Under what conditions?

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

On Cowen's The Great Stagnation

Tim Jackson | Prosperity Without Growth - Politics Without Creativity Is Not Political | The European Magazine

I'm not so convinced that the low hanging fruit is gone, except is the tautological sense that the lowest is picked first. Think of the great inventions: printing press, internal combustion engine, car, penicillin, double entry accounting, airplane, telephone. All but penicillin reduced the importance of distance or the transmission of information, themselves similar. The Internet does this in spades. I have less disposable income than at any time since high school. Sad, yes. But, I consume far more voice calls, news services, movies, instructional videos, email, etc than ever. My expenditures are minimal but my consumption is massive. The low hanging fruit might not be in making more, but in cheaply distributing what is already made, which might not add much to GDP while adding a lot to happiness. Netflix has plenty of great content streaming for under $10 a month. For $15 I get about 12 discs plus the streaming. I used to rent from Blockbuster for $5 a movie. Sounds like a expensive inconvenient joke now. Skype has the same sort of effect. 10 years ago video calling for free was a fantasy. Now, common. Impact on GDP, negative. Impact on happiness, positive. Email, ebooks, online porn, all the same negative impact on GDP and positive impact on happiness. Invisible bushels of fruit are all around.

"Weird Al" or smart Al?

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Yankovic began kindergarten a year earlier than most children, and he skipped the second grade. 'My classmates seemed to think I was some kind of rocket scientist so I was labeled a nerd early on,' he recalls.[10] As his unusual schooling left him two years younger than most of his classmates, Yankovic was not interested in sports or social events at school. He was a straight-A student throughout high school, which earned him the honor of becoming valedictorian of his senior class.[10] Yankovic was active in his school's extracurricular programs, including the National Forensic League, a play based upon Rebel Without a Cause, the yearbook (for which he wrote most of the captions), and the Volcano Worshippers club, 'which did absolutely nothing. We started the club just to get an extra picture of ourselves in the yearbook.'[10]

Yankovic went on to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo where he earned a degree in architecture.[9"

Congratulations Weird Al. Isn't you head too big?

'Weird Al' Yankovic 'Grateful' for Highest-Ever Billboard 200 Debut | Billboard.com

Maybe it is Photoshopped? Maybe the camera is very close and he is leaning forward?

Funniest "Cops Suck" post yet

Miami Beach cop, in ATV crash with 3 injured, was allegedly drinking - Miami Beach - MiamiHerald.com:

"“We have not been able to prove that he, in fact, was drinking as of yet,” Noriega said. “And if I could confirm that, I would fire him right now.”

Police have not released the name of the officer involved in the crash, nor the officer who was allegedly shirking his duties in Mid-Beach."

I really want to know why they can't confirm that the officer was drinking. Ever hear of a Breathalyzer? Sure a blood test should be used for final accuracy, but the B test will give us a yes or no.

And they don't release the names promptly, why should we then thing that they will quickly release the booze tests?

Monday, July 4, 2011

Are suicide bombers cost effective?

Insurgents bought suicide bomber - Afghan spy agency | Reuters: "'The detained man added that a commander under Hakimullah Mehsud sells suicide bombers at 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 Pakistani rupees ($70,000 to $93,000), to the Haqqani network for suicide missions,' the statement said."

A Tamahawk missle costed $US 569,000 (1999).

In many instances the suicide bombers allow more deaths per dollar.