Wednesday, January 31, 2007

"Joyce, Modernism, and Aestheticism"

So I decided I was going to try to branch out a little this semester and maybe check out an English class, and I've always had a vague desire to read Joyce with some supervision. So I went to this class today. Two episodes convinced me that the class was not for me:

First, the Professor began with a thought experiment: imagine that you have a blank piece of paper and an un-erasable pen. So far so good. Now imagine you're in jail so it's your only piece of paper ever. I can accept that. Then he started talking about how the "whiteness" of the paper "defends" the paper from me, and, for some reason, I spend exactly 113 days not writing anything on it. In context, the professor says, that piece of paper is now...art. Because it represents all the writing I didn't do! I was reminded of the Simpsons episode wherein Lisa tells a fellow concert-goer that he has to listen to the notes the violin soloist isn't playing, and the man responds that he can do that from home.

But I had survived "the black square" first semester, surely I could weather the storm of a blank piece of paper (which, incidentally, couldn't be hung in a gallery because nobody would understand it in context, and the author couldn't sign the paper because that would violate and penetrate its virgin whiteness. It's a paradox.). However, the blank paper did nothing to prepare me for the almost indescribable nonsense that was to follow (the following is so nonsensical that some people actually left the room rolling their eyes, while I stayed on to document the events for the outside world).

The Professor declared that Modernism is all about making "words speak for themselves," "getting the writer out of the equation." Several English-y looking people nodded their approval. Then he declared he was going to write a word on the board, but first he had to decide where on the board to write it. That took a while, but he finally selected a hard-to-reach corner of the board and carefully, in sloppy all-caps, he wrote....
SNOW
I'm not going to lie, I fell for his ploy - the first thing I thought of when I saw that word was....snow! And then, rather smugly, he was like "I bet you guys imagined snow when you saw that word. And then nothing, because you expect OTHER WORDS, maybe even a sentence! But I bet you didn't think of this [writing on the board]:
SNOW
NOW
NO
ON
WON
SO?
NO!
O!
"I bet you didn't think of how 'no' and 'on' are the same in a mirror, and different on a page. And how if you skip letters or rearrange others, you get other words, other concepts. Combinatorics will be a major theme of this class."

So in conclusion, I don't feel confident enough in my ability to pass that class to take it for credit.

The Smell of Courses in the Morning

Today is the first day of classes. It is my second favourite day of the year (the second day of courses being my favourite, since most classes are TTH instead of MWF). I will be looking at:
  • Physics 15a
  • "Life as a Planetary Phenomenon"
  • Aleh's class on Dynamic Models Optimal Policy
  • Law and Economics
  • Pwn Theory
  • Market Design, better known as Breakfast with Al
  • Science, Gender, and Sexuality
  • Joyce, Modernism, and Aestheticism
  • Social Economics
  • I.O. II with Susan Pwnthey and Julie Mortimer
And who knows how many classes on this list I'll even take. It's a blank slate.

The Dream is Over...For Now

After the iPhone bump, Apple stock has returned to its true value:


Monday, January 29, 2007

Gallons of Coffee

I was at JFK today, and I decided that I needed coffee, so I headed for Dunkin' Donuts, as any reasonable man might. First of all, where did "small" go? They offer three sizes, M, L, and XL. "XL" but no small? That's pretty funny.

But much stranger still is that M is, by all rights, a "true" L. A model of "size inflation" would, I think, say that the size names would go up and up but the true sizes would stay the same. Surely that's what happened with dress sizes (the infamous "size 0"). At no price can I buy a reasonably small cup of coffee at Dunkin' Donuts.

I think it's hard to write down a regular economic model in which sellers force you to take more of something than you want, even if you'd pay just as much for less, when the production function exhibits positive marginal cost everywhere...even if marginal cost is really really small. So what is going on?

As a result of this debacle, I was extremely and uncomfortably wired (which only happens to me when I way-over-consume coffee) for hours while waiting for my flight. But the E-190 is a fun little plane, Jetblue has a winner there. As always, I went stand-by on an earlier flight and yet got put in the best seat possible, 1A.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Moral Minds

I'm enjoying the new Marc Hauser book now. It's like a meta-take on the "Justice" class I took with "Professor" Michael Sandel sophomore year. For example, Sandel seemed to take the following question very seriously as a deep philosophical thought experiment (I paraphrase it):
Maxmillian is standing on a platform above the train tracks, watching an oncoming train. Maxmillian used to design trains and then drive them, so he knows an out-of-control train when he sees one, and right now, he's seeing one. Ludwig, whom Maxmillian has never seen before (he'd recognize him for reasons that will immediately become apparent), due to a glandular problem, weighs so much that his heft alone would be enough to stop the train (without derailing it) before it crashed into the 5 deaf girl scouts who are walking down the tracks, oblivious to the doom rocketing towards them. Is it morally acceptable for Maxmillian to push Ludwig off of the ill-placed platform in order to save the disabled children?
Hauser looks not at the question (his disdain for moral philosophy is at best thinly veiled), but rather at what factors seem to control how people across ages, places, and times would answer the question.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Grey's Anatomy Actor

If you read Yahoo! Entertainment as carefully as I do, you're no doubt aware that some guy on "Grey's Anatomy" used a bad word about homosexuals in some semi-public setting. Luckily, Washington is going to get the help he needs. From the article:
Whether Washington was receiving outpatient counseling or had entered a facility was not specified, and the statement did not indicate whether he would miss work on the show.
Do they really have "facilities" for this kind of thing? And is Washington really a "patient" (which is necessary for being an "outpatient")? Isn't he just an idiot asshole?

Oral Examination in Industrial Organization

I had my first experience with being examined orally today. I was pretty nervous in the hour leading up to the thing, even though everyone was saying it was not a big deal. I sat down and the conversation went something like this:
Pakes: "tell me what you're interested in in IO"

Me: "does that mean you'll ask me questions about whatever I say I'm interested in? like, should i say the easiest thing?"

Pakes: "let me put it this way: if you can reason through a single thing that we covered in the entire class, then you'll get...the same grade. so let's talk about what you're interested in"

Me: "oh, well, in that case....i sort of liked the collusion stuff at the end of the class"
Also, when I told him i was an undergrad, his exact response was
"You're an undergrad?....far out."

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Roger Federer, class act

"I'm kind of used to being the overwhelming favorite over and over again," he said. "It's good I got used to it, playing under pressure, because that's exactly what you have to be able to do. Guys know they always have a chance on the day.
Did he really have to say "over and over again?" Nice of him to credit his opponents with a non-zero probability of winning though.

Monday, January 22, 2007

"300" : Trailer 2

Apple.com/trailers has the real second trailer for 300. I don't know what that piece of giznank that's been showing up on NFL playoff games is, but this one looks...epic.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Pizza Pricing and Availability

Why isn't pizza more expensive on football game days? Instead, it's cold and takes forever to get there...which reminds me of Rick's idea of pizza delivery men bringing some extra pizzas along when they suspect that there will be residual, hungry, drunk college students desperate for un-ordered pizza at the delivery location.

Then, of course, there was the time I showed up at Felipe's after the legally mandated 2am closing time to find a very helpful if sketchy guy selling burritos out of a paper bag right outside the closed restaurant doors. He, perhaps suspecting I wouldn't notice, short-changed me badly, and then quickly righted his error when I complained.

Friday, January 19, 2007

El Laberinto del Fauno

Saw it last night. Definitely list-worthy.

One of the most memorable aspects of the movie is the minor sound effects. The buzzing of a fairy's wings, chalk scratching on a porous wall, and most of all, the slight squeak of the evil Captain's tight-pulled leather military uniform. Each effect is crisp and easily detected - a little bit exaggerated. It reminds me of the sounds you hear when characters are fighting hand-to-hand in Kill Bill. Those sounds give every detail in the movie a little more bite and character.

Then, of course, there is the movie. A few of the details are derivative - the Faun, for example, is a composite of characters from Lord of the Rings, just as his underground lair is exactly like the entrance to the Mines of Moria. But there is no denying that the movie is highly original. I particularly like the giant and revolting toad that lives under the fig tree, and, of course, the guy whose eyes are in his hands instead of his face.

If I could only take one movie of 2006 with me to the desert island, it would still be Little Miss Sunshine, but this was a very solid piece of film-making. I'd buy the DVD. On Half.com.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Incoherent Conversation, in Writing

I've always wondered if someone had written a book in which dialog or narration was presented in a naturalistic way. Anyone who has ever read a deposition or the transcript of an impromptu speech knows how incoherent people really are when they speak.

I have found such a book, though I've only crawled through the first 30 of 700 pages. It is William Gaddis's JR. Every scene is a complicated and rambling conversation between three or more people, with sub-groups carrying on sub-conversations, characters ignoring others, time lapses in between responses to past statements. It is confusing, but also hilarious and interesting.

Incidentally, the plot involves an 11-year old who manages to build a huge paper-goods concern out of an endowment of Army surplus items using only a pay phone. It may or may not be an ultra-liberal critique of free-market capitalism.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The Squirrel Fugue

Ever since a squirrel couple moved into the attic (which connects directly to my bedroom) and made the big decision to start a family, I've been treated to the most exciting and intricate wake-up noises. It begins with a solitary scratching, shortly thereafter joined by a solitary squeaking. A baritone warbling chimes in, becoming ever more rapid and intense. Then, a flurry of squeaking by the little ones as the song reaches its emotional and physical climax. The squeaking is almost entirely masked by random, aggressive chirps as well as the flurry of little feet from squirrel babies unable to stand still during the production.

As suddenly as it begins, it is over, to be repeated throughout the day (but not night).

The trapper will be coming this week.

Monday, January 15, 2007

THE GAME: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pick-Up Artists

For obvious anthropological reasons I have decided to buy the book titled above. They actually throw "penetrate" into the title, for which they deserve credit. The Table of Contents is worth reproducing in full:

  1. Select a Target
  2. Approach and Open
  3. Demonstrate Value
  4. Disarm the Obstacles
  5. Isolate the Target
  6. Create an Emotional Connection
  7. Extract to a Seduction Location
  8. Pump Buying Temperature
  9. Make a Physical Connection
  10. Manage Expectations
I'll let it speak for itself, but what does #8 mean? I guess I'll know once it comes in the mail. $30 seemed high, even with fake leather cover, fake gold leaf, and that ribbon-built-in-as-bookmark, so I ordered it on half.com

One More Movie

How could I forget this, from an independent studio

Movies of 2006

2006 was, by all means, the worst year for movies ever. From "Little Man" to the highly anticipated "The Butterfly Effect II," movies consistently disappointed us. However, there were a few watchable entries, and even, a few good ones. Here are my picks:

Good Movies
  1. Little Miss Sunshine. This was the one movie of the year that I plan to watch once a year until I die. It has many brilliant moments, and you feel good at the end.
  2. The Departed. The hot psychiatrist's accent almost ruins it all...but she's hot, and the movie delivers in a lot of ways. Plus, some of the action occurs right where I took the GREs. And props to Scorsese for the rat on the railing at the very end.
  3. Casino Royale. Brought Bond back to legitimacy after several epic disasters (invisible car? mojito?). But champagne for one?
  4. Inside Man. Spike Lee does all he can to ruin it with clicheed race-related asides, but he fails.
Watchable Movies

  1. Miami Vice. It introduced the "go fast boat," and Michael Mann achieved the scariest-sounding gunshots ever. Other than that...
  2. The Omen. I enjoy overdone horror movies. When Dani Fein and I saw this, we laughed enough in the theater to prompt the woman in front of us, who took the movie rather too seriously, to mutter "some people!"
  3. The Good Shepherd. If only Matt Damon's son were a man instead of an effeminate child inexplicably allowed to almost cause nuclear holocaust, this movie might have made sense.
Finally, I've heard that Pan's Labyrinth was amazing, but only from (and I can't stress this enough) a highly unreliable source.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Malapropism

An anonymous contact suggested that I get a prescription to Playboy.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

What Happened to Browse?

With each new version of iTunes, it gets harder and harder to toggle browse mode. Do people not like to browse their music? Without browse, iTunes' usability is roughly equivalent to the original version of Winamp...I feel like I have no idea what it is people do with their music.

Similarly, unless you know what you're looking for already, it's basically impossible to find interesting new stuff to buy on the iTunes store, or on Amazon for that matter. When I heard that Paramount's movies were added to the iTunes store, I rushed over to check it out, only to find that it was basically impossible to browse a large selection of movies.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Excerpts from "A Dictionary of Human Instincts"

I picked this book up off the "Free Books" table at the bureau, which usually just has a huge pile of last year's Journal of Taxes and Accounting. It's basically a long list of "instincts." Here are a few examples, quoted exactly:

  • courtship, courtship and pre-copulatory-sequence instincts (a distinctive vocalization tone, murmering sweet nothings, hand-to-hand, arm-to-arm, mouth-to-face, mouth-to-mouth, embracing, running, chasing, jumping, dancing, juvenile play patterns, courtship feeding...
  • fall, to-fall-in-love instinct
  • fall, to-fall-out-of-love instinct
  • goo-goo, to goo-goo instinct (The baby of the host family crawls out to explore, and immediately gets lifted high, to be goo-gooed at, and to have its little hands admired, and generally be messed about).
  • squeeze, when-a-man-and-a-woman-have-to-squeeze-past-each-other, the-man-twists-towards-the-woman,-while-she-twists-away-from-him instinct
It just goes on and on like this. It's always on my desk for those who want to see more.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Monday, January 8, 2007

banana bread and getting guys

ever since i got an email from my mother containing a recipe for my grandmother's famous banana bread, gmail has consistently given me the following "quicklink" ad:

Be The Girl All Guys Want - www.DatingWithoutDrama.com - You Have What He's Looking For - I'll Teach You How To



Caltech Basketball

The streak is over. After 207 consecutive losses over 11 years, Caltech has won a game (and it was a thumping over Bard). They're still riding a 22-year within-division losing streak though.

Sunday, January 7, 2007

Brewers Association World Beer Cup

For those of us stunned by Miller Lite's claims to having won the gold medal at this competition (albeit for "American Style Light Lager,"), I have done a little research. First, 65% of the entrants of this "international" competition (held in Colorado) are American, and an even more suspiciously large percent of the 85 award categories feature the dubious word "American" in the title. Let's take a look at some of the categories and winners shall we:

American Cream Ale or Lager: Old Style
American Style Light Lager: Miller Lite
American Style Lager: Miller High Life
American Style Premium Lager: Pabst Blue Ribbon (after all, an award-winner already)
American Style Specialty Lager: Icehouse

Here are the rest of the results. Notably absent are Genny, and, especially, the best American Style Ice beer in my opinion, Natty Ice (the only ice beer that placed was Milwaukee's Best Ice, which received third place for American Style Specialty Lager).

There were 22 entrants in the American Style Light Lager competition.

Saturday, January 6, 2007

Cheerleaders cont.


from Friedman, who notes that cheerleaders are common in Japanese baseball.

Friday, January 5, 2007

Cheerleaders in Baseball

Cheerleaders, aka scantily clad young women, are used to sell everything, from the Dallas Cowboys, to the 49ers, to prescription medication. The Atlanta Braves do indeed have girls who dance in short shorts on top of the dugouts a few innings per game, but as far as I know, they are unique. The Red Sox have nothing. Why are cheerleaders the exception in baseball, but the rule in all other American sports?

Corn Shortage Means Death for All

The NYTimes reports today that, due to massive demand for ethanol, there may not be enough corn left over as food. Choice quotations:
Renewing concerns about whether there will be enough corn to support the demand for both fuel and food, a new study has found that ethanol plants could use as much as half of America’s corn crop next year.
Farmers have always responded to price signals from the marketplace and, historically, we have had much more challenge with overproduction than shortage.

Dozens of new ethanol plants are being built by farmers and investors in a furious gold rush, spurred by a call last year from the Bush administration and politicians from farm states to produce more renewable fuels to curb America’s reliance on oil
Something tells me these plans are being spurred by massive subsidies, not a call from W. And something tells me that supply and demand will still intersect somewhere...


Thursday, January 4, 2007

J.N. Friedman asks

who stands to lose if we scrap Bowl games for an end-of-the-year NCAA football tournament. Under the reasonable assumption of allowing monetary transfers, it seems like everyone would be better off. i'd kill to have a tournament fill in some of the dead time between the World Series and the Super Bowl...

Was Mr. Autrey Rational?

You've probably read about this. Not surprisingly, the guy is being rewarded for his heroics. Strangers are handing him $10 bills. Surely he'll get a lot more once his movie deal is in place. Obviously I don't think he jumped because he calculated the expected utility from the chance of death and the chance of movie deal, but it may have been ex-post individually rational. When you think this through, you have to wonder why we consider this such a great and honourable move on Mr. Autrey's part. He greatly endangered his own life, which is valuable to society (especially to his young kids, I assume), and the best outcome from the risk was saving an individual whose only known trait at the time was that he suffers from seizures. Whose life, under that veil of ignorance, was more valuable to society?

If it is not maximizing the social surplus that we find inspiring, then what is it? Why is it so great to see people act in a literally selfless manner, instead of in a way that maximizes the greatest common good?

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

3 Very Memorable Things about 2006 (and 3 Not So)

Memorable:

  1. Dodgers hit four consecutive homeruns in the 9th inning to tie the Padres in a very important game. This won't be happening again any time soon.
  2. Youtube emerges, dominates, and is bought for an enormous sum by Google, allowing me to enjoy such classics as the Michael Richards fiasco and Randy Johnson's hitting a pigeon in flight with a 100 mph fastball, and allowing the rest of the free world to enjoy Comedy Central for free.
  3. Gift cards beat out apparel for the top market share for Xmas presents. Soon, we will achieve a neo-classical paradise in which gift exchanges are one-way lump-sum transfers.
Not Memorable:
  1. Several states pass bans on gay marriage, but "by less" than previous states. Good job. Simultaneously, the Democrats seize control of the Senate when a decorated, conservative war hero just barely eeks out a victory over a sleezy overt racist.
  2. Microsoft starts selling its vaunted iPod killer, the ZUNE PLAYER. It comes in three colors: white, black, and, I kid you not, brown.
  3. The Cardinals are the worst team in the history of baseball, by an order of magnitude, to win the World Series. They may not have been in the top 20 teams in baseball. It is Tony Larussa's first World Series that does not end in a sweep.

NFL Playoff Predictions

Indianapolis over Kansas City
Seattle over Dallas
New England over New York
Philadelphia over New York

New England over San Diego
Baltimore over Indianapolis
Chicago over Seattle
Philadelphia over New Orleans

Baltimore over New England
Chicago over Philadelphia

Baltimore over Chicago

Rumoured iPhone Pricing

Thinksecret reports that Apple wants all carriers to charge the same high price for the cellular phone the company is said to be preparing. Most if not all current cell phones are highly subsidized by providers of service contracts (this is thrown into sharp relief if you ever go to the Verizon store and try to buy a new phone without a new contract). The article suggests that Apple does not want its phone to become a mere "commodity."

Apple products like the iPod, while obviously superior in quality and design, are status goods. Everyone knows that Apple products are expensive and flashy, so they serve well as signals of wealth and "coolness" (of course, coolness is endogenous, but I won't go into that here). This can explain why Apple would want to contract away any free money from cell phone service providers. Cell phone service providers might not only sell the phone at a nominal loss, but might even give up expected profit on an individual cell phone service consumer if selling the iPhone cheap attracted lots of new consumers. In that case, the low price the consumer paid for the iPhone would weaken the iPhone's conspicuous signaling ability.

I suspect that Apple is concerned with its reputation. Consumers might hesitate to buy an iPod now if tomorrow Apple is going to drop the price in order to sell to lower quality customers (while simultaneously releasing an expensive and shockingly different-looking, easily distinguishable "iPod 2"). Once Apple has dropped the price, the signaling capacity of the good is diluted. What Apple might want is a reputation as a "crazy" firm - one that can, for unknown reasons, commit itself to perpetually charging high prices. Reputation games like the ones I learned in game theory require that there be some positive true probability that the firm is crazy - and indeed, this is exactly what Apple has cultivated in the image of the demanding, reclusive, and perfectionist Steve Jobs. The CEO's insistence on perfection keeps prices high, and, if he is "crazy," then more signal-conscious consumers, expecting prices to stay high forever, will buy Apple's status goods now.

One last note - perhaps the above is why the iPod rarely changes, and why the changes under the hood usually dwarf the changes in physical appearance. It's easier to sell someone something expensive if it's never going to go out of style.

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

The Matsuzaka Auction

Major League Baseball has an arrangement with Japanese baseball teams to make it possible for Japanese players under contract with Japanese teams to play in the US before they become free agents. MLB teams bid on the right to exclusive bargaining with the player. The high bidder has 30 days to negotiate with the player. If a deal is made, the MLB team sends the Japanese team the amount bid - otherwise, nothing changes hands. This system is ridiculous for many reasons.

First, the obvious incentive for any team is to bid an arbitrarily large amount and then not sign the player, thereby blocking his playing for a rival. However, this does not happen in real life - I'd guess it's because there are unofficial and more secretive agreements between teams to make sure it doesn't happen.

The less obvious result of this system is that the Japanese player gets totally screwed. Let's imagine, as seems to be reasonable, that Scott Boras, the agent who consistently gets unbelievably lucrative contracts for his athletes, is able to recoup all of the surplus in any bilateral bargaining situation. The player is of value X to the MLB team bidding for him, the bid is of amount Y, and the player requires at least W to be willing to play in the US. Knowing that Scott Boras will get X-Y for the player, the team will bid Y=X-W. The team that values the player the most will indeed get him, but the player is always driven to his indifference point while the Japanese team rakes in all of the surplus.

Above, it's crucial that Scott Boras get all of the surplus in negotiation. I haven't worked this out, but I think it might be the case that a less effective agent might get his player more surplus because, with the prospect of gaining surplus, teams will shade bids like in a normal first-price auction. Is that right?