January 2010
5 posts
I love the Metroland
My local free weekly paper gave me the following horoscope, which might be the first useful horoscope I’ve ever encountered:
Virgo: A reader calling herself Rebellioness collaborated with me to come up with five revolutionised approaches to the art of rebellion. I present them here for your use, as they identify the kinds of behaviour that will be most nurturing for you to cultivate in the...
December 2009
11 posts
Having fun when time flies →
Originally linked by Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution.
“States where people view a lot of pornography tend to have fewer reported rapes....”
– Stephen E. Landsburg, The Big Questions
What I learned from my iPod this morning:
“I think it’s gonna be all right, the worst is over now, the morning Sun is shining like a red rubber ball.”
“This door swings both ways, lets in Earth and sky. Make the most of living if you’re not prepared to die.”
“Love can make you happy if you find someone who cares to give a lifetime to you, and who has a love to share.”
“Sunshine,...
November 2009
17 posts
Portland scores again →
The first marijuana cafe in the United States opens in, quite naturally, Portland, Oregon.
I love home.
Macroeconomists can be funny
A group of macroeconomists are sitting on a panel at a conference discussing developments in the discipline.
In a heated exchange, the New Keynesian says to the Real Business Cyclist: “You guys have put macroeconomics back twenty years with this nonsense!”
The Real Business Cyclist smiles and says “So you DO believe in negative productivity shocks after all.”
“Think about the last time you went through an airport security line and were...”
– (via) (via bearbearpdx)
I love the Freakonomics guys.
This whole state smells like a wet dog.
bearbearpdx:
Fucking North Carolina.
I want to go hoooome to grand Oregon, where rain not only does not smell but also does not get a ped wet.
I hate it when people here are like “But doesn’t it rain a lot in Oregon?” Bitch please.
I feel you. Albany, New York is not a jewel either, for that matter.
Oh, how I long for Powell’s, and Stumptown coffee, and a functional public transit...
“In sum, while the concept of comparative advantage may seem utterly simple to...”
– Paul Krugman explains the difficulty non-economists have with understanding David Ricardo’s economic theory of comparative advantage in his paper, “Ricardo’s Difficult Idea”: http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/ricardo.htm
New favourite word:
mump⋅si⋅mus
[muhmp-suh-muhs]
–noun, plural -mus⋅es for 2.
1. adherence to or persistence in an erroneous use of language, memorization, practice, belief, etc., out of habit or obstinacy (opposed to sumpsimus).
2. a person who persists in a mistaken expression or practice (opposed to sumpsimus).
“You and I disapprove of bigotry, but the private virtue of tolerance and the...”
– Steven Landsburg, The Big Questions
“Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one.”
– Martin Heidegger
My new favourite author, Ass Meat Research Group →
Steven Landsburg, one of my favourite economics authors (More Sex Is Safer Sex), has a new weblog, where he posted this, one of the funniest things I’ve ever read in my life, and which still has me trying desperately to stifle laughter in the SUNY Albany library computer lab.
“These Reflections made me very sensible of the Goodness of Providence to me, and...”
– Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
bearbearpdx:
“To me, economics is like the Dutch language. I’m told it makes sense, but I seriously have my doubts.”
—
-John Oliver (via chriscantrell) (via castoffcrown) (via bingoparaphernalia) (via haguenite)
If it makes you feel any better, I feel the same way pretty much of the time.
October 2009
6 posts
Is blogging from Amish country ironic?
I still don’t think I understand how to use Tumblr. I don’t think I know anybody else on Tumblr, and I can’t decide whether it’s a traditional weblog or just a platform for me to post silly videos and quotations.
Amish people, if the three Amish-style restaurants I’ve eaten at in as many days are any indication, eat about the least-healthy food imaginable. Scrapple...
“The chaplain felt most deceitful presiding at funerals, and it would not have...”
– Joseph Heller, Catch-22, “The Chaplain” pg. 272
Mind the gap! →
I spend more time than I like to admit on this website. You can make graphs about anything and then make them move!
It’s lots of fun.
First post!
I bet this Tumblr thing won’t last very long. But we’ll see.