I don’t watch or listen to talking heads very often, especially those that are supposed to be “newscasters”. It’s a depressing display of hackery, made all the more frustrating since these people are presumably paid many, many times what the median family in the U.S. makes, so that they can do a poor job of… Continue reading Willful ignorance
New photos: North Shore Vacation
Last weekend Julia and I went up to the North Shore of Lake Superior to celebrate our first anniversary. We stayed at the very lovely Bluefin Bay Resort. Below the jump are some pictures of the trip.
Combination Of The Two
I saw this touching story on the MPR website a few days ago, and paid special attention to the comments. Usually, when there are stories like this, somebody will come along to say that doing something like this is wrong, because it dilutes the message to kids that life is hard and nobody out there… Continue reading Combination Of The Two
Hidden versus visible fees
Congress has capped the interchange fees that banks can collect from retailers for debit card transactions. As a result, some banks are now charging customers directly for the use of a debit card, up to several dollars a month. This has prompted some people to blame Congress for the increase in fees. And while it’s… Continue reading Hidden versus visible fees
New photos up: Apple Picking
I’ve put up new photos from our apple-picking trip to Afton Apple Orchard this past weekend here. Samples below the jump.
Thoughts on “Fooled by Randomness”
I recently finished reading Fooled by Randomness, the second book I’ve read by Nassim Taleb. It was quite similar to (it actually predates) his other book The Black Swan, and it was written in a similarly amusing, “I know better than you” style that would be annoying if he were, in fact, correct much of… Continue reading Thoughts on “Fooled by Randomness”
Policy and politics
One of the many wonderful things they teach you in a Master’s program such as MSST is policy analysis. Part of that analysis is looking at a politics versus policy matrix. Whether a certain course of action is good policy versus good politics is largely orthogonal, so you really have four different boxes that an… Continue reading Policy and politics
New photos up: University of Minnesota
About a week ago I spent the morning taking photos around the University of Minnesota. I don’t know what it is about the U, but I feel the need to excessively process the photos I take there. Hopefully, they aren’t too overdone. A few samples below the jump.
The travails of Cassandra
Never have the policies and politics of this country been more frustrating. Not only to myself, but to everybody: approval ratings for the president, Congress, and both political parties are cratering. Is it any surprise? Nothing is getting done. The American house is on fire, Republican leadership is arguing whether now is a good time… Continue reading The travails of Cassandra
Vive la différence
Perhaps this isn’t the great philosophical difference between people that I think it is, but I find it significant enough to believe that it may explain at least some of the difference in people’s worldviews… Working for the legislature, I get to hear a lot of comments and criticisms from people who are not always… Continue reading Vive la différence