A vacation for me, a true vacation, is more than just getting away from work, playing with my camera, and seeing a new part of the world. A true vacation for me is also a vacation from thinking about the Middle East and any other news of the day. It’s…
On The New York Times editorial page today, the Gray Lady touted a multi-author blog called Day to Day in Iraq. Simply put, the blog is written by regular Iraqis about daily life. Most of the authors are young men in their twenties. The entry that struck me the most…
Nothing else to report, really. There were long lines at the four Oracle cafeterias open today (the other four were closed). Had to walk a bit farther to get my breakfast. I was honestly worried about the janitorial staff: Oracle Plaza is densely packed with people, and the custodial staff…
First two observations of today’s rally. First, far fewer bicycles got on Caltrain at San Mateo than normal. That stop seems to be home to a large number of Latinos, and I’ve seen a fair number with paint-spattered work clothes. Second, the cafeteria downstairs is closed. Trying to find coffee…
The New York Times ran an op-ed piece by Tony Judt this morning about a paper (abbreviated and full) co-authored by professors at the University of Chicago and Harvard about the role of the so-called “Israel Lobby” in defining US foreign policy that has already sparked news and debate. Put…
MoveOn.org recently sent out an email to collect donations to help CommonCause promote the development of electronic voting machines with a verifiable paper trail. I’m absolutely fascinated by the issue of paper trails because, well… have you wondered about the line “Your call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes.”…
Kadima’s recent “victory” (meaning barely 25% of seats, the largest bloc in the deeply fractious Knesset) combined with the discussion of 1990s crime perception in the US in Freakonomics, has reminded me of one of my most uncomfortable political agreements with the right-wing in Israel: the need for a wall.
A friend, Heather, recommended a book called Freakonomics–she suggested it focused on incentives, agency conflicts, game theory, etc., which is the part of economics that really interests me. The human behavior part, rather than market forces or industrial organization. A surprisingly fast read–I started and finished it on the three-hour…
My friend, Mike S., made a hilarious comment to me over drinks at Casanova this evening. I think everybody has forgotten the story of Vice President Dick Cheney and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia going on a duck hunting trip together in Louisiana just a few weeks before the Supreme…
Last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine had, to me, a fascinating profile by Jon Gertner about the economist Edward Glaeser and his views about urban development, real estate prices, and zoning restrictions. Gertner wrote that Glaeser recently completed a study on the Boston metro residential real estate market between 1980…
