarized it succintly and accurately:

"Isner's going to be very tall," he said, "and Roger's going to be very good."

snap!

South Korea is more like the US than I thought

They even have prominent resume fakers!

Of all the recent revelations of résumé fraud here, the one involving a prominent Buddhist monk was perhaps the most shocking to a nation that values academic credentials almost as much as it does honesty.

The monk, the Venerable Jigwang, had transformed a temple in an affluent district of Seoul from a struggling collection of seven souls in 1984 to more than 250,000 members today, partly on the basis of his prestigious degree from Seoul National University, the country’s top academic institution.

“People swarmed in because they heard that a monk who had gone to a distinguished university was teaching the scriptures in English,” the Venerable Jigwang said at a confessional news conference on Aug. 18. “I think that the Seoul National University title more or less helped in propagation.”

Alas, he had no such title, and in that he was not alone.

After a news agency reported in July that an important art historian had faked her credentials, a nationwide wave of allegations and confessions followed that has so far swept up a movie director, a renowned architect, the head of a performing arts center, a popular comic book writer, a celebrity chef, actors and actresses, a former TV news anchor and now the Venerable Jigwang.

South Korea has been shaken as one prominent person after another has been exposed as having exaggerated, or fabricated, academic accomplishments.

The exposés have prompted prosecutors, the police, the Education Ministry and regional education authorities to announce plans to combat academic record fraud. Legislators have introduced a bill calling for a verification system.

I would like to take this opportunity to state once more for the record that, despite all appearances, and the University's claims to the contrary notwithstanding, Mungowitz and I really truly did graduate from Wash U.!!!

The King James Version

The FIBA tournament of the Americas is almost over out in Vegas. Team USA is undefeated so far, having routed all opponents and seems in good shape to qualify for the 08 Olympics. Yeah, that's how far the mighty have fallen, we have to qual-e-fy to even get into the Olympics now, como si fueramos Lichtenstein!

Anyway, much credit has been given Jerry Colangelo for rescuing USA Basketball by ensuring continuity and choosing a well balanced team with "role players". I disagree. In terms of continuity, there are only 3-4 players on this roster that were also on the roster for the previous world championship team, and while there are role players on the roster (Micheal Redd?), they pretty much stink.

Team USA is LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Carmelo Anthony. Maybe Coach K should get some credit for getting them to share the ball, but those three should get the credit (or blame) for what is going down in Vegas and what will happen in Beijing.

Wednesday night vs. Uruguay Lebron scored 26 points on 11-11 shooting in 14 minutes of pt. Game over. As of last night's game vs. Argentina (USA won 91-76), James was shooting an "almost comical 79.7 percent (47-of-59). He is 14-of-20 from 3-point range, a 70 percent mark that also leads the event."

Kobe scored 27 against Argentina and Carmelo had been the scoring leader before these last two games.

This is the same old superstar driven Team USA (thank goodness). Credit should go to three young superstars who have decided to cooperate for a common goal and not to old white guys in suits!

News Flash: Fredrich Von Hayek caused Minnesota Bridge Collapse!!

And that's just the tip of the iceberg!! You can look it up right here!

Inspectors in the United States have discovered that 77,000 road bridges are in the same perilous state as the one which collapsed into the Mississippi. Two years after Hurricane Katrina struck, 120,000 people from New Orleans are still living in trailer homes and temporary lodgings. As runaway climate change approaches, governments refuse to take the necessary action. Booming inequality threatens to create the most divided societies the world has seen since before the first world war. Now a financial crisis caused by unregulated lending could turf hundreds of thousands out of their homes and trigger a cascade of economic troubles.

These problems appear unrelated, but they all have something in common. They arise in large part from a meeting that took place 60 years ago in a Swiss spa resort. It laid the foundations for a philosophy of government that is responsible for many, perhaps most, of our contemporary crises.

When the Mont Pelerin Society first met, in 1947, its political project did not have a name. But it knew where it was going. The society's founder, Friedrich von Hayek, remarked that the battle for ideas would take at least a generation to win, but he knew that his intellectual army would attract powerful backers. Its philosophy, which later came to be known as neoliberalism, accorded with the interests of the ultra-rich, so the ultra-rich would pay for it.

According to his profile, George Monbiot, the intrepid author of this scoop, is a best selling author, environmentalist, philosopher, and screenwriter, so this pretty much has to be true, doesn't it?

Good news for people who love bad news?

The good news? As KPC reported earlier would probably be the case, the second quarter growth number was revised upward today from 3.4% to 4.0%.

Of course no one in the news media likes good news so immediately after reporting the number the AP opines: But the growth spurt could be short-lived. There are concerns that the recent turmoil in financial markets, a result of a spreading credit crisis, could seriously dampen economic activity in the second half of this year.

GDP growth may have slowed to just above 2 percent in the current quarter and many analysts believe growth will slow even further in the final three months of this year as the full impact of the recent market turmoil is felt.

The worry is that the roller coaster ride in stocks and spreading credit problems will shake consumer and business confidence and cause cutbacks in spending and hiring plans.

Translation: Don't worry, we will be miserable enough very soon.

Putin; Scourge of the Oligarch

Grabby Vladdy is at it again. After allegedly being "hounded out of business" and forced to sell his $6 billion oil firm Russnet to a Putin Pal, Mikhail S. Gutseriev went public with a letter published on his company website and in a Russian business newspaper. Yesterday the other shoe dropped as an arrest warrant for "tax evasion and fraud" was issued against Gutseriev.

Can you say Yukos Redux?

From a different, restricted Times Select article comes the following money quote:

''As everybody in the world knows, you don't fight city hall, and in Russia you don't fight the Kremlin,'' Chris Weafer, the chief analyst at Alfa Bank, said in a telephone interview. ''When the Kremlin comes calling and says 'we want to buy your business,' the only talk is about price and terms.''

What do you say guys, Can we get Putin to replace Alberto Gonzalez? CEOs beware!

To those who wonder why Michael Vick is in so much "Trouble"

Maybe this story will clear things up:

Leona Helmsley's dog will continue to live an opulent life, and then be buried alongside her in a mausoleum. But two of Helmsley's grandchildren got nothing from the late luxury hotelier and real estate billionaire's estate.Helmsley left her beloved white Maltese, named Trouble, a $12 million trust fund, according to her will, which was made public Tuesday in surrogate court.

She also left millions for her brother, Alvin Rosenthal, who was named to care for Trouble in her absence, as well as two of four grandchildren from her late son Jay Panzirer -- so long as they visit their father's grave site once each calendar year.

Otherwise, she wrote, neither will get a penny of the $5 million she left for each.

Helmsley left nothing to two of Jay Panzirer's other children -- Craig and Meegan Panzirer -- for "reasons that are known to them," she wrote.

But no one made out better than Trouble, who once appeared in ads for the Helmsley Hotels, and lived up to her name by biting a housekeeper.

"I direct that when my dog, Trouble, dies, her remains shall be buried next to my remains in the Helmsley mausoleum," Helmsley wrote in her will.

The mausoleum, she ordered, must be "washed or steam-cleaned at least once a year." She left behind $3 million for the upkeep of her final resting place in Westchester County, where she is buried with her husband, Harry Helmsley.

She also left her chauffeur, Nicholas Celea, $100,000.

Hugo Update

One of Robin's students told her that in Venezuela there are billboards up announcing a forthcoming new currency, the "new bolivar" and that some denominations thereof will bear Hugo's likeness. I could confirm the new currency part here (coming in early 2008!), but not the "Hugo on the cover" part, though given his marathon TV and radio shows, it certainly seems plausible.

It's the old Latin American Classic Currency Caper, knock a few zeros off the end (only three in this case), rename it, and hope inflation will somehow go away. From the above link:

Justifying the measure, Chavez argued that the country's strong economic growth of recent years, which has been fueled by high oil prices, has made Venezuela "a world economic power," and that it was psychologically damaging for $1 to be worth so many bolivars.

The new currency would simplify transactions, improve efficiency, generate confidence and rein in inflation, he said.

The official exchange rate for the bolivar now is around 2100 to the dollar (but on the street, the market price is more like 4000 to the dollar).


Hugo: to know him is to love him

Hurricane Hugo

Hugo Chavez is a busy man. Between having (a) suitcases of cash sent to Argentina, (b) cans of anti-Garcia tuna sent to Peru, (c) his country's clocks set 30 minutes faster and (d) rifles brought in from Russia, he hasn't been able to keep his Bolivarian Revolution on its original timetable.

So, he is trying to get the constitution changed to allow his re-election, not just for one more term but indefinitely! Fair enough I say. After all, Bolivarian Revolutions are not built in a day.

But it turns out that Chavez at the same time had just recently ruled out a similar change for governors and mayors, on the grounds that they might become corrupt in power.

Wow.

When asked about the apparent disconnect Hugo first went into an anti-european rant (the questioner was from the UK) but then pointed out that he needed to be able to run again because Venezuela's socialist revolution was like an unfinished painting and he was the artist. Giving the brush to someone else was risky, "because they could have another vision, start to alter the contours of the painting". Other officials were not responsible for the big picture and so did not need to run again and again, he said, looking at a row of governors and mayors. "Nothing personal." They smiled wanly and applauded.


I bet they stood and applauded.



hat tip to boz

Eating Ethically

Over at Marginal Revolution, Alex seems to equate Micheal Vick's heinous acts of hanging, drowning, and electrocuting dogs that apparently didn't have the affinity for fighting another dog to the death that Mr. Vick required with eating a hamburger.

On the one hand, the comparison seems specious in that we do not condone cow fighting to the death or cow torture; indeed those would be prosecutable offenses as well. I am pretty sure that bullfighting (at least to the death) is not legal in the USA. The distinction is clear, at least in theory. Perhaps a better analogy to Vick's acts would be with hunting and fishing, where with few exceptions, animals are killed for sport and often suffer grievously. Catch and release fishing is nothing more that fish torture.

However, on the other hand, many legal commercial practices in slaughterhouses are egregiously cruel and inhumane. The production of foie gras and veal in my opinion pass far over the line of what can be allowed to be done to animals for human enjoyment. Even everyday fare is often raised and slaughtered callously. Sections of Temple Grandin's excellent book describing current practices filled me with despair.

I was a vegetarian for over a decade, but have been eating meat occasionally for the past 10 years now. In our family, when we do eat meat, we make every effort to purchase organically grown, free range, grass fed, humanely slaughtered meat, but its hard to be consistent and I often feel like a hypocrite.

Farm Sanctuary is an excellent organization that promotes humane practices and I recommend checking them out if you have interest in this issue. Also The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, is another excellent book on the topic of ethical food.

It ain't the meat...it's the emotion....

The Bishop sends an email, regarding our earlier discussion of marriage:

Continuing your post re marriage--I am reading Ridley's Origins of Virtue and came across this on p. 92:

Living as he does in a pair-bond, the man can share all his meat with his wife who can share all her vegetables with him. Both are better off. The division of labor is born; each half of the trading pair is better off than it would be onits own. The woman can gather enough roots, berries, fruits, and nuts for two while the man catches a pig or a rabbit that gives the stew a rich mix of proteins and vitamins.

He continues on p. 93:

When did male hunting change from being just a seduction device to being part of a deal with one wife? In effect, there came a moment when men gathered meat not just to seduce more women but to feed their own children.

And, fathers love their own children, so they get oxytocin treats from watching the kids eat the meat.

So, as usual: It ain't the meat, it's the emotion. But it starts with the meat exchange. The emotion comes AFTER the division of labor.

Oh, Bama!

I learned over the weekend that Barak Obama is both totally ready to be President and also completely unqualified for the job (I should say that I haven't seen a candidate this year who I would classify as "qualified", by which I mean "rationally processes information and does not deliberately and habitually lie in public")

Here is my evidence:

While many consumer goods are being made in countries like China, Obama said that the United States needs to make sure that it is in a position to manufacture its most essential products.

"It's one thing if China is producing our Barbie dolls, it's another thing if China is producing our silicon chips," Obama said. "We have to have some sense strategically of what are those things that are vital to our national interests and national security. Those need to be manufactured here."

News flash: Barak Obama is just another typical pandering politician.

Are you freakin' kidding me? The old national security argument for protectionism? Trotted out for no particular reason and in response to no particular demand for protection by domestic chip manufacturers that I am aware of? Just a knee-jerk innate reflex.

On to the facts. (1) I am pretty sure China is actually a net importer of silicon chips. As of 2004 at least, they imported upwards of 80% of the chips used in the country, though their production capacity is growing rapidly.

(2) Silicon chips are made all over the world; it's hard to imaging a scenario where we would be hostages to Chinese chip makers.

(3) Is China our enemy? Do we expect them to refuse to export to us and start bombing us anytime soon? Aren't they content with bombing us with Barbie dolls and hoarding T-bills?

(4) As evidenced by the incredibly fast growth of the Chinese chip manufacturing sector, its pretty easy to build up a domestic chip industry. If all the countries housing chip manufacturers declared war on us at once, we could get a sector up and running pretty quickly.

Will we ever again have a president in this country who both rationally processes information and doesn't habitually and deliberately lie in public?

I fear that we will not.

Fundman Gets Married

Fundman got married! To a girl and everything. A pretty, and smart girl. No,
I can't explain it either. The demand side makes perfect sense;
the supply side? I dunno.

Anyway, the stars really came together. Because NEANDERBILL WAS
THERE, TOO! Neanderbill flew with us on the plane to Fundman's home
town, and provided considerable entertainement.

First, Neanderbill was sleepy. He had apparently not gotten his
full night's sleep. In the Raleigh airport, he fell fast asleep with his feet up on a chair, blocking an aisle. Now, the "grown up napping trifecta" is:
1. mouth wide open
2. loud snoring
3. visible drooling

But Neanderbill had his head tilted way back. This caused his mouth to fall open in a wonderfully amusing way (everyone at the gate enjoyed it!), but he only got partial snoring credit (just sporadic snorts). And the head tilted back meant no drooling at all. A disappointment.

Anyway, after we got to F's HT, we had some adventures (on which, more soon!). Went to the wedding, very nice. Came home, and we all had some nappies. I got this photo of Neanderbill fully stretched out, using a book for a blanket:






















The nap must have worked, because after we woke him up he was soon observed out on dance floor, shaking his remarkably bony moneymaker.
















(And, for the sake of propriety, I should note that this is a purely paternal/platonic sort of dance, with a young woman who is an ex-PhD-student. Neanderbill is an INTENSELY moral fellow. Always moral, always on purose; usually amusing, sometimes on purpose.)

And, in interests of fairness, here is Ms. Mungowitz and me. Yes, I'm wearing a tie (that's good; it's a formal wedding). Yes, I'm wearing it like a samurai scarf (not so good).




















And...finally: Fundman himself, in two shot. Congratulations, and enjoy Italy, you two!

Monkey Business

This is a little hard to believe....

But it was on the Beeb, so it must be true.

(Nod to Dr. Stormslayer)

primary primer

The only thing worse than our presidential general election process is our presidential primary process.

1. It gives goofy, weird, states too much influence. I love New Hampshire-ites with their "Live Free or Die" and all that, but I am not sure they should be so important in national politics.

2. It is creating a "race to January" where states are moving up their primaries in order to try to gain said influence. It is possible the nominations will be effectively set by February 5th this time around. I need Dennis Kucinich around longer than that!

Why not a single national primary in the spring? That way everybody matters and there is no way to game the dates.

Do candidates really want to spend untold hours in Iowa getting prodded and poked (Barak Obama said on the Daily Show that Iowa voters like to "kick the tires" and "look under the hood" of the candidates)? Does John McCain relish going to Bob Jones University and licking some fundamentalist boots?

What would be lost? Perhaps the chance for a relatively unknown candidate to work the existing system well and gain momentum? No more Howard Deans? Is that a bad thing?

The Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) in Mexico now uses a national primary to select their candidate. The Socialist Party in France also used a national primary to select Segolene Royal. Do our erudite readers know of other examples?

Those who know me know that I have never voted in a national election and never will, but hey, a good idea is a good idea, no?

Angus at the Hinky Mart

Albertson's has declared defeat in Oklahoma at the hands (in Norman at least) of two Walmart Supercenters, so now I grocery shop at Homeland! I am checking out yesterday and the girl is getting more and more agitated by my product choices (no Miss, that's not Spinach, its Swiss Chard). She holds up my cheese choice and asks me: "How do you get goat cheese?"

Several thoughts run through my mind: Pray earnestly in your car for a miracle before entering the store? Go to the cheese cooler and pick one out? But I settled on "Well you pretend you are making cow's cheese only you use a goat".

Her response: "So goats give milk?" (I am not making this up).

Me: "yes, they sure do. They are mammals".

Her: ?????????

Me: "All mammals give milk (that's true innit?), the trick is to get them to give it when they don't have babies. We use cows and goats, but people also make cheese from sheep's milk. In some places people drink and use Yak milk and Camel milk."

Her: "Have you ever drank goat's milk?"

Me: "Yep"

Her: "YUCK!!!!!!!!!!"

Me thinking to myself: Hey, cool. I can blog this!

What to do with your spare time

Summer is about over so your kids are going back to school leaving you with peace and quiet, or if you are a student, classes have started so you need something to occupy your time during the long boring lectures! Here are some quick KPC recommendations

(A) Read these books (now in paperback!!):

1. "Snow" by Orhan Pamuk. I was very favorably impressed and surprised. Its a real novel with a real and compelling story, not just an extended political statement. To my mind it is more accessible and tells a much better story than did "My name is Red". Highly recommended

2. "Stuart: A Life Backward" by Alexander Masters. I bought this on a lark off a Border's display and quickly became engrossed in the story. Stuart's own personality and actions (it's a biography of a homeless person in Cambridge England) more than overshadows Master's lack of literary chops. When the author gets out of the way and lets Stuart do all the work the book really really shines.

(B) Listen to this new music:

1."Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"by Spoon. Britt Daniels has refined his sound down to the minimum at this point. He gets more out of less than anyone around these days and to me Spoon is the quintessential American Rock Band at this point. Their whole catalog is highly recommended. Listen chronologically and hear Daniels figure it out. It's like going chronologically through a book of Mondrian or Rothko pictures. Here is a review from Pitchfork.

2. The Stage Names by Okkervil River. This recording goes the other way from Spoon. Will Shef is completely over the top here. Grandiose and elegant. I am very impressed by the quality of lyrics and the way a variety of styles of individual songs combine to make a coherent, moving, whole. Here is Pitchfork's take.

US Open Picks

Ok, my handicapping of Wimbledon wasn't the greatest. I took a Williams to win on the women's side and took the field against Federer on the mens's. Venus hoisted the big plate, but fastidious Roger won his fifth straight Wimbledon title.

For the US Open, which starts Monday, I'm sticking with my "Williams" pick on the women's side, even though Venus seems a tad overconfident and Serena has been frustrating tournament directors all summer by pulling out of events. My backup pick if the Williamses flame out is Ana Ivanovic.

On the men's side, it's just stupid not to pick Federer, but I can't do it, so I'll take the field again. I am rooting for Nadal or Djokovic to win.

PS. Here is Serena's latest commercial , this one is for HP and it's pretty cool.

The rain in Spain....

Or reverse brain drain?

A study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation found that more than one million potential immigrants, including scientists, engineers, doctors and researchers, are competing for 120,000 permanent US resident visas each year

The total number of applicants and their family members waiting for permanent residence in the United States in 2006 was estimated at 1,055,084. Additionally, there were some 126,421 residents abroad waiting for visas, making a worldwide total of 1,181,505.

I have two responses to this story:

(1) Is this the "line" the illegals are supposed to get in "like everybody else"?

(2) So our country's immigration policy is to tacitly allow large scale unskilled labor in while tightly controlling the influx of skilled labor?

It keeps getting harder for me to say this but, Is this a great country or what?

Stupid is as stupid does

For those worried that continued or increased immigration will destroy our pristine genius level gene pool, let me assure you that that horse has already left the barn. Incontrovertible proof can be found here (its 4+ minutes but well worth watching).

Wow. We have met the enemy and he is us!

Mystery solved....

So, here's the solution to the mystery of the broken window. The things I know are in roman type. The things I suspect are in italics.

1. My wife and I went to a play. My son Kevin decides he is interested in having some foods he hasn't had before. He goes to Lowe's foods, a grocery we don't frequent, and buys fancy Spanish olives, a can of coconut chunks, and some cucumbers.

2. He gets home, and opens the olives. Has some. He chops some, first with a small knife, and then with a large cleaver. He makes samurai noises as he chops: "HIIIII-YAHHHH!" "WHAAAAAAA-HOWWW-AAH!" Olive offal flies, but he cleans it up.

3. The cucumbers. He chops the cucumbers with the cleaver; quite satisfying. Then he remembers we have a 30 inch machete in the garage. He gets the machete, and goes outside. He chops off the head of a cucumber. By this time he has switched to pirate noises: "GAR! Avast, there, ye cuke-lubber! Ye won't again see the light o'day!" Comes back in the house, another cucumber gets the plank.

4. He looks at the can of coconuts. He looks at the machete. He tastes the coconut, decides he doesn't like it. He looks at the machete, again. Now, the canned coconut is in a can much like a half-pint paint can: very sturdy. But the machete is nearly 3 feet long, and pretty sharp.

5. He goes outside, places the can of coconut on the ground, and winds up.

6. Making a loud samurai sound (back to samurai: "AH-HOOO-WHAAAH-HAI!"), he takes a full right-handed baseball swing at the can. The machete cuts the can slightly, and dents it a little more. A small amount of liquid, and a few pieces of chopped coconut, spill out in a splash pattern.

7. But mostly, the machete launches the can like a well-hit baseball. It strikes the window hard, still rising. The sharp edge of the can cuts a chip into the wood.
A fair amount of the liquid, and the cubed coconut, spill out of the can onto the deck.

8. Kevin picks up the can, looks at the glass and thinks, "Oh, no!", and puts the can down deep in the garbage. He goes up to bed. He leaves the glass on the deck, and in the window frame. He doesn't clean up the coconut. He pretends to be asleep.

An addendum: Kevin asked me, "Why are you embarrassing me like this?"

My answer: Next time, Kev-o, pick up the glass. And clean up the coconut. If *I* clean it, I blog it.

DIRTY DAVEY: Where do you want your mug sent? The baseball-like action wins you the prize....

Get into your music (and burn down your garage?)

This is a pretty cool video about Ruben's tubes, which I didn't know about at all. I thought I was retro by having and using an old Tektronix analog oscilloscope but evidently, that ain't nothing.

Old Yeller Dog Food

Kroger introduces "Old Yeller" brand chunk dog food.

From the release:

“The movie is a timeless classic that transcends generations, and we believe this brand will appeal not only to original fans, but to the millions of Americans who share the same kind of special bond with their beloved dogs,” said Barry Vance, Kroger senior corporate category manager.

“Bringing Disney’s Old Yeller brand to a trusted retailer like Kroger was a natural fit,” said Christopher King, category director, Disney Consumer Products FMCG. “Disney’s Old Yeller dog food is for those dogs that are part of the family.”

MacMan, who is usually the nicest and most sensitive guy on earth, has the following suggestions for tag lines for ads:

Your dog will be rabid for Kroger's Old Yeller!

Kroger's Old Yeller: Before you shoot him.

If your dog could talk, he'd ask for Kroger's Old Yeller as his last
meal. Make it his next.

That's sick, MacMan. Good job!

A Pretty Good Point....

This seems like a pretty good complaint to me.

(Nod to MacMan, who always has good complaints)

Selena, We hardly Know ye....

Angus raises a pretty good point. Strange to imagine that Michael Vick's friends are all the bad guys. Maybe, I don't know what happened, but quite a leap of faith.

Regardless of how that shakes out, the irony is that Selena "Lacrosse Witch Hunt" Roberts was one of the first, and shrillest, to advocate that the Duke lacrosse players rat out their compatriots. Why did she shriek such invective about the necessity for lacrosse players to rat out their boys, and yet hate on Vick's "associates"?

As Angus notes, this would "only make sense if [they were] innocent."

Of course, the lacrosse players WERE innocent, and so Selena's incredibly scathing critique was wholly misplaced. Nothing happened, and so it is hardly surprising the lacrosse players did not rat out their friends. (Excellent background here)

Further, the lacrosse captains, and the attorneys of the accused, offered to cooperate, but were told by Mike Nifong that he was not interested in their statement.

So, Selena (1) got the facts wrong, since the lacrosse guys DID cooperate, and (2) got the advice wrong, since it is hard to imagine ratting out your friends WHEN THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!

On Michael Vick: I don't know if he did anything or not. But if his friends want to talk to the police, I would have thought Selena would approve, given her advice to the lacrosse players. Or maybe Selena just has different standards for different (shall we say) situations.

PS: I should note that I talked to Selena Roberts for a story some years ago. And this was really quite a good, and fair story. She caught an inconsistency, and pointed it out, against political stereotype. I wonder, as Angus does, what has happened to change her.

A mystery....in two parts!

A mystery will be posed today, and solved tomorrow.

My wife and I get home, after having gone to see a play.

On driving up, we see in the driveway...a rather large end of cucumber, fresh, wasn't there when we left three hours earlier.

On the counter inside: An empty olive jar (expensive olives), and lots of cucumber pieces here and there. Another large cucumber end over by the fireplace. One son is gone to the lake for two nights, and so can't be implicated. Other son, Kevin....asleep, or pretending to be.

I get up in the morning, get my tea and the Sunday paper, and go out to back deck to read and watch the hummingbirds (we have a dozen or more hummingbirds that fight for sugar water supremacy from our feeders. extremely entertaining)

When I open the back door, I am met with this scene: broken window, glass everywhere, and two strange puddles, with what appears to be chopped onions or some other small white cubes of foodstuff in the puddles.

I try to piece this together. Out in the middle of the deck, there is this puddle:






















I have drawn lines to help you see the splash pattern, and a circle to call attention to the white foodstuff cubes.

Now, there is also the broken window, which in terms of direction lies exactly at the midpoint of the splash pattern in the previous photo. Some[thing] bounced, or was launched, from the splash in the previous photo. And it was launched with such velocity that it not only broke the window, but also carved out a fresh gouge 1/2" into the wood window frame (circled). Had this object, whatever it was, not hit the wood it would clearly have gone through the next window as well. It had to be heavy, have a sharp edge, and be travelling fast.






















Now, beneath the window there was another puddle. No splash pattern, just a puddle. Same white foodstuff cubes. Looks like this:
















So, here's my question, for all you "Children of the Cheese": WTF? What happened here? A slushy ice ball from the neighbors house, bounced once and hit the window? An alien invasion?

The answer: tomorrow here at KPC. Commenter who comes closest to the correct answer (and my judgement on that is FINAL, btw) gets a free "Munger 4 NC Gov" stainless steel coffee mug! mailed to the address they provide.

(A note: my son Kevin has not told me the answer, so I don't know either. And I am very interested to find out, so that I can kill him)

This has got to stop

Over the past year, I have seen Selena Roberts of the NY times sports section go from a feisty, funny writer to an over the edge shrill caricature. Her latest piece, an apology for Michael Vick, has pushed me over the edge.

She actually portrays Vick as a victim of his posse!

"The first to fail Vick was Davon Boddie, a cousin and personal chef."

"The first to flip on Vick was Tony Taylor, a fast friend from Newport News, Va., with an arrest record for drug trafficking and a traffic record for reckless driving."

"The latest to betray Vick is Quanis L. Phillips, a friend since middle school."

"Group dynamics can collapse under pressure. Vick has been abandoned, left to contemplate a plea deal that could imprison him and ruin his N.F.L. career. He is stunned, those in his camp say. Snitching is a street sin, isn’t it?"


I guess I have to say the obvious. Hey Selena: Micheal Vick isn't in the position he is in because he was betrayed by his crew. He is in the position he is in because apparently he repeatedly and heinously broke the law and acted despicably. The only was he's been betrayed is if he is innocent.

I'm surprised Roberts didn't write that the dogs had it coming for betraying Vick by not being good enough killers. Maybe she can cameo (a la Melo) in the next stop snitchin' video.