The Most Popular Link on Mises.org...

...according to a recent Mises.org Podcast ("Technology and the Market" by Jeffrey Tucker). When I heard that, I had to check it out.
http://mises.org/daily/3092

Turns out, this article touched a nerve. I can see why it is popular. Do we have enough police? Are they protecting us? Really?

"And yet, when it comes right down to it on the particulars, we can't stand the police. We keep a constant lookout for them when we drive. We dread being pulled over. We know in our hearts that they are out to get us, and represent more of a threat than a security for our freedoms.

"In the end, we need to realize that the police are like all other government employees: self-interested, living off tax dollars, parasitical on our liberties."

Welfare state, here we come

From Greg Mankiw's Blog:
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2010/05/federal-budget-in-one-picture.html

And a related (and more detailed) document:
http://deathandtaxesposter.com/

Finally, a cartoon that sums up where we're headed pretty well.

Price gouging?

People who speak of "price gouging" always annoy me. People who say that don't really believe that you own your own stuff. They (society/government/???) have the right to take what you own. In short, you are not really free.

They also do not understand basic economics. Very frustrating. I like this article, though, which displays some rare common sense about this topic.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/05/04/whats_wrong_with_price_gouging/

Song of the Day: Colin Hay - Waiting for my real life to begin

Beautiful song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4tcRlHY-3Q

Did you see the Scrubs episode that featured this song? If not, you might not appreciate this next clip. But it's my blog and I like it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcsrnT7Tv1o

Incidentally, Colin Hay has appeared as a guest on Scrubs several times. Here is one example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrGmcuj44DQ&feature=related

Skate to Work!

Finally skated to work this past week (Thursday) for the first time in a long time. It was work, and there are some dangerous parts, but it felt good.

Statistics (I skated additional miles in my neighborhood on the way back):

Skate from home to work
Date: Thu May 06 08:10:56 EDT 2010
Total Time: 01:00:27
Moving Time: 00:57:05
Distance: 10.57 mi
Average Speed: 10.59 mi/h
Average Moving Speed: 11.11 mi/h
Max Speed: 34.11 mi/h
Elevation Gain: 1356 ft
Min Elevation: 730 ft
Max Elevation: 1211 ft

Skate from work to home
Date: Thu May 06 19:01:47 EDT 2010
Total Time: 01:23:17
Moving Time: 01:22:06
Distance: 14.5 mi
Average Speed: 10.45 mi/h
Average Moving Speed: 10.6 mi/h
Max Speed: 33.55 mi/h
Elevation Gain: 1645 ft
Min Elevation: 716 ft
Max Elevation: 1148 ft

Here are some saved skates (past data, not what I did on Thursday):
http://www.buddyrunner.com/tblooming

Click on the first "Jul 02" link across the top to see my typical skate TO work, and on the second "Jul 02" link to see my skate FROM work. Note: Select only one at a time to see the map display.

Notice that the skate from work starts out with some really tough hill climbing in the first two miles. My old legs always feel it the next day!

Erotic Capital (explicit)

Slightly different direction with this post, but this is part of who we are. Call this part of my "I'm going to be true to myself on my own blog" resolution. Anyway, I found this article fascinating (thank you Google Reader!).

http://www.tinynibbles.com/blogarchives/2010/05/expanding-on-the-erotic-capital-theory.html?utm_source=feedburner

Most Influential Person on the Internet?

This is one of the funniest pieces I've seen in a long time. Have I asked before whether XKCD.com is the funniest comic ever? Oh yeah, I think I have. ;)

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/54927

Conan @Google

Conan O'Brien dropped by Google today. Dude is hilarious.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/05/conan-obrien-goes-to-goog_n_564679.html

Update, May 8
YouTube just posted (finally):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7TwqpWiY5s&feature=digest

Google's New Look ... And How Google Decides?

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_20/b4178000295757.htm

The focus of the article is how Google redesigned its search page. But completely apart from the main focus of the article, I found this comment interesting:

"Douglas Bowman, Google's first visual designer, left the company in March 2009—and lit the Web equivalent of a bonfire on his way out the door. In a post on ­stopdesign.com, Bowman claimed that at Google, data 'becomes a crutch for every decision, paralyzing the company and preventing it from making any daring design decisions.' He noted that one project was delayed when a team at Google couldn't decide between two blues—so they tested 41 different shades between them. 'I had a recent debate over whether a border should be three, four, or five pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case,' wrote Bowman, who is now the creative director at Twitter.

"Other ex-Google design stars acknowledge that the emphasis on data can be grating. Jeffrey Veen, who joined Google as design director in 2006, says that 'the designers I worked with were fantastic but very formally trained in human computer interaction rather than having MFAs. That frames how design happens at Google.' Veen, who left the company in 2008 adds: 'None of the colleagues I would want to hire would be able to get a job at Google because of the computer-science-based requirements.'"

Chicken Coops for Computers?

Yahoo!
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2010/04/26/yahoo-computing-coop-the-shape-of-things-to-come/

And more Yahoo! news:
http://www.omaha.com/article/20100217/MONEY/100219594

Song of the day: Brandi Carlile - Dying Day

Great song by a great artist.

Recorded version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DfSF-4Uh3U

And a couple live versions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8x1BS9XNXU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvqydVNzZcw

And a very recent live version, from Athens, February 2010:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hasVM0_KwM

I think I like the live versions better. What do you think?

The science is settled (?)

Couple links here. LA Times editorial interview by Eli Kintisch:
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/18/opinion/la-oe-kintisch18-2010apr18

And an NPR interview with Mr. Kintisch:
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=126226938

The premise of these articles is that cleaner air may actually lead to more global warming. Now, I'm not an expert in this area so I'm not qualified to say one way or the other. My point is to simply point out that there is still a lot confusion about what causes global warming and what we should be doing about it. The words "the science is settled" (example: "The science is settled, Gore told the lawmakers.") are like nails on a chalkboard to me--because they are demonstrably false.

Chocolate causes depression?

Lots of links on this recent story. Here's one.
http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/04/study_finds_chocolate_causes_d.html

Probably more of an association than causation. Either way, I think I'm going to cry. ;)