Thursday, December 29

Video night

Here are two soon-to-be classics:

"The great TiVo prank"

and

"Lazy Sunday"

Wednesday, December 28

Cayman abattoir

An abattoir is a slaughterhouse or place for butchering. I blog this article because I think it nicely captures two aspects of Cayman life. One is their "soon come" spirit. It can be frustrating, but for the most part it is refreshing. It helps that Caymanians are (for the most part) kind, friendly, and extremely polite folk. The second aspect is the inexplicable. This was probably a consequnce of me being new to the island, but I am certain their is more to it than that. Daily I would hear or read local news that made absolutely no sense. It seemed intentially cryptic. Excerpt:
The Lower Valley abattoir was on the drawing board for 25 years...And it doesn't work.
Why?
“A lot of things have been going wrong with the refrigeration unit which is not cooling properly,” Mr. Wakelin said.

“The parts are on order and then they have to be installed,” he said.
And there is controversy too:
The abattoir was built to provide a hygienic and sanitary facility for the slaughtering of cows, pigs and goats, especially during Christmas time.

Many farmers said the facilities were unnecessary.

They thought it would take away from the Caymanian tradition of slaughtering the cow under the almond tree.
Twenty-five years and it doesn't work? But rest assured, the parts are on order. Also, couldn't they have at least hinted at the relevance of xmas time? And THE almond tree, whats with the almond tree? Ah Cayman, what a beautiful place. Link

The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth

Brad DeLong has authored a wonderful and intelligent review of Ben Friedman's recent book, "The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth." Snip from DeLong's article:
Friedman is—as I am—a card-carrying neoliberal. We economists do not understand very much about how knowledge of modern technologies and effective organizations and institutions diffuses from region to region around the globe. We do know that it diffuses appallingly slowly: there are still three billion people throughout the world whose lives are largely preindustrial (even if theyare far above the Malthusian poverty in which most of our preindustrial ancestors lived). We suspect that maximizing contact—economic, social, and cultural—is a powerful way to transfer ideas and practices. Hence the neoliberal imperative: do whatever you can to maximize economic growth in the developing world, and hope that rapid growth generates in its train the strong local pressures for social, environmental, cultural, and political advance that are needed if non-economic forms of progress are to be stable and durable.

There is a criticism of the neoliberal view that holds that higher material incomes cannot be the cure to poverty, for poverty is also a lack of voice in society, a lack of security in one’s position, and a lack of respect. With all this Friedman agrees. But he adds that faster material progress is the best way to generate pressures to produce voice, security, and respect.

Hence the neoliberal imperative: lower barriers to trade and contact; lower barriers of all kinds; lower barriers in the expectation that faster economic growth will itself generate countervailing pressures that will undo and cure the bad social and distributional side-effects of faster growth. Friedman’s reading of the moral consequences of economic growth provides a powerful piece of support to this neoliberal imperative.
Do read the whole thing. Link

Tuesday, December 27

Fine Line, part deux

Cribbed from Boing Boing...
Is that America's highest goal -- preventing another terrorist attack? Are there no principles of law and liberty more important than this? Who would have remembered Patrick Henry had he written, "What's wrong with giving up a little liberty if it protects me from death?" --Robert Steinback, 26 Dec 2005
Link

Monday, December 26

Volcano pics

Last week I mentioned that Steph and the boys constructed and detonated a home-made Volcano contraption. "Detonate" is a little strong - it was a far less dramatic experience than the one put on by Peter in the Brady Bunch. Nevertheless, it was a noteworthy achievement for the Burnstein boys. The following are some pictures, from beginning to end. My favorite part is the safety goggles. Volcano making, after all, is serious business.

Step 1: stirring the goop



applying the goop



painting



the final run-through



and the finale...FIRE IN THE HOLE!



Dedication: To Steph, who has the patience to make it happen.

Thursday, December 22

Fine Line

Ok, I cribbed that title from Eric Zorn. Quote:
"This is a war that's not worth the life of one American because it's a war based on a lie. And no amount of revisionism will make those lies true. And if you support this ridiculous notion that the ends justifies the means, then come up here, throw your passport on the stage and get the hell out of my country because that's un-American." --Scott Ritter, 20 Dec 2005
Link

Monday, December 19

The geekiest of geek subjects

Guess what subject that might be? Well, it turns out that the unnamed subject is now the "sexiest trade alive." Ladies, the comments are open. Link

Weekend at Burnie's

I spent a nice weekend with my parents in Ann Arbor. First, Euge and I went to the UM vs. UCLA basketball game. This was a big game, Michigan's first test this season against a good team and on national TV. They lost. Euge and I had fun, though. We sat just several rows above (Sec. 16, row 16) where our old season tickets used to be (Sec. 16, row 11).

Second, we went to see the movie Paradise Now at the Michigan Theatre. It was one of the most powerful movies I've ever seen. I recommend it to any and everyone with an interest in the middle east and/or Israel/Palestine in particular. If the final scene doesn't blow you away (figuratively, that is), then I don't know what will.

Third, my parents and I dined at Yotsuba Saturday night. They have amazing sushi! Mom picked up the tab. Nice.

Fourth, I read Ehrenreich's book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. On the plus side, it is an interesting and thought provoking read. I learned a lot (I didn't already know from personal experience) about low-wage work. On the down side, however, it is hard to read the final chapter, where she offers her economic insight and proposed solutions.

Fifth, for the ride to and from Ann Arbor, I checked out from the Skokie Library an excellent "book on tape," titled Positively Fifth Street, by James McManus. If you like the writing style and insights of Michael Lewis' Moneyball, then you'll definitely enjoy this book.

All this, and I returned to Skokie on Sunday just in time to join Steph and the boys in sledding down Mt. Trashmore (ie, the former landfill in Evanston) and igniting a Volcano contraption (a la Brady Bunch) that Kath got the boys. Guess who got stuck cleaning up the Volcano mess?

Friday, December 16

Neato pic

As you may recall, I love panorama pics. Isn't this a nice one? I found it at a photography website called stock.xchng.

The Ritz-Carlton - Cayman Islands


After years of delay, caused by various legal squabbles, the Ritz-Carlton in Grand Cayman is finally opened to the public, with rooms starting at over US$800 a night, and condos starting at $3.4 million. The Netnews reports that the Ritz will be second largest employer in Grand Cayman (the Govt. is the largest employer). Link

Thursday, December 15

Dining out in Chicago

The Sun-Times has an article evaluating changes in Chicagoans' dining habits over the past decade. It is full of factoids and full of fun. Descriptions(excerpt):
In a little more than a decade, Chicago's dining scene has changed dramatically in terms of what people are eating when they dine out, where they're eating it and how much they're spending, according to a Sun-Times analysis based on the popular Zagat restaurant guides for Chicago from 1994 and 2005.
Link

Wednesday, December 14

It is about being humane

What is our society teaching our children by sanctioning the death penalty? More pragmatically, has anyone quantified the net benefit of this policy? Its a consequence of politician's "getting tough on crime," but, to my knowledge, there doesn't exist a sound, broadly accepted study demonstrating empirically that 'toughness' in this context (that is killing bad guys) deters violent crime. See, eg, "Facts about Deterrence and the Death Penalty" compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Xeni Jardin points me to a letter by Serbian writer and filmmaker Jasmina Tesanovic. She doesn't answer or address the above questions, but articulates a basic point worth repeating: the death penalty is barbaric. Excerpt from letter:
This Tookie, this black Californian, I don't care if he is guilty or not, I say when interviewed by a TV, as if my opinion mattered: the death penalty is barbarism and a crime against humanity, like torture.

How do you feel? the reporter asks me with tender feelings. What does that matter, I scream, it is not about feelings, it is about human rights. In point of fact I feel awful. ...

It is a sad evening to wait for a person to be publicly and legally executed, and then go to bed thinking that we have done all we could. Life stinks. How do executioners feel? The decision makers, how do they feel? Why don't TV reporters demand to know their feelings? In any case, whatever we said and did will not be broadcast. Some of our photos with candles will be published, with captions saying stuff we didn't say and didn't mean. I don't believe in God or pure spirituality, I held a candle to make a difference in the dark. It didn't make much difference, that candle. It barely warmed my hands.
Link

Teeth brushing correlates negatively with a child's weight

Tyler Cowen excerpts from what seems to be a very interesting book by J. Eric Oliver, titled Fat Politics: The Real Story behind America's Obesity Epidemic. Oliver's conclusion is that:
Now obviously the act of brushing one's teeth plays little direct role in a child's weight, but it is a good indicator of something else -- in what type of household the child lives. Children who brush their teeth more often are more likely to come from homes where health and hygiene are a priority...In other words, outside of genetics, the biggest factor predicting a child's weight is what type of parenting they receive.
Why yes, of course, that makes sense, its an obvious conclusion. But it got me thinking, why teeth brushing? The simple answer is: buy the book, but thats no fun. I suspect it has something to do with the variable's precision and ease of compiling. But maybe not.

For instance, it can't be any more difficult to compile data on the frequency of baths, can it? I would think bathing is an equal if not better proxy of child hygiene than teeth brushing. And, from my experience, giving baths takes significant effort on the parents behalf, more so than teeth brushing: policing water splashing, and the allocation of water toys; insuring proper soaping technique (for the older one) and the consent to soap (for the younger one), etc. It would be interesting (only to a parent, I suppose) to see if Oliver's results are robust (that is provide similar results) when a bathing proxy is used instead of or in addition to a teeth brushing proxy.

Likewise, I'd guess that a bath proxy is less noisy (more accurate) than a count of teeth brushing; that is, I suspect there is greater variation in the quality of teeth brushing across families than there is in the quality of baths. Sam and ODB I am proud to say are regular teeth brushers (twice a day, which I think is excessive, but I'd better not go there). However, to be honest, some evenings my primary objective is to get the boys in bed; I don't have the energy to force a re-brush if I suspect they did a crappy job. But what about those parents that do consistently muster the energy to force a re-brush? That effort is not captured in a count of teeth brushing. Ok, I'm buying the book.

Tuesday, December 13

This I Believe

This I believe is a weekly installment on NPR that consists of one, several minutes long, essay read by the author on his or her "core values." It is based on a radio program of the same name started by Edward R. Murrow in 1951. In his introductory statement, Murrow described the purpose of the program as follow:
This I Believe. By that name, we present the personal philosophies of thoughtful men and women in all walks of life. In this brief space, a banker or a butcher, a painter or a social worker, people of all kinds who need have nothing more in common than integrity, a real honesty, will write about the rules they live by, the things they have found to be the basic values in their lives.
This description does not do it justice. What makes the show worthwhile is the essays NPR chooses to run. Whomever does the editing has a keen eye. Prime examples are John McCain's essay on "The Virtues of the Quiet Hero" or John Fountain's essay "The God Who Embraced Me."

Yesterday's installment of This I Believe really hit a nerve. It is an essay by Nancy Yucius, titled "Live Your Life So That You Will Have No Regrets" that discusses her attitude on life after being diagnosed with colon cancer and dealing with the statistical probability that she has just one more year to live.

Monday, December 12

Sound financial advice

Jane Galt, in a blog post titled 'what should you do with your money,' offers 16 helpful pieces of advice on saving for the future. Link

Friday, December 9

Robert Clark free after 24 yrs in prison

 
What a story, a very sad story. Excerpt:
The judge sentenced Mr. Clark to life.

When Mr. Clark heard that, he interrupted, saying: "Your Honor, they had Tony here. I can't put him on the stand. He'll tell you I didn't do nothing but drive the car two weeks later. Y'all got him right here."

"Mr. Clark, you have had your trial," the judge admonished. "Just remain silent."

Mr. [Tony] Arnold went on to commit a string of felonies, including burglary, gun possession and sodomy. In 2001, he was charged with multiple counts of child molesting in a case prosecutors say involved a 13-year-old female relative. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, cruelty to children, for which he is now serving time.

Meanwhile, Mr. Clark wrote birthday cards to his children and letters to anyone he thought might be able to help with his case.

When his mother came to visit, he would lay his head in her lap and sleep. When her kidneys failed, he asked to be locked up in solitary confinement so he could be alone to grieve. She died last year, before he gained his freedom.

Finally, the Innocence Project took his case, and a DNA test was done on the evidence. In November, the results showed that the attacker was not Mr. Clark. The district attorney in Cobb County, Pat Head, ran the DNA profile against the criminal offender database. A match came back: Mr. Arnold.

But there was more...
Link

Thursday, December 8

Think your PC is safe online? Think again

These results startled me. Check this out, according to a recent survey of Internet users by AOL and "the National Cyber Security Alliance":
--More than 50 percent of Internet users' PCs have no anti-virus protection or have not updated it in the last week.
--50 percent don't have a properly configured firewall; and
--40 percent do not have any form of spyware protection.
In total, the study found that 81 percent of the respondants' home PCs were not secure. Yet 83 percent of those surveyed somehow concluded that their PCs' were "safe from threats". Link

Wednesday, December 7

Rhinestone Brass Knuckles

I love Xeni's description.
Make the world your bitch -- elegantly -- with a set of rhinestone-encrusted brass knuckles in gold or silver.
For $72 they are all yours. Chu-ching

Monday, December 5

The World's Worst Disease

Richard Karlgaard makes a nice observation and is mostly right. Excerpt:
It is not AIDS or Avian Flu.

It is a monstrously flawed idea.

The sickest thinking and the source of human misery throughout the ages is based on a belief that:

1. The earth is running out of resources
2. People consume more than they contribute
3. Wealth is a zero sum distribution game
He argues that the headlines surrounding GM's recent announcement to cut 30k jobs is evidence of such thinking and notes that job creation is not nearly as newsworthy, but should be.
Does the creation of 30,000 jobs get equal treatment? Why not? That’s about how many jobs are born every week in the United States.
Where he gets it wrong is when he ties Economists to such thinking.
Economists and professors compete for a limited number of tenured university spots. This warps their view toward zero-sum thinking.
Huh? Much of the underlying theory and applied research supporting Karlgaard are published by Economists. This concept underlies the near universal support by Economists for free trade. And so on. Link

Friday, December 2

Hows this for catchy marketing

A group of students at the Univ. of Texas, San Antonio, named "Atheist Agenda," have set up a Porno-for-Bibles exchange: You give them your bible, they give you a free porno mag. Link

Here is a description of the group's underlying agenda. Link

Thursday, December 1

Music Genome Project's Pandora

This is an entertaining website. Link 1.5 hours and two glasses of wine later, I'm still jamming out. What is it you ask? It is a remarkably accurate and creative streaming music service that asks you what tunes you like and do not like. Based on this info, it recommends new music you might enjoy. Plus its free. Check out my Pandora "favorite list" to see what is floating my boat.