Burnstein Banter

2011-11-02T20:22:00.009-05:00

Race report, Chicago Marathon 2009

2009-10-12T13:47:00.004-05:00

PRERACE
Poor Steph had to put up with my tossing and turning the night before. I set the bedside clock for 4:30 am to eat breakfast, but I didn't need the alarm. I got out of bed at 4:15. Steph got up with me.

I left home at 5:30 am and drove to the Howard St. L, but without traffic I got there 15 minutes before my train's departure. I sat in my car with my blue sweatshirt, blue hat and black gloves, and waited for the 6:00 am red line train. I kept thinking someone was going to mistake me for a burglar.

Fortunately, when I got on the train, I was the only person in my compartment. I could obsess and worry in privacy. At the next stop, however, an older women got on and for some reason sat directly across from me. We were eye to eye on a completely empty train compartment. I wanted to move, but I didn't want to be rude. It took my mind off of my worries.

As we got closer to the loop, the train filled with runners, and their friends and family. I got off at the Jackson St. exit. It was already 6:45, the time my friend Charlie Parekh and I had planned to meet up. As I started off to our meet up spot, I was perplexed by the fact that everyone was walking away from the Lake (the direction of the start line). After 2-3 minutes, I figured out I was walking in the wrong direction! I righted myself and walked briskly to the N.E. corner of Van Buren and Michigan Ave. Charlie was waiting for me. We started walking to the open corral, where we'd begin the race.

The corral is organized by runners' anticipated pace, e.g., 7 minute milers lined up in front of 8 minute milers, who lined up in front of 9 minute milers, etc. We entered the corral at the 12 minute section and waded our way up to the 9 minute milers. We made it only as far as the 10 minute milers, and it became too crowded to go further. Ok, so the race has not even started, and I'm already screwed. I’ll have to fight my way through the thousands of people in front of me and around me in order to get into my pace group. Charlie insisted we were fine. He was right. While we waited, Charlie showed me how to set my watch to track my pace during the race.

RACE
The race started at 7:30 am and I crossed the start line 7 minutes and 40 seconds later. I finished my first mile in 9:19. At this pace, I'd never finish in under 4 hrs! Charlie didn’t seem worried, but said he'd follow me if wanted to pick it up. I started ducking and weaving, and in the process lost Charlie. I passed the 3 mile marker in 27:10, and reached the 6 mile marker in 54:10. At this point, I was still slightly off pace but I felt much better. The crowd had dissipated slightly, I was running through Lincoln Park , and the sun was shining.

Just prior to the 6 mile marker, I relieved myself at the aid station port-o-john and took my first drink. From here on out I would force myself to take a shot of gatoraide at each aid station. In hindsight, this was a good decision. In my training runs I was ad hoc in hydrating and I think this may have been in part why my long runs were such a chore. With aid stations every 2 or so miles, it was easy to hydrate consistently through out the race.

Upon reaching Boys Town , I ran back into Charlie. I ran with him for about a half mile, and then behind him for another half mile before I lost him entirely. This was around mile 8, and by this point I was comfortable with my pace, and happy to run on my own from here on out.

At mile 10, I had planned to take my first gel, but I felt good and decided to hold off. If I waited another couple miles, then I could skip the free Powerbar gel at mile 18 (which I'd never tried before) and rely on my three GUs. I stopped at the 12.5 mile aid station and took my first gel with a couple shots of water. At this point, my ankles were sore but my knees felt fine. I discarded my gloves and shoved my hat in my pocket for possible future use. Less than a mile later, at the halfway point, I put my hat back on and wished that I'd not discarded my gloves. I'd not run with a hat before, but my bald head was happy to be covered.

Miles 14 through 19 were mentally the hardest part of the race. The crowd was thin (and pretty much non-existent by the United Center), my knees started getting sore, it was too early to contemplate the finish line, and my left leg felt like it might be cramping.

As planned, I stopped for my second gel just after the 17 mile mark. At the aid station I received a very kind and much needed pat on the back from an elderly couple. From here on out, my left leg remained sore but (thank goodness!) it didn't cramp.

Next up were Pilsen and Chinatown , the two most memorable neighborhoods of my journey. Pilsen is a largely Hispanic neighborhood. The crowd was thick and the bars were blaring salsa music. I passed the 20 mile mark in under 3 hours. I was exhausted, but at least could finally start thinking about the finish line and (god forbid) getting there in under 4 hours.

The crowd in Chinatown was even more packed and even more raucous than in Pilsen. Some guy informed me he had just the cure for me, and then started ringing his cowbell. Very funny.

After leaving Chinatown, at around mile 22 I stopped at an aid station and downed my final gel. I was on track for a sub-4 hour finish, but I had slowed down during the last mile. I was anxious to get to the mile 23 marker to check my pace, but when we reached what I though was mile 23, I could not find the marker. My watch says 3:31, and still no mile 23?! However, a short while later I heard someone yell “just 2.2 more miles, you’re almost there!” Like hell I’m “almost there.” But I am at mile 24 and my watch says 3:38. This was the moment I realized I was going to finish in less than 4 hours. I picked up my pace just slightly, but it felt like I was flying. I was blowing by folks, and I felt good.

I kept looking on the horizon for Roosevelt (the street where you make the final right hand turn before the finish line). At the point I spotted Roosevelt, I heard someone yelling from behind me “David … hey Dad!” I turned back to see Sam, then Oliver, and then finally Stephanie. I ran back to get a hug from the boys and a kiss from Steph. I remember telling Steph “I am going to do it after all!” and Steph telling me to get back in the race. And I was back at it for the turn up Roosevelt, and then the final climactic left-hand turn onto Columbus Drive. When I spotted the finish line, I shed a tear.

Moments later I crossed the finish line in 10,244th place, and with a time of 3:56:51.

48 hours and counting

2009-01-18T11:30:00.005-06:00

The Economist sums up the highs and lows of the Bush admin. Mostly lows. Its a long article but worth reading. Excerpt from the conclusion:

Finally, Mr Bush also demonstrated the limits of capitalist triumphalism. The Bush administration was as business-friendly as any in American history: Mr Bush was the first president with an MBA (from Harvard) and he appointed four CEOs to his cabinet, more than any previous president. The administration was also wedded to the fundamental tenets of Reaganomics: cut taxes and free the supply side and everything else will take care of itself. Mr Cheney even argued explicitly that “Reagan taught us that deficits don’t matter.”

Mr Bush now leaves behind a tax system in some ways less efficient than the one he inherited, in need of annual patches, and unable to fund the government even in good times. He also leaves behind a broken budget process. Any economic triumphalism is long gone. Many of the CEOs, most notably Donald Rumsfeld and Paul O’Neill, proved to be dismal administrators. Reaganomics helped to produce a giant deficit. The financial crisis has made re-regulation rather than deregulation the mantra in Washington, while government has acquired a much bigger role in the economy through its backing of banks and car companies.

The Year in Pics 2008

2008-12-18T10:22:00.009-06:00

A collection of notable picture from 2008 (part 1 of 3) from "The Big Picture," a Boston Globe-sponsored photo blog. The content, size, and clarity of the pictures make for an amazing collection.

(via Kottke)

Update: Part 2 of 3

Michigan 81, Duke 73

2008-12-09T10:06:00.009-06:00

The Chicago Cubs fan in me refuses to get too excited about this win (their second BIG win of the season). But man o man, I sure would have loved to have been at this game!

Btw, my dad and I took the boys to their first Michigan basketball game over Thanksgiving break. These are important milestones. I remember my first UM b-ball game like it was yesterday. It was the final game of the regular season of Johnny Orr's first year as head coach.

At the pumpkin patch

2008-10-27T09:40:00.004-05:00

From Oct 2008

Sweet home Chicago

2008-10-23T09:25:00.010-05:00

Some miscellany on Chicago.

This could be fun...Election Night In Grant Park--Construction Begins:

Election Day is less than two weeks away, and Chicago could be home to the biggest political party in the country. Construction is underway for a massive stage in Grant Park where Barack Obama could declare victory on election night.

...[T]ens of thousands are expected to gather before the stage on election night. One way or another, that huge crowd will witness history.

In a recent interview, John Hodgman explains why he was inspired to write the chapter “Four Dubious Fables Of Chicago” in his new book The Areas Of My Expertise:

I live in New York City, but all around me are people talking all the time about Chicago. Some of these people even claim to have lived there, and I feel terrible for them. It was actually inspired by a raft of exiles who arrived in New York City not long after I did. They were clearly happy to be here, but all they could talk about was how great Chicago was, how affordable—until it started getting gentrified, and now it’s all shit, and so they had to move to New York. Talk about your age-old stories, like the hipster diaspora of people who leave one place because it got gentrified and turned to shit—how you used to be able to get a thousand whiskies for a cent, and all the bands were awesome, and people were nicer.

The arrest of retired Chicago police Chief Jon Burge has received a lot ink in the local press. He has been charged in a police brutality scandal that contributed to the emptying of Illinois’ death row and, according to the NY Times, "continues to resonate as one of the most racially charged chapters in the city’s history."

And an aerial view of Chicagoland. If you follow the Chicago river north, Skokie is somewhere up there towards the top, to the west of the river. Evanston is to the east...(click on the image to see the much larger original)

Academic Salaries

2008-10-21T19:04:00.001-05:00

Its Obama by a landslide

2008-10-17T14:55:00.004-05:00

People around the world are pinning their hopes on Barack Obama in next month's presidential election, according to an international survey published today. It shows that America can no longer count on the friendship even of its closest neighbours and allies after eight years of the Bush presidency. Only a minority in the countries surveyed describe relations with the US as friendly.

Has Michigan Sold Out?

2008-10-13T21:26:00.008-05:00

Eric Zorn, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, and UM football fan, sums up the difficulty with being a true-blue Michigan fan:

Has the team ever sunk lower than it did on Saturday?

Yes, the Appalachian State defeat at the beginning of last season was a bigger upset and threw a bigger shock into a team that was supposed to be contenders for the national title.

But Saturday's loss -- 13-10 at home to Toledo, a 1-4 Mid American Conference team -- marked a low-water point for the Wolverines.
...
And I have to say that there's part of me that's pleased. The program has become increasingly unseemly in recent years.

In 2003 our student fans behaved contemptibly in victory over Notre Dame...In 2005 the athletic department began charging annual seat-license fees of up to $500 a seat that caused my parents to relinquish the season tickets they'd held onto since 1971. This year the program raided West Virginia University and hired away their coach at an obscene salary and began presumptuously constructing luxury skyboxes along the formerly low, formerly graceful rim of Michigan Stadium.

Sub-mediocrity serves them right.

Ouch, that hurts. I agree the seat-license fee is BS, and get this: its labelled a mandatory "donation." The addition of luxury skyboxes is also very hard to stomach.

But how many have typewriters?

2008-09-27T19:51:00.008-05:00

Their are 438 students in this years freshman class at Amherst College. Check this out: 432 of them are on Facebook, but only 5 have landlines. Link (via Kottke)

What a game!

2008-09-27T19:40:00.009-05:00

Freep - UM's comeback is biggest at big house:

"I'd like to tell you things looked OK at halftime, but they didn't -- wow," said Rodriguez, who had water dumped on him by his players. "There was no panic. We were just trying to make some corrections, but if there was a hole to crawl into, I'm sure a bunch of us, including myself, would have liked to crawl in that hole. But we didn't."

Mlive - Michigan shocks No. 9 Wisconsin with 27-25 come-from-behind win:

"Michigan was down 19-0 and had mustered only 50 yards of offense when it finally put together a long offensive drive late in the third quarter."

And then proceeded to score four unanswered TDs. To say that Michigan was amazing in the 2nd half is an understatement. What a fun game to watch!

One small quibble: my vote for the biggest comeback still goes to the 1979 win over Indiana. This YouTube clip, with Bob Ufer announcing the final minutes of the game, still gives me rush.

The lights of my life

2008-09-23T21:11:00.002-05:00

Two pictures taken this past Labor day weekend...

From Sept 2008

7 inches of rain yesterday, and it is still coming down in buckets

2008-09-14T13:05:00.012-05:00

We got seepage in our supposedly water-impermeable, newly remodeled basement. This Lemur video sums up my reaction to the water-soaked carpet in our basement: everything looks fine, initially; I walk over to the corner of our basement; and then... wait for it... and then I step in it.

(via Rolling Stone's 25 Funniest Web Videos)

Global warning: is it statistically significant?

2008-09-07T00:33:00.006-05:00

What is the truth?! Is it inconvenient or not? In particular, how does one reconcile this presentation with the inconvenient truths espoused by Al? If you're impatient skip to around 3:00 in the video.

Jesus, this is good!

2008-09-05T23:26:00.008-05:00

Its got a nice polka beat...

Group Behavior Experiment

2008-09-03T13:03:00.002-05:00

The following is footage from a vintage Candid Camera episode. What would you do?...

Africa in perspective

2008-09-01T21:11:00.007-05:00

Click on map to expand...

(via Marginal Revolution)

"Everybody wants to know what is Michigan football"

2008-08-31T21:55:00.014-05:00

Asked and answered by Coach Rodriguez:

"Michigan football is a bunch of guys in winged helmets going out of that tunnel and playing their ass off with pride, passion, and intensity on every snap. On [e]very snap! Every man, every play! That's what Michigan football is!"

And with those words a new era began.

Link to article. I'll interpret: what Coach Rod is saying is that Michigan is distinct from those other college football teams that do not have winged helmets and play there asses off with pride, passion, and intensity on alternating snaps. They lost yesterday to Utah, in a close game that (but for several Utah mistakes) could have been a blow out. Give them time.

MSNBC Hurricane Tracker

2008-08-31T21:30:00.003-05:00

MSNBC has a neat application that follows the path of Hurricane Gustav. It is now at category 3 strength and bearing down on NOLA, with an ETA of around noon tomorrow (Monday). Link

(via Kottke)

That there is a LOT of offshore drilling!

2008-08-31T19:16:00.006-05:00

This graphic is said to show the population of offshore oil rigs/platforms in the path of hurricane Gustav...

(via Oil Drum)

Irony?

2008-08-31T19:08:00.005-05:00

A Focus on the Family video shot just prior to Obama's acceptance speech, encouraging people to pray for rain of biblical proportions to ruin the Democrat's big night...

(via Daily Kos)

Michigan's bleak economic picture

2008-08-27T12:26:00.000-05:00

An AP article ("Incomes fall in Michigan, number in poverty rises") reports:

Detroit's poverty rate of 33.8 percent was highest among cities of 250,000 or more, while Kalamazoo and Flint tied for fifth among cities of 65,000 to 249,999 people. Both had rates of 35.5 percent.

One third of a city population living in poverty. I'd no idea.

Caribbean nations dominate the Olympics

2008-08-25T11:02:00.006-05:00

Controlling for population, the Bahamas and Jamaica took home the most Olympic medals (medals per 1m inhabitants), ranking #1 and #2, respectively. Trinidad and Tobago was #11.

Controlling for GDP, the Bahamas and Jamaica also rank in the top 10 (medals per $1t GDP), ranking #8 and #1, respectively. Not bad!

(via Geary Behavior Center)

Campaign Ad

2008-08-23T19:21:00.002-05:00

This is a clever ad...

Suck it up!

2008-08-22T13:43:00.008-05:00

Young Chinese gymnasts in training. Their expressions suggest letting go is not an appealing alternative.

(via Oddity Central)

Just do it

2008-08-21T21:26:00.007-05:00

Bevan Docherty took bronze in the triathlon at the Beijing Olympics (a mere 12 seconds behind the winner, Jan "Frodo" Frodeno of Germany). In this clip, footage from a prior triathlon, Docherty pulls off a victory in dramatic fashion. I've watched it more times than I'll admit and each time it motivates me to go out and run. When you watch it, keep in mind it is the final leg of a triathlon.

(via Jasper)

Now check out this clip - the finish to last year's Chicago marathon. Watch the lead runner as she high fives and waves at the crowd. It then all falls apart.

What its all about

2008-08-21T16:00:00.002-05:00

Derek Redmond's hamstring popped midway thru the semi-final heat in the 400m at the 1992 Olympics. With sheer will and his father's assistance, he finished the race. It brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it.

Then vs Now

2008-08-20T22:00:00.005-05:00

Because I felt like it, some pictures of Sam and Oliver. My two favorite boys!

From 2008 vs 2004

What is the most obscure Olympic event?

2008-08-19T09:42:00.011-05:00

The summer Olympics is currently comprised of 28 sports, and will be reduced to 26 sports at the next summer games in London:

The IOC has voted to eliminate the sports [baseball and softball] starting in the 2012 London Olympics because it [sic] was deemed "too American for the International Stage." It becomes the first sport eliminated since polo was ousted in 1936. There were three sports on the table for elimination, and Modern Pentathlon was the only sport that maintained its place in the Games.

Here is the story. As the author notes, it is Cuba (not the U.S.) that is most harmed by the omission of baseball.

Slate's pick of the most obscure, bogus Olympic events, circa July 2000:

Everyone's favorite is synchronized swimming, which requires make-up and hair gel. New this year is 'trampoline' gymnastics, which joins 'rhythmic' gymnastics (featuring colored ribbons) as the two events most suited to the backyard lawn. Add to these traditional events such as equestrian, sailing, and shooting. On the border are newfangled 'extreme' sports such as mountain biking, the three different versions of kayaking, and (during the winter) snowboarding, moguls, and aerials. Too many of these events are subjective, with abstract ideals that make them resemble dog shows more than head-to-head competitions.

I agree. Rhythmic Gymnastics should be cut immediately. I've one exception though: I love watching trampoline!

A bigger (unrelated) gripe of mine is with NBC's prime time coverage. First, NBC seems only to follow the biggies--swimming and track. I'd much rather watch the finals of an obscure sport, than some qualifying round in a track event. Second, NBC seems only to follow the swimming and track events where an American is likely to place. Third, the commentators are overtly biased in favor of the U.S. athletes. I've nothing against U.S. pride, but it seems whenever there is close call that doesn't go our way, they suggest judge misconduct or ineptitude.

Why are most of the world's top sprinters from Jamaica?

2008-08-18T15:43:00.011-05:00

The 100m finals were held this weekend. Get this:

-- 6 of 8 in the men's final and 4 of 8 in the women's final were from a Caribbean nation.
-- Bolt, a Jamaican, took the gold in the men's final, in world-record time.
-- Fraser, Simpson, and Stewart, all Jamaicans, took gold, silver and bronze, respectively, in the women's final.

That is amazing! Keep in mind, Jamaica, one of the largest Caribbean countries, has a pop. of just 2.8m. By comparison, the U.S. pop exceeds 300m.

And check this out. According to The Guardian,

Bolt's medal took Jamaica's [all time] Olympic total to 43, 42 of which have come on the track and all but one at distances of 400m or under.

What explains this phenomena? One explanation is certainly structural. It doesn't take much to get started as a runner. A pair of shoes? But culture must play a huge role as well. How did this running culture take hold in Jamaica and why has it persisted and [I believe] grown in recent years? And what other explanations are there for the geographic concentration of sprinting talent to such a small portion of the world?

Here is one attempt at an explanation, from the CS Monitor:

How does a poor Caribbean country of less than 3 million people produce such athletic riches? Improved coaching and a new system to develop raw talent at home have combined with a tradition of seeing sprinting as an inexpensive ticket out of poverty, observers say.

This explanation, I suppose, will have to suffice for now.

Kremer and Levy on peer influence

2008-08-18T11:53:00.008-05:00

From The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2008. No wonder my roommates had such poor grades!

We exploit a natural experiment in which students at a large state university were randomly assigned roommates through a lottery system. We find that on average, males assigned to roommates who reported drinking in the year prior to entering college had a Grade Point Average (GPA) one quarter-point lower than those assigned to nondrinking roommates. The effect of initial assignment to a drinking roommate persists into the second year of college and possibly grows. The effect is especially large for students who drank alcohol themselves in the year prior to college.

While these conclusions are fairly obvious, the secondary findings are quite interesting:

In contrast to the males, females' GPAs do not appear affected by roommates' drinking prior to college. Furthermore, students' college GPA is not significantly affected by roommates' high school grades, admission test scores, or family background...Surprisingly, the policy of segregating drinkers by having substance-free housing could potentially lower average GPA in the university.

Link to abstract: JEP, Vol. 22, No. 3
Link to (non-gated, older version of) paper: June 2005

Running can slow ageing

2008-08-18T11:35:00.003-05:00

The work tracked 500 older runners for more than 20 years, comparing them to a similar group of non-runners. All were in their 50s at the start of the study.

What I find interesting and surprising is the magnitude of the benefits from running:

Nineteen years into the study, 34% of the non-runners had died compared to only 15% of the runners.

Both groups became more disabled with age, but for the runners the onset of disability started later - an average of 16 years later.

The health gap between the runners and non-runners continued to widen even as the subjects entered their ninth decade of life.

Note, however, that the runners were pretty hard core, running "for about four hours a week on average." Link: BBC News

Fiscal Conservative?

2008-08-18T11:22:00.003-05:00

Burnsteins visit Ann Arbor

2008-08-14T11:24:00.003-05:00

From Aug 2008

Doctors say it is "the dipstick of the [male] body's health"

2008-08-05T07:45:00.002-05:00

This and four other symptoms men should not ignore. Most are fairly obvious, but it never hurts to be reminded. Link: CNN.com

You are kidding, right?

2008-08-01T10:23:00.005-05:00

From yesterday's "Fashion & Style" section in the NY Times:

Now it appears that, after some stops and starts in recent seasons, the men of the white collar work force are marching into the office in shorts.

"Big Sausage Pizza" is not to be missed

2008-07-31T09:40:00.003-05:00

Pornforthebling.org:

Porn for the Blind is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to producing audio descriptions of sample movie clips from adult web sites. This service is provided free of charge.

Also, in case you're interested, the Library of Congress produces a Playboy Magazine for the blind: Playboy in braille! (Via Sellwood Street)

Camp Michigania, Week 3, 2008

2008-07-29T20:55:00.002-05:00

From Michigania 2008

More Zalie!

2008-07-14T21:41:00.005-05:00

From June July 2008

Eat your veggies

2008-06-24T09:50:00.004-05:00

And fruit, too. The fresh ones, with bright colors are best. I didn't know this, however:

But the superstars seem to be cruciferous vegetables: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, arugula, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, rutabaga, turnips, bok choy, horseradish, wasabi and watercress.
These vegetables contain potent substances that seem to protect against cancer and appear to have antimicrobial activity. In April, scientists reported that substances extracted from broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables thwarted (in the laboratory, at least) the bacteria that cause stomach ulcers as well as 23 of 28 other common microbes and fungi. There's also evidence that eating cruciferous vegetables may help counteract the suspected cancer-causing chemicals found in grilled food.

Link

Break Like the Wind

2008-06-11T10:32:00.003-05:00

GQ interviews Hugh Hefner about family life at the Playboy Mansion. The interviewer begins by establishing that Hefner is detached from his children, a poor role model, and so on. The interviewer clearly has it out for poor Hef. Maybe he deserves it. He does sound like a schmuck. To hammer home the interviewer's vendetta, here's how it concludes:

"After about forty-five minutes, Hef appears to be losing steam. I turn off the tape recorder, and he rises from the couch. As he does, he rips the kind of fart that one does not even attempt to hide from. No one in the room blinks."

And no one blinks. You have to respect that. Link

Azalea at the park

2008-05-05T14:19:00.001-05:00

From April May 2008

What your kid needs to know

2008-05-05T14:10:00.007-05:00

The New York Times blog "Well" held a competition on what kids need to know in order to lead a healthy, wealthy, and wise life. And the winners are...

The top five things kids need to know:
Don’t be rude to the wait staff.
If you need help, ask for help.
It’s okay to go up the slide, even though the rules say you may only go
down.
Learn the words “Thank You.” How to say it. How to receive it.
Always go outside when the sun is out.

On the day I was born...

2008-04-07T15:41:00.004-05:00

I signed us up for a NY Times subscription this morning (finally!). After I completed the subscription process, the website pointed me to its archive search, which is amazing. Its a free service that lets you search any NYT aritcle from as far back as 1851. Anyway, lets see what was happening on our birthdays...

Steph: President Nixon reassures the South that he is "firm and reasonable" in school desegregation

David: 76 American soldiers die in enemy ambush in Vietnam

Kath: Thousands wait in mile-long lines for up to 2 hours in bitter cold to say goodbye to Winston Churchill

Marty: Charles Lindbergh and family set sail for England to seek safe residence

Euge: Speech by Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, Demecratic nominee for President, "evokes wild enthusiasm," proclaims day of the "Titans" over

Azalea

2008-04-07T10:08:00.003-05:00

This pic was taken back in January, but is still worth sharing. I'm not sure why the hood has ears. What pink animal is she impersonating?

Funny guy, George Clooney

2008-04-04T15:00:00.008-05:00

What is novel about this interview in Esquire is that the interviewer "googles" the actor's name and asks Clooney to respond to what people are saying about him. They begin by looking in vain for a positive review of Clooney's role in the movie Peacemaker:

The closest I can find are a handful of positive reviews of the Peacemaker DVD on Amazon. I also find this review, which Clooney reads aloud:
George Clooney is about as entertaining to watch as Michael Jackson being raped by the Gorton's fisherman.
"Wow, that's an angry cat right there," says Clooney.
One could argue that some would find that immensely entertaining -- but I agree that I think it is meant as an insult.

Ok, that is less a demonstration of Clooney's wit than the interviewer's. Its a fun read throughout, in particular, see Clooney's discussion of "ball ironing" (on page 2) and, even better, the part about the monkey butt YouTube video (on page 3).

Real Estate, Worker Mobility, and Detroit

2008-04-03T11:08:00.004-05:00

There is a page one article in today's NYT by Louis Uchitelle that discusses the effects on worker mobility caused by the downturn in residential real estate.

The rapid decline in housing prices is distorting the normal workings of the American labor market. Mobility opens up job opportunities, allowing workers to go where they are most needed. When housing is not an obstacle, more than five million men and women, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s work force, move annually from one place to another — to a new job after a layoff, or to higher-paying work, or to the next rung in a career, often the goal of a corporate transfer. Or people seek, as in Dr. Morgan’s case, an escape from harsh northern winters.
Now that mobility is increasingly restricted. Unable to sell their homes easily and move on, tens of thousands of people like Mr. Kirkland and Dr. Morgan are making the labor force less flexible just as a weakening economy puts pressure on workers to move to wherever companies are still hiring.

What is also interesting about this article is the mention of Detroit property values, which I've dwelled on before. How can such beautiful, and in some cases historically significant, homes in the Detroit area sell for so little? The article doesn't say much about the Kirkland/Morgan home, which is currently valued at well south of $200K, but it looks to be impressive. Just goes to show you, there are only three things you need to know to value a home: location, location, and location.

Low expectations

2008-03-17T13:48:00.008-05:00

I heard bits of Bush's clown speech last Friday. Gail Collins sums it up:

We’re really past expecting anything much, but in times of crisis you would like to at least believe your leader has the capacity to pretend he’s in control...

The country that elected George Bush — sort of — because he seemed like he’d be more fun to have a beer with than Al Gore or John Kerry is really getting its comeuppance. Our credit markets are foundering, and all we’ve got is a guy who looks like he’s ready to kick back and start the weekend.

Hammer time

2008-03-13T22:11:00.005-05:00

Dr. Hammermesh left MSU for UT Austin just prior to my arrival in East Lansing 1993. At the time I felt shortchanged. Reading his blog--which offers short anecdotes on the economics in (his) everyday life and current events--I realize now I was also shortchanged as an undergrad. Back in times of yore before the Internets, we had no easy access to these kernels of wisdom. We had office hours and the library. Today these kernels abound and can be found with the click of a mouse.

Azalea

2008-03-13T07:50:00.003-05:00

Our newest addition, Zalie Burnstein!

DOB: Nov. 13, 2007

21 inches, 9.9 ounces

Sam and ODB

2006-02-07T14:05:00.000-06:00

Steph took the boys to the local photographer last week. They were offering a 'free' sitting, and it sounded like a good deal...at the time. What they did not say is that if you want the photos you have to cough up like a gazillion dollars. With guns to our heads, we paid the ransom and in hingsight I'm glad we did. For the record, I've never EVER seen the boys in turtle necks, until now. Don't they look just like their old man?

Most-Educated Cities in the United States

2006-01-11T10:48:00.000-06:00

More on US Census data. Kath's hometown ranks No. 5. But neither Chicago nor Ann Arbor make the top 20. The article concludes (for what its worth) that:

Education levels bode well for a city's economic success. More than half of America's 20 most educated cities also rank at the top of the list of the country's most prosperous cities.

Link.

Interestingly, a CNN survey finds an entirely different set of most-educated cities, all located on the east coast. Link to CNN survey.

US census data on poverty

2006-01-11T10:10:00.000-06:00

Snip:

The computer has surpassed the dishwasher as a standard household appliance. The poorest Americans have posted a sharp rise in access to air conditioning. The richest Americans still own the most cars, but they are choosing to own slightly fewer of them than they used to.

With regard to computers, the percentage of households with one grew from 20% in 1992 to nearly 60% in 2002. That is impressive growth. (With regard to the 2002 level, the US is pretty much smack dab in the middle of OECD countries.) But this excerpt says it all:

"In terms of the items people have ... it amazes me the number of people who are at or near the poverty line that have color TVs, cable, washer, dryer, microwave," says Michael Cosgrove, an economist at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas. That's not to ignore the hardships of poverty, he adds, "but the conveniences they have are in fact pretty good."

Go read it. Link

First Goatse

2006-01-10T12:06:00.000-06:00

Boing Boing has a major hang-up with "Goatse." Entries on said topic are typically and frequently posted by Xani Jardin. To see examples, click here. Excluding this fascination, she is an interesting gal.

Ok, end of digression. I tend to skip over these posts b/c they are not that interesting. But this post by Mark Frauenfelder caught my eye and it is surprisingly funny.

If you are not familiar with term or concept, please I beseach you, do not investigate. Put simply, and this is all you need to know to enjoy the above link, "goatse" is the image of a person's outstretched butthole. It is so very 'outstretched' that it looks not only painful, but life threatening. Interest in the image is sort of a cult thing on the internets.

Deregulation vs. Redistribution

2006-01-10T10:03:00.000-06:00

How can we 'cure' poverty? That is the question addressed in this article by Thomas Sowell. He seizes on the sucess of the Chinese economy to allegedly lift "a million people a month out of poverty." The success of the Chinese economy he attributes to "wealth creation," which I interpret as the promotion of free (or less regulated) markets. The other alternative is "income redistribution," which is never defined in the article but is proudly attributed to "the left."

In the article, these two alternatives - wealth creation and income redistribution - are the only means to curing poverty. Furthermore, these two solutions are treated by Sowell as mutually exclusive. The primary purpose of the article, as I read it, is to create an argument. This is too bad. Sowell's point re: deregulation is a valid one, but is diminished by too much finger pointing. Excerpt:

When it comes to lifting people out of poverty, redistribution of income and wealth has a much poorer and more spotty track record than the creation of wealth. In some places, such as Zimbabwe today, attempts at a redistribution of wealth have turned out to be a redistribution of poverty.

While the creation of wealth may be more effective for enabling millions of people to rise out of poverty, it provides no special role for the political left, no puffed up importance, no moral superiority, no power for them to wield over others. Redistribution is clearly better for the left.

Leftist emphasis on 'the poor' proceeds as if the poor were some separate group. But, in most Western countries, at least, millions of people who are 'poor' at one period of their lives are 'rich' at another period of their lives -- as these terms are conventionally defined.

How can that be? People tend to become more productive -- create more wealth -- over time, with more experience and an accumulation of skills and training.

That is reflected in incomes that are two or three times higher in later years than at the beginning of a career. But that too is of little or no interest to the political left.

Link

Information Asymmetry?

2006-01-10T09:41:00.000-06:00

The article concludes:

While financial planners believe about half of young Americans could accumulate $1 million over a period of 30 years, fewer than 1 in 10 of Americans believe they could save that much money, the survey showed.

In other words, Americans have an overly pessimistic view on the efficacy of saving. How pessimistic, you ask?

More than one in five Americans believe the best way to get rich is to win the lottery, while 11 percent say inheriting money is the way to go, a survey showed on Monday.

Asked the most practical way to accumulate "several hundred thousand dollars," 21 percent chose winning the lottery, compared to 55 percent who thought saving something each month for many years was best, according to a survey by the Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Planning Association.

Three percent of those surveyed thought a big insurance settlement was the best way to become wealthy.

The poor were the most likely to say winning the lottery was the most practical way to gain wealth -- with 38 percent of those earning less than $25,000 a year choosing that option compared to just 9 percent of those earning $75,000 or more.

Link

Years best Mr. Fish

2006-01-06T12:19:00.000-06:00

LA Weekly has a compilation of the previous year's most funny Mr. Fish. The following is one that made me laugh. Link

My Bionic Quest for Boléro

2006-01-05T12:28:00.000-06:00

Michael Chorost was born with partial hearing. When he was a teen, Chorost discovered to his pleasant surprise that Ravel's Bolero was audible to him. From that moment on, he developed an emotional attachment to the song. Sadly, in 2001, Chorost suddenly lost all of what remained of his hearing.

The article describes this experience, with much greater eloquence and detail, as well as the subsequent, and successful reengineering of the firmware on his cochlear implant. This effort has allowed him to once again hear Ravel's Bolero. Having myself experienced significant hearing loss, I found the article inspiring and hopeful. Its also an interesting read, regardless of your state of hearing.

Link (Hat tip goes to Boing Boing)

Vince-sanity

2006-01-04T23:40:00.000-06:00

Now that was one hell of a national championship! Down to a final play, Young scrambled for an 8-yard touchdown on fourth down with 19 seconds left. And this was before the announcers were hailing Young as one of the best college QBs ever. What is particularly amazing is that he doesn't look like he's trying that hard.

Final score: Texas 43, USC 38.

Rejected by the Publishers

2006-01-04T20:57:00.000-06:00

This is an interesting 'gotcha,' as reported in the NY Times:

Submitted to 20 publishers and agents, the typed manuscripts of the opening chapters of two books were assumed to be the work of aspiring novelists. Of 21 replies, all but one were rejections. Sent by The Sunday Times of London, the manuscripts were the opening chapters of novels that won Booker Prizes in the 1970's. One was "Holiday," by Stanley Middleton; the other was "In a Free State," by Sir V. S. Naipaul, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature. Mr. Middleton said he wasn't surprised. "People don't seem to know what a good novel is nowadays," he said. Mr. Naipaul said: "To see something is well written and appetizingly written takes a lot of talent, and there is not a great deal of that around. With all the other forms of entertainment today, there are very few people around who would understand what a good paragraph is."

Link

What is your dangerous idea?

2006-01-03T17:43:00.000-06:00

The following is an excerpt from an article in UK's Times Online, titled (and I love this title) "Why it can be a very smart move to start life with a Jewish momma":

LET ME take you to The Edge. Or more specifically, www.edge.org, an intriguing little website set up by John Brockman, the literary agent in New York responsible for catapulting science writers such as the neuropsychologist Steven Pinker into the big time...

An annual highlight is the Edge question, posed every January by Brockman to set the theme for the coming year. The 2006 teaser, announced yesterday, is this: what is your dangerous idea? Brockman describes it as “an idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?”

The answers have already started rolling in ... and how very provocative they are. Here is my pick of the crop...

Link to the article. Link to the Edge website.

Fizz-Boh

2006-01-03T17:02:00.000-06:00

In 1997, Mary Murphy set up a website to advertise the home she was selling sans a real estate agent.

Nearly a decade later, that website remains. Today, Ms. Murphy's (and her business partner, Christie Miller's) "for-sale-by-owner" website (FSBO, pronounced "Fizz-boh) controls 20 percent of the residential listings in Madison, WI (Dane County).

Isn't that an impressive statistic? Plus its an interesting and inspiring article. Link

Video night

2005-12-29T19:27:00.000-06:00

Here are two soon-to-be classics:

"The great TiVo prank"

and

"Lazy Sunday"

Cayman abattoir

2005-12-28T13:19:00.000-06:00

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

2005-12-28T12:40:00.000-06:00

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

Fine Line, part deux

2005-12-27T00:02:00.000-06:00

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

Volcano pics

2005-12-26T20:59:00.000-06:00

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.

Fine Line

2005-12-22T11:58:00.000-06:00

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

The geekiest of geek subjects

2005-12-19T14:41:00.000-06:00

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

2005-12-19T12:36:00.000-06:00

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?

Neato pic

2005-12-16T11:57:00.000-06:00

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

2005-12-16T11:44:00.000-06:00

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

Dining out in Chicago

2005-12-15T14:20:00.000-06:00

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

It is about being humane

2005-12-14T11:48:00.000-06:00

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

2005-12-14T10:02:00.000-06:00

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.

This I Believe

2005-12-13T10:03:00.000-06:00

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.

Sound financial advice

2005-12-12T11:24:00.000-06:00

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

Robert Clark free after 24 yrs in prison

2005-12-09T09:49:00.000-06:00

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

Think your PC is safe online? Think again

2005-12-08T10:59:00.000-06:00

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

Rhinestone Brass Knuckles

2005-12-07T14:01:00.000-06:00

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

The World's Worst Disease

2005-12-05T11:39:00.000-06:00

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

Hows this for catchy marketing

2005-12-02T10:02:00.000-06:00

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

Music Genome Project's Pandora

2005-12-01T23:12:00.000-06:00

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.

Daniel Gilbert on intelligent design

2005-11-30T12:23:00.000-06:00

Harvard Psychology Prof Dan Gilbert discusses religion and in so doing debunks intelligent design theory. The article begins as follows:

For as long as pollsters have been asking the question, roughly 90% of Americans have been claiming to believe in God, and a sizeable majority believes that God takes a personal interest in their lives and intervenes to help them. When President Bush said, 'God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did,' most Americans were not alarmed to learn that their leader was receiving orders that no one else could hear. America is an unusually religious nation, but even in the world's least religious nations the majority of people claim to believe in God.

A sad commentary, yes, but an effective way to motivate the article. What is most interesting, however, are Gilbert's descriptions of Psychology experiments to support his arguments. Link

2005 hurricane season ends today

2005-11-30T12:07:00.000-06:00

Thank goodness...

The seemingly never-ending official 2005 Atlantic hurricane season ends today, even though Tropical Storm Epsilon is currently spinning away in the central Atlantic and is expected to survive into next week.

The active season featured a record 26 named storms, 13 hurricanes and seven major hurricanes.

Several of those major hurricanes, Dennis, Emily and Wilma, threatened the Cayman Islands, but caused only minimal damage.

Link

Univ. of Kansas to offer new course on religious myths

2005-11-22T09:37:00.000-06:00

Creationism and intelligent design are going to be studied at the University of Kansas, but not in the way advocated by opponents of the theory of evolution.

A course being offered next semester by the university religious studies department is titled 'Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies.'

Nuf sed. Link

UM vs. OSU (...and Tony Stewart!)

2005-11-21T13:49:00.000-06:00

Eric Zorn on the Michigan game last Saturday:

Had we managed to hang on to win Saturday's game against Ohio State, it would have been a sporting injustice. No team that gains only 32 yards on 24 rushes -- a pathetic average of 1.33 yards per carry for which we can blame the offensive line-- deserves to win.

And no team that lost to Minnesota and Wisconsin, had to go to overtime to beat MSU and Iowa and beat Penn State only by pulling a miracle out of its bonnet deserves a share of the Big Ten title.

I second that. Link

On a more pleasant note, Tony Stewart won the Nextel Cup yesterday.

When the season started, it didn't look good for Stewart. He got out of the gates solidly at the Daytona 500, finishing seventh, and had a sprinkling of strong runs scattered throughout the first 10 events of the year. But three consecutive finishes outside the top 20 dropped him to 14th in the standings and a feeling of helplessness pervaded the team.

'It wasn't one partiular race, it was our whole season from the start,' Stewart said. 'Once we got away from Daytona, we really were just behind until we got to Michigan.'

That was race No. 11 and Stewart and Co. managed to bring a hot rod to the track and make the adjustments necessary to stay up front and secure a second-place finish. That was just a teaser for what was to come. Stewart won five of his next seven races and shot from 10th in the standings to first -- a position he would relinquish for only one week the remainder of the season.

Link

Human Development Trends

2005-11-18T19:59:00.000-06:00

An interactive presentation on changes in the wolrd income distribution over time. Very interesting! Link

Borat's service to new political order

2005-11-14T13:57:00.000-06:00

This made me laugh. Excerpt:

Baron Cohen appears to have drawn official Kazakh ire after he hosted the annual MTV Europe Music Awards show in Lisbon earlier this month as Borat, who arrived in an Air Kazakh propeller plane controlled by a one-eyed pilot clutching a vodka bottle.

"We do not rule out that Mr. Cohen is serving someone's political order designed to present Kazakhstan and its people in a derogatory way," Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Yerzhan Ashykbayev told a news briefing.
...
Cohen's earlier jokes about the Central Asian state include claims that the people would shoot a dog and then have a party, and that local wine was made from fermented horse urine.

Link

Bush's Last Day

2005-11-14T01:06:00.000-06:00

I'm counting...Link

What is the problem with France: two perspectives

2005-11-13T11:38:00.000-06:00

These two articles - one in the NY Times and the other in WS Journal (subscription required) - evaluate some of the causes of unrest in France. They are both worth reading and provide insight or at least ideas on what might be underlying causes. However, what I can't seem to shake is the WSJ author's (Dan Henninger) assertion that it is the French Muslim's refusal to integrate that is partially or largely the cause. Its not that I disagree, but instead its the toss off manner in which he makes the claim without elaboration or substantiation. The claim is contradicted by the NY Times article. Also, if you read carefully, it appears that Henninger believes that French Muslims simply aren't interested in work. Judge for yourself.

Excerpt, NYT article:

"I was born in Senegal when it was part of France," said Semou Diouf before putting the pipe in his mouth. "I speak French, my wife is French and I was educated in France." The problem, he added after pulling the pipe out of his mouth again, 'is the French don't think I'm French."

That, in a nutshell, is what lies at the heart of the unrest that has swept France in the past two weeks: millions of French citizens, whether immigrants or the offspring of immigrants, feel rejected by traditional French society, which has resisted adjusting a vision of itself forged in fires of the French Revolution. The concept of French identity remains rooted deep in the country's centuries-old culture, and a significant portion of the population has yet to accept the increasingly multiethnic makeup of the nation. Put simply, being French, for many people, remains a baguette-and-beret affair.

Excerpt, WSJ article:

I am prepared to entertain the notion that France's second-generation Muslims are burning down those lovely French towns because Muslims can't or won't integrate into European societies. I'm also inclined to believe that if you are 18, male, live in a scuzzy neighborhood and have not much better to do from 9 to 5 than hang with the boys, nothing good can come of it. The solution to the first theory of France's riots is to round up all the young Muslims, put them on trains and ship them "home." Plan B would be for France to output a better 9-to-5 culture than it's got. My guess is the Chirac government would prefer the first solution.
...
But let's take on the idea that France's rioters have little to do with economic enervation, that this is really about France's failed attempts to "assimilate" Muslims who in any event don't want to assimilate. But what if they did? Or what if, instead of Arabs, they were Rome-fleeing Italians or even workaholic Slovakians?

And then Henninger goes on to argue that even if arabs wanted to integrate they couldn't b/c European countries - and France in particular - are too closed and class oriented. So according to Henninger blame can be attributed to all the French: even if French arabs weren't resistent to integration and weren't lazy (ie, if they were ambitious like the 'Rome-fleeing Italians' or the Slovak busy bees) it still wouldn't matter b/c the native-born French won't let them participate.

Yikes!

2005-11-13T02:45:00.000-06:00

Throughout the first 224 years (1776-2000) of our nation’s history, 42 U.S. presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions according to the U.S. Treasury Department. In the past four years alone (2001-2005), the Bush Administration has borrowed a staggering $1.05 trillion.

as reported by Wall Street Jackass. Link

Also blogged by the jackass, a selection of pre and post-Iraq war quotes by our administration, in chronological order: Link

Getting things done with Yahoo!

2005-11-13T02:31:00.000-06:00

For those of you, such as myself, that rely upon Yahoo! for email, scheduling appointments, etc. you may find this blog entry by Chris Wright very useful. Even if you don't, its worth considering. Link: Yahoo! GTD (Part 1)

Teaching kindergartners about control groups and causal inference

2005-11-02T08:49:00.000-06:00

I'll have to try this out on Sam. Link

Painting the pumpkin

2005-10-30T20:02:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow's the big day!

Oliver's big four-0

2005-10-30T18:44:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Oliver's 4th birthday this Saturday at a local gynastics studio. Mom and dad think it went well. When asked how he liked it, ODB concluded: "it was the best day, ever." Nuf sed.

Nate, ODB, Sam and Dimitri wait their turn in line.

Oliver ready to exhale. Dad ready to join hair club for men.

The moment we've all been waiting for!

Parachute time.

(free) Software that helps you do stuff you want to

2005-10-30T13:04:00.000-06:00

"I want to..." or "I need to" or "How do I?" These are all questions we all ask all the time. This is a small collection of resources that will help to answer those questions.

Link

The Dead Schembechlers

2005-10-24T21:11:00.000-05:00

The Dead Schembachlers are a band that hail from Columbus, OH. I have not heard the band's music, but I must say they are intriguing. Here is there website, which includes info on their upcomeing gig: The Hate Michigan Rally 2005 this November 18.

And here are the lyrics to their recent hit "M Means Moron":

M MEANS MORON
M MEANS MORON
M MEANS MORON
ON YOUR HAT

M MEANS MORON
M MEANS MORON
M MEANS MORON
HOW 'BOUT THAT?

They also have one titled "Hey Fuck Lloyd Carr" and of course "Michigan Stadiums A Pile of Shit."

Yahoo! circa 1996

2005-10-18T09:48:00.000-05:00

In the previous year (1995), Netscape 1.0 was rolled out, and the world wide web was born. So what did Yahoo!'s homepage look like in 1996? See for yourself. Link

(Cribbed from what seems to be a funny, interesting blog Wall Street Jackass)

Update: This from Boing Boing, a list of the 100 oldest .COM domains currently registered. To get a sense of the internet's newness, note that the oldest currently regestered name is only 20 years old. The list offers some historical perspective: who was visionary enough to register a .COM domain, and when? Link