jvh

The Exxon Valdez Ruling

2008-06-26T11:16:00.002-05:00

I don't know very much about this, but the Supreme Court just ruled that punitive damages cannot exceed compensatory damages. Having just take a survey class on law and economics, I know that there are some good reasons for punitive damages (the classic one is that compensatory damages should be scaled up by the inverse of the probability of getting caught for the misdeed), so this rule strikes me as slightly simplistic. But I'm not clear on why, after paying for all the damage that they did, Exxon should be expected to pay an enormous amount in punitive damages.

Yahoo News is covering this story from the victims' perspective. Not surprisingly, many of them are unhappy to be getting less money rather than more. In fact, many of them "were planning their retirements with the $2.5 billion in punitive damages that Exxon Mobil Corp. was expected to pay." Given that these people received compensatory damages, which means that they were (at least in theory) compensated for lost earnings (and lost future productivity), is it reasonable for them to demand that Exxon also pay for their retirements? I'm not convinced that the answer is "yes." I'm quite sure that a lot of people do not feel that the compensatory damages were adequate, but nobody seems to care about the distinction between the types of damages.

On a lighter note, one fisherman attempted to express his indignation by saying,

It [the decision] really hurts...It gives big business the formula they need to calculate the cost of their actions when they destroy the environment. This gives them the formula to calculate their risk, period.

Would he prefer that big business only have an unbiased estimate of the cost of their actions?

Is the iPhone Misogynistic?

2008-06-24T09:16:00.002-05:00

The L.A. Times reports that Erica Watson-Currie has trouble with using her iPhone because of her long fingernails. And she's not the only one.

She and other women who have long nails - as well as people of all genders with chunky fingers - have real trouble typing on the iPhone.

"Why does Apple persist in this misogyny?" Watson-Currie asks, apparently unaware that some men too have long nails. Of course, long nails interfere with a great number of productive activities, iPhone use being only one of them. And that leads me to my claim, which is that interference with productivity is exactly the point of having long nails. Veblen talks directly about clothing and shoes that purposefully cripple women of high standing, signaling that their families are so well off that those women need not engage in productive activity. Long nails seem to serve exactly the same purpose.

Complaining that devices do not cater to the needs of women with long nails does make sense from the individual nail-owner's perspective, because a nail-compatible iPhone would erode the signaling value of nails. For the woman who would prefer to signal but can't because, for some reason or other she is of inferior quality, such a device would provide a short-term boost. But, once everyone figured out that nails no longer guarantee a crippling inability to engage in productive tasks, women and other signalers would be forced to find another way to conspicuously cripple themselves. So maybe, Apple isn't so misogynistic after all - maybe they're saving the world from an inferior equilibrium in which products must cater to those with long nails (which is costly), and in which women must adopt another form of self-crippling fashion statement.

As a side note, the chunky fingers quote reminded me of the scene in "King Size Homer" in which Homer, having purposefully gained a lot of weight, attempts unsuccessfully to dial the phone. "The fingers you have used to dial...are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad now."

The Internet That Wasn't

2008-06-09T09:19:00.003-05:00

I was very pleased with myself for avoiding retaining Comcast's services, because they charge exorbitant "installation" fees and have incompetent customer service. I called on RCN instead, and they sent out a very friendly, helpful tech who got the Internet running in five minutes and then got out of our way. That was Tuesday.

A week later Wednesday, while I was at the bureau, Mia called to tell me that the internet was down. The (Apple) wireless router was blinking amber. I pulled out the only trick in my bag, i.e. the "power cycle," but that didn't work, so I told Mia to call RCN. They told her that it was a Boston area problem, and that hopefully it would be fixed soon.

Today is Monday, and we still don't have Internet. And, much more shockingly, the people at RCN don't seem to think that this is remarkable in any way. According to the illiterati of RCN technical support, the entire Boston area has been without service for five days. They were nice enough to offer us a waiver for 2 days of service, which came to somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.

On The Eve of Beer-Making

2008-06-01T09:43:00.003-05:00

Mia's birthday present to me was beer-making equipment. We haven't bought the equipment yet, but we have been speculating on what beers to make. Here are the three best ideas:

1. Caraway-flavored rye wine. It will be like liquid rye bread.

2. Smoked bacon-bock. You know how some bars serve blueberry beers with blueberries floating in them? Imagine a manlier version of that.

3. Old cock ale. This is stolen from the Sam Adams guy. You throw a rooster or two into the beer during the boiling, and you get a beer that's perfect for when you're home sick.

Can't wait.

What I've Been Shaving With

2008-05-12T09:19:00.003-05:00

The allure of the straight-edge razor with leather sharpening-strap has always captured my imagination, but my instinct for self-preservation is still too strong for me to take that leap. However, after a recent tip-off by a friend of a friend, I have found the next best thing, the so-called "safety razor."

I went with a Merkur double-edge model safety razor, which features a butterfly-style blade enclosure and metallic finish. In addition, I went on eBay and found a deal on a Vulfix brush, and I got some shaving soap from Kiehl's. Getting the best shaving cream is extremely important - almost as important as picking up a styptic pencil at your nearest pharmacy. The first five times I used this system, I accumulated a lot of nicks that bled surprisingly profusely. The styptic pencil stings a little, but it stops the bleeding immediately.

The advantages of the safety razor over its safer, modern cousins are subtle. Now that I've gotten decent at using it, the shave is a little closer than with the current Gilette technology. Mostly, for me though, it's the ritual and the process. The single blade gives you a sensory feedback that the Fusion cannot match - you can feel the blade scraping the hair off your face in a pleasing way. And those of us who think of razor blades as "Laibson-Gabaix shrouded attributes" will be interested to know that, in the world of safety razors, the handle is expensive, and the blades are almost free. I am looking to fully recoup my investment relative to Gilette blade purchases sometimes during the 2009 calendar year.

The firm handshake

2008-05-07T15:33:00.003-05:00

Those of you who know me know that I like a firm handshake. And I like to return such a handshake in kind. There's nothing more off-putting than rearing up to shake someone's hand only to get a cold, clammy, noodle-like response, or, even worse, the other person's group around your fingers instead of your hand. Yahoo! News reports today on a study that proves, using correlations in data generated by a dubious psychology experiment, that having a strong handshake causes you to get a better job!

The author of the study said

We probably don't consciously remember a person's handshake or whether it was good or bad," Stewart said. "But the handshake is one of the first nonverbal clues we get about the person's overall personality, and that impression is what we remember."

I consciously remember every handshake I've ever had. And rest assured, I judge people by it.

Micah Owings

2008-05-01T13:13:00.002-05:00

Young Diamondbacks pitcher Micah Owings, who, in his second year as a starter is pitching extremely well, slugged .683 last year. This year, after 20 plate appearances, his OBP is almost .500. It's becoming pretty clear that the guy can really hit. The Diamondbacks acknowledge this point by pinch hitting him, as when, yesterday, he hit a game tying pinch hit homerun.

So why the hell does he bat ninth?

Sam Adams Beer School

2008-04-29T12:37:00.003-05:00

The other day I got to go to one of Harvard Queenshead Pub's highly subsidized beer school events, and the founder of Sam Adams was there. He's the guy who appears in the company's ads, talking about how he hates stale beer (in one ad, he actually jumps in a huge tank of stale beer). I liked his style - he used swears sparingly but occasionally, which is unusual for a speaker at Harvard. For example, he told us the Canadian joke about American beer - what makes American beer like having sex in a canoe? You can guess the answer or email me and I'll let you know.

Someone asked him why Sam Adams light isn't a calorie-free beer. His response, besides the obvious, was that Michelob Ultra is literally thinner than water. I haven't had Michelob Ultra, but something tells me, if I did, I would find it unsatisfying.

Something Not Mentioned in the Whole Fritzl thing

2008-04-29T12:33:00.003-05:00

Most people are aware of this incredible and horrible story. Now, I don't advocate incest any more than the next man, but something that I found mildly interesting in this whole thing was that none of the children seem unhealthy. In fact, considering that they never saw daylight, they are "surprisingly healthy." Isn't incest supposed to produce horribly sick and deformed children?

Trenton Thunder Dog

2008-04-27T16:51:00.005-05:00

I'd like to announce my triumphant return to this blog by linking to a video of the trained golden retriever that the Trenton Thunder use as a bat boy. Thanks to John N. Friedman for the tip.

Food Blog, 1.0.0.1

2007-10-21T16:23:00.000-05:00

I decided to make the blog classier by giving it its own domain name. It can now be found at

http://www.redramekin.com

Food Blog

2007-10-19T19:21:00.000-05:00

All future food postings will be available at our new food blog:

http://redramekin.blogspot.com/

Baked Eggs

2007-10-18T09:57:00.000-05:00

Inspired by my new favorite food blog, 101cookbooks.com, I decided to experiment with baked eggs this morning. We used oiled ramekins, lined them with bread (whole wheat pita for me, sourdough toast for Jonathan), piled in a few diced tomatoes and onions, seasoned with parsley, salt, and pepper, and then plopped an egg on top. We baked them at 425F for about 10 minutes, just until the yoke was set. They were fantastic. Similar in gooey deliciousness to poached eggs, but with all the flavors of a tasty omelette.

Pumpkin Biscotti

2007-10-17T19:50:00.000-05:00

Soon, Mia and I will be posting to a food blog. Until then, however, I will post food-related things here. Tonight I, alone, and by myself, with no help whatsoever, made pumpkin biscotti, using a slightly modified recipe from Simply Recipes.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups of white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
• Pinch of ginger
• Pinch of cloves
• Pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of pumpkin purée
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
-some raisins, chocolate chips, and/or walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and spices into a large bowl.

2. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin purée, and vanilla extract. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Give it a rough stir to generally incorporate the ingredients, the dough will be crumbly.

3. Flour your hands and a clean kitchen surface and lightly knead the dough. Add the raisins, walnuts, and chips. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper. Form the dough into a large log, roughly about 15-20 inches by 6-7 inches. The loaves should be relatively flat, only about 1/2 inch high. Bake for 22-30 minutes at 350 F, until the center is firm to the touch.

4. Let biscotti cool for 15 minutes and then using a serrated knife cut into 1 inch wide pieces. Turn the oven to 300 F and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. Cool completely.
Biscotti may be still a tad moist and chewy, so if you prefer it crisp let it sit uncovered overnight in a dry space. Serve and enjoy.
Makes approximately 15 cookies.

Harvard Prepares for Faust Coronation

2007-10-10T11:26:00.000-05:00

Walking through the yard these days, one can't miss that they're preparing for a major ceremony of some kind. Turns out its the "installation" for our new president. What has struck me, and surely others, is the imagery that the decorators have gone with. The picture I took hardly captures it - the yard is hung in hundreds of blood-red banners. Many of these banners have simple, imposing designs which I have never seen. I'll charitably liken it to the coronation ceremony in Ian McKellan's Richard III (instead of directly comparing it to Nazi rallies).

Edgeworth's Test of Interpersonally Dependent Demand

2007-10-08T11:59:00.000-05:00

It turns out that, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, economists were very much concerned with whether or not their models should incorporate the ways in which one agent's consumption can affect another's utility. In creating a literature review for Hongyi's and my work on conspicuous consumption, I stumbled across one of the earliest empirical tests of this idea, conducted by Edgeworth himself:

The conception may be illustrated by the common supposition that at social gatherings which are cheered by alcoholic beverages the consumption of liquor per head is likely to be greater the more numerous the company. An opportunity of testing this belief is afforded by the varying size of the dinners at a certain Oxford college, whose members are thought to be susceptible to the influences of good fellowship.

Finding that the dinner's population had no effect on wine drunk per person, Edgeworth concluded that indirect, interpersonal demand effects had no merit, and he never revisited the concept.

Tradesports' Take on The Most Electable Candidate

2007-10-01T14:53:00.000-05:00

Tradesports gives us two different odds - the odds of any given candidate winning her primary, and the odds of any given candidate winning the presidency. I believe that (correct me if I'm wrong), we can apply the definition of conditional probability to calculate the probability of any candidate's winning conditional on winning the primary to see who is the most "electable." Here are the results:

for the Suckpublicans:

Giuliani: 41.2%
Thompson: 37.5
Romney: 34.6
McCain: 50 (!)

and for the Suckicrats:

Clinton: 70%
Obama: 48.5
Edwards: 43.1
Gore: 70.4 (!)

I leave analysis of these numbers to my far-too-long-blog-starved readers.

Russia III: St. Petersburg

2007-08-22T10:52:00.000-05:00

After days of lazy cruising, it was a shock to hear the intercom wake us up at 6 in the AM so that we could eat another bland breakfast before heading to our "exclusive" tour of the Hermitage. Judging by the size and makeup of the line outside the Hermitage, the exclusivity was characterized as excluding any and all non-tourists who had no interest in seeing the museum anyway. The Hermitage, which is housed in 5 separate old buildings, the main one being the Winter Palace of Catherine the Great, is impressive beyond description. It has a larger collexion than the Louvre (according to them at least), and more gallery space. It features all of the big names of Europe, from the 15th century on. Pictured below is the main view of the Winter Palace, though you actually enter it from the other side:

We then walked around looking at monuments and stuff. We had a $10, 5-course lunch at the fabled Tinkoff Brewery (fabled because Chris Hall once brought a 6-pack of Tinkoff from Bevmo on a summer house-boating trip, and it was consumed with pleasure by all), and we stopped at the "Bronze Horseman" monument presented by Catherine in memory of Peter the Great:

Russia is, above all things, a strange place. Not only did we see people walking their pet bear cubs on the city streets (honest to God), but we also saw this:

What, you say, a tall ship? That's not so strange. Every self-respecting port city in the US has a tall ship. But wait - this is no tall ship at all! It's a combination fancy restaurant (the most expensive in the city) and fancy gym, designed to look like a tall ship! Why? Who cares?

Like Venice, St. Petersburg is built on water and swamp. As such, it has a bunch of canals. And you can take boat tours, at cost. The bridges you pass under are so low that if you're standing up, you can get killed. The same imbecilic woman on our tour had to be shouted at at least 10 times because she was trying to photograph something behind the ship just as death was looming up from in front. Naturally I did not take part in the shouting. Here's a red boat and some buildings:

The obvious place to close this series on my adventures is with what the Russians refer to as the 8th Wonder of the World. First came the Pyramids at Giza, the great Colossus, and the elegant Hanging Gardens of Babylon, unfortunately lost forever to the sands of time (except the pyramids). But luckily, the Russians contributed, what, to their mind, is at least as impressive as all of those (possibly all of those put together): the AMBER ROOM.

Like most things in Russia, the amber room was far from all it was cracked up to be. It is a room about the size of the living room at 20 Ellery, and its defining feature is that instead of wall paper, the walls are covered in little bits of amber. But the problem is, it's not a big enough room, and amber isn't cool or expensive enough (the restorations after WWII, when the Nazis ganked the original amber, cost a piddling $9 million in today's dollars) to admit a comparison to the Great Pyramids.

Luckily, instead of taking "Delta" back to the US, we took a legitimate airline, Lufthansa. Frankfurt's airport has gotta be one of the biggest in the world. It took a bus and train combination 30 minutes of constant movement to get us from our landing gate to our flight to SFO. 21 hours after leaving St. Petersburg, I stepped off the the 747, back in these United States, and more appreciative than ever of the freedom and bounty that this great country provides us with every day.

Russia II: Cruising on the Volga

2007-08-14T09:47:00.001-05:00

As many of you know, I was confused as to how a boat might proceed from Moscow to St. Petersburg in a timely way, because no rivers really connect the two cities. Luckily, Peter the Great realized this to be a problem, and he began what ended up being a massive construction project to dig a canal from the Moscow River to the Volga. By the 1930s, the last of 18 locks was installed to make the route highly navigable. The locks are filthy cesspools that breed mosquitoes, so one must make sure to close one's cabin windows before bed every night.

Unsurprisingly, the damming of the Volga created some reservoirs. Judging by the number of "sunken churches" and other sunken things, the Soviets specifically targeted only interesting and beautiful towns (as most of the route is completely void of humanity). Here's the most famous sunken church, which we saw on our first full day of cruising:

Our first stop along the way was in the town of Uglich. Uglich has 35 churches for its small population, but, as I discovered, only one of them (the one the tourguides take you to) would avoid being condemned as unsafe in a more civilized country. Pictured below is my Russian "friend" (it was not easy to communicate with her, but she represented the best of a bad situation) Ekatajarina in front of the second-best kept church in all of Uglich

Uglich has 40% unemployment, which might help explain why many of the overgrown dirt-lots were populated, at 10am, with middle aged men drinking vodka straight out of the bottle. "Kate," as we were encouraged to call her, did not think this particularly remarkable.

We next stopped in "Yaroslavl," where we saw more churches and stuff. 'Nuff said. Day 3 was spent "cruising," so I sat, alternately reading and rocking back and forth in my chair mumbling to myself, to pass the time. (NB: I almost lost it at the end of the trip when someone said that they hadn't had any time for reading on the entire trip, but then I decided that would not be a productive thing to do).

The most interesting stop on our cruise was an island whose name I don't remember. It is famous for its wooden churches. Pictured below is the Summer Church (too cold to use in the winter, too big to heat I guess), which was originally built without the use in construction of a single nail:

Here's another view, along with some of my boatmates. The dude in the foreground is so old he still uses a film camera.

Next day we went to Mandrogi. Oh Mandrogi. How to even describe it. Perhaps the best thing to do is for you to Google this place for a few minutes. Most telling is that all of the signs, from the Vodka Museum to the Moose Farm, are written only in English. We did have mediocre Russian barbecue though - and it smelled fantastic.

During the cruising portion of the trip, I read The Brothers Karamazzov (highly recommended), Thomas Pynchon's "V" (only recommended for those who practice flagellation), and Mark Twain's "Roughing It," which is classic. But honestly, I can't really read for more than 10 hours a day - so how did I spend the other empty hours of the day? I slept. I was in bed for like 16 hours a day basically.

Next, perhaps after my backpacking trip, you can look forward to Russia III: St. Petersburg, the final entry in this trilogy.

Russia I: Moscow

2007-08-13T11:03:00.000-05:00

We arrived in Moscow at 10:30am. The flight brought us over green hills dotted with enormous and beautiful mansions - the summer homes of the new Russian super-upper-class. Because the ship, which was our floating hotel for the whole trip, was not open until 3pm, the completely unprepared "Intrav" tour guides brought us to a "MegaMall." For 3 hours. Its most interesting feature was a supermarket that was, quite literally, easily the size of the largest Walmart I have ever been in. Criminally, I did not photograph the beer aisle (actually, there were two beer aisles). It was not only as long as the eye can see, but beer was shelved to at least 30 feet above the floor. Capitalism has brought with it many choices for Russians in terms of food, but, unfortunately, they still have almost no selection of fresh fruit and vegetables.

For the next few days, we were led around by the hand by tourguides to see the various tourist attractions that Moscow has to offer. Some of the more infirm members of our group would go back to the ship after a busy morning of riding the bus. Here I am with my grandmother (both the oldest and most sprightly of all the passengers besides myself) in famous Red Square. St. Basil's Cathedral, built with all those colors back in the 16th century, is visible behind:

We saw a bunch of churches, none of which really piqued my interest more than St. Basil's. Lots of onion domes, lots of not-very-shiny gold on those domes, etc. They call all the churches "cathedrals," even though none is very large. I couldn't quite figure out how the hierarchy works in the Russian Orthodox Church, but I didn't try very hard.

The tour guides brought us to "Gym" (pronounced 'goom'), which used to be the only shopping center in all of Moscow. Now, it's the most expensive shopping center in Moscow, which, trust me, is saying a lot. I hear that Let's Go has declared Moscow to be the most expensive city in the world, and I believe it to be true. Our guides said that, in the center of the city, apartment space sells for as little as $30,000 per square meter. Check out this display in a store window in Gym (the speech bubble does NOT explain the dog...)

Evidence of capitalism's influence was available all along the main streets in Moscow, where in addition to McDonald's, we saw a TGI Friday's, with "TGI Friday's" spelled out phonetically in Cyrillic (I apologize for the blurriness)

"Pectopah" is pronounced "Restoran" - this will make sense to anyone who knows Greek, but it mystified most of the people on our tour. The most confused rectified the situation by falling asleep on the bus, and making as little attempt as possible to learn anything about the language.

By far the most notable thing about Moscow, and the note on which I will close this post, is the subway. It was built in the '20s and '30s as a testament to the awesomeness of the regime, and it is really something else. My pictures don't really capture how beautiful, clean, and elegant each station is - and each station is different in some interesting way. Lots of sculptures, original paintings, floor designs, etc. And between 6am and 8pm, the train on the main circle line comes at least every 40 seconds. Guaranteed.

Tomorrow you can look forward to "Russia II: Cruising on the Volga"!

Back From the Dead

2007-08-13T10:55:00.001-05:00

Hello gentle readers, I am returned from Russia. I will be posting several short descriptions with pictures for anyone interested (in chronological order). I decided not to overwhelm anyone by writing all of my posts at once. Please let me know if anything of note happened while I was out of touch.

For Those of You Who Are Skeptical

2007-07-20T18:04:00.001-05:00

Here is a link to an LATimes article that confirms claims of a coffee whose beans are selected first by wild civets (cat-like mammals), who eat the beans. The processed beans are reclaimed from the civets' solid waste...the resulting beans sell for $600/pound. Apparently, the civet's digestive tract removes some of the chemicals that make coffee bitter and harsh. However, the process also removes some of the caffeine.

Fall Courses I'm Looking At

2007-07-20T15:03:00.000-05:00

I noticed that the course guide has been updated, so I'm making a list for the coming semester.

Ec 2061: Dynamic Games and Contracts. Susan Athey's new course, which should snuggle nicely with Oleg's class.
Ec 2140: Econometric Methods. This way I can say I am taking two classes from a husband and wife pair of professors.
Ec 2723: Asset Pricing. Everyone must endure this trial by fire...from what I understand.
Ec 2800b: Urban and Social Economics. Taught by the dark lourd himself. But this conflicts with metrics...such giznank.

Those are the only 4 courses that really catch my eye. In addition, I'm sure I'll have various requirements to satisfy, like Economic History and distribution requirements, and I'll also need to sit in on macro at some point. I don't really remember much from Barro's section...

Unusual Airplane Disasters

2007-07-19T11:20:00.000-05:00

I inherited from my dad an obsession with airplane disasters and crashes. Today I discovered that planecrashinfo has a page dedicated to strange disasters. Among more recent disasters are an Aeroflot crash caused by the pilot's allowing his children to take turns at the controls, a Peruvian plane that hit the water because its crucial sensors were covered with duct tape by a negligent maintenance worker, and the following amusing incident on a British Airways flight(it's ok to be amused because no one was seriously hurt):

On a flight from Birmingham, England to Malaga, Spain, at FL 173, a large section of windshield fell away from the aircraft. The decompression pulled the captain out from under his seatbelt. Despite trying to hold onto the yoke, the captain was sucked out into the opening. A steward in the cockpit was able to grab hold of his legs. Another steward was able to strap himself into the vacant seat and aid in holding onto the captain's legs. The copilot wearing full restraints made an emergency landing at Southampton. The captain remained half way out of the aircraft for 15 minutes and suffered only frostbite and some fractures. Improper bolts used to replace the windshield two days earlier resulted in the accident.

Removable Tattoos

2007-07-19T09:12:00.000-05:00

Yahoo News reports on a new kind of tattoo ink that, while permanent, is much easier to remove than the usual ink (it's "combustible"). Assuming this new ink is indistinguishable from the old, how will this affect the market for tattoos? My guess is that tattoos are generally sold as costly signals of commitment, and as such, the availability of cheap counterfeits will hurt the tattoo market. Perhaps branding, which I can only assume is impossible to remove, will have a newfound popularity that extends beyond the NFL...

iPhone in a Blender Video

2007-07-14T07:53:00.001-05:00

Another in the long line of "Will It Blend?" videos. I want to know where the generous funding comes from...

Will It Blend?

Current Draft of My Bio Paragraph

2007-07-14T07:40:00.001-05:00

This is for the bio book for school next year...please let me know if it's too pretentious. Or not pretentious enough. Maybe shift it to the third person?

I was born in Palo Alto, CA, and I split my formative years between the Bay Area and New Haven County, the pizza capital of the world. I went to high school at Hopkins, in New Haven, and then came to Harvard as an undergrad. I majored in economics. My academic interests include evolutionary psychology, evolutionary theory, behavioral economics, the economics of happiness, applied game theory, applied microeconomics, and the theory of social networks. My numeriferous extracurricular activities include watching 3 hours of Red Sox baseball a day, cooking and barbecuing/braai'ing, playing tennis and squash, and pleonasm. I try my best to get people to call me Jonathan instead of Jon.

Attractiveness in Mauritania

2007-07-04T08:07:00.000-05:00

I believe that it is commonly said that some features of women, like symmetry, breasts, and youthfulness, are uniformly considered attractive across time and space, while taste for heft and skin tone vary. The more expensive of fat/thin and white/tan (at least among white people) is usually the more attractive.

The NYTimes reports that women in Mauritania are so desperate to plump up that some of them are force fed like geese in a foie gras factory.

Now Mauritania’s government is out to change that. In recent years, television commercials and official pronouncements have promoted a new message: being fat leads to diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure and other woes. The joggers outside the Olympic stadium testify to their impact: Until lately, a Mauritanian woman in jogging shoes was roughly as common as a camel in stiletto heels.

The government isn't exactly tackling this problem with creativity. A woman interviewed has it more right, I think:

“Men want women to be fat, and so they are fat,” she said.

My question is, when will the equilibrium switch like it did many years ago in the US? Is there some dynamic path in which the arms race for fatness doesn't end? Force feeding is suggestive to me that, instead of the healthy and discontinuous equilibrium switch to skinnyness being attractive, we are seeing a race for more and more expensive versions of fatness. Maybe I'll attempt to write a paper about this, or at least find the paper that's already been written.

iPhones on eBay

2007-07-01T21:47:00.000-05:00

seem to be going for the market rate...that's not like apple.

Final Day

2007-06-29T12:31:00.000-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 5

Rudely awakened at 6:30, I was again able to pass out in the passenger seat as we flew towards beautiful Crater Lake National Park. At almost 2,000 feet deep, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in these United States. All pictures are safely on Friedman's camera, so you will have to wait for those. We had a delicious breakfast at the Crater Lake Inn, a surprisingly snooty place in which the lowest servants are African American, the mid-level people are foreign, and those in charge are white. I had two scrambled eggs, ham, potatoes, and a biscuit, along with 3 cups of weak but delicious coffee and a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Knowing that California's gas taxes are the highest this side of France, we wanted to gassify in Oregon. But, like New Jersey, Oregon seems to have a law requiring that all gas stations are full service, and, also like New Jersey, for reasons I do not fully understand, this makes all gas stations in Oregon sketchy and crowded. Pay at the pump does not seem to have penetrated this final frontier. Perhaps our Oregonian friend, Mr. Nosko, can fill us in on this. Just over the border into CA, we found an un-manned pay-at-the-pump station, where we poured gallon upon gallon of plus-grade fuel into the unusually thirsty B M Trouble-U. We managed to drive 500 miles in the state of Oregon without a single refueling.

We drove past the Mount Shasta Trinity, easily the equal of Mount Rainier in drama and almost the equal in height, over two bridges that span man-made Lake Shasta (home of summer house boating trips), and we even managed to find the famous "Auto Mall Parkway" shortcut. Last time I took this route I made the mistake of following signs to the Dumbarton Bridge (the very bridge we wanted to take), which take you on a road neither fast nor scenic that winds forever through the hills.

We got to Palo Alto in time to make the 8pm showing of LIVE FREE, OR DIE HARD. See the movie. Unless you're Rick Townsend, you'll find it enjoyable.

And with that, like all things good and bad, the trip had to come to an end. Friedman was off to Berkeley, and I was off to a good night's sleep. I'm showered and shaved, the clothes are in the washing machine, the poodles are sated with milkbones, and I am ready to move on to whatever next adventure the Good Lord has in store for me. Thank y'all for reading. I'm not sayin' goodnight...just sayin'.

Day 15

2007-06-29T12:18:00.000-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 4

I was not pleased when Friedman woke me up after 5 hours of sleep. In fact, face in pillow, I demanded to be reminded why waking up so early was entirely necessary, and I did not find his explanation satisfactory (the roads are "slow"). I thusly fell instantly asleep in the car, and napped peacefully until we arrived at the Hoh Rain Forest National Park. We took a wheelchair accessible stroll through the forest, pausing to photograph this naked shaft of a tree:

as well as this more representative offering:

The park gets more than 500 inches of rain per year. Ca c'est beaucoup. Then we puttered down 101 for a while, Friedman getting more and more frustrated with the route, until we busted over to I-5 and made haste for Eugene. Eugene is, apparently, the running capital of the US, and so naturally we stayed the night at an apartment being temporarily occupied by a former National Champion of the 1500m. This former champ, Andy, joined us for the Eugene Emeralds game (won, like all the minor league games we went to, by the visiting team, in this case the 0-8 team from Boise). then we shot some pool in a nearby bar with Andy and another former national champion of some race or other, Nicole.

Alas, the apartment's wireless Internet was no match for Super 8's, and I was unable to blog. My deepest and most humble apologies to those who have grown accustomed to the entertainment that I so generously provide.

Day 14

2007-06-29T12:04:00.000-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 4

Friedman's measure might be neutral were it not for his insistence on saying "Or-a-GONE," and, even worse in my book, "NevAHHHHda."

As usual we got up suboptimally early, this time to get a close-up of Mount Rainier. The mountain stands a good 8,000 feet above any other mountain even remotely close by, so it's easy to pick out. A kindly veteran offered to take a picture of the two of us in the mountain's shadow, a picture which he guaranteed would be "frame-worthy."

We hiked over slick snow to a vista point. Friedman unwisely chose to wear his boat shoes, which not only make him look like the pretentious New England Jewish WASP some have accused him of being, but also have the unfortunate property of being approximately frictionless on the bottom. My "sherpa" shoes fared better and helped me blend in with the locals.

Having ventured 60 miles south of Seattle, our next destination was the Boeing assembly plant, 20 miles north of the city. The Boeing people told as at least 5 times that this building is the largest building in the world, by volume. Which leads me to wonder what the largest building by area is. My best guess, inspired by "Uncommon Carriers," is the UPS sorting facility in Kentucky. Each door at the end of an assembly line is the size of a football field. We got to see, but not photograph, the assembly lines for the 777 and 787 (the first 787 rolled off the line the day before we got there). Our tour guide claimed that the 777's engine is as wide around as the 737 fuselage.

It was at the Boeing factory that Friedman's most outrageous blunder occurred. We were required to put our cell phones and other electronics in a locker before the tour, and he managed to lock the slip with our combination on it in the locker. We had to sheepishly beg the nice woman behind the information desk for help when the tour concluded.

The long day had hardly begun at this point, as we headed to the Red Sox at Mariners game. Gabbard began the bottom of the first with 4 walks, a hit, and a HBP, so that was pretty much the end of that. We did, however, see Javier Lopez break the MLB pitch-speed record by a solid 5 mph:

After the game ended on three straight K's by J J Putz, we headed for the ferry that would take us to the Olympic Peninsula. Finally, and I must say I waited many days for this, Friedman got nailed with a speeding violation (68 in a 55, which was really more like 78 in a 55 before he slammed on the breaks).

The policeman, who looked exactly like Jonathan "The Gynecologist" Papelbon (incidentally, this was about as close to Jonathan Papelbon as we got since the Red Sox are so bad at life), was very nice.

Day 13

2007-06-26T02:26:00.000-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 5

I'll be the first to admit that today was not eventful in the blogging sense. You might want to amuse yourself instead by watching the infamous exploding whale video.

We woke up in Boise. We drove west. For a long time. We saw the Scablands. We crested the Cascades. We arrived in Seattle. We watched the Mariners fall on the Red Sox like Oprah on a baked ham. We drove to Super 8.

Tomorrow promises to be more eventful...

Day 12

2007-06-25T01:17:00.000-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 5

Friedman, having won the previously mentioned battle of wits, woke up in this space at 7am:

I slept in the more humble servants' quarters. We took advantage of our early start to hike to Surprise Lake in the morning, a 9.2 mile, 2,500 vertical feet hike in the Tetons. My knees are killing me as a result. Here is yours truly just before we turned around:

We then returned to the house for a shower and to pet the two resident poodles. This one, which was very timid because of prior abuse (the house owners got her through "poodle rescue"), won over my heart:

Our drive was to Boise, but we stopped to see the Idaho Falls Chukars play an afternoon game (the astute reader will note that we already saw the Chukars - they were the visiting team in Casper), and we stopped again at the small but interesting Craters of the Moon National Monument.

The Super 8 in Boise is no "Pride of Super 8." The first room they gave us had a bunch of someone else's stuff in it. The exasperated, flamboyant desk guy had to deal with several other customers with similar problems before assigning us a new room. We took receipt of it around midnight.

Day 11

2007-06-23T23:32:00.001-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 7

I am beginning to associate whatever song it is Friedman's phone plays as its alarm with pain and suffering. Today we woke at 5:45am in order to have as much time at Yellowstone as possible. We entered from the north, which is an unusual route, up and over an almost 11,000 foot pass. The temperature dropped such that I needed to bust out my UCSC hoodie for the first time (usually I use it as a nap pillow). Our first stop was Mammoth, home of the "Liberty Cap."

This should put to rest any fears that our trip is no longer centered around natural and man-made phalloi. The structure is surrounded by signs that reassure the skeptical that the phenomenon is indeed entirely natural.

Yellowstone is an amazing place, and I'm glad to have finally seen it. The geothermal stuff is cool, if odoriferous. There are nice grasslands, mountains, and waterfalls as well. Perhaps most interestingly, the park also functions as an enormous zoo. The buffalo and elk are everywhere, and there are also bears, coyotes, and lots of friendly rodents to be seen from the air-conditioned comfort of the car. We got stuck for 40 minutes on our way to Old Faithful in a traffic jam involving both automobiles and fauna:

Out of principle, I refrained from photographing Old Faithful's plume, which coincided perfectly with our finishing a delightful lunch at the local Inn.

Exiting Yellowstone to the congested south, we headed for our lodging, the ski chalet of a friend of Professor Ben Friedman's. The son of this friend, Ted, greeted us at the (fantastic) house and held a barbecue for some locals and us. And then, before the sun went down, the house was left to just Mr. Friedman and myself. We cracked open a few PBR's, watched Braveheart, and are preparing for a night of delicious sleep. In a rare moment of weakness, I lost a best-of-three rock-paper-scissors contest, so I get the inferior room. But you gotta roll with the punches.

Day 10

2007-06-23T23:09:00.000-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 5

We awoke at a reasonable time and headed for Teddy Roosevelt National Park, where we set off from an empty trailhead on our most ambitious hike yet (no other hike had exceeded 1 mile). The park looks consistently like the picture below. About 2 miles in, we came across a herd of buffalo, which at first seemed scared of us. After they regrouped, the leader of the herd made what I would describe as a mildly threatening gesture towards us. Remarkably, at that exact moment, we realized that we had seen exactly the right amount of the trail, and we turned around to take another fork and explore its many nooks and crannies. The picture shows Friedman in front of the aforementioned herd after they ran away, before we got close again.

After showering at the motel (we needed to get an extra-special 15-minute extension from check-out time), we pointed our general nose towards Little Bighorn. I would like to take this opportunity to express my long-held, if weakly supported, belief that visiting battlefields is a hopelessly and overwhelmingly boring American responsibility. Battlefields are the only tourist attractions that can get away with having nothing visually appealing to offer. The hill that Custer died on is quite literally indistinguishable from 20 other hills within plain view. But whatever, Friedman seemed to enjoy it.

From Little Big Horn, it was on to Billings, where we caught the home opener of the Billings Mustangs. The 'stangs were cruising through 7, having allowed only 1 hit, but the floodgates opened in the 8th and Missoula ended up the victor. Billings came across as remarkably cosmopolitan compared to Casper. Cosmopolitan is not an adjective Billings is paired with often. Oh, and you're allowed to buy 4 beers at a time in Billings - a constraint that, while weaker than any other stadium I have ever been to, still managed to bind to several fans' displeasure.

In closing, an observation. Plus grade gas costs less than Regular in the Dakotas. What's up with that?

Nice Picture of Dewbs and Me

2007-06-22T00:08:00.001-05:00

I just sucked the pictures off Friedman's camera, and I liked this one. You might not guess it just from the image, but the reason I'm sitting is that I felt so feverish that I was worried that I might pass out if I stood up.

Day 9

2007-06-21T23:34:00.000-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 6

A young hooligan had left our motel alarm clock on for 6am, so we were rudely jolted from sweet Lady Sleep's embrace 2 hours early. I fell instantly back asleep. Breakfast was spent at Wall Drug, where the Cafe was indeed open. Coffee is $0.05, and, ex post, my realized valuation for the so-called coffee is $0.00. The orange juice was from concentrate. However, the French toast was adequately cinnamony.

Wall Drug is a drugstore only in name. Most of its many acres are filled with kitschy souvenirs, including a room full of teeshirts, and a room full of crap I can't even describe. Jackalope heads were available for $69.99. I had never heard of the jackalope, and Friedman didn't seem to have a great grasp of it. I kept asking him whether the jackalope was real or imaginary, and he kept saying things like "I don't know." Then today he said "it's very rare, like the yeti." But I didn't know what the yeti was, so I didn't really take the hint.

Speaking of jackalopes, here is a picture of Dr. Friedman riding the 6-foot jackalope that inhabits Wall Drug's spacious back yard:

He's a big boy now.

Next we saw a decomissioned Minuteman II nuclear missile command center and silo. The command center is generally only open to 2 small tours per day, and these tours fill up very quickly. Lucky for us June 21, 2007 was one of 2 open houses of the year. The rangers giving the tours had worked as missiliers during the cold war, and they had folksy accents and humorous anecdotes to boot. To this day, they can neither confirm nor deny the existence of nuclear payloads on their particular missiles.

After a brief stop at the nearby Ellsworth Airforce Base Museum, we stopped by the Badlands National Park, which is pretty impressive. A picture says more than my words would.

Then we drove several hours to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where we encountered a very talkative truck driver at the visitor station. He was with his "wife," whom Friedman and I both initially assumed to be some sort of highway woman, who spoke nary a word. One of the more interesting things we learned from this Mississipian was that trucks are easier to slow down when they are heavily laden (John Mcphee makes no mention of this in "Uncommon Carriers"...). He also said that he had recently gotten a German Shepherd, because he could easily take 1 attacker on, and probably 2, but 3 or 4 would be a challenge. When Friedman finally extricated us from the conversation, the trucker urged us to embrace our Lourd and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We assured him we would.

Finally, in case anyone was worried that Friedman and I are not actually on this trip together, here is visual proof:

From Medora, ND, good luck, and good night.

Day 8

2007-06-20T23:52:00.000-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 3

The day began at 8:45am, when Kelly, quite accidentally, woke us up with a phone call. Friedman, mistaking the call for his 9:30am alarm, stumbled into the bathroom. He next committed the ultimate morning motel room faux pas: he left the room, leaving the bathroom light on while I was still trying to sleep. His excuse, not worth mentioning, was that he was "still tired." Needless to say I made an immediate mental note to take him down a peg or two.

We breakfasted at IHOP, where I downed several glasses of orange juice, several cups of coffee, and many thick slices of french toast. We set off for Devil's Tower, in the northeastern corner of Wyoming, one of the state's most prominent natural landmarks.

One must wonder what the native term for this shaft is.

We crossed the border into South Dakota and drove around for a while in the vicinity of the Black Hills. The terrain is a beautiful mix of forest and prairie. Our tour concluded with Mt. Rushmore, which is basically the biggest piece of crap ever. We were loath to pay the $8 parking lot fee just to see the thing up close, so we turned around and high tailed it outta there.

We're staying in Wall, SD, whose claim to fame is Wall Drug, the most famous drugstore in the world. They put up ads in random places, including the London Tube and a bridge in Amsterdam. And yet their restaurant is not open for dinner, so we were stuck with the "Cactus Lounge." The Cactus Lounge redeemed itself by offering 24 ounce glasses of Moose Drool, which lubricated my mind nicely for the evening.

Day 7

2007-06-20T01:32:00.000-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 5

After the delicious breakfast that qualified our Lincoln, NE Super 8 as a "Prime Super 8," we left on the road to Casper, Wyoming. On this day we would enter Rocky Mountain time. But before then, we had resolved to stop at the famous "Ole's Big Game Steakhouse," which features, among other things, the heads of a giraffe and elephant, and a fully grown, stuffed Polar Bear with its paw on a baby seal. My "buffalo steak" turned out to be ground buffalo smooshed roughly into the shape of a steak, but the decor beat McDonald's.

Our route took us past renowned Chimney Rock. After spotting it from a distance, I remarked that it didn't really look like a chimney.

The best description I could come up with was that it looked like a Prussian soldier's helmet half-buried in the ground. Luckily, the local autochtons had a more satisfying name:

Elk Penis - "Chimeny Rock's" Original Name:
According to early fur traders, Native Americans named the rock after the penis of the adult male elk

The museum went on to document the ginger steps writers took when addressing the rock in question:

We are now in sight of E.P., or Chimney Rock, a solitary shaft...

One of the cliffs is very peculiar in its appearance, and is known amongst the whites as "Chimney Cliff," and among the natives as "Elk Peak"

Next we stopped at Agate Fossil Bed, which hosts a skeleton reenactment of a scene in which "a large entelodont scavenges the bloated carcasse of a chalicothere." The same museum had some Indian artifacts, including a bow and arrows, accompanied by the following reassuring caption:

Rather than wantonly shooting at passersby, in reality some Lakota bowmen put on exhibitions of shooting skill for the emigrants!

We then continued along the old Oregon Trail, choosing to take bridges as opposed to hiring an Indian Guide or caulking the wagon. Our final stop was Wyoming. With a population of 51,000, Casper is easily Wyoming's second biggest city, and not far behind Cheyenne for top dog. It's so big it has TWO Super 8's. We naturally stayed at the cheaper one. As a special treat, today was the opening day of the Advanced Rookie League, so we got to watch the Casper Rockies come back from down 3 in the 9th only to lose 7-6 in the 11th to the hated Idaho Falls Chuckers. We were treated to a fireworks extravaganza afterward.

The Rockies play at "Mike Lansing field." Early on, I made a sarcastic quip about the infamously overpaid and underperforming Mike Lansing who spent a small amount of time on the Red Sox. Later on, the nice, elderly, female Casper resident sitting right behind me told me, rather beamingly, that a former star MLB player had donated the money for the field. A player who, in fact, had spent most of his career on the Rockies and then had left for the Red Sox. She seemed very happy that two out-of-towners would stop in Casper to catch a game. Friedman was very nice to her, and I did my best.

Before the game, I predicted that, since this was the Rookie League, after all, there would be 8 errors in the game. Here is the final scoreboard:

Day 6

2007-06-19T00:05:00.001-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 7

First off, I'd like to note that I do not enjoy giving Friedman high ratings any more than my readers like reading them. But my illness (sorry for any confusion, I only went to the hospital to get a prescription - I am not a patient at a hospital) has subjected the good man to unfortunate hardship, and you don't hit a man when he's trying to help you up even though he's on his way to a very important meeting that he's late for.

We left our motel in lovely Dixon, IA late in the morning (having gotten in at 3am the night before). Dixon is not only the childhood home of the late, great Ronald Reagan, but it also has an arch:

We then made haste for Omaha. Of course, we had wont of gas in western Iowa, so we pulled in for a quickie at the Kum & Go:

It was a close call between the Kum & Go, and the Thrust & Pump.

We got to the College Baseball World Series at 4:30, instantly scalped tickets at $9 face value, and went to stand in line for the 6pm game between Oregon State and Arizona State.

Long story short, we were present for the longest game in College Baseball World Series history. Only we were standing on the grass pictured above, waiting for the next game to start. Such unbelievable giznank.

We did finally see some baseball. Oregon State, which lost to AZ State 3 times in the season, pwned like a pwnz0r in a pwnstore. They scored in each of the first 6 frames. Occasionally, even though beer was not available, there were reminders that this was indeed a collegiate event:

Now we're in Lincoln, at a Super 8, my new favourite Motel (it has free high-speed wireless, whereas Motel 6 has a "data port," for which you must "subscribe" to "AOL" or some shizzle). Wikipedia claims that people from Omaha were responsible for the city's name change in a desperate attempt to stop its becoming the state capital - many Illinois residents were pro-south at the time, and the hope was that they would recoil in horror with the idea of Lincoln being their capital.

Day 5

2007-06-18T03:22:00.001-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Rating: 8

The day began promptly at 9am. Ian and Becca and I wanted to go bowling, and we found some weak evidence that a certain alley opened at 11:30. The evidence was quite wrong. We amused ourself at Starbucks and on the stoop of a local palm-reader's office until 12:00, and then sat around waiting for the pin-monkey to arrive until 1. But we did get 2 games in.

Then we headed to the Chicago Art Institute, where we planned to meet Friedman. The institute is an impressive place - lots of artists I've vaguely heard of. Here's the painting that caught my eye, a none-too-flattering portrait:

It is Ludwig Meidner's "Max Herrmann-Neisse."

Friedman's high rating for the day demands explanation. Over the course of the day, I developed a more and more severe fever and sickness. I realized that it might be caused by a secondary infection where my wisdom teeth were recently extracted. So I spent 2 and a half hours in the emergency room in Naperville waiting to see a doctor. Friedman was a trooper. Incidentally, the Naperville hospital was really nice, and included TV and internet in my hospital room.

Day 4

2007-06-18T03:14:00.000-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: N/A

With Friedman out of the way, I was able to kick up my heels and celebrate. I woke up at 11, and spent the next few hours trying to find the car, which held my change of clothes among other things. Then I spent an hour trying to find Michigan Ave, a difficult task which I ultimately bested. I ducked into a mall to avoid getting soaked during a sun-shower, and ended up staying in their guest lounge with free internet for some time. Ian and Becca and I ate dinner at a Cuban BYOB restaurant.

Really the only notable thing that happened all day was the tour of Millennium Park. Here is a picture I took at night, with a 5-second exposure time (it was quite dark out), of "The Bean," an aptly nicknamed sculpture in the park. Apparently the artist claims any pictures of the reflection as his own property...

After the park, we enjoyed drinks at my favourite hotel, the Monaco. I stayed there a few years ago when I went on a trip with my mom and brother.

Day 3

2007-06-16T10:33:00.000-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 6

Day 3 was, as expected, a minor letdown from the epicosity of Day 2. After a free continental breakfast at Comfort Inn, we crossed into Indiana and burned rubber for Chicago. Indiana is notable for how bad Gary smells, and for the fact that it's so subservient to Chicago that the slice of land nearest Chicago is in the central time zone, while the rest of the state is in the eastern. Aided by that beautiful time change, we managed to meet friend Ian Dew-Becker in Chicago by noon.

Friedman, who kindly handled all of the driving, only rarely grabbed the GPS and futzed with it. His eyes stayed commendably glued to the road. He lugged his backpack and computer bag into Wrigley with him so that he could leave the game early and hit the airport - he'll be debauching in Vegas until Sunday afternoon.

After the game, I hung out in "Boy's Town" and then Evanston with Ian and his graduating friends. I had a delicious, free dinner with open bar at a graduation party, and then spent the late night at Bill's Blues, a great little blues bar with live music until 2am. Then Dewbs and I grabbed a cab back to his friend's, and I crashed on the couch. I woke up at 4am shivering uncontrollably, and only then did I find that some angel had laid out two fleece blankets for me. I assumed the fetal position such that only my mouth was exposed, and, in time, my body regained homeostasis. Ian deserves a special shout-out for leaving me 3 advils before he left early in the morning - without them, my mouth was feeling like a rusty steel trap.

Day 2

2007-06-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 4

As always, i woke up 5 minutes before the alarm went off, at 6am. Last night, when we realized that the US Open of golf was being played 20 minutes from Pittsburgh at the famous Oakmont course, we decided to check it out. I was worried about getting tickets, but the minute we pulled into the complementary parking lot, our car was mobbed by scalpers desperate to sell us tickets at face value.

The US Open was a pretty special experience. We spent a lot of time at the infamous 10th hole, possibly the hardest Par 4 in the history of golf. The green might as well be paved over and covered with an inch of ice. The hardness and tilt combine to make even the light brush of the ball a recipe for disaster - if a putt doesn't land in the hole, it stops rolling just as it reaches the 6-inch rough. The following two players, Ian Poulter and Shingo Katayama, were part of one epic pairing:

Mr. Friedman insists on ambulating from location to location not only at breakneck speed, but also with reckless disregard for social etiquette. I was unwilling to follow him as he whizzed past elderly couples, inches from causing a cane to come out from under some recent hip transplant. But Mr. Friedman had more bad behaviour to come.

The original plan for today was to hit Cincinnati to see the Reds play, so after we got tired of golf, we headed in that general direction. We knew we'd be late, but we wanted to buy $5 tickets and tour the park. Here's a picture of Friedman trying to get in around the time we expected the 6th inning to be underway:

Yes, he was responsible for scheduling this game. We ate at the local cult-favourite "Skyline Chile," and came to Comfort Inn, of the free wireless Internet.

Day 1

2007-06-14T21:58:00.001-05:00

Friedman Acceptability Measure: 5

We set out from 20 Ellery at 7:08am. Of course, Friedman was supposed to pick
me up at 7 sharp, but I'm a reasonable man, so I wasn't angry. I was surprised
to learn that we will be accompanied by a third travel partner, "brown bear."
I didn't ask, and I suggest that you do likewise.

The drive from Boston to Pittsburgh is nothing to speak of. We made a detour to
Johnstown, home of the great 1889 Johnstown Flood. 2200 people died when
a poorly kept dam above the town burst during a rain storm. A 40 foot high
wall of water carried away buildings, bridges, and trains at 40mph. The picture
I took overlooks the valley that the wave rushed through. Ominous clouds appear overhead.

The Pirates won easily at PNC park, which is one of my favourite parks in all of
baseball. It's the Apple product of parks - it has everything you want,
and nothing you don't.

Friedman and I got along splendidly. I would have given him a higher rating but
for his what can only be described as "endless futzing" with his GPS navigation
system. The thing kept telling us to turn around - only halfway through
Pennsylvania did I realize that it was giving us directions not to Pittsburgh,
but to the Friedman residence.

The Friedman Acceptability Meter: A Primer

2007-06-12T10:56:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow morning I embark with Mr. John N Friedman on our cross-country road trip. As some of you have pointed out, this is a long trip to be spending with one other person, and, in order to stay sane and keep Friedman in his place, I will be posting daily on the acceptability of his behaviour. I will use a simple 10-point scale. A 5 will represent a neutral acceptability - Friedman has neither done anything particularly horrifying, nor particularly endearing. If Friedman saves my life (assuming an exogenous life-threatening shock), he'll receive a 10 for the day. If he purposefully thrusts me in harm's way, for example to shield himself from a well-struck foul ball or a rabid buffalo, then he will receive a 1.

I may change the scale to a continuous, logarithmic scale, which would allow the assigning of 0 to Friedman's behaviour - a 0 would indicate that the acceptability of his actions admits no lower bound.

The numerical scoring will of course be glossed extensively. I may post a few pictures as well. Comments will be appreciated to indicate that at least one warm body is reading this self-promoting windbaggery.

Chemistry.com ad

2007-06-10T09:59:00.000-05:00

Chemistry.com is the world's first dating website that uses "biochemistry" to create the perfect match. Or so they claim. However, their ad says that, unlike eHarmony, which has rejected over a million potential clients, they accept anyone. Sign me up for eHarmony...

Fancy Real Estate Brokers

2007-06-09T19:27:00.000-05:00

My mom and step-dad are beginning the process of selling their house. The first step seems to be interviewing an endless stream of identical real estate brokers. Not only do they use the same phrases - "supply and demand," "pent up demand," "fair market value," "oh my, what a beautiful home," and so on, but they're all women. Every single one. To be fair, one showed up with her husband, who was appropriately reserved and only spoke when spoken to.

My experience in hunting for mid-range apartments in Cambridge was that at least half of the real estate people were male - why is the sex ratio so strikingly out of balance in the Palo Alto multi-million dollar home market?

I have survived

2007-06-08T19:30:00.001-05:00

I was first given laughing gas, which made me feel incredibly on edge and sick. Then the oral surgeon was like

OS: "Have you ever had enough alcohol to feel buzzed?"

Me: "Yes, yes I have."

OS: "What do you usually start out with?"

Me: "Oh, I don't know, usually some sort of pretentious microbrew"

OS: "How about hard liquor?"

Me: "Well, if it has to be hard liquor, then I'm goin' straight to my friend Jack"

OS: "Nice. Well, what I'm about to give you in your arm here is gonna feel like 10 shots o' Jack. All at once."

Me: "Excellent."

It was something of a rush, though I'm not sure it felt quite like 10 shots of Jack. I either fell asleep while he was taking my upper teeth out, or he didn't take them out...and my mouth doesn't feel up to an inspection yet. I woke up in time to observe the use of a bone saw to cut the lower teeth into pieces. At one point, I recall the same kind of pain you get when you're having a cavity drilled and they haven't given you enough Novocaine. The oral surgeon was like "Jesus, I've never seen anything like this, where the hell's the nerve?" Then he carpet bombed my mouth with Novocaine and all was well. I even got to keep the teeth.

Last Post Before Potentially Deadly Surgery

2007-06-07T19:12:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow I go in for wisdom tooth extraction. It's probably as dangerous as getting on a plane, what with the drug cocktail they're going to pump into me. For most of today I thought I was going to be able to say "at least I saw a no hitter," but no, Schilling gave it up with two outs in the ninth on a well-struck ball by an incredibly mediocre player. It's the second time this year I've come within one unit of baseball history, the first being when John N. Friedman and I almost saw the Red Sox score in every frame in their home opener (a less well-known but more rare baseball event than even a perfect game).

In case I don't return, I have the following observations to make (reiterate, really), in closing, about the world:

Baseball is the king of sports, and basketball and soccer have no redeeming qualities
Economics is mental masturbation, and I don't mean just theory
The Drive-By Truckers achieved musical perfection with the album "Pizza Deliverance"
Women are crazy, but men, with the notable exception of me, are assholes

The movies I plan on watching during my hopefully short and vicadin-intensive recovery period are: Sin City, The Painted Veil, and The Remains of the Day.

The Most Expensive Beer Ever Bought By Me

2007-06-06T11:08:00.000-05:00

At the A's-Red Sox game last I night bought 4 (2 for me, one for pizpwn, and one for Xris) $10 "Big Coronas." They are aptly named in the sense that they're much bigger than any other beer on sale - in fact, I think the beer per dollar ratio may be higher on the Big Corona than on the other beers. However, the line at the Big Corona place was consistently shorter than the line at the place next to it, which sold regular sized beers. I've always wanted to run the experiment at a baseball game where two places, right next to each other, sell the same thing and charge different prices (I'd get in the high-price line, which would be shorter), but the A's solution might be even better - the people willing to pay $10 for a bigger beer get the shorter line without sacrificing any value at all.

Epic Baseball Manager Meltdown

2007-06-05T02:09:00.001-05:00

Can be seen here.

Speaking of baseball, I just got back from Red Sox at A's. Exhausting game. The A's squandered a bases loaded with no outs situation in the bottom of the ninth, then almost won on an accidental drag bunt (diving play by the pitcher, Kyle Snyder, saved it), and then finally succeeded in winning on a boring homerun. Dustin Pedroia was giznanked at home on a David Ortiz double, which would have put the sox up in the 10th...

This is a Direct Quote That Requires No Gloss

2007-06-02T23:13:00.001-05:00

Pitcher-for-hire Roger Clemens was scratched from Monday's start against Chicago because of groin fatigue

Ridiculous Lobster

2007-06-02T13:16:00.000-05:00

This is, apparently, a natural phenomenon.

Pornography Puzzle

2007-06-02T10:36:00.001-05:00

I was reading the NYTimes article on pricing and competition in the adult film industry, which reminded me of a question I came up with a few years ago and never answered. Al Franken, in his book (which I did not read) of a few years ago made the claim that the average hotel guest who orders a full-length adult movie only watches 8 minutes of the movie before turning it off. It seems to me that everyone would be better off if the hotel cut such a movie into a bunch of scenes, and charged an amount less than or equal to the amount it currently charges for a whole movie, for just one scene. Perhaps this is related to the "why can't you get a truly small coffee at Dunkin' Donuts" problem?

Today's NYTimes article is interesting in and of itself. It claims

...unlike consumers looking for music and other media, viewers of pornography do not seem to mind giving up brand-name producers and performers for anonymous ones, or a well-lighted movie set for a ratty couch at an amateur videographer’s house.

In light of this fact about demand, high-class producers of pornography are responding with "well-lighted movie sets":

“We use good-quality lighting and very good sound,” said David Joseph, president of Red Light District, a production company in Los Angeles that has made films like “Obscene Behavior.”
Mr. Joseph said his company did not waste its time, or that of the viewers, on unnecessary plot lines.
“There’s not a whole lot of story — it’s basically right to the sex, but we’re consistent with the quality,” he said, noting that the company is also careful to pick interesting backdrops. “We use different locations, rooms and couches.”

I don't know about you, but when I'm watching pornography, I try to avoid plotlines, but I do take a time out to look at the furniture, and the way the room is laid out.

Google Maps Streetview

2007-06-01T16:15:00.000-05:00

So apparently Google has been sending vans around different towns and taking pictures of everything. Google maps allows you to see pictures of addresses, if those pictures are available. My mom's house looks like:

StrayRod

2007-05-31T08:09:00.000-05:00

So ARod's publicist decided that this was about the best time for the superstar hunk philanthropist to be seen entering and leaving a hotel, and then going to a strip club with "an unidentified woman" whom I believe to have been "busty."

"Cynthia Rodriguez, A-Rod's wife and mother of their 2 1/2-year-old daughter Natasha, was nowhere to be seen," the Post said.

The best part of this article is that they decided to interview Johnny Damon about this:

"I think everything probably got blown out of proportion like always," outfielder Johnny Damon said.

Unreported by CBS, Johnny continued:

Like this time once, when I was doing 2 chicks at once, and then I realized that I was on the Diamondvision - if my wife didn't care, then why should you guys?

The Opposite of Phallic

2007-05-31T07:49:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, Chris Hall told me that the female equivalent of phallic was "yonic." This interested me enough to not do anything about it until I remembered it yesterday, and then look into it. The OED defines "yoni" as

A figure or symbol of the female organ of generation as an object of veneration among the Hindus and others.

I'd prefer to find the Greek-root antonym. I found a discussion board that claims that the two best possibilities are "hysteric" (not a great possibility, for obvious reasons) and "uterine." But I'm not sure that the uterus is the appropriate opposite organ in this case - when we use phallic, we really use it to refer to the physical act of...copulation. I think the antonym should refer to the female portion of the physical interface between man and woman.

I guess I'll conclude for now that yonic is appropriate, because of this note on the etymology from the OED (and because of the general consensus online):

In nature-worship, all natural orifices were reverenced as representing the yoni of the mother-earth goddess.

So I don't think yoni refers to the uterus...Sorry if this is an awkward discussion for my less mature readers. But I do plan to start using "yonic" in conversation as soon as possible.

Facebook Ad

2007-05-30T10:14:00.001-05:00

Is this an ad for the clothing she's wearing...or the clothing that she isn't?

Announcing my Roadtrip Blog 2007

2007-05-29T22:41:00.000-05:00

For those of you who do not know, Mr. John Friedman and I will be enjoying a cross-country roadtrip from June 13-July 1, or so. No doubt many have asked Mr. Friedman how he could stand to be with me and me alone for so long, but rest assured, we will have a break halfway in between while he zips to and from Las Vegas for activities otherwise unspecified. During much of the driving, we will be occupied with the five-part biography of Andrew Mellon that I downloaded from Audible.com in a paroxysm of studious historical interest.

I promise to use this blog both to document our trip, and, more interestingly, to post a daily "Friedman Acceptability Reading." I'd like to, if possible, find appropriate thermometer graphics. Also if possible, I will record a "Friedman quote of the day" word for word and transmit it to you through this medium. Mr. John Friedman may indeed read my blog and be aware of this feature, but there's no way he can go a whole day without generating at least one quotation worth recording for the kind readers of this humble blog.

What Would Al Roth Say to This?

2007-05-29T14:56:00.000-05:00

Apparently, those Dutch are at it again. Someone is broadcasting a show in which three ill "contestants," each of whom is deathly in need of a kidney, compete for a healthy kidney. On a cheery note, the donor is terminally ill.

She will make her choice based on the contestants' history, profile and conversations with their families and friends. Viewers will be able to send text messages advising her during the 80-minute show.

Ah, text messages, how did we survive without you?

Andy Roddick: Consummate Loser

2007-05-29T14:42:00.000-05:00

These days, I don't really care who wins tennis tournaments, as long as "ARod" loses horribly, like he did today.

Email to my Landlord

2007-05-29T07:52:00.000-05:00

Dear Barry,

We have a list of concerns about the apartment, some of which we consider completely unacceptable, some only mildly unacceptable, most of which we have told you about in the past, and none of which you have mollified. We pay an enormous rent, and we are morally, legally, and I believe contractually entitled to better service on your part.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of the problems we have recently been having:

- The power goes out in our unit and we have to go into the basement to reset circuit breakers.
This has now happened 4 times.
- The air conditioning, which contributes to the power's going out, is utterly ineffective when it is on.
- The sink in the upstairs bathroom does not drain as it should.
- The toilet seat in the upstairs bathroom is broken.
- The lights in the downstairs bathroom have never worked properly.
- The bulbs in the chandelier above the stairs to the first floor are broken and preclude us from replacing them.
- A bulb in the upstairs bedroom is dead and not extractable.
- The wiring in the kitchen is faulty, so the lights are often difficult or impossible to get on and off using the dimmer switch.

In addition, we find it difficult to impossible to reach you or anyone affiliated with you when we have urgent problems that require immediate attention.

Please let us know if you consider our requests above unreasonable, or, if not, how we can begin addressing each of the concerns.

Thank you,

Jonathan

Bathtime in Clerkenwell (a short film)

2007-05-28T11:32:00.000-05:00

From Andrew Hall, who describes it as "the best movie ever made."

Also, watch the trailer for Live Free, or Die Hard. Right now.

Bluesipher, The Original Dog from Hell

2007-05-28T11:19:00.001-05:00

As some of you no doubt know, I'm being paid $40/day to dogsit my uncle's dog while he and my aunt are off in NYC. The dog's name is "Blue." He is a Prince Something's Spaniel - very round in shape, somewhat smelly, moody, and, I am sorry to say, he seems to be of the persuasion that consumes its own waste to ward off anxiety.

Luckily for me, all of my duties were carefully spelled out for me in a single-spaced, 2-page memorandum left in triplicate (quite literally) throughout the house. Blue requires morning and evening medicine, as well as three square meals a day - so far so good. Blue's other requirements are more irregular - for example, I am to sleep with him every night in the master bedroom:

[Blue]'s a good bed-mate and sleeps with both of us in the bed. In the morning he loves to be ruffled up (push him on his back and rub his stomach and he'll sound like he's growling, but he's just happy).

If I take him on walks, I can let him off leash, and, to retrieve him, shout "Blue, Come! In a loud commanding voice - then give him an occasional reinforcement with a half-biscuit." To say that this dog responds to biscuits as reinforcement would be an exercise in meiosis.

Blue and I had our differences at first - when his mommy and daddy left, he became a bit disoriented and decided it was no longer safe to use the outdoors as his bathroom. But the truth is, our relationship has steadily improved. And it ends Thursday. Which is for the best.

What I've Been Reading

2007-05-28T11:13:00.001-05:00

Sitting around with nothing to do, I've been reading books from/about the early 20th century.

Of Human Bondage
Cakes and Ale
The Remains of the Day
When We Were Orphans

Of Human Bondage is the best - it's about a poor, introspective chap who, despite constantly analyzing his own feelings and situation, can't seem to get rid of the people who clearly want nothing more than to giznank him horribly.

I'm almost embarrassed to have read The Remains of the Day, since everyone else seems to have read it and liked it, but it really is good. It's narrated from the perspective of an old-school English butler, and as such there are some very amusing and remarkable lines.

I've also been slogging through "Omensetter's Luck," which is Faulkner-esque, most of all in its unbridled incomprehensibility. But it does feature a preacher who spends most of his time mentally undressing the nymphets in his congregation.

Red Sox Update

2007-05-18T08:47:00.000-05:00

As of right now, the Red Sox have scored more runs than any team in the majors, and given up fewer than any team in the majors (including, yes, "National League" teams). They also have the best record in baseball. The question on every Red Sox fan's mind is, when will they collapse?

CS Rap

2007-05-13T15:48:00.000-05:00

Some Stanford students rapping about computer science.

The chorus:

Kill-9, no more CPU time
Kill-9, and your process is mine

27 Unique Ideas for Dates

2007-05-10T16:36:00.000-05:00

Over the past few years, Yahoo! has decided to make its front-page content increasingly low-brow, to the extent that it now reads like an extension of the ads they show during weekday soap operas (or at least, the ads i imagine they show on such soap operas). Check this out if you're looking for a great way to impress a date on your first time out.

Are you two "homebodies?" If so, Yahoo! recommends

Watch a full season of your favorite show on DVD for a TV marathon night.

What about "true romantics?"

1. Create love coupons for foot rubs and back massages and cash them in.
2. Go all out with a traditional candlelight dinner.
3. Reserve a B&B getaway.

All three recommendations strike me as remarkable - but seriously, what girl wouldn't go to a B+B on a first date? "Traditional" is not a word I'd use to modify something I'm selling as "unique."

Anyway, the list goes on, it's pretty hilarious. Everything from racecar driving school to takin' an underprivileged kid to a circus. They throw in a "double date with the folks" for family types.

Free Paris

2007-05-09T14:27:00.000-05:00

Yahoo reports that Paris Hilton has some pretty hilarious stuff on her MySpace petition to be pardoned for her crimes. Choice quotes:

The petition, looking to appeal to "all fans and supporters and all that are outraged by injustice," describes Hilton as someone who "provides hope for young people all over the U.S. and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to [most of] our otherwise mundane lives."
In exchange for her global good deeds, the petition contends, she should not be locked up.

"otherwise mundane lives" - "mundane" is a pretty big word for a girl like Paris. I bet that's just her daddy talkin'.

"If the late Former President Gerald Ford could find it in his heart to pardon the late Former President Richard Nixon after his mistake(s), we undeniably support Paris Hilton being pardoned for her honest mistake as well, and we hope and expect The Governor will understand and grant this unusual but important request in good faith to Ms. Paris Whitney Hilton."

This actually reads sort of like it was (literally) written by Paris herself. She managed to pick up the fact, maybe one day in school if she went to school, that Ford pardoned Nixon, and naturally, since her world revolves so tightly around herself, she concluded that a pardon was a reasonable solution to her crime. After all, she does so much good in the world.

Somehow, the article neglects to mention that Paris was slated to appear in an Indian-made movie as (no joke) Mother Theresa. I wonder what the status of that project is, though I'm too lazy to google it right now.

Evil Foreigner Tries to Lower Gas Prices, But Caught by Vigilant Law Enforcement Officials

2007-05-09T12:48:00.000-05:00

Yahoo reports on the state of Wisconsin's ordering a gas station owner to raise his unfairly low prices.

But the State Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection says those deals violate Wisconsin's Unfair Sales Act, which requires stations to sell gas for about 9.2 percent more than the wholesale price.

The station owner's name is Raj Bhandari, so we can assume that he stole the job from a hard-working American hick in order to send his multitudinous hard-working and of-above-average-intelligence offspring to superior institutions of higher education. He wanted to offer discounts to the elderly and local youth sports boosters, yes, but this is a slippery slope - had the state not intervened, he might start giving discounts to all consumers!

Party at 20 Ellery #2

2007-05-04T10:33:00.000-05:00

Tonight is the joint birthday party for Chris, Josh, and myself. Mention this blog and get a free Rolling Rock. Also, if you know anyone who is in economics and has the birthday May 8, please introduce us, because then we can include Ian, May 9, in the string of consecutive birthdays...

Chickamauga's Where I'm Bound, Solitude is Where I'm Headed

2007-05-03T06:44:00.000-05:00

I'm battling through a (minor by many standards, including my own expectations) girl-induced depression. I've been through it enough times before to know that it's both very unpleasant, and temporary, and I'm taking the opportunity, as clinical as this sounds, to observe myself carefully.

I'm vaguely aware of "research" that claims that talking about your problems is not long-run helpful, and this seems right to me. Talking about the recent unpleasantness does feel instantaneously pleasing, but it keeps the unpleasantness in mind. I've found that the most relaxed and pleased I've been is when I've been working on physics or writing (I'm setting down ideas for my novel this summer). Of course, moments of bored solitude are the most miserable.

On a related note, I've found myself listening to the same three songs over and over again. In this case they happen to be from Uncle Tupelo's album Anodyne. Give Back the Key to My Heart->Chickamauga->New Madrid, with the final song resonating a lot. These songs are not happy songs, they're basically all about girl-induced depression. And they feel temporarily therapeutic, but after listening to them I feel attracted again to feeling sorry for myself. The other songs on my iPod have no attraction to me, but I felt better after cranking up the volume on Beyond Good and Evil than I did listening to Uncle Tupelo (or listening to nothing).

This blog is NOT a live journal, I intended the above to be intellectually stimulating in nature. Comments should be left with this in mind please.

Asperger's Syndrome and Economics

2007-04-30T09:26:00.000-05:00

Marginal Revolution links us to a video of Vernon Smith talking about living with Asperger's. Smith's "symptoms" describe almost every economist I have ever met, and I certainly include myself (if I can be called an economist yet). Certain professors, possibly on the west coast, obviously suffer more seriously than Smith. Here's my unofficial transcript of part of Smith's interview:

Interviewer: Do you feel that you seem strange in the eyes of other people?

Smith: Oh yes

I: How so

S: Sometimes I’m described as not there in a social situation. A social situation that lasts for a couple hours I find a tremendous amount of strain, so I’ve been known to go to bed and read

I: What led you to teaching?...

S: Teaching forced me into being more social…it’s in professional dimensions that I’m more comfortable.

The economics profession is as much a dating service and social club for Asperger's sufferers as anything.

Later in the video, they interview a doctor who claims that many people with Asperger's require help to function and succeed. But, and this is my informal understanding of people with more serious austism as well, no case is made that I know of to substantiate the idea that people with these problems are actually unhappy. I do not mean to be insensitive, and I am the first to admit that I know close to nothing about this, but I will say that, as someone who has some of the Asperger's symptoms described in the interview, I have never felt like people who have felt sorry for me or tried to change me have actually done me a positive service.

When I was at tennis camp, when I was not playing tennis, all I wanted to do was sit by myself and read...whatever. Shut up.

New A's Stadium

2007-04-30T09:16:00.001-05:00

I reproduce part of an email from my brother, both to credit his investigation and because I'm too lazy to do my own research:

Two epic details about the new A's stadium:

"Cisco will provide a cellphone system fans can use to purchase tickets and upgrade them on game day. There will be digital signs everywhere and embedded cameras around the ballpark to promote things."

-The article goes on to detail how, because of the digital signs, all refreshments and such will be price-adjusted as the game goes on. The example provided is that, if, as the game goes on, the A's are not selling very many hot dogs, they will use the digital signs to reduce the price!

"The Baseball Village will include 3,000 townhouses of various styles and prices ("We'll even let non-baseball fans buy them," said Wolff). Income from the residential portion of the project will help pay for the ballpark, which is expected to cost $400 million-$500 million, not including the land."

-You get to "literally" live in the ballpark!

Putin is Short

2007-04-25T11:06:00.000-05:00

Check out Clinton and Bush the Elder - they dwarf him. I believe Hitler and Stalin were also unusually short, especially for leaders. Are short leaders more likely to be cruel and evil?

Picture is from the New York Times.

What's...Unusual...About This Ad?

2007-04-25T10:58:00.000-05:00

I was glancing at the sports.yahoo.com/mlb page, as is my wont, when I saw this ad. It was flash-based, but I was able to capture both relevant frames using OS X's handy screen-capture command.

Before:
After:

Back( to Back){3}

2007-04-22T21:15:00.000-05:00

So the Red Sox were pwning it up tonight. After their fourth consecutive homerun, my phone started to ring off the hook (naturally, since I'm the man). First it was John Friedman, with whom I celebrated the events that had just transpired. Then I saw it was my brother's number, so I picked up the phone expecting to hear joyous revelry, but it turned out he was calling randomly to find out the status of the game. He was on an airplane, about to takeoff or get off or something, and he just wanted to know the score. He called at the right time...

Give the pizza-thrower a prize

2007-04-18T09:26:00.000-05:00

An epic Red Sox fan moment: after going to the trouble of getting a slice of delicious pizza, fan decides to use it as a weapon when another fan inadvertently obstructs a play on a foul ball.

Jerry and Don at first try to treat it as a serious crime, but they soon break down in hysterical laughter.

Andy Hall's Highly Anticipated Directorial Debut

2007-04-17T15:58:00.000-05:00

Here's a teaser. It is widely predicted to be the greatest movie ever made, though few details are available as to its release date, plot, or cast.

A Healthy Physics-Inspired Rage

2007-04-16T06:49:00.000-05:00

I am proud to say that I am among that happy few, that band of brothers, which has never attended a Physics 15a section (except the first one). Today I received the following unfortunate note from "Esteban," the more paternal of the two TF's:

Dear all,

There are a few of you who consistently don't come to section. What I'm about to say is for your benefit, not because I want to micromanage you, so don't take it personally.

It is the policy of this course that section grade is based on attendance and that it counts for 3% of your final grade. This may seem little but...

I just checked last semester's grades and found, to my surprise, that 108 students out of a total of 127 were within 3% of having a different letter grade.

I also was surprised to find that all of those who got a final A- were within 3% of getting an A or a B+.

I figured you may be surprised to know that too, in particular if you haven't been showing up.

Esteban.

Where to begin ripping this outrageous passive aggression apart with my rhetorical fangs? I'll ignore the internally inconsistent "I don't want to micromanage you," and I will forgo bothering to address the pathetic "for your benefit," and cut straight to the chase: what exactly it is that Esteban finds "surpris[ing]."

Tell me this, Harvard Physics Students: what are the odds of NOT being within 3% of the grade either above or below the grade you receive? Is it even possible for that condition not to be satisfied? The last sentence really puts the icing on the cake. I reproduce it below in full:

I figured you may be surprised to know that too, in particular if you haven't been showing up.

First of all, "Esteban," if you were so surprised by this, then, since you attend every section, shouldn't everyone be surprised? Second of all, what in the name of our Lourd and Saviour Jesus Christ does section attendance have to do with knowing this inane, possibly tautological, and anything but surprising fact? Finally, who exactly do you think you are, power-tripping over a bunch of freshmen (and me) who, in the hours in which they weren't attending your section, probably had more sexual intercourse than you will ever enjoy in your entire life? Perhaps the last answers itself.

Physics Limerick

2007-04-13T08:21:00.000-05:00

Turned in on my problem set:

There was once a girl named Mia
who said many an Ave Maria.

She prayed night and day
for physics answers to say,

and concluded 2 Magisteria.

Moral Quandaries of Flying

2007-04-01T13:52:00.000-05:00

It was midnight, my flight was already 30 minutes delayed, and I was settled into my carefully-selected seat 10A, which is the window seat on the 757 closest to the front that is not a bulkhead (i like having a place to put my backpack so i don't have to get up to access it). Seats 9B and 10B housed a couple who wanted to sit together (I'll note that sitting next to me was the girl, who weighed about 100 pounds and smelled pleasantly like flowers, and had a charming South African accent).

The guy, who seemed cheerful but exhausted, asked if I would switch seats with him so that he could sit with his girlfriend. He was in a middle bulkhead seat. After a long and awkward silence, I mumbled something about how I wanted the window. I felt mildly bad, but also mad at him for asking me because it was somewhat unreasonable. Then he asked the 50-year old female doctor in the aisle seat, who mumbled that she needed to keep her laptop under the seat in front of her. This was strange because she obviously didn't have a laptop, and right after take-off, she went instantly to sleep.

But God did not look kindly on me, because the overweight and odoriferous man in seat 9C agreed to switch with the skinny girl. So I had the pleasure of an unpleasant seatmate spilling slightly into my personal space for 5.5 generally sleepless hours. I dreamed up a solution to problem 1c on game theory, but the solution was...deeply wrong.

Notes from My Flight

2007-03-23T10:20:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-20T12:28:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-19T11:34:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-18T14:06:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-13T11:30:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-12T09:27:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-11T14:25:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-10T09:11:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-09T11:47:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-09T07:40:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-08T20:55:00.000-05:00

I would pay good money for this.

Sociology

2007-03-08T10:53:00.000-05:00

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.

Today's Facebook Gift

2007-02-28T08:45:00.000-05:00

The "Smiley Balloon" is a limited edition, only "1 of 1,000,000." And that's through tomorrow, so you better hurry up or they're gonna be all out.

Last Problem on my Physics Problem Set

2007-02-28T08:25:00.000-05:00

"You're driving down the road on a warm summer's day. What three 'crank it up' songs would you most like to hear on the radio?"

My answer is far from set in stone, but this is the list I'm working with:

Blind Guardian, "NIGHTFALL"
The Music, "Getaway"
The Cult, "The Saint"

I avoided the classic names (Zeppelin, AC/DC, etc) in an attempt to be both snobby and edgy, though I hardly need tell you that. I was also thinking of putting the song from Wild At Heart, where they're driving down the dessert and Laura Dern freaks out that she can't find any music on the radio, but then Nicholas Cage finds the song and they rock out epically. But I don't remember what it is and I'm too lazy to find it.

For the first time ever, I'm going to say "Comments are Open" (of course, they always are). I'm curious to know if anyone besides Hongyi, who won't answer this post, reads this...

Airbus Upping Work Week sans Compensation

2007-02-25T22:37:00.000-05:00

so Yahoo! reports.

Airbus (EAD.PA) is considering extending its workweek to 40 hours from 35 hours without compensation as part of the European planemaker's restructuring plans, German magazine Focus reported

This seems like the rare example a company changing the amount people work (and changing lowering their nominal hourly wage, essentially) instead of laying people off. Now, to be fair, they're also planning massive layoffs, so they can probably get away with giznanking the non-laid off workers. The article goes on with some delicious Frenchiness:

French business leaders have strongly criticized the country's 35-hour work week, saying it has curbed growth and failed to stimulate employment as its authors had hoped.

Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal has promised to review the 35-hour work week with the aim of "reducing negative consequences for workers and employees."

Conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy says the 35-hour week should be retained but viewed as a minimum, not a maximum, with people free to work more or longer if they want.

First of all, do "French Business Leaders" still exist in France? I remember reading a Mankiw or MR post that claimed that a millionaire moves out of France every single day. And Aa minimum workweek? Brilliant! Give that man a prize.

NB: I believe (strongly), in the tradition of Robert Frank, Dan Gilbert, et al, that capping the workweek is something that should be taken very seriously. But the French seem to do it for all the wrong reasons...

Open Water...2?

2007-02-23T12:55:00.000-05:00

So I'm probably the only person of the people who read this to have seen the movie "Open Water," and I thought it was really amazing. It was gritty, intense, and deeply disturbing. When I left the theater, I actually felt like I knew what it was like to die slowly of cold, fear, and most of all, exhaustion. It was a very serious movie.

It never occurred to me that this would happen: "Open Water 2: Adrift." They've taken a second disturbing, true, death-by-exhaustion-at-sea story...and made another movie. Why did they have to call it that? Do they want to trivialize everything about the new and old movie? Are there people who will like it more because of this title? I mean...come on.