THE DEFENESTRATION OF BLOG

Red Pandas are sweet

2007-01-27T15:25:00.000-05:00

Efficient Markets and Religion

2006-11-19T18:39:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking a lot about the Efficient Markets Hypothesis and how it might apply to the market for religions, in as much as religion is a product or service, the cost of which includes both monetary expenditures, missed work, and the opportunity cost of not believing in your next best alternative religion.

One of the major misunderstandings of EMH is that it requires all market participants to be rational. On the contrary, there can be irrational players, and their mispricing of financial assets presents a near riskless profit opportunity for arbitrageurs.

But how does one arbitrage inefficient religions out of existence and what kind of profit does he get? I can't think of any satisfactory analogy. I know the Shakers disappeared, but that was more of a Darwinian thing because they didn't believe in having kids. In general, religion yields when science comes up with explanations to fill the gaps that motivated religion in the first place. The religion doesn't necessarily die though, it just becomes less supernatural, which is nonetheless a positive development. So the lack of information is definitely a problem here, just as it is a thorn in the side of the EMH.

Where am I going with this? I think the EMH analogy should hold among professors of religious studies. Surely they are able to look at all religions, including their own, with a critical eye. As scholars in the field, they must have in-depth exposure to a great number of religions. Why, then, haven't they settled on a consensus of some sort?

The fact that there is no consensus, in my humble opinion, is proof that no religion is especially convincing. This follows logically from the proposition that none of them is true.

Then what of the lack of consensus for atheism among scholars of religion? I think it's impossible. The sample selection bias is too great. Atheists simply don't go into the field of religious studies.

ok, DJ was right

2006-11-19T18:38:00.000-05:00

The Facebook idea is lame. But Blogger is so 2005. My next post will be especially DJ-oriented.

Update

2006-11-12T02:47:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm not posting notes on Facebook either. I'm just gonna be a bum for a while...

Where did this blog go?

2006-10-26T16:35:00.000-04:00

I have decided to instead start posting notes on Facebook. If you don't know me, no blog for you :-(

We'll be back

2006-10-09T01:18:00.000-04:00

Next year in Tampa! See you at Spring training, Yankees. We still love you.

Hey, House Republicans...

2006-10-05T17:01:00.000-04:00

The Catholic Church wants its schtick back!

I am a prisoner in my own home!

2006-09-26T14:14:00.000-04:00

Last week my Welsh corgi wall calendar fell on the floor when I wasn't looking, presumably after the load bearing thumbtack finally snapped out of the wall. So now I have a thumbtack somewhere on the floor near my desk, but I can't find it for my life. I plan to step on it in the near future.

Together at last: my love of bulldogs and my hatred of taxes

2006-09-21T01:06:00.000-04:00

Pope bashes Canada for allowing abortion, same sex marriage

2006-09-09T11:53:00.000-04:00

http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/cp_U090802AU.xml.html

If I were the Prime Minister of Canada, I would urge the Vatican to do something about exorcisms and all those stupid hats.

Truly Darwinian: Golan Heights Paragliding

2006-09-04T16:36:00.000-04:00

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli man was stuck in the middle of a minefield near the Syrian border Saturday after crashing his paraglider and severely injuring himself.

The unidentified man took off from a peak in the Golan Heights and drifted east toward the Syrian and Jordanian borders before crashing in the minefield, injuring his legs and breaking several bones, rescue services said.

"He's in the process of being rescued," an army spokesman said.

Paragliding, in which participants jump off tall peaks or cliffs with a parachute strapped to their back, is a popular sport in the Golan, where there are many steep mountains along Israel's northeastern border.

The man's parachute is believed to have malfunctioned.

Source

obvious headline of the day

2006-08-27T14:21:00.000-04:00

Whispers of Mergers Set Off Suspicious Trading

What do cellphones and Nazis have in common?

2006-08-05T17:11:00.000-04:00

Both of them are pro-Holocaust against the Jews. At least that's what one Orthodox group would have you believe.
The irony is that the cellphone was invented by Motorola in an Israeli lab. I guess these particular Jews are so paranoid that they even see Israelis as anti-Semites...

On my mind...

2006-08-01T18:41:00.000-04:00

some good news out of the middle east

2006-07-31T00:48:00.000-04:00

Fortunately, despite the terrorist rocket attacks, America's high tech subsidiaries in Haifa are doing well.

some striking bullies on a boat

2006-07-28T11:25:00.000-04:00

Quote of the Day

2006-07-20T16:31:00.000-04:00

Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.

Frederic Bastiat, The Law

mini rant on the mideast

2006-07-13T09:31:00.000-04:00

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy described the Israeli army strikes on Lebanon as a "disproportionate act of war", warning one consequence could be to plunge Lebanon "back into the worst years of war".

Poppycock. What exactly is "disproportionate" force? When your house is on fire, what's the proportionate amount of water?

Proportionate force will have been used either when Lebanon sends Hezbollah packing, Hezbollah surrenders unconditionally, or the group is weakened to the point of irrelevance. Is this really so radical? We demanded unconditional surrender of our enemies half a world away after WW2. Israel has the means, and hopefully the resolve, to have similar expectations for Hezbollah. And after withdrawing from Lebanon 5 years ago, they certainly have the moral authority to justify such a course of action.

There goes my neighborhood

2006-07-12T14:27:00.000-04:00

As if I needed another reason to want to go back to NYC:

Nation's Capital Declares Crime Emergency
Two groups of tourists were robbed at gunpoint on the National Mall, just hours after the police chief declared a crime emergency in the city in response to a string of violence that included the killing of a British activist.

The activist, Alan Senitt, was attacked in the Georgetown area on Sunday, his throat was slit and police say the attackers attempted to rape his companion. It was the 13th homicide in the city this month. Robberies are up 14 percent, and armed assaults have jumped 18 percent in the past 30 days.

On Wednesday, U.S. Park Police were looking for connections between the latest Mall robberies and three similar incidents in the area in late May. There have been no arrests in any of those cases.

On Tuesday night, two women from Texas were robbed at gunpoint by two men dressed in all black, said U.S. Park Police Sgt. Scott Fear. About 15 minutes later, a family of four from Missouri was robbed by suspects with the same description, he said.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/12/D8IQH9P05.html

bashing the other school

2006-07-09T12:12:00.000-04:00

It turns out that the latest terrorist we caught is a Concordia alum. This doesn't surprise me one bit, that place was truly a viper's nest of Islamic extremism.

Scarcity breeds elitism

2006-07-08T18:28:00.000-04:00

From the latest Dwight School newsletter:

-Approximately one half of next year's Kindergarten class will be made up of our Woodside Preschool graduates, siblings of current students, and children of alumni

-There were more than 15 applicants for each of the remaining kindergarten spaces

-Grades 1-4 had a smiliarly high number of applicants per available space

-Nearly 50% of applicants accepted in our first round of Middle and Upper School acceptances matriculated.

I have read for the last few years about a demographic bulge of kindergarten-age kids. Imagine how competitive it'll be for the poor bastards when they apply to college in 2018.

I love this

2006-07-07T12:03:00.000-04:00

Don't get me wrong, it's very sad how bigoted religious people can be toward gays. Even worse is when they succeed in stopping a totally innocent parade because it conflicts with their ancient prejudices. But in this particular situation, the rabbis just seem to be so angry yet completely impotent to stop it, and they're just making asses of themselves. I couldn't help laughing at them.

Make no mistake, this is rent seeking. It is no different from an inefficient industry demanding import tarrifs to reduce foreign competition. It hurts the rest of society, though instead of higher prices, the result in this instance is less freedom. Shame on those statist scumbags for trying to maximize their utility by robbing from others.

Funny randomness

2006-07-06T02:27:00.000-04:00

See pictures of visible minorities hard at work at the tallis factory!

The National League blows

2006-07-01T18:28:00.000-04:00

At least according to this thought-provoking editorial.

I had a bugout a few minutes ago

2006-06-30T15:40:00.000-04:00

I was walking down 18th street and noticed a ~60 year old woman had baseball cards for sale on the sidewalk, so naturally I started looking through the album pages she had laid out. I started making small talk about how the cards were from the same years (around 1990) that I was really into baseball cards. I figured that she has a son my age. Then she revealed that they were indeed her son's but that he died in a car acccident last week and she is trying to raise money for his funeral. Of course it's always tragic when parents outlive a child, but this just bummed me out. I mean, they couldn't even afford to die...goddamn. So I bought a Mike Mussina rookie despite her asking price of about 4x what I would have paid on Ebay. I figure it's all I can really do, and I felt compelled to do something, if only out of guilt. I mean, for all I know, he might have been driving drunk, but I am assuming he was a victim of randomness and that it could just as easily have been me leaving behind some complete sets of 1990 baseball cards.

Killa Cam is priceless

2006-06-29T02:06:00.000-04:00

Check out this post on Nastack.

What's on my mind right now?

2006-06-27T00:51:00.000-04:00

I'm too lazy to edit this but I just realized that Philip Roth's novels deserve a prominent place in my mental pie chart. I just finished The Counterlife and I am moving on to Portnoys Complaint and The Ghost Writer.

Life imitating art/scholarship

2006-06-26T22:27:00.000-04:00

A 19th century French deputy of parliament/journalist/satirist named Frederic Bastiat wrote an essay called the Candlemaker's Petition. It's an extremely enjoyable satire that explains the political economy of international trade and the dangers of protectionism. No math, no pain, I promise.

Hillary Clinton has brazenly rejected Bastiat's time-tested wisdom, introducing a bill calling for policies that amount to consumer wealth transfers to...you guessed it, the candle makers!

Hat tip to Tom Palmer's blog on the heads up.

I heart bashing

2006-06-26T16:39:00.000-04:00

If you're reading this, I am assuming its because you get some utility out of reading my opinions. So here is my review of Congressional Towers in Rockville, MD.

You know, they've had bus boycotts over less

2006-06-26T00:42:00.000-04:00

Last week I met a friend for lunch on Capitol Hill, and upon exiting, found myself at Pennsylvania Avenue and 1st street. Given the beautiful weather and reasonable walking distance to my neighborhood, I proceeded home on foot. By the time I got to Penn and 10th, I began to suspect something was up. When I got to 15th I said to myself “that’s funny, that KFC used to be the White House and the Treasury Department. My how the neighborhood changes.” Then I realized I had walked to 15th street and Pennsylvania avenue Southwest. Duh.

I saw a line for a bus on the corner, and figuring it was my best hope for getting safely to a metro stop, queued up. The bus driver let us board, until he got to me, last in line, at which point he abruptly closed the door leaving me standing against it. He looked away and did not acknowledge me, despite my audibly banging the door 3 times. And then he drove away.

A helpful local saw what happened and noted the bus ID number to me, encouraging me to report the incident. I did, and got a call back the next day. Possible updates to follow.

…I would hate to think that I was treated that way because I was the only non-black on line for the bus. But that’s the only explanation I can think of. (Hey, at least I didn’t accuse anyone of anti-Semitism). If discrimination is the case, it's pretty sad. Even Rosa Parks was able to get a seat in the back.

Travel Tip

2006-05-31T13:12:00.000-04:00

Stay the hell away from DC, the humidity is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Disgusting...

This is totally righteous

2006-05-19T15:46:00.000-04:00

Get your copy of Freakonomics signed for free

I wouldn't wish this on Hitler

2006-05-19T01:31:00.000-04:00

Don't you hate it when you are in rush to leave, and you put on fresh socks, only to step on a soaking wet bath mat? That's really the worst. I would rather be Rochambeau'd.

Yes, I'm still blogging

2006-05-06T13:36:00.000-04:00

My computer just died 2 weeks ago. It's fixed and waiting for me in New York, where I will get to it in a week.

No way this guy's beard is real

2006-04-19T22:25:00.000-04:00

For some reason, this Hamas terrorist big is wearing a novelty beard that doesn't even remotely match his hair color.

One day, we will all have to justify our salary to government regulators

2006-04-19T02:16:00.000-04:00

Because, obviously, if shareholders and their agent (the CEO) agree on some compensation package, some worthless posturing politicians in Washington know better and therefore should veto it.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amid record oil prices and soaring gasoline costs, Exxon Mobil's $400 million retirement package to its former CEO is a "shameful display of greed" that should be reviewed by Congress and investigated by federal regulators, Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan said on Tuesday.

Dorgan said he wants Exxon Mobil officials to appear at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing to explain how the corporation "justifies" giving its former boss, Lee Raymond, such a huge retirement package.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/energy_exxon_senator_dc

Rickey Henderson: Priceless

2006-04-16T16:33:00.000-04:00

I never realized that he was a modern day Yogi Berra, although his wit seems to be largely unintentional:

Many stories have been told about Rickey Henderson over the years, both the player and person. He is well known for his malapropisms, for referring to himself in the third-person (for example, calling Padres GM Kevin Towers to inquire about a contract and leaving a message starting "this is Rickey, calling on behalf of Rickey."), and for talking to himself at length when he is up to bat. He has been known to speak to his bats, asking them which one has the next hit inside them. He once fell asleep on an icepack, thereby contracting a case of frostbite in August. In 2001, he described a long single this way: "I hit it out, but it didn't go out." Another time, Rickey was offered a seat on the team bus, the player saying that he had tenure. To which Rickey replied, "Ten years? What are you talking about? Rickey got 16, 17 years."

Another story occurred while Henderson was playing for the Oakland A's. Team bookkeepers could not account for a $1 million discrepancy in their finances. The mysterious figure was eventually traced to Henderson, who had received the sum as a signing bonus. Instead of cashing the check, he'd had it framed, where it still hung on his wall.

One widely reported story, however, is by all accounts a fabrication. Supposedly while playing for Seattle, Henderson went up to John Olerud, a former teammate then with the New York Mets, and asked why Olerud wore a batting helmet out on the field, noting that he "used to have a teammate in Toronto who did the same thing," to which Olerud replied, "That was me."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickey_Henderson

Truly Darwinian: Catholic Church Edition

2006-04-16T11:42:00.000-04:00

Conservative Catholics, for example, insist that even Aids victims should not use condoms: liberals argue that such strictures are lunacy. Meanwhile, the preponderant Catholic populations, 70% of the 1.1 billion faithful, reside in the south where their preoccupations are survival amid conflict, poverty and natural disasters.

Full Story

A-Z meme

2006-04-10T21:29:00.000-04:00

Accent: Combination of Manhattan and Montreal...pretty much neutral.

Booze: No thanks. It makes me sluggish, flushed, and constantly peeing.

Chore I hate: I don't really hate any chores, I just put them off for a long time.

Dogs/cats: DOGS, all the way

Essential Electronics: iPod, laptop, cell

Favorite Perfume/Cologne: They give me headaches and congestion.

Gold and silver: I recently went long silver and shorted gold for a $50 profit.

Hometown: New York, NY

Insomnia: I might stay up very late sometimes, but I always get my 8 hours

Job Title: Grad Student

Kids: My wild oats are few in number. And by few I mean none.

Living Arrangements: Studio apartment downtown

Most Admired Trait: Humor?

Number of days missed at school/work in the last year: None!

Overnight Hospital Stays: None. I am invincible.

Phobia: Undercooked meat

Religion: Hahahaha

Siblings: 1

Time I usually wake up: 10 AM

Unusual Talent: Am I too old to say "armpit farts?"

Vegetable I refuse to eat: Peas

Worst Habit: Procrastination

X-Rays: Aside from my teeth, none. Though I once had a sonogram. Turns out I wasn't pregnant.

Yummy Foods I Make: The adding of milk to cereal.

Zodiac Sign: I think it's Libra but I never got that verified by a certified flake or whoever does it.

Create Your Own Caption Contest!

2006-04-09T19:08:00.000-04:00

It looks like the Ayatollah read The Great Gatsby and got a little carried away.

Atheist Musings on Passover Loopholes

2006-04-08T21:52:00.000-04:00

It's almost Passover, and that means that religious Jews everywhere are turning their houses upside down to clean out every last bit of chametz. Chametz means leaven; basically any baked grain product in your home, from breads to cookies to cakes is chametz. Jews are biblically commanded not to have any of it in their possession during the 7 days of Passover (there's an 8th day for those living in the diaspora, added just to be safe in the face of calendar-related confusion).

During the week before Passover, Jews take all their chametz products and put them in a cabinet or closet somewhere in the home. Then they arrange with their Rabbi to "sell" it, along with the chametz of the entire community, to a gentile, usually for some nominal amount of money like $1. The gentile is most certainly not expected to barge in and claim his food. The idea is to get the chametz officially out of their possession without disposing of it, so that way they can eat it after Passover ends.

I never liked that idea, even while I was being brought up traditionally. Since renouncing Judaism, my view of this rite has gone from skeptical to amused. I felt like the idea was to decieve God. Of course, Judaism believes in an all powerful God who cannot become any better or worse off because of your acts, so the purpose of ritual observance is merely for yourself. If you are just trying to circumvent the injunction against keeping chametz in the house, then why even bother with this "sale" in the first place? You're only fooling yourself and helping nobody.

The irony of all this is that the same people who claim to fear God and believe in his omniscience would never try to pull something like this on the IRS. This kind of legal chicanery is the equivalent of a dying man "selling" his son an Upper East Side condo for $1 to dodge the estate tax. That doesn't wash with Uncle Sam. So I can think of three possibilites to resolve this conundrum:

1)They don't truly believe that God is all-knowing. Furthermore, they believe that the government knows even more than God himself. (In which case, 9/11 has no bearing on the problem of evil for these people. After all, if the government couldn't stop it, then how could God?)

2)It's an issue of enforcement and incentives. God would punish ownership of chametz with "excision of the soul." The IRS punishes tax cheats with fines. Therefore, behavioral inconsistency is a matter of the cheater preferring his money over his soul.

3)It's also possible that there is no inconsistency at all. Perhaps everyone who does this is a tax cheat. There's probably some correlation between the propensity to cheat on taxes and to cheat within one's belief system, but I wouldn't count on it being the case in most situations.

Truly Darwinian: Probability and The Gambler's Fallacy

2006-04-07T22:27:00.000-04:00

In response to hearing about a discount bus catching fire:

Quackenbush, who uses the bus to commute between work locations, said this will not deter him from taking the bus again. In fact, it will have just the opposite effect, he said.
''What are the odds of this happening again?" he said. ''Now I'm safe."

Full Story

More on the Gambler's Fallacy

God is testing us

2006-04-06T03:09:00.000-04:00

He planted some new "fossils" that buttress Darwin's theory of evolution. Of course, God only put them there to deceive us, which is somehow supposed to test and strengthen our faith to make us better Christians. Or something like that.

greatest seinfeld quote ever?

2006-04-03T04:09:00.000-04:00

"I didn't know she had a pony. How was I to know she had a pony? Who figures an immigrant's going to have a pony? Do you know what the odds are on that? I mean, in all the pictures I saw of immigrants on boats coming into New York harbor, I never saw one of them sitting on a pony. Why would anybody come here if they had a pony? Who leaves a country packed with ponies to come to a non-pony country? It doesn't make sense.. am I wrong?"

As if I needed another reason not to take Amtrak

2006-03-31T02:25:00.000-05:00

An old but shocking story that epitomizes the road to serfdom.

My cousin is in the NY Times

2006-03-27T02:37:00.000-05:00

For serious!

Israeli Athlete in '72 Games Recalls Terror

Markets in Everything

2006-03-21T23:21:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine was joking with me that it would be fun to get an expired or promotional American Express Black Card just to have in his wallet so that chicks would catch a glimpse of the ultra-turbo elite status symbol. I checked eBay to see if he could get one, and much to my amazement, there is a fairly deep market for them. The one currently on auction has over 25 bids and is currently at $167. There's still a couple days, and there was one that sold 2 weeks ago for over $300!

Inflation! Quick, flash the Bernanke Signal!

2006-03-21T15:02:00.000-05:00

My favorite little hallal restaurant in Washington has raised the prices of everything on their menu by $1 or $2. Nonetheless, this will not curtail my consumption of their food. I gotta hand it to those Shiites, they cook a mean kabob.

Jewish degenerate speaks out on bird flu

2006-03-21T15:01:00.000-05:00

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An outbreak of deadly bird flu in Israel is God's punishment for calls in election ads to legalize gay marriages, according to Rabbi David Basri, a prominent sage preaching Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism.

"The Bible says that God punishes depravity first through plagues against animals and then in people," Basri said in a religious edict quoted by his son.

Full Story

Seasons Greetings from Iraq

2006-03-20T23:43:00.000-05:00

Today Shiites mourned the death of Mohammed's grandson. Naturally, they sliced their heads open.

This is the ghettoest thing I've ever ingested since Orange Drink

2006-03-19T03:06:00.000-05:00

I went to Target for a lamp and of course I also came home with all kinds of other rubbish: 30 protein bars, a 3 pack of chapsticks, $15 worth of baseball cards, a duster made of ostrich feathers, and a dozen plastic hangers (I couldn't find the cheaper metal ones, so I'm assuming that their absence is linked to some kind of anti-contraceptive/abortion policy). The greatest find of all was a box of cereal, which I did not think much of at the time. It's a generic alternative to Cinnamon Toast Crunch, called Cinnamon _FLAVOR Toasters. It cost me a paltry 85 cents, only a third of what I pay for the leading national brand of cinnamon _flavored cereal. I just started eating it and nearly choked looking at the box. Here are my initial observations:
It is made by a group called Malt-O-Meal
They assert that "Cinnamon _FLAVOR Toasters taste every bit as good as Cinnamon Toast Crunch!"
There's an inexplicably happy latino family in the corner
The stuff isn't bad, but it's just not quite as sweet as authentic CTC and is a little too hard to be eaten out of the box
Their mascots are Cool Blue the kangaroo and in her pouch, Li'l Oaty the golden wallaby

Stock tip: this company is clearly going through the roof. Just look at their trajectory.

Capitalism good, socialism bad

2006-03-17T12:04:00.000-05:00

Here is an example from commercial culture, though competition can be applied to just about any good or service to make it better.

China curbs 'American Idol' copycat shows

SHANGHAI, March 17 (UPI) -- China has issued new rules to put the brakes on free-wheeling TV programs that imitate the U.S. hit "American Idol" and undermine socialist values.

"All types of competitive activities should be positive, healthy, cheerful and have a favorable influence on morality," said the directive issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television this week.

The rules threaten programs like the copycat singing competition "Super Girl" and its planned male version, "I Love Real Men," the South China Morning Post reported Friday.

The directive, posted on the administration's Web site, limits the number of competitive programs and forbids them from copying others' formats. It also criticizes the "star worship" generated by televised singing competitions.

Television stations cannot award prizes or cash, and the clothing and hairstyles of participants cannot be "vulgar," the rules say.

A Shanghai academic, who declined to be named, said authorities were worried about the way national competition programs organized large numbers of people to vote, the Post reported.

More than 8 million people voted by text message for the finalists in last season's "Super Girl" competition.

Source

My neighborhood has 1.21 gigawatts of coolness

2006-03-16T22:09:00.000-05:00

There's a DeLorean parked around the corner from me.

This must be from one of those hidden articles in the constitution, perhaps log(21.7521) ?

2006-03-15T13:32:00.000-05:00

"We also believe that the nationwide deployment of high speed, always-on broadband and Internet and mobile communications will fuel the development of millions of new jobs in the United States," Pelosi said.
Full Story

Islamonomics

2006-03-14T10:34:00.000-05:00

"Now he's throwing money at complex problems and just doesn't care about the long term. He thinks he should help the poor today and leave everything else to the Hidden Imam," the newspaper editor said, referring to a character whom Shi'ites believe will one day emerge to bring justice to the world.

Full Story
Basically, Ahmadinejad is creating huge deficits and mortgaging the future of the economy. Unlike our president's Christianomics, Iranian policies are also leading to high inflation.

On a related note, our public finances are run like those of a banana republic...

Photo Essay Pt IV: A cool plaque

2006-03-12T19:40:00.000-05:00

List of all New York City Yellow Taxi Medallion holders

2006-03-11T12:38:00.000-05:00

Microsoft Excel File (you'll want to right click and save it rather than open directly)

They are sorted by medallion number, which is interesting because it provides you with a chronological perspective of the names of cabbies. The lower numbered medallions have plenty of Jewish names and the highest numbered medallions have an increasing share of African names, especially Nigerian ones.

Photo Essay Pt III: Andre the Giant has a Posse?

2006-03-11T12:14:00.000-05:00

Connecticut Ave NW (by R street, if I recall correctly)

I may have a new favorite rapper

2006-03-10T15:41:00.000-05:00

And I never would have heard of him if not for a suit brought by a deputy of the French Parliament.

"France is a bitch, don't forget to fuck her till she's exhausted/You have to treat her like a slut, man." At another point, Mr Makela says: "I piss on Napoleon and on General de Gaulle."

Full Story

Cornbread: My latest obsession

2006-03-09T22:32:00.000-05:00

While I am still eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch, I have also rekindled my love of cornbread, which I recently discovered at my local Safeway. My only fond memory of grade school is when I used to look forward to every second thursday, when we got hot dogs and cornbread for lunch.

On the street in DC

2006-03-09T21:15:00.000-05:00

A woman tried to sell me a Stop Bitching, Start a Revolution shirt, so I flatly told her "lady, if there's ever a revolution, I'll be the first to face the firing squad."

The Greatest Rapper of All Time Died on March 9th

2006-03-09T00:34:00.000-05:00

R.I.P. Biggie Smalls

1972-1997

Markets in everything

2006-03-08T17:40:00.000-05:00

Wal-Mart In Court Fight Over 'Wal-ocaust' T-Shirts

POSTED: 11:55 am EST March 8, 2006

ATLANTA -- A Georgia man has filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart in federal district court in Atlanta in a fight over his T-shirts that compare the retailer's business practices to the Holocaust.

Charles Smith has been marketing shirts that read, "I (heart) Wal-ocaust" T-shirts. Wal-Mart filed a cease-and-desist order in an attempt to make him stop printing the shirts.

The company said Smith is engaging in trademark infringement. It has threatened to sue Smith if he continues to display the logos on his Web site and to print them on his products.

http://www.local6.com/money/7813452/detail.html
At least he isn't a Walocaust denier...

Proving that the political spectrum is actually a circle, Charlie Rangel and I agree on something

2006-03-06T14:14:00.000-05:00

On this government's out of control spending:
"Simply raising the limit on George W. Bush's credit card and crossing our fingers won't solve anything."

Cellphone photo essay Pt II: My Neighborhood in DC is Elite

2006-03-04T23:15:00.000-05:00

We use legal loopholes to sell contraband!

Somebody got the wrong number

2006-03-03T19:18:00.000-05:00

But instead of a call, it was a text message. The most arresting thing was that the cellphone had a 212 area code. I want to know how he swung that...

212: Yo, what's good?
Abu gingy: Who dis?
212: Yo, its Mowsuf, stop playin
Abu Gingy: Nah son, I don't know no Mowsuf
212: Oh, iight my fault

Biggie was a treasure

2006-03-02T21:13:00.000-05:00

I got 7 mac-11's
about 8--
38's
9 nines
10 mac-10's
The shits never end
You cant touch my riches
Even if you had MC Hammer and them 357 bitches.

-Christopher Wallace

Cinnamon Toast Crunch: A Salute

2006-02-28T20:58:00.000-05:00

This stuff is amazing. Really. It's always the first thing I eat when I get a variety pack of 8 mini-cereals. Yesterday I decided to spring for a whole box. What a great move...or mistake, depending on how you look at it. I can't stop eating this stuff. I've already had 3 bowls today, and that doesn't include handfuls that I grabbed here and there. It's so sweet and cinnamony, but not to the point of cloying. Even though the pieces are rather thin (compared to, say, Cheerios), they hold their own when saturated with milk, maintaining their crunchiness to the very last piece. I'm fiending for some right now. They should have called this stuff Cinnamon Toast Crack. The food engineers at General Mills hit a grand slam with this one.

In short, anybody who hasn't had this cereal in a while should buy themselves a box (or at least a variety pack). If you have it and you don't come around to my point of view, all I can say is that you're a jerkface.

Ashes to ashes, dust to...diamonds??

2006-02-28T02:19:00.000-05:00

After I die, my family better do this to me. It would be totally pimp.

It's about damn time

2006-02-27T21:50:00.000-05:00

The Smithsonian is starting a hip hop collection. Maybe I'll actually walk over there one day.

Eccentric billionaire creates Papist ghetto

2006-02-27T12:10:00.000-05:00

The founder of Domino's is a fundy nut who is creating a town for all the other fundy nuts. I think this is a positive for the rest of society. Instead of social rent-seeking to the detriment of society, they will isolate themselves and be the only ones harmed by their own crazy rules (ie no sales of contraceptives).

For the same reason, I think we should have a kibbutz movement in this country. Limit the transfers and rent-seeking to the people who want it while leaving the rest of us alone.

The Tipping Pointers, by Defenestrationov Tipwell

2006-02-25T21:16:00.000-05:00

How much should you tip for a cheap meal (say, a lunch special) at a full service, sit-down restaurant? The first step in answering this question is to be clear about what we are tipping for: service. You are receiving the following services at a restaurant whether you're spending $7 or $25:

Setting table
Seating
Menus
Water
Taking order
Preparing food
Bringing food
Refilling water
Bringing check
Processing credit card
Bussing
Dishwashing

The difference between the $7 and $25 meal is primarily that the cost of the ingredients is higher for the latter. This is irrelevant to the wait/bus staff and the value of the service they have provided you. The secondary issue is the more intensive food preparation, which is the most important thing the restaurant does. That is the only reason that the tip should be partially tied to the price on the check. Still, a linear relationship starting from the origin doesn't really make sense, given that the waiters are running around and taking care of you for an hour no matter what you're spending. In my opinion, the line should originate at a Y-intercept that represents a 17.5% tip on the average dinner entree.
Let:
B=The price of your bill, in dollars, before tax
E[B]=The average menu price of a bill at dinner, in dollars
G=the deserved gratuity rate, expressed as a decimal from 0 to 1
T=The tip, in dollars

If B >= E[B] then T=(G)x(B)

This is just saying that if your bill is average or above, to use the standard tip rate times the bill formula.

If B < E[B] then T=(G)x(E[B])

This is saying that in a situation where you ordered a relatively cheap meal, you should not take into account how little you spent. Rather, just tip as if you ordered the average entree at dinner.

Typical Example:
I order $7 worth of food and receive service worthy of a 16.5% tip. The average entree at dinner costs $15. Thus, I would tip .165 x $15=2.475. Of course, the classy thing here would be to round up to $2.50.
I think this works out pretty fairly. If were to simply tip 16.5% on my $7 bill, I would only be giving $1.16, which seems to me like an insult.
To illustrate this graphically, I created a chart that shows you how should tip for various bills at a restaurant with a $15 E[D] at the 16.5% rate.

Under no circumstances do you tip less than $2.50. Then the graph kinks upward at the point where B>E[B].

Naturally, there ought to be an empirical research agenda for this problem. Do customers already behave this way? Or is it simply a matter of multiplying the check by 15%?
One possibility would be to study credit card receipts on which customers have left tips. There may be some financial privacy concerns, but if the restaurant were to provide each transaction in a spreadsheet referenced only by an ID number, this would totally be a feasbile study.

Whether the study confirms my model or not, this is prescriptive, not just predictive. PDA and cell phone tip calculators should calculate tips my way, or at least come with the option of doing so.

This has been one of the more creative ways of procrastinating on my midterm studying...

Just how is this supposed to help consumers?

2006-02-25T10:49:00.000-05:00

The Minnesota Commerce Department on Thursday announced plans to fine a gas station chain $140,000 for repeatedly selling gas below the state's legal minimum price.

The fine against Midwest Oil of Minnesota is twice as large as any imposed on a company since 2001, when the state established a formula based on wholesale prices, fees and taxes to determine a daily floor for gas prices.

Pray tell, why would we be punishing a company for being efficient and best meeting the needs of consumers (especially at time of record gas prices)?

The price law was intended to prevent large oil companies from driving smaller competitors out of business, but some critics argue it fails to protect consumers.

So there you have it. It helps a few powerful small local gas stations who must have lobbied or bribed some officials to get a law on the books. All of this at the expense of consumers. Wonderful.
What do state officials have to say about this insidious and dangerous phenomenon of competition and voluntary, pareto-optimizing transactions?

Kevin Murphy, deputy commissioner of the department, called the violations "willful, continuing, and egregious and warrant a substantial penalty."

Whither the consumer? Death to the entrepeneur?

Critics have argued that it ends up costing most customers an extra dollar or more to fill up, without adding to tax revenues.
Defenders of the law say it's critical to protect small and medium-sized stations.
They note that unlike large chains, those stations often can't cushion below-cost gasoline with sales of other merchandise.

This really makes me sick. Somehow, state officials got the idea that small independent gas stations have some inherent good associated with them, and therefore a right to exist, even at the expense of consumers. Pure corruption.
Full Story

Declaration

2006-02-19T00:27:00.000-05:00

I know I'm like 10 years late on this, but the Wu Tang Clan has changed my life.

My apartment is so messy

2006-02-16T21:34:00.000-05:00

I took the garbage out a few days ago but I didn't replace it with a new bag. All of my garbage is strewn about the apartment, staring me in the face. It's really just awful. I might as well be living in a puddle of santorum.

Brokeback to the Future [must see]

2006-02-15T11:55:00.000-05:00

A trailer for Back to the Future III with the music from the Brokeback trailer. They select lines and scenes out of context to make it appear that Marty and Doc are...well you get the idea.

Thanks MH!

Call for submissions: Anti-Semitic cartoons

2006-02-15T00:53:00.000-05:00

A Danish paper publishes a cartoon that mocks Muslims.
An Iranian paper responds with a Holocaust cartoons contest -
- Now a group of Israelis announce their own anti-Semitic cartoons contest!

I think this contest is perfect.

Rick Moranis Country Album: EPIC

2006-02-15T00:39:00.000-05:00

With all that country and bluegrass filling our home, I wound up writing a song or two. And then another. I’d call up friends and sing the songs over the phone. Paul Perlove, my dear friend and sometime comedy writing partner encouraged me to do something with the songs. Although I’d done a lot of music for SCTV and sang the songs in the film “Little Shop of Horrors”, it had been a while since I’d recorded any music.
http://www.rickmoranis.com/

Listen to the clips, it's catchy!

Kudos to J.O. for the find.

I think I once ate a potato chip shaped like Mohammed

2006-02-14T13:48:00.000-05:00

THOUSANDS of people flocked to southern Egypt today to seek blessing from a calf they believe was born as God's reply to the publication in Europe of cartoons depicting the prophet, police said.

Some 20,000 thousand people had gathered in front of Mohammed Abu Dif's house in the village of Tunis to see the holy mammal, whose skin folds when he was born reportedly formed the words "There is no God but Allah", a police official said on condition of anonymity.

He said the villagers flocked from all over the southern governorate of Sohag to the farmer's house and had to be dispersed by police, who feared the gathering could get out of control.

Witnesses said they believed the calf was "Allah's response to current attacks against Islam", the official said.

Full story

Thanks JT!

The Meme Test (from a pretty cool quiz site)

2006-02-14T02:01:00.000-05:00

All Your Base
You scored 51 Intelligence, 18 Humour, and 30 Charisma!

Man...step AWAY from the game console...

Mind-numbing, computerized, and possibly living in a basement: you are All Your Base.

You are taking over the world with the sheer power of your geekdom, however, so well done there.

Learn more about your meme at Planet Tribes.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 66% on Intelligence
You scored higher than 3% on Humour
You scored higher than 66% on Charisma

Link: The Meta-Meme Test written by LaurelXIII on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Bulldog owner keeps it real

2006-02-14T01:09:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday night, an Adelanto man fought off two attackers who barged into his house, roughed him up and then made off with his beloved 6-year-old English bulldog, Tank.

After enduring a fistfight, the dog’s owner pursued the robbers and grabbed onto the back of the crooks’ pickup truck and was dragged several hundred feet, according to sheriff’s officials.

Full Story

This man is to be commended for standing by his bulldog and fighting tooth and nail for his freedom.

I have a tooth ache and no dental insurance

2006-02-13T21:50:00.000-05:00

Time for some adverse selection...

Phone pic #1: My kind of advertisement

2006-02-12T22:35:00.000-05:00

From that nebulous region of 18th street between Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan...

Iran celebrates 27th anniversary of Islamic repression

2006-02-11T21:24:00.000-05:00

I am pretty sure that the X's means they do not like the flags they are wearing. Also, a little heads up to the jerk on the right: the stars are not supposed to be arranged in a 5x10 grid. They are supposed to be staggered in two different alternating row patterns. Dick.

Ranking of the World's Best Looking Flag Designs

2006-02-11T03:19:00.000-05:00

Living on Washington's Embassy Row, I come across lots of flags in the course of a day. I was looking up some mysterious flags I saw in Georgetown when I decided that the world needed a ranking of the best flags. I went through all of the flags listed on the CIA World Factbook flag page for this project. I ranked the flags on aesthetic appeal. I was looking for simplicity, elegance, and appealing color schemes. I tend to be a big fan of flags that look good on a sunny day. I also like a simple symbol in the middle. Thus, Israel, Switzerland and Canada did very well (the bold yet basic colors didn't hurt). The Scandanavian flags are all winners. Qatar is simply awesome. [This is in no way an endorsement or bashing of any nation, government, or policy.]

1)Qatar
2)Canada and Israel (tie)
4)Norway
5)Iceland
6)Switzerland
7)Sweden
8)Yemen
9)United Kingdom
10)Ireland

Honorable mentions:
Best resembles a graphic from Donkey Kong: Gibraltar
Most cracked out: Brazil
Funkiest: South Korea
Trippiest: Macedonia
Dark Side of the Mooniest: Marshall Islands
Most threatening: Saudi Arabia
Looks Most Like Postage: Saint Pierre and Miquelon
MC Escher's Wet Dream: Isle of Man
Most Gangsta: Mozambique
Most likely created by a guy watching a Disney movie while tripping on acid: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Truly Darwinian: the Shiite Ashoura holiday

2006-02-09T17:49:00.000-05:00

If anybody knows where I can find some reliable statistics on the number of fatal infections related to Ashoura (which I assume is Farsi for "tetanus acquisition day") please post in the comments.

A Shiite marks the ceremonies of Ashura at a Shiite Muslim shrine near Damascus February 9, 2006. (Khaled al-Hariri/Reuters)

If this is what they do to themselves...

2006-02-09T17:42:00.000-05:00

What makes you think that a Shiite theocracy would hesitate to use a nuclear weapon the second they get their hands on it?

An Iraqi Shi'ite devotee gashes his head with a knife during an Ashura ritual ceremony in Samawa, 170 miles south of Baghdad February 9, 2006.
(Mohammed Ameen/Reuters)

You can always convert to another religion...

2006-02-09T17:40:00.000-05:00

Don't have to beat yourself up over it!

Afghan Shi'ite men beat themselves with chains to commemorate Ashura in Kabul, Afghanistan February 9, 2006. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)

There oughtta be a law! (This one is even better)

2006-02-09T16:50:00.000-05:00

In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah urged Muslims worldwide to keep demonstrating until there is an apology over the drawings and Europe passes laws forbidding insults to the prophet.

FoxNews
So now they aren't seeking a law forbidding the humiliation of religions, just one to protect "the prophet."

Gambling: why is this so bad?

2006-02-09T16:09:00.000-05:00

The Gretzky family is under fire for their connections to a gambling ring. Why are they such villains? How did the criminalization of gambling ever come to be? It doesn't really make any sense to me. It's totally consensual. The government isn't even losing any tax revenue since it's a zero sum game.

The funniest website button ever

2006-02-09T00:09:00.000-05:00

Profiles in total Sweetness: Mountain Dew

2006-02-08T21:51:00.000-05:00

I'm not one to buy into image, but I have to say that I felt totally extreme walking into Econometrics with my can of Dew, shaved head, and snowboarding jacket. "Wow," my classmates surely thought, "that guy can probably do some mean moves on the halfpipe."

I haven't been on ESPN II yet, nor have I even been snowboarding, but drinking that soda was the greatest rush I have had in a while, since I normally abstain from both caffeine and processed sugars. First of all, this stuff tastes really good. I don't remember it being so delicious last time I tried it (high school?), but they have definitely changed the formula. I'm not about to make a habit of it though, as it has 46 grams of processed sugar and 55 mg of caffeine.

BTW, Mountain Dew does NOT shrink your penis, balls, or sperm count...

It's times like these that I'm glad I didn't take a Senate staffer job

2006-02-08T21:08:00.000-05:00

I would probably show up at work in a haz-mat suit.
Story at CNN

Congressmen live like pigs

2006-02-08T02:42:00.000-05:00

They make decent money (about $155k if i recall correctly) but they tend to already have a home in their district, which means they are only renting in DC. Speaker John Boehner has a two bedroom English basement apartment for which he pays $1600. That's pretty close to the accomodations I shared with a roommate when I first moved to the area. Both of us were fresh law school dropouts with little or no money. I was an intern earning $700/month and he was just beginning his job search. I even know people my age who have even lived in the same buildings as senators. Pretty wild.

It's also well known that 6 congressmen live in a townhouse for which they each pay $600 per month. That might have more to do with fraud than cheapness/brokeness.

Raise your right hand hook and repeat after me

2006-02-07T20:50:00.000-05:00

DON'T DROP THE SOAP!

The hottest growth industry: Danish flags

2006-02-07T18:07:00.000-05:00

I was wondering how much money Islamic mobs spend on flags of the countries they hate. I was also wondering where the money goes. It turns out, at least in the Palestinian case, that the money does not flow to Denmark after all, as most Danish flags are made in Taiwan. Amusingly, the subject of their most intense hatred, Israel, supplies them their Israeli flags. Of course, they are paying VAT, some of which goes toward perpetuating the very policies they protest against.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/679578.html

Sometimes I wonder if Islamists are just kidding

2006-02-07T13:02:00.000-05:00

This is actually from the Hamas charter. I expected to see something like "PSYCH!!" at the end.

They took into consideration the causes affecting the current of events. They strived to amass great and substantive material wealth which they devoted to the realization of their dream. With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests. With their money they were able to control imperialistic countries and instigate them to colonize many countries in order to enable them to exploit their resources and spread corruption there.

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48677

Doesn't this make you crave some square burgers?

2006-02-06T21:20:00.000-05:00

I pass by it every week on my way to a class in Maryland. It's the largest Mormon Temple in the world.

There oughtta be a law!

2006-02-06T20:54:00.000-05:00

Qaradawi has called for "sanctions on countries that published the cartoons in their newspapers. We demand an international law forbidding religions from being humiliated, and we held a rally as a response to these injuries. These are the ways to respond."

Full Story

One useful expenditure of our tax dollars that is not being undertaken

2006-02-06T15:05:00.000-05:00

Iran demands halt to broadcasts from West; Dubai complies
ABU DHABI — Iran has forced the United Arab Emirates of Dubai to halt live Persian-language television broadcasts.

Western diplomatic sources said the broadcasts contained Western programming and discussed democracy. They said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his advisers regarded these broadcasts as part of a U.S.-led effort to foment unrest in Iran.

"There were harsh messages sent to Dubai by the Iranian president personally," a diplomatic source said. "In the end, neither Dubai nor the central UAE government sought a confrontation."

The broadcasts were meant to be beamed in Iraq in a project financed by Holland.

Iran also pressured Holland to end support for the Persian-language broadcasts. The sources said Teheran awarded several major projects to the Netherlands in wake of its decision to withdraw support for the broadcasts.

The United States has not supported the financing of opposition broadcasts to Iran. But Sen. Rick Santorum, a leading Republican, has introduced the Iran Freedom and Support Act, which has garnered support of nearly 50 members.

Santorum's bill would increase support for a free media in Iran. This would include the beaming of anti-regime broadcasts from both within and outside of the United States.

World Tribune

The only reason that there could possibly be any Iranian support for such a self-destructive regime is asymmetric information. This could go a long way towards solving that.
Now if only somebody could beam some broadcasts to red state America...