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Monthly Archives: January 2011
4G Smoke and Mirrors
I recently noticed that all cell carriers are now advertising 4G networks. As a technophile, my first thought should have been “Yeah! More speed in more places.” But it wasn’t. It was a raised eyebrow. A couple of years ago I was … Continue reading
Posted in Benefits from Trade, Economics, Regulation, Technology
Tagged 4g, black helicopters, clearwire, regulation, sprint
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Second, Time On Task Yields Academic Achievement
There is an achievement gap between the poor and the wealthy and, in measure, it persists. You can know this by reading the many studies that show it. I know it first-hand. I grew up in Great Brook Valley, a highly … Continue reading
First, Do No Harm
Mike has teed-up the broad question. In this post I explore a portion of the nature-nurture question. We parents tend to get “wrapped around the pole” pushing our kids. If we are to believe Dr. Chua, perhaps Asians get more … Continue reading
Tiger Moms and the National Interest
Sean has asked me to make an occasional contribution to his blog so he can devote more time to thinking about the Red Sox. So here goes… My initial assignment is to comment on the “Battle Hymn of the Chinese … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Parenting, Progress, Uncategorized
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Ride of a Lifetime
Every now and again circumstances conspire to create conditions that allow surfers to ride tidal bore waves for miles. From Wired, here is an article, with accompanying video, of three surfers catching such a bore and surfing it for 45 … Continue reading
To Begin a Dialogue on Parenting and Education
From a But If Nots reader I’ve enjoyed following your blog. Glad you are doing it!! On the way home this evening I was listening to Market Place and heard this commentary. I thought of you. Here’s the link. Anything … Continue reading
Get Rich Quick
Tired of the old 9 to 5? Tired of the commute? Tired of struggling to have the car you want, the house you want, the school for your kids that you want? Imagine being self-employed. Working in the sun, by … Continue reading
Seeing Things Clearly
Bill Gates predicted the merging of the different media (internet, TV, gaming) in general. It happened. And perhaps he missed it. I say perhaps because the XBox is a significant foray into this space. I say in general because his … Continue reading
Really??!! – The Sequel
Scientists try to bring wooly mammoth back to life using cloning. Really!!?? And then what?
Really??!!
$1.1bn yacht set for development. Really!!?? And who is going to buy that?
Canada Cuts the Cheese
“When you need to cut down on government consumption there are two different approaches. One way is to take a little bit from everything . . . to use the cheese slicer . . . to take equally from everyone. … Continue reading
No Loo, No I Do
When I was in the Jaycees I used to cringe at the empty slogans that pervaded annual elections. I couldn’t quite figure the point. And, suprisingly, my leadership potential therein was limited. As the years went by I noticed slogans … Continue reading
Hu Jintao Names Names
Chinese President Hu Jinatao, in preparing for a trip to the U.S. this week, made seemingly passing comments on the Fed, lack of regulation of the U.S. financial system, and the waning status of the Dollar as the global currency. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Early Detection May Be The Answer
I’d like to begin with a story. While I was pregnant with my son, I had weekly phone calls with a dear friend. I would give her updates on my belly profile and ultrasound pictures and she would tell me … Continue reading
Remembering Reagan as He Turns 100
In recognition of Ronald Reagan’s would-be 100th birthday, Ron Reagan, the former President’s son, writes a piece My Father, The President, in this morning Parade. Among the interesting tidbits are that the President was doing schtick in the emergency room … Continue reading
Contributors Wanted
The Wisdom of Crowds is real. When the space shuttle Challenger blew up it took scientists 3 months to identify the o-ring failure. It took the market 20 minutes to narrow the problem to Morton Thiokol, maker of the o-rings, and … Continue reading
Fantasy Football for the Green Movement
The NFL playoffs are underway, but for millions of Americans football season has ended. With the conclusion of the regular season we have the end of fantasy football and its concomitant fascination with rushing yards, touchdowns, defensive points allowed, and … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Regulation, Subsidy
Tagged fantasy footbal, green jobs, johnnie lee higgins, regulation, subsidy
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A Trend Will Continue Until It Doesn’t
In the late 1800’s, during Walter Breuning’s youth, there were 200,000 horses living in New York City. Each horse produced 24 pounds of manure a day. New York City had a serious horse shit problem. the streets were “literaly carpeted with … Continue reading
Aging Well
Walter Breuning is 114 years old. His life has spanned 3 centuries. He is the oldest man in the world. Take a look at this video and listen to Walter. He is wise, clear, and vibrant. I can’t decide if … Continue reading
Teaching the Scientific Method
I have blogged before about social science, economics, and science in general. A common, recurring theme is adherence to the scientific method and the use of control groups. It turns out that teaching the scientific method can be fun and … Continue reading
How the Recession Changed Us
In this month’s Atlantic is an interesting visual depiction of how the recession has changed us. The long and short of it is too much long and not enough short of the orange. Below is part of the full image. Click … Continue reading
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Verizon Gets the iPhone – Hurrah
As regular readers of this blog know my family recently acquired an iPhone. That means that we have a two-year contract and are locked in with AT&T. So why am I so happy that Verizon has launched its iPhone? Because … Continue reading
Be Logical Empowered Skeptics
Today’s But if Not is my small part to try to combat the fear of vaccine movement. I used to listen to Imus in the Morning while getting ready for work. I listened, despite the show host, because he had … Continue reading
Metaphor of the Week
“We are going to be a dog to the Frisbee on this issue.” – Michigan Congressman Fred Upton This from a George Will article this past weekend about things Congressman Upton will try to stop or reverse as he takes … Continue reading
Best Magazine Articles from 2010 – The Sequel
I neglected to post about David Brooks follow-up on best magazine article because I had not read some of them. I have now and can unequivocally recommend them to you. With the east coast largely socked-in from the weather, I encourage … Continue reading
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Time Capsule: 13,998,000 BC
Do you remember the scene in Back to the Future where the town opens its time capsule? Trinkets and memorabilia from a time past that show how bad our pop cultural tastes were and how far society has progressed. Maybe … Continue reading
Sneak Peek: Transportation in a Post Carbon Age
Back in August 2008, when oil was at $140 per barrel and $4 a gallon, I bought a used hybrid Toyota Camry. I did all the math – with the added fuel mileage I would recover the cost premium in 3 years. … Continue reading
They’ll Want To Use Them For Planning
Earlier I wrote about the limits of social of science and the need for control groups as the most reliable and accurate means to establish causation. In today’s But If Not I recall a Milton Friedman story where he compares different … Continue reading
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Make a Joyful Noise
Lulu and the Lampshades at the breakfast table inpsired this little 6 year old to make her own music.
Morning Music Break
In celebration of human creativity and the happiness that music brings I share a neat little video that my wife just came across. The two go by Lulu and the Lampshades. Enjoy.
If Left to Its Own Devices
In response to the Going Green on Accident post Aaron Gallagher, A But if Nots reader and engineer, excellently commented The fact remains that the oil companies still have a huge influence on Washington DC and their agenda is contrary … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Progress, Subsidy, Technology
Tagged ethanol, hydrogen, oil, progress, subsidy, technology
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The Limits of What We Know
Last night I wrote about Jim Manzi’s piece on the limits of social science. Today I throw macroeconomics under the social science bus too. Russ Roberts has a lengthy post on the limits of macroeconomics. The post is well worth … Continue reading
The Limits of Social Science
Jim Manzi, in a thought-provoking article in City Journal this past fall, tackles What Social Science Does and Doesn’t Know. Jim, a founder and chairman of an applied artificial intelligence software company, argues that randomized controlled experiments are both the … Continue reading
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Going Green On Accident
“You have about 5 percent of the market that is green and committed to fuel efficiency, but the other 95 percent will give up an extra 5 mpg in fuel economy for a better cup holder.” In a highly interesting … Continue reading
Posted in Benefits from Trade, Economics, Progress, Technology
Tagged economics, progress, technology, tesla
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Hands Off My Internet, Revisited
In a prior post I called for the government to keep your hands off my internet. Surprisingly, this did little to prevent the regulation from passing. Now that I have stumbled across this little gem, delivered in a press conference by … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Skating Is Dangerous
A great little post from Alex Tabarrok this morning over at Marginal Revolution includes this video from John Stossel imagining politicians running skating rinks. Check it out.
Posted in Uncategorized
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Algorithmic Trading is the Modern Gus Gorman
In Superman 3 Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) is a computer genius fed-up with the government taxing so much of his pay (don’t get me started). Frustrated, he hacks his company’s payroll system to collect all the rounded off half-cents. His … Continue reading
Posted in Benefits from Trade, Economics, Trading
Tagged algorithms, economics, high frequency trading, investing, superman, technology, trading
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The Future of English is Binary
Several years ago we translated a software training product into Chinese only to be told by our Chinese counterparts that they preferred the English version – to help them learn and practice English. Work has taken me all around the … Continue reading
Posted in globalization, Google, Progress, Technology, Translation
Tagged globalization, Google, language, progress, software, translation
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