Notes from My Flight

The United Airlines route from Boston to San Francisco is much maligned, and for good reason. It's always a 757 configured to maximize the number of coach seats, even though most of the fliers seem to be Global Services Million Mile Fliers who all expect to sit in first class. The plane is boarded in 4 boarding groups, and I thought I was doing well by being in group 2. Oh how wrong I was. At least 3/4 of the full flight was in group 1, and every single passenger brought on the maximum-allowed-volume roller board. So, 45 minutes after boarding began, I stepped into the plane, only to be told that my bag would have to be checked, and not the kind of door-check where you get the bag back on the jetway.

During those 45 minutes, I listened to a conversation among a large group of United employees in which they could not stop talking about how much they love flying Jetblue whenever possible. Even a jumpseat on Jetblue is preferable to anything United offers them. I couldn't have agreed more.

Finally, an hour into the flight, I chatted with the guy next to me, who seemed very amiable. He was going to Berkeley to visit his girlfriend, who is a sociology PhD first-year. I told him I would probably be in Stanford or Harvard's PhD program in economics next year, to which he responded "oh, that's great, I'm going to MIT next year. In economics." After a stunned silence, we started talking about economics for the next few hours. He was a Chicago undergrad (though unfortunately he didn't know any of the Chicago people I know) who deferred two years to work for BCG, and is now going to be at MIT with NSF funding. He should be living comfortably I suspect.

Harvard Drinking Statistics

Some sort of undeniably evil anti-alcohol propaganda group has begun advertising heavily on the facebook citing statistics like

1 in 2 Harvard student that drinks doesn't play drinking games

62% of Harvard students that drink alternate alcoholic and non-alcoholic bevarages

(they cite the "National College Health Assesment"). I clicked on one of the ads, even though I know it will make them want to advertise even more in the future. They describe their methodology:

Campus media campaigns which use products such as pens, posters, highlighters, postcards, lip balms, Nalgene bottles, tray liners, and newspaper ads feature positive statistics about Harvard students which illustrate that most students make low-risk choices with respect to alcohol consumption. A typical social norms message would be, “78% of Harvard students had 0-5 drinks the last time they ‘partied’.”

I would be absolutely fascinated if this preposterous scheme works. Something tells me that the fact that "most [Harvard] students make low-risk choices" will not sway those in the silent but cool majority who actually like to enjoy themselves when it's possible.

Students are then invited to review the data and assist in creating new messages. Those messages, in turn, are tested by Harvard students for believability and interpretation.

I've got to wonder which students these are, and whether or not they've ever spoken to anyone who drinks heavily (or if, like they think of people in Africa, they just think of drinkers as sub-omegaloids who could use their generously donated indirect assistance).

Hilarities of the Harvard Police Advisory

A few months ago, I received an advisory detailing an attempted robbery in which a Harvard undergraduate was threatened with an umbrella (no joke). When he refused to fork over his cash, he was struck with the umbrella. The multiple offenders then fled, only to be caught an hour later. Today I received another account of incompetent criminal boobery:

On Sunday, March 18, 2007, a male undergraduate student reported to the
Harvard University Police Department that he was the victim of an
attempted armed robbery while walking on JFK Street. At approximately
1:15, AM as the victim approached the intersection of JFK Street and
Memorial Drive, he observed an unidentified male smoking a cigarette
and gesturing with his hands. As he got close the unidentified male,
who was holding a knife, demanded the student's wallet. The victim
indicated to the suspect that he was going to comply with his demand
for his wallet. The victim then resisted and threw his backpack at the
suspect. As the suspect fell to the ground the victim disarmed him.
The suspect then fled over the Larz Anderson Bridge into Allston. A
search by the Harvard University Police Department and the
Massachusetts State Police failed to locate the offender. The victim
was not injured and did not require medical attention.

First of all, this story is obviously made up. No Harvard undergraduate would ever, in a million years, attack someone holding a knife with his backpack. And furthermore, Harvard undergraduates are not capable of "disarming" people, except perhaps with their fake smiles and overwhelming mediocrity. Perhaps it isn't surprising that, in the story, the male undergraduate claimed that the attacker fled to the urine-soaked hellhole slash den of iniquity that is, in any Harvard undergraduate's mind, Allston.

Oh how I long for the days of the serial ride-by gropers of yester year.

I Come Before You To Protest A Great Injustice

I, for one, do not generally support the use of blogs to promote, report, or relieve personal animosities. However, I simply have no other choice.

A certain Harvard economics graduate student, let's call him "J N Friedman," no wait, that's too obvious..."John Norton F," was kindly invited, by me, to watch NCAA basketball at my apartment. During a break in the action, we all went to Whole Foods to buy dinner sausages, vegetables, and, perhaps most importantly, delicious Whole Foods-branded soft, fresh, chocolate-chip cookies.

Dinner having been eaten, having paid me an appropriate sum for his portion of dinner, John Norton F took his leave of us. A few minutes later, I went into the kitchen to retrieve the cookies, only to find that they had disappeared. Naturally, our first instinct was that John Norton F had taken the cookies, so I called him:

ME: "Did you take the cookies?"

HIM (annoyed): "No"

ME: "Are you sure?"

HIM: "Yes"

And yet the cookies were nowhere to be found until, on this very day, I walk into the NBER to find the cookie bag, half-empty, on my desk. Perhaps there is some other explanation for this phenomenon. I'd like to think there is. But until it is brought to light, I must conclude that this sad little graduate student sacrificed his reputation and good-standing not only in the Harvard community, but in the economics community as a whole, simply for half a bag of superior-quality cookies.

For Those of You Who Don't Read the Freaknomics Blog

It may interest you that the NYTimes just opened all of its gated content to University faculty and students free of charge. Just pretend like you're signing up for the free trial, and you'll see a link for university affiliates. Now I get to read all of my favourite columnists like Krugman.

Building a Divorce-Proof Custom House

The NYTimes reports that many new custom houses are equipped for the inevitable sleeping apart, or even living entirely apart, that the modern married couple requires.

In interviews, couples and sociologists say that often it has nothing to do with sex.

This is why economists don't trust interviews. Or sociologists.

The best part is the user-posted comments on the newspaper's website:

This article reminded me of the idiotic marriage counselor who thought me sharing a bed with my thrash-and-talk-in-her-sleep-all-night wife would help us “bond.” Given that she also preferred talking on her cell phone late into the night while in bed to having sex, it’s no surprise that we’re now divorced.

I'm sensing deeper issues with that guy. Also

Not worth the money….the ol standby, THE COUCH is all a man needs!

In conclusion, I will quote from the gospel of the Drive-By Truckers

Last night I slept with my boots on again,
one cut on my forehead and one my chin,
on the hard old floor with nothin to cover up with.
You got me real good, girl, and I must admit,
you pack purty mean punch for such a pretty little dish.
And it's a shame to know most folks don't ever know love like this.

Last Night's Menu

Last night, a rather unusual and stunningly delicious meal was prepared at 20 Ellery St #2, most of it from the brains of dear friend-couple Beth and Michael (whose food blog will soon be functional here), and the salad and dessert from newcomer Mia.

I contributed by halving wee potatoes (one was too wee to halve), braii'ing shrimp, asparagus, and pita, and doing enormous quantities of dishes in the morning. While I wasn't looking, the others produced salads, appetizers, and lamb shanks. As usual I was busy maximizing social surplus by drinking beer and wine of superior quality in quantity. And we decanted the wine into my IKEA decanter for effect.

When it comes to food, though, pictures are the optimal medium:

Obama Needs to Change his Name or Quit

We all knew it would start with Fox News:

Fox chairman, Roger Ailes, made a remark about Mr. Obama on Thursday night at an awards banquet here. In a series of jokes about various public officials as part of a speech, Mr. Ailes said, “It is true that Barack Obama is on the move. I don’t know if it’s true that President Bush called Musharraf and said, ‘Why can’t we catch this guy?’ ”

As the comparison, however made in jest, traveled around the Internet on Friday, the calls for Nevada Democrats to sever ties with Fox News intensified. Activists and bloggers also cited Fox’s broadcasting last month of inaccurate statements that Mr. Obama had attended a radical Muslim school while a child in Indonesia.

Did Fox News really broadcast that Obama attended a radical Muslim School? If so, why wasn't this made into a bigger deal? If it were true, it would be remarkable, but if it's false, which I'd imagine it is, shouldn't they "get in trouble"? I guess they're probably not broadcasting to anyone on the margin, so it doesn't really matter...

My New Tie

Prudence is the mother of safety, but the aunt of boredom. What better entertainment than to take a few risks? Happiness is not a balance-sheet; it's a trapeze act, and to delight a monkey the recipe is simple: suspend him from a delicate liana above a healthy appetite. His joy will inspire him to a thousand tricks, and it's an even better laugh if the crocodile shows his teeth.

Tyler Cowen on CT

He writes, in his list of his favourite things Connecticut,

CT has the best pizza in the USA, most of all in New Haven but not only.

And remember, he doesn't mess around when it comes to food. Of course, USA should read "world," but he probably hasn't had enough of the world's pizza to know that it's nowhere as good as New Haven.

Beer-throwing mini fridge

I would pay good money for this.

Sociology

So I'm sitting here in the science center cafe, next to a Sociology TF and his undergraduate brown noser (I can only assume freshman). Choice bits include:

"The great thing about sociology is that everything is 'up for grabs.' Unlike in economics, or other fields, there are no right or wrong answers in sociology, and the culture is such that students are encouraged to question everything."

I agree with the first point, that in economics, we strive for answering questions, whereas sociology isn't obviously pointed in that direction. But I have to say, I doubt there are any fields that encourage student debate significantly more than economics, where debate is really all we have.

"Sociology is obviously the best way to advise policy makers on how to alleviate poverty, but it also gets to talk about fun things, like music."

I won't dignify that any further.

"My work with the professor is about why, when Vermont and New Hampshire were so similar 50 years ago, they're now very different. We think it has to do with communes, and hippies, so we're gonna write a theory of that"

Something tells me his theory might only hold if we assume Inada Conditions.

This doesn't really boost the image of sociologists that I have.