1. The new museum in Amsterdam is a bathtub museum. Not a museum about bathtubs, but literally a museum shaped like one. (Nod to Dutch Boy)
2. The idea of MISspelling something is modern. The difficulty of spelling in English is ancient.
3. An objection to the ability of markets to get the rate of time discount "correct." My question: as compared to what? Compared to legislators with a two year time horizon (okay, six in the Senate, right after an election)? Why don't people make fun of the "efficient governments" hypothesis? The libertarian argument is not that markets are perfect, it's that politicians are even more short-sighted.
4. Not easy going from very poor to post-college success. Families are pretty good at forgiving failure. It's what they expect. If your mom, dad, and uncles all failed to break out, then it's okay that you didn't. What's hard to handle is success. Poor kids have no one to tell them how to handle that. And for the family back home, it feels like rejection. In the south, "Gettin' above yer raisin'." Or in more urban vernacular, "She's a Tomasina. She ain't keepin' it real."
5. The 12 Days of Development. (Nod to Marc B.)
6. If everything is abundant, nothing is scarce. KPC pal Zach Weiner on economics. As always with Zach, you start to laugh, and then say...."Wait..." Zach once sent me an original of one of his drawings, which I had admired, and I took the drawings to get them framed. The guy at the frame shop was in awe: "You got these from Zach Weiner? I used to...." (he paused for emphasis) "...read Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal EVERY DAY." I asked why he stopped. "Oh, after I stopped I wasn't quite as suicidal." That's the sort of story where either you ask more questions, or you don't. I didn't.
2. The idea of MISspelling something is modern. The difficulty of spelling in English is ancient.
3. An objection to the ability of markets to get the rate of time discount "correct." My question: as compared to what? Compared to legislators with a two year time horizon (okay, six in the Senate, right after an election)? Why don't people make fun of the "efficient governments" hypothesis? The libertarian argument is not that markets are perfect, it's that politicians are even more short-sighted.
4. Not easy going from very poor to post-college success. Families are pretty good at forgiving failure. It's what they expect. If your mom, dad, and uncles all failed to break out, then it's okay that you didn't. What's hard to handle is success. Poor kids have no one to tell them how to handle that. And for the family back home, it feels like rejection. In the south, "Gettin' above yer raisin'." Or in more urban vernacular, "She's a Tomasina. She ain't keepin' it real."
5. The 12 Days of Development. (Nod to Marc B.)
6. If everything is abundant, nothing is scarce. KPC pal Zach Weiner on economics. As always with Zach, you start to laugh, and then say...."Wait..." Zach once sent me an original of one of his drawings, which I had admired, and I took the drawings to get them framed. The guy at the frame shop was in awe: "You got these from Zach Weiner? I used to...." (he paused for emphasis) "...read Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal EVERY DAY." I asked why he stopped. "Oh, after I stopped I wasn't quite as suicidal." That's the sort of story where either you ask more questions, or you don't. I didn't.
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