Wrath of Khan

Bob Frank takes the death of Al Kahn as an occasion to launch into bizarre attacks on macro theory and airline deregulation.

KAAAAAAHHHHHNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!

Apparently Al once said "if you can't explain what you are doing in plain English, you're probably doing something wrong", which I guess means the general theory of relativity is pure bullcrap.

Bob riffs off this to "If you can’t describe what your model says in plain English without provoking derisive laughter, it probably doesn’t say anything of value”, and says Macroeconomists should take heed.

KAAAAAHHHHHHNNNNNNNN!!!!

I must say though, that I've never thought it was hard to say what DSGE models were saying in plain English without getting laughs. I did find it so hard to say what textbook Keynesian models were doing with a straight face that I had to quit teaching intermediate macro.

Bob then returns to his main theme, an appreciation of all things Kahn:

"Many disgruntled air travelers remember him unfavorably as the chief architect of commercial airline industry deregulation. But as he was quick to remind critics, planes now fly with many fewer empty seats than they used to, resulting in much lower average fares, after adjusting for the sharp increases in operating costs that have occurred in the interim."

KAAAAAHHHHHNNNN!!!!!

Um, I'm pretty sure there was a lot more to airline deregulation than decreasing the number of empty seats on flights. There was entry, there were new routes, there was the opening of air travel to the middle class. In short the industry was transformed in a way that massively benefitted consumers.

I'm not sure why Bob is so conflicted that here in his homage to Al, he feels the need to take shots at Al's crowning achievement.

Bob then ends with a heartwarming story about how kind and beloved Al was:

"A story circulating at the time described an English professor’s complaint to him about the high salaries of economics professors. “Perhaps you should consider starting an English consulting firm,” he is said to have responded."

If I didn't know better, I'd think Bob didn't actually like Al very much.

Steve Nash is 7 kinds of awesome.

And here I will list four reasons why.

1.  At 36 years of age he is shooting 51% from the field (44% on 3s), 94% from the line and averaging 18 points and 11 assists per game.

2. He lit the Olympic flame at the Vancouver games.

3. After which he headed for Dallas where he won the skilz challenge at the all star festivities.

4. and they there's this:

 

I rest my case!

Nutty Buddy--Redux!

(I wrote about the "El Jefe" Nutty Buddy four years ago...)

(Nod to Josh H)

(SUPER UPDATE: I missed this the first time I saw it! Fantastic idiocy. Right at the six minute mark (5:59) in the video, the moron says that a baseball hits unprotected juevos with 2,400 pounds of force. Not clear what the units are...per square inch? Kinetic energy? But, okay, call it 2,400 pounds of force. THEN the moron says that the Nutty Buddy reduces this to 110 pounds of force. Let's suppose that's right. THE MORON CONTINUES: "That's a 2000% reduction in force!" Really? 2000% reduction? Impressive. Actually, going from 2,400 down to 110 is a 95% percent reduction in force, dude. Any decrease more than 100% means that those juevos are exploding outward and exerting force on the baseball. Ouchie!)

Just another brick in the wall?

People: any ideas about WTF is going on here?

sweet shooting

On the menu bar off to the side, if you click on 18 three pointers, you can see Baron Davis besting Nash. I am still laughing about their version of the movie "Stepbrothers".

There's something happening here...

....but what it is not at all unclear; it's the emergence of the Thunder as a viable (on the court at least) NBA team. Last night they beat the Grizz for their 11th win, putting them three rungs out of the bottom of the Association. Scottie Brooks moved Durant to small forward from shooting guard and somehow made it clear to everyone that Durant, Jeff Green, and Russell Westbrook were going to be getting the shots and leading the team. They are all responding. KD is averaging 24.8 on 47% shooting (42% on 3s) along with 6.6 boards. Last year he shot 42% overall, 29% on 3s and pulled down 4.4 boards. Jeff Green's numbers are similar to KD's and after a very shaky start, Westbrook was named Rookie of the Month in December. Durant is 20, Green 22, and Westbrook is 20 as well.

The Thunder also have 3 first round picks in the upcoming draft and 2 in the following one. The only trouble is they are now losing ping pong balls at an alarming rate (They are 6-4 in their last 10 games).

Here's a paen to Durant from Bill Simmons (hat tip to Tyler Cowen, the LeBron James of bloggers).

Ezra's Unabated Man Crush

Wow, first there was this and now (via Lebron James) there is this:

"What the GOP realized was that Obama did come across different than the average American, but not so much because he was black as because he was effortless. The very set of supercharged talents and qualities that allowed Obama to levitate past the boundaries of race and class make him different than those who haven't rocketed upward on the strength of their intelligence and charisma and charm."

Holy Crap!!

People like this make it so hard to like Barack. Yea, he's alright, but he's not all that and a bag of chips. He's a freakin' politician. Get over it and grow up.