Sweet home Al-Obama

Why does the Democratic party exploit our (largely uninformed) fear of free trade? This in Slate poses the question by reference to Barack ("sweet home") Obama's key note address last Tuesday:

Obama, like other speakers at this convention, complains about 'companies shipping jobs overseas' and workers 'losing their union jobs at the Maytag plant that's moving to Mexico.' At the same time, Obama holds himself out as a symbol of a diverse, welcoming America. How can Democrats be the party of diversity at home but xenophobia abroad, the party that loves Mexican-Americans but hates Maytag plants in Mexico, the party that thinks Obama's mom deserves a job more than Obama's dad does? I understand the politics of it. But what about the morals?

Anyone have the answer?

Trombone Guy

Check it out if you haven't seen it yet. 

Trombone Guy

Dave, didn't you used to do something like this with a violin?

Good night story time with the Mo

Monica and Colleen (two of Steph's six sisters) arrived yesterday. We celebrated their arrival with lunch at the Lighthouse, a restaurant thats a decent drive but has a beautiful patio overhanging the ocean. The grown ups dinned on fresh fish and the boys ordered...guess?... chicken tenders and fries.

Today Steph took her sisters and the boys out to Rum Point, which is a nice jungle-sort-of-beach on the northern tip of the island.

The above pic was captured just prior to bedtime. Sam succeeded in convincing a sunburned and weary Mo-mo into reading a story.

The law of incentives and unintended consequences

Why is it important to understand the implications of Union sponsored "worker protection" laws? The experience in Norway offers some answers:

On an average day, about 25 percent of Norway's workers are absent from work, either because they have called in sick, are undergoing rehabilitation or are on long-term disability. The rate is especially high among government employees, who account for half the work force.

The average amount of time people were absent from work in Norway in 2002, not including vacations, was 4.8 weeks. Sweden, its closest competitor, totaled 4.2 weeks, while Italy came in at 1.8 weeks and Portugal at 1.5 weeks, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Throw in vacation time (five weeks for most people), national paid holidays (11 per year) and weekends, and Norwegians take off nearly half the calendar year, about 170 days, a figure that does not include time off for disability and rehabilitation, according to Bergens Tidende, the newspaper that made the calculations. Long-term disability leave, up 20 percent since 1990, is growing at an even faster rate than sick leave.

There are few penalties for chronic absenteeism. Most people who take sick leave receive 100 percent of their pay for a year, though the level dips to 60 percent in the second year under a job rehabilitation program. Few employees get fired, but, if they do, unemployment benefits are generous.

So what do the Unions say? They claim that globalization has resulted in a "brutalization of the work force":

International companies, some of them American, have bought or merged with Norwegian businesses in the last decade, which has exposed workers to job insecurity for the first time. The unions contend that that has made workers reluctant to take sick leave when they should. Instead, they stay on the job and hurt themselves more seriously, which forces them into long-term disability.

Restrain your laughter. All of the above from an article in the NYT.

Our new VOIP phone is up and running

Please note our new (Skokie, IL) telephone number: 1-847-620-2480

Hence, if you call us at this number will be charged for a call that terminates in Skokie, IL.

Also, please note that our Cayman telephone number will change, effective 1 August (i.e., the day we move to our new crib) to: 1-345-945-3744 (from 947-3744)

You can call me Clarence

What better to blog about at 1am..."Pimping is hard work!"

Army rations rehydrated by...

can you guess? The New Scientist reports that the US military have developed a dried food ration that troops can hydrate by peeing on it. The ration comes in a pouch with a filter that removes 99.9% of the bacteria and "most" of the toxic chemicals in one's piss. Ok, thats nifty but what about that 0.1% of the pee and "some" of those toxic chemicals? Go read it.

Diamond-Water Paradox

This is a nice characterization of said paradox. Its a basic, but interesting economic concept. It can be cited to motivate why teachers are payed so poorly relative to, say, pro basketball players.

Two is enough, slight return

Ok, Kath don't read this... but the rest you can. This blog is rather odd but captivating in a very sad way. I'm sure Dad can speculate on the psychological aspects of such an endeavor.

Eric was born at only 24 weeks' gestation. He was twelve inches long, and weighed only one pound, seven ounces. His dad has been blogging the whole thing, complete with photos, video and all the "tearability" you can handle.

Evidence for Hersh's claims of child sexual abuse at Abu Ghraib

An update from Boing Boing, posted by, who else, Xani J.  I have a hard time believing all this shiite.  I'm sure the truth will come out soon enough.

On a similar note, do read Krugman's article in today's NYT. Here is the opening paragraph of the article:

In the original version of "The Manchurian Candidate," Senator John Iselin, whom Chinese agents are plotting to put in the White House, is a right-wing demagogue modeled on Senator Joseph McCarthy. As Roger Ebert wrote, the plan is to "use anticommunist hysteria as a cover for a communist takeover."

You can see where he is going.  Its a disturbingly apt parrellel.

Harry Potter on market regulation

There is an interesting article in today's NYT on the lessons learned from Harry Potter. Its a translated version of an article that appeared in La Monde. I love the translation of the opening parapraph.. If only trees could be so accomodating in the real world!

Q: What is poetry?

A: ...

Weekend pool-hopping with the boys, part II

Maxin? Yes, and relaxin



Its all good, bru



Zup?

Weekend pool-hopping with the boys, Part I

Sam prepares for departure...


Ground control, we have lift-off...


He nailed it!

Where children have Santa Claus, adults have God

This article, "Church of the Long Now," posted on the blog "kuro5hin" is worth reading. It address, effectively in my opinion, the confoundedness I discussed previously. You all know my thoughts on this topic.  What are yours? 

W's illogic is flawless

A scary dilemma posed by Maureen in today's NYT:

[Mr. Bush's] illogic is flawless and may be catching. A Washington Post poll published yesterday found that 55 percent of Americans like the way Mr. Bush is handling terrorism, up five points in three weeks. So even though the poll showed that a record high number of Americans say Mr. Bush's war was a mistake, more Americans trust Mr. Bush to make the U.S. more secure.

Many voters think that the president and vice president are unjustifiably putting lives at risk by going to war with a false premise and creating more terrorists. But many voters are apparently dithering because they are too wary of the alternative to boot out Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney.

The nub of this election is that John Kerry has so far failed to convince voters that he'll do what Mr. Bush promised to do and hasn't: go after Osama and Al Qaeda and destroy them. Unless Mr. Kerry can make that sale, Americans face not a false dilemma, but a real one.

Seymour Hersh on Abu Ghraib

Go read it for yourselves.  You think he's full of shit?

Seymour Hersh says the US government has videotapes of boys being sodomized at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

"The worst is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking,' the reporter told an ACLU convention last week. Hersh says there was 'a massive amount of criminal wrongdoing that was covered up at the highest command out there, and higher."

FUH2

Another 'ah-humanity' link: FUH2

Here is the link for the Sci. Am article I was reffering to (in my last post under Sale of the Wild). If that doesn't work, og here. And finally, here is an NPR interview re: said issue.

I Seem to Be a Verb on Spaceship Earth

Happy Belated, Bucky! Some different perspectives on the man:

For hot studs, click here

or HERE

and here baby

Mil Millington--you MUST read this!

For those who haven't perused this site yet, PLEASE check out the following link---make sure to pass your mouse over the picture and check out his embedded links. Oh, my....very funny. Rock on, Steph

Baby Talk Beginnings

Euge pointed me to this article in Scientific American. If not enlightening, it is entertaining. Get this:

Assuming, as many anthropologists do, that early humans had chimplike social structures, moms did most of the child rearing. But having to hold on to an infant constantly would have significantly diminished their foraging efficiency.

Based on this theory, moms developed vocal cues to placate their gibs. Fact counter to this theory, I'm sure Steph will agree, is Oliver. No vocal cues placate him, which in turn has substantially diminished Steph's foraging efficiency.

Gang photos

Hat tip to the blog "boing boing" for this link. Boing Boing is an excellent group blog. My favorite posts are from someone with the handle "Xeni Jardin." This is his/her commentary on the gang photos:

An online gallery of gang photography by Robert Yager. Not new, just something rediscovered that kicks the ass of my eyes all over again.

Very evocative, yes? Do check it out.

This gives me a headache

...but its still really cool. Its an optical illusion. Check it out!

Fahrenheit 911: Notes + Sources

Has anyone seen this movie yet? Not showing down here. If you've seen it, please tell me what you think. This link is to a page on Moore's website that identifies some interesting tidbits from the movie.

Brrr it's chile

Recently I was assigned to do a report on Chile using my brand-spanking-new chip-ahoy Spanish vocabulary (Span 101). Anyway...I have fallen in love with this country and am now determined to go there after we hit Cuba and Mozambique (screw Costa Rica...you've seen one tropical rainforest, you've seen em all). Having seen the pictures of Noah and Laura's recent trip just added more spice to the chile. Maybe I can take a shot at Pinochet, round him up and throw some bitter fruit his way (good read).

Check out this link for some incredible photos, mainly of Patagonia but some of LL Bean as well. Oh,and today is the 100th anniversary of Pablo Neruda's birth. Cheers.

Sale of the Wild

Did anyone read the op-ed from Babbitt, "Another Attack on the Arctic," in the NYT last week re: the administration's plans for opening parts of Alaska for oil drilling? Reading it whipped me into a frenzy for the upteenth time. For those who have read it, I suggest that you read the Vanity Fair article "Sale of the Wild," from the Sept. 2003 issue. It is not online; I did give Laura a copy many moons ago. Another poignant article re: this very grave and overlooked issue was in Mother Jones about the same time. Here's the link link(I think).

Sam at gymnastics class

Say "cheese," says dad. Sam's teacher, Brian, has his back to the camera. He is giving each kid a stamp (usually on each foot). They do this at the end of class as a reward I suppose. Brian is really good with the kids. To Sam's immediate left is Luke (i.e., the kid picking his schnauzer). Sam and Luke are pals, well sort of, unless their is a property rights dispute. Luke and Sam are also in the same swimming class. And Steph and Luke's dad are chums, despite the fact that he seems to have no interest in chatting with me. As Dick Cheney would say....

2 are enough

I got this funny video from Kathy Smith on why to use condoms. Its an oldie but a goodie. Check it out!

Peoria99

Look what I discovered: Peoria99! Its the webpage I set up for our wedding. I thought this was long gone. Ah, the memories.

Class-Action Showdown

A follow-up to Noah's anti-tort reform agenda. The WSJ has an interesting editorial on the Class-Action Showdown in Congress (subscription only). Some titillating excerpts include the following:

The political momentum has grown behind this reform because class actions have so clearly been abused. Creative attorneys round up plaintiffs from across the country and then file suit in a handful of jurisdictions known for their tort-friendly judges, juries and laws. This "forum shopping" both rigs trials in favor of plaintiffs and allows state judges to make national regulatory policy with their rulings.

Worse, the only real beneficiaries are the lawyers, who often walk away with millions in fees while their clients get next to nothing. In one (all too typical) mortgage escrow suit in Alabama against that famous Southern institution, the Bank of Boston, 700,000 plaintiffs "won" payments of a few dollars each. But about a year later they discovered that anywhere from $90 to $140 had been deducted from their meager winnings to pay the lawyers' legal fees of $8.5 million. Meanwhile, tort litigation costs U.S. businesses an estimated $130 billion annually that might otherwise be invested to create new jobs.
...
Our runaway tort system is a genuine problem that is causing economic harm and, far more important, is distorting the cause of justice. American politics typically responds to such problems, but in this case the power of the tort bar centered on the Democratic Senators has blocked even the most modest fixes. If even this compromise class-action reform fails this year, we'll know for sure that the issue deserves to be joined in this Presidential campaign.

The Knee-Jerk Contrarian Game

Lets play the Amazon.com Knee-Jerk Contrarian Game! Here is how its played:

First, look up the most popular and critically-acclaimed books, movies, and music on Amazon. Click on 'Customer Reviews,' and sort them by 'Lowest Rating First.' Hilarity ensues!

The following are some results:

Citizen Kane
"Please stop the hype on Citizen Kane. It doesn't work. It's like you are trying to convince people that poop smells good."

The Godfather
"This movie was so violent I couldn't believe it!"

The Great Gatsby
"It was poorly structured, the story is unclear and it is not very memorable."

and, finally, one result that makes some sense...

King James Bible (both old and new testament)
"This was the worst piece of fiction I've ever read. The characters were cliched and their actions were just unbelievable. A total piece of trash."

A non-technical explanation of omitted variables bias

The economics blog Mahalanobis provides what I think is a nice explanation of the potential bias that results when one excludes relevant variables from a statistical analysis. It is a useful example that, best of all, is explained without jargon or greek symbols. This is more difficult to do than one might think.

SmartKlamp

Another "markets are everywhere" post. What is a "SmartKlamp" you ask? Well, I'm not exactly sure but it seems to be an alternative to that rooster in France.

The Wacky World of Japanese Ice Cream

Like I've said before, there is a market for almost everything. This truely does amaze me.

More on neuroeconomics

Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution has a really nice post on neuroeconomics, in case you're interested in learning more about this new, somewhat goofy, field of study. As I've said before, and will say again, MR is such an excellent blog. If you're curious what economists think about stuff, and how they think about stuff, all done in english, without any formulas, this is the place.

Addendum: Check out this freaky article in the NYT on how neuroscientists are working with advertisers. Or this article by Virginia Postrel.

Diving neck stall

Back in high school, as you may recall, I was a big fan of hacky sack. During one afternoon of sack at the Arb, we decided to poke fun at Russo. He had this odd way of kicking the sack with his leg totally stiff. We labelled it the "chris russo polio play" (or the "CRPP"). With repetition it had its effect and Russo was shooting back. In a retort that goes down in history, Chis suggested that Larry or Rich or someone perform a diving neck stall or, alternatively, do what dick cheney suggested pat leahy do to himself. After much cannibis consumption, this was fricken hilarious. You definitely had to be there. From then on we always dared each other to do a diving neck stall while playing hack. Anyways, so what is my point? Well I thought of Russo's hack move when I heard that Sam performed an equivalent manouver off the lazy-boy chair onto our tile floor in the living room. Mom says it was really scary but all seems well, except for the big molehill on Sam's forehead. When I got home from work, it was the first thing out of Sam's mouth. He was definitely very proud of himself and his bruised and swollen forehead.

On Sunday, we went to see Shrek 2. Steph got stuck in line at the concession stand for 20 minutes prior to and during the beginning of the movie... with the boys. I saved the seats. Plus, Steph had the pleasure of taking ODB to the bathroom, only to have him pee his pants en route and all over the bathroom/lobby floor. In total, she says she enjoyed maybe five minutes of the movie. I personally was unaware of any problems and enjoyed the entire flic. We've decided that next time dad will get the aisle seat. I say, bring it on!

Bush & Cheney Mislead on Tort Reform

Noah pointed me to the following article in the Daily Mislead. (For the uninformed, Noah is Laura's husband. I worked with the latter at LECG, and she and Noah are a good friends of ours. For the record, Noah is a die-hard liberal wacko, just like you dad.) Here is an excerpt from the article:

According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), costs from malpractice lawsuits represent less than 2% of the nation's total health care spending, and the tort reform legislation pushed by President Bush would reduce health insurance premiums by less than one-half of one percent. While President Bush has claimed that lawsuits cause "docs to practice medicine in an expensive way in order to protect themselves in the courthouse," a study by the Harvard University School of Public Health "did not find a strong relationship between the threat of litigation and medical costs." Additionally, a study in the Journal of Health Economics compared medical costs in states with limits on lawsuits to states without limits and found only tiny savings - less than three-tenths of one percent.

The point of the article is that Bush's proposal to reform tort law is misguided b/c the effect of such reform has only a small, but what appears to be a statistically significant, effect on healthcare costs. I don't follow this logic. If such reform is found to have a beneficial net effect, is not that a good thing? The fact that it is a "tiny" net benefit does not seem to support the conclusion that its bad policy.

Let's Not and Say We Didn't

To promote harmonious communications, I propose that we permanently retire the following words from our respective vocabularies (if I hear these words one more time, I will vomit). Please add your own words to the list:

1. Cute

2. Coalition

3. Paradigm

Their George and Ours

Barbara Ehrenreich writes a tantelizing Op-ed in today's NYT comparing the circumstances in 1776 to those applicable today. It is silly to overstate the parrallels, as she concedes. But...

Read a little further to those parts of the declaration we seldom venture into after ninth-grade civics class...The bulk of the declaration is devoted to a list of charges against George III, several of which bear an eerie relevance to our own time.

George III is accused, for example, of "depriving us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by Jury." Our own George II has imprisoned two U.S. citizens — Jose Padilla and Yaser Esam Hamdi — since 2002, without benefit of trials, legal counsel or any opportunity to challenge the evidence against them. Even die-hard Tories Scalia and Rehnquist recently judged such executive hauteur intolerable.

It would be silly, of course, to overstate the parallels between 1776 and 2004...Nor would it be tactful to press the analogy between our George II and their George III, of whom the British historian John Richard Green wrote: "He had a smaller mind than any English king before him save James II."

But the parallels are there, and undeniable. "He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power," the declaration said of George III, and today the military is indulgently allowed to investigate its own crimes in Iraq. George III "obstructed the Administration of Justice." Our George II has sought to evade judicial review by hiding detainees away in Guantánamo, and has steadfastly resisted the use of the Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows non-U.S. citizens to bring charges of human rights violations to U.S. courts.

I understand Ehrenreich is preaching to the choir. But play devil's advocate and tell me if you can why her comparisons are inapt.

It has been a big day for all of us

Sam, T-bone, and Oliver dreaming of snacks...






Saturday was a BIG day. Steph spent her morning at Spanish class while dad took the boys to gymnastics. Oliver and Dad's class commenced at 9 and Sam's class began at 9:30. After class it was off to the coffee shop. But this time, instead of going to the usual place, I took them to a new, fancy-dancy place, with linens on the table and old ladies drinking tea. All was good until Sam farted. He excused himself, as he should, but he did not understand and became irritated with me when I reprimanded him. "But I said excuse me?" said Sam. I decided to wait until we got home to clarify the problem, out of earshot of the laughing ladies sitting next to us. And then, no later than 5 or 10 minutes after Sam's bomb, ODB lets one rip. We were out the door.

In the afternoon, the boys had their first swim lesson. Sam went first and did really well. Oliver and mom went next and, while apprehensive, seemed to enjoy themselves. After that, dad went off to work and Steph took the boys to a fancy-dancy park with these elaborate slides. I'm told it was a lot of fun. I have yet to see the park (its brand new) but will report back once I check it out.

Steph and I just finished watching the movie "Monster." Its about a lady prostitute serial-killer. It was sad, very depressing, but a good movie. I always enjoy hearing Steph's perspective after watching a flick. Maybe I can talk her into sharing her thoughts on the movie on this blog. I personally thought that had the perpetrator been a man, it could never have gotten away with presenting such a sympathetic portrayal.

Oh yeah! Almost forgot. We put down a deposit on the new townhouse we'll be renting beginning next month. It is located on the opposite side of the Island from where we currently reside. (Its in West Bay, and we're currently residing in a neighborhood called Savannah/Newlands.) Its closer to town but still somewhat of a commute. Believe it or not, there is gridlock during rush hours. The best thing about the townhouse is that it is smack dab next to the water and the place has a pool, which the boys appreciate.

Tomorrow we're taking the boys to see Shrek 2. That is, if they have good behavior (i.e., no passing gas in public!). I'll report back tomorrow. Good night.

Fuck Yourself, Dick

Ok that title is a little strong, but hat tip goes to the Washington Post for being the only folks with the kahunas to ... gasp ... spell out the word "f--k." According to a survey in this weeks LA Weekly:

A search of the Nexis newspaper database showed only one U.S. daily newspaper — the Washington Post — quoted the vice president’s wish for Leahy’s self-sufficiency: “Fuck yourself.” Here’s how other newspapers and wire services handled the vice president’s words:

The Boston Globe: Referred to the expletive as a “vulgar directive” and provided no other clues.

Calgary Sun: “(Bleep) off” or “Go (bleep) yourself.”

Daily News (New York): “Go f— yourself.”

Moore's Public Service

Krugman sums up Moore's flic:

In a nation where the affluent rarely serve in the military, Mr. Moore follows Marine recruiters as they trawl the malls of depressed communities, where enlistment is the only way for young men and women to escape poverty. He shows corporate executives at a lavish conference on Iraq, nibbling on canapés and exulting over the profit opportunities, then shows the terrible price paid by the soldiers creating those opportunities.

The movie's moral core is a harrowing portrait of a grieving mother who encouraged her children to join the military because it was the only way they could pay for their education, and who lost her son in a war whose justification she no longer understands.

...

"Fahrenheit 9/11" is a tendentious, flawed movie, but it tells essential truths about leaders who exploited a national tragedy for political gain, and the ordinary Americans who paid the price.

Keeping up with the Jones

The article is primarily about some new field of economics called "neuroeconomics." It studies, among other things, the mind to better understand rational behavior or the lack thereof. The article touches on the "envy principle" that Euge and I were debating earlier this week. Check this out:

The 'ultimatum game' involves two subjects -- researchers generally recruit undergraduates, but if you're doing this at home, feel free to use your own kids. Subject A gets 10 dollar bills. He can choose to give any number of them to subject B, who can accept or reject the offer. If she accepts, they split the money as A proposed; if she rejects A's offer, both get nothing. As predicted by the theories of mathematician John Nash (subject of the movie 'A Beautiful Mind'), A makes the most money by offering one dollar to B, keeping nine for himself, and B should accept it, because one dollar is better than none.

But if you ignore the equations and focus on how people actually behave, you see something different, says Jonathan D. Cohen, director of the Center for the Study of Brain, Mind and Behavior at Princeton. People playing B who receive only one or two dollars overwhelmingly reject the offer. Economists have no better explanation than simple spite over feeling shortchanged.

Making Torture Legal

Anthony Lewis, in the current issue of The New York Review of Books:

Reading through the memoranda written by Bush administration lawyers on how prisoners of the 'war on terror' can be treated is a strange experience. The memos read like the advice of a mob lawyer to a mafia don on how to skirt the law and stay out of prison. Avoiding prosecution is literally a theme of the memoranda. Americans who put physical pressure on captives can escape punishment if they can show that they did not have an 'intent' to cause 'severe physical or mental pain or suffering.' And 'a defendant could negate a showing of specific intent...by showing that he had acted in good faith that his conduct would not amount to the acts prohibited by the statute.'

What astonishes me, no, what scares the hell out of me, is that W is still even in the polls with Kerrey. What does it take?