Expert opinions on the economic stimulus by:
Martin Feldstein (economist & Bush buddy)
N. Gregory Mankiw (economist & Bush buddy)
Bruce Carlson (long but good MP3) (historian)
Robert Reich (political scientist)
Arnold Kling (economist)
Donald Boudreaux (followup, criticism by Kling) (economist)
Len Burman (economist)
Joseph Stiglitz (also here and ( Read more... )

Garland and I are considering moving to a different neighborhood in Minneapolis, and we've had many conversations about which areas are safe. You'd think there would be some simple map, maybe published by the local newspaper, indicating which places nice upstanding folk really shouldn't live. Instead, everyone seems to go by rumour and innuendo, ( Read more... )

Two televisions! 19" and 24" (ish). The smaller one has been sitting in a closet for 4 years, the larger one may have been *slightly* dropped down the stairs. Both fully functional, remotes long gone.

Ottoman! Roughly 2 feet by 3 feet, white fabric that's somewhat stained. But your feet will never know the difference!

Desk chair! You can have ( Read more... )

Geeky question!

You're bidding in an auction for an item worth exactly $100. There are many people bidding, but because it's a sealed-bid auction, you don't know how much they're bidding (nor do they know how much anyone else is bidding). How much do you bid?

Why Terrorism Doesn't Work (PDF)

Possible alternate title: How to Make Your Terrorism Work

What could possibly be better than the Conference Bike? The Pedal Pub! I saw this on Nicollet Mall and smiled.

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( are you blind or not? )

Crammed into the back of the file drawer of my new desk was an unopened box containing a Xilinx XC4000 prototyping kit, complete with a couple sample FPGAs and a programmer. Because I found it serendipitously, I have to use it in something. Ideas anyone?

This is the only computer science paper I've ever gotten Garland interested in. It's about the election method used to pick leaders in medieval Venice, and whether it has any merit as a leader-election protocol in computer networks. Read it! (via schneier.com)

I was at the U when the 35W bridge collapsed. I heard about it on the radio, ran across campus, and got to the neighboring pedestrian bridge just as the first few fire trucks were unloading ( Read more... )

I've been trying to get better at talking to strangers without getting all nervous and fidgety. So, as practice, I killed my entire two-hour delay at the Seattle airport making small talk with an investment banker, a biotech company sales rep, and a semi-retarded janitor. Go me ( Read more... )