Dale Worley's Journal
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| Thursday, May 17th, 2012 | | 9:58 pm |
A bit of a problem with the budget
Edward Glaeser writes: In 2001, the Commonwealth spent $8.3 billion (in current dollars) on education and a larger but still comparable amount, $10.8 billion, on health care. But in Governor Patrick’s 2013 budget, the gap is far wider: The $15.2 billion for health care is more than double the $6.9 billion he proposes for education. | | 12:24 pm |
Just the thing to celebrate Earth Day
... an orgy of materialism! Earth Day Canada Gala 2012
The 9th Annual Earth Day Canada Gala takes over Toronto’s cultural hotbed, the Drake Hotel, on Wednesday, June 6th.
This year we will be transforming the Drake into an environmental art showcase that challenges the way you see things, both great and small.
So join us and connect with a capacity crowd of 500 movers and shakers from the environment, business and arts communities for a night that celebrates environmental leadership and world-class food, comedy and entertainment. Complete with a celebrity chef! Tickets are only $150 and $250. | | Monday, May 14th, 2012 | | 10:24 pm |
Greece
I do wonder what the Greeks are up to. Their government budget is waaaay out of balance, even if they stop paying on the government debt. So without further massive loans from outside lenders, they will have to endure even worse austerity than they are currently scheduled to suffer. ( Monty Python commentary ) | | 10:11 pm |
Pankration
Reading an article that pointed out how almost all of the modern abuses of the Olympics were plentiful in the ancient Olympics, I was amused to discover that the ancient Olympics had their version of MMA, the pankration. It was essentially military hand-to-hand combat, with only biting and eye-gouging being forbidden. In one memorable bout, the winner died during the fight: In an odd turn of events, a pankration fighter named Arrhichion (Ἀρριχίων) of Phigalia won the pankration competition at the Olympic Games despite being dead. His opponent had locked him in a chokehold and Arrhichion, desperate to loosen it, broke his opponent's toe (some records say his ankle). The opponent nearly passed out from pain and submitted. As the referee raised Arrhichion's hand, it was discovered that he had died from the chokehold. His body was crowned with the olive wreath and taken back to Phigaleia as a hero. | | Thursday, May 10th, 2012 | | 2:00 pm |
Ka-ching!
Obama has come out for gay marriage. Given that Obama is the best campaigner of our generation, I assumed that Obama has judged the position to be a vote-getter, and the front page of today's Boston Globe suggests that it is, with over 50% support. But an inside page suggested something that was so cynical I hadn't thought of it: There is a lot of GLBT money out there, and Obama now has a way of vacuuming it up. (Which is more significant now that both candidates have given up public money, and thus the limitation on private money.) Move could provide big boost in fund-raising for campaign
by Michael Rezendes
President Obama's decision to publicly support same-sex marriage comes amid a furious fund-raising battle with Republican Mitt Romney and has the potential to generate significant contributions from wealthy gays and lesbians and take the place of Wall Street donors who backed the president in 2008 but have become disaffected this year, according to campaign analysts and Obama supporters. | | Monday, May 7th, 2012 | | 1:09 pm |
"Chess"
I was listening to the inspiring music of "Chess" again this morning and realized how anachronistic its plot is now. The surface events are a novelized version of the Fischer-Spassky match (1972), but the deeper background is the Hungarian uprising of 1956, which was only 28 years in the past at that date (1984). But the Soviet empire would vanish five years later and is now 23 years gone. The opera-scale political clash of my youth is now the dust of history. | | Friday, May 4th, 2012 | | 11:15 am |
Shakin' the Etch A Sketch
Romney is now trying to scuttle back to center in hopes of getting elected. Whether he has any hope of it is hard to tell, as the right wing is going to be unforgiving of apostasy and Romney needs a high turnout on the right wing to win. (His Iowa Electronic Markets probability is still 40%.) On the other side is Obama, who is a master of campaigning. In 2008, Obama announced early on that he was in favor of getting out of Iraq as quickly as practical but continuing on in Afghanistan. During the primaries, his Iraq position received much press. The day after he won enough delegates to guarantee his nomination, his press emphasis switched to his Afghanistan position. The pure beauty of this strategy is amazing -- Obama switched from Dove to Hawk without changing his position on anything. In 2012, Obama is accumulating a portfolio of foreign policy/military actions that will do him well in November: shooting Osama bin Laden, backing the winning revolution in Libya, getting Aung San Suu Kyi admitted to Myanmar politics, announcing an exit plan from Afghanistan, harboring a famous dissident in China. | | 10:59 am |
| | Saturday, April 28th, 2012 | | 10:41 pm |
Bernanke on What the Fed Can Do
This article has Fed chairman Bernanke's explanation of why the Fed doesn't dump even more money into the system to push down unemployment at least a bit faster. As far as I can tell, the answer is that the Fed has spent 30 years developing a reputation for keeping inflation under control. That reputation has enabled the Fed (and the US government) to follow extremely "accomdative" policies without the lenders (to both businesses and governments) fearing oncoming inflation (and thus charging higher interest rates, which would undercut what they're trying to do). So the Fed doesn't dare let inflation get above the target rate, as that would unravel the trust of the lenders, which is what makes it possible for them to do as much as they're doing already. | | 8:49 pm |
Nerd amusement of the day
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_Sting_Pain_IndexThe Schmidt Sting Pain Index (a.k.a. the Justin O. Schmidt Pain Index) is a pain scale rating the relative pain caused by different Hymenopteran stings. It is mainly the work of Justin O. Schmidt, an entomologist at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Arizona. Schmidt has published a number of papers on the subject and claims to have been stung by the majority of stinging Hymenoptera. Example: Index: 3.0 Animal: Paper wasp Description: Caustic and burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of hydrochloric acid on a paper cut. | | 8:42 pm |
Grid parity
In the last few years, Chinese companies (backed by the Chinese government) have aggressively expanded manufacturing of solar panels. That, combined with the current recession, has caused the price of solar panels to drop, up to 50% by some measures. The result is that the electricity generation costs of solar power is approaching cost-parity with conventional sources. (At least in some respects -- Wikipedia has some sound caveats.) I've seen reports that cost-parity may be achieved within a few years. When cost-parity is achieved, sales of solar panels should increase rapidly, driving prices down rapidly via the experience curve effect. (Compare with Moore's Law.) And this is without a carbon tax... | | Friday, April 27th, 2012 | | 10:26 pm |
"Degree of Uncertainty"
Dear Dr. Rotella: I read your very perceptive piece " Degree of Uncertainty" in today's Boston Globe. You included this summary of the current situation: This situation isn't just the result of a bad job market after an ugly economic downturn. Contingency is increasingly the norm throughout the labor market. We're getting used to companies balancing the books with jobs that don't come close to providing a living. Those who question that standard -- unions, advocates of affordable health care -- are increasingly seen as enemies of opportunity. As long as we're assured that we'll be free to sell our labor to the highest low bidder, we're apparently comfortable with stripping away everything else from entry-level work: money, benefits, security, plausible prospects for advancement, and the right to stand up for yourself in the workplace in any way other than moving on to the next contingent gig. It strikes me that you are somewhat unique in that you can lay your hands on facts that illuminate this situation, and with a little luck, you could get the Globe to publish a follow-up piece to really drive your point home. ( Read more... ) | | 9:49 pm |
| | 9:38 pm |
Economic segregation and restricting access to good schools
The Brookings Institution has done an analysis whose results are no surprise to anyone in Boston: Houses cost more (much more -- 2.4 times as much) near the good schools in a metro area. Metro areas with the most restrictive zoning have the highest price differential. Metro areas in the northeast are the most effective at keeping poor students out of good schools. | | 8:54 pm |
| | Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 | | 8:53 pm |
I hadn't seen this anywhere
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ruled that discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination (and thus illegal) under US civil rights laws. | | 11:24 am |
| | 11:16 am |
War in Arizona
The New York Times reports that the Obama campaign is trying to put Arizona in play for the general election. This possibility seems to be due to the rising Hispanic population and their increasing alienation from the current establishment due to harsh anti-immigrant measures. This is going to be even more exciting over the long run, as it starts to put in play Arizona's status as a low-tax (low public services) place for retirees. The incentives for retirees to drive out Hispanics are rising, and will probably be acted upon. | | Tuesday, April 24th, 2012 | | 11:37 pm |
What are they proposing to do?
Reading another depressing article on the financial situation in Europe... People are protesting against austerity. What isn't clear is what they are proposing to do. As far as I can tell, they want someone to give their national governments enough money that they don't have to suddenly get their finances in order in the middle of a recession. But there doesn't seem to be anyone who is willing to do that. (In contrast, the United States government retained its borrowing power during the crisis, so we can solve our fiscal problem after we get out of the recession.) To the degree that the protesters have a coherent proposal, it seems that they want the Germans to give them money so they don't have to suffer a brutal drop in their standard of living. But the Germans don't seem to be willing to do that... Deeper, it seems that nobody believes that these countries are truly competitive now (if they ever were). (In contrast, the world seems to trust that the United States will get itself in order ... probably after exhausting all other possibilities, as Churchill said.) | | Monday, April 23rd, 2012 | | 11:02 pm |
Sort of a warm-up act
Getting people ready for a question I will soon ask the assembled masses, I would like to present the following rather popular quote: Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by legislation. Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can't help being stupid. But stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity. -- Robert Heinlein |
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