vivez sans temps mort

I made a thing

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:02:34 -0800

We were sitting in the Botanical Garden in some kind of faux-classical bit of architecture, looking at a gray sky.

"I wonder if it's sunny in the Mission ... "

isitsunnyinthemission.com

In categories: Other/SanFrancisco, People/Me

Is a thing

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:01:47 -0800

Sea-punk

In categories: People/Subcultures

2012, part one

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:35:24 -0800

1. ~~Break 9:00 on Hawk Hill~~
2. **********
3. ********
4. Write a track

In categories: People/Me

Because otherwise I will never find it

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:38:08 -0800

The Wirecutter. A product review site that only lists the best stuff in every category. (Thanks, Eric.)

In categories: Tech/Shopping

Bismuth crystals

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:13:31 -0800

How to make Bismuth crystals at home. Anybody want to do this? Bonus: they're (slightly) radioactive.

In categories: Other

A justification for income redistribution

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:51:51 -0800

Let's say the Los Angeles city government has an empty lot they want to get rid of. They want something that will maximize economic return, in order to provide jobs and tax revenue (it might be worthwhile to dive into what measure of economic return they should use, but we'll ignore that for now.) Additionally, they're risk-averse and need to be able to generate public support for the plan in order to make it happen.

Now, which one of these plans will they choose?

-Engaging a large, well-known real estate developer who provides a nice 3D rendering of the shiny, multi-million dollar mixed retail/residential development he'll build
-Selling off subdivided lots piecemeal to smaller developers or individual owners

They'll always choose the first. The additional administrative complexity and risk involved in the second make it a non-starter. And, in this understandable way, they make the rich richer.

The government makes a ton of decisions beyond selling land that similarly impact the concentration of wealth, and an analogous process usually holds - if we need to regulate banks, for example, who should we turn to for advice? A million small players, or a few big bankers?

So, on average, government decisions will tend to be made in concert with large existing interests, and will tend to increase the concentration of wealth. I think this problem is structurally unfixable, and provides some of the justification for redistributing wealth.

In categories: Commerce/Macroeconomics, Other/Politik

Forgot how gorgeous light during winter can be

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:40:34 -0800

In categories: Music/Mp3s

Hunky punk

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:30:24 -0800

"Some theories consider that the balance of good and evil, created in church design to remind worshippers of the narrow path they tread, was present in everything. This meant that for every good and benign creature such as a saint or an animal to signify purity, there had to be an opposite to bring out the fear of evil. In York Minster, for example, the carvings in the Chapter house, which are particularly disgusting and obscene and which were supposedly created as caricatures of the then Dean and Chapter, were put there above the seats to create an opposite to each occupant, who we might like to assume was not in fact the foul person their carvings made them out to be."

wikipedia

In categories: Design/Architecture, Arts/Sculpture

The chimera of Financial Stability

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:53:19 -0800

"I have never understood why Financial Stability should be an objective of public policy. Desirable, measurable outcomes of benefit to the public should be the objectives of public policy. Stability is a silly and impractical goal in a capitalist economy ... One strength of the US banking system from the 1930s to the 1980s was that failures were dealt with quickly and certainly. Foreclosed properties had to be sold by banks within two years of repossession, leading to a quick and certain reallocation of assets from failed borrowers to new owners. The FDIC swiftly and mercilessly shut down failed banks ... with forbearance now institutionalised at all levels of the US economy, we are seeing Japanification instead of recovery. And it is even worse just about everywhere else where dominant banks are much more influential."

Why I Oppose Financial Stability

In categories: Commerce/Macroeconomics, Other/Politik

Markets are built of regulations

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:32:09 -0800

I've been simmering on this point for ages, waiting for someone to speak my mind for me. Regulations are not just an imposition on markets - the choice is not between free markets and regulated markets. Markets are constructed by multiple sets of regulations, beginning with property rights. The regulations we choose have consequences for who can enter markets, how those businesses can operate, and on what market outcomes are.

Whenever someone argues for de-regulation, they argue for removing a small piece of this whole edifice. They aren't arguing for truly free markets, they're arguing for a specific rule change that will have (usually clearly identifiable) winners and losers. These same people will often later be found to be advocating for greater regulation in some other area, in the name of punishing wrongdoers.

My first economics class made the simple point that rent control artificially limits the supply of housing, creating shortages. What was never mentioned in that class was that that in many cities regulations make building houses, especially low-income housing, nearly impossible. Ending rent control without making it possible to build more housing means that we are choosing to make housing more expensive, period.

That's why it's so laughable when banks kindly request the government to stay out of their business. Financial markets above all grow out of the regulations that define them.

read what sparked this rant at rortybomb

In categories: Commerce/Macroeconomics, Other/Politik

San Francisco hillside

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:45:17 -0800

jenmaravillas.com

In categories: Other/SanFrancisco, Arts/Visual

Which cuisines are better in NYC/SF?

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:17:52 -0800

Suspiciously even-handed

In categories: Other/SanFrancisco, Other/Food&Drink, Other/NYC

System D follow-up

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:29:50 -0700

Alan Furst described it as a kind of romantic improvisation in impossible circumstances. Foreign Policy says it's another phrase for the black market, and that it may be the future. The article cites sources claiming:

"... half the workers of the world -- close to 1.8 billion people -- are working in System D: off the books, in jobs that were neither registered nor regulated, getting paid in cash, and, most often, avoiding income taxes."

"... people in the European countries with the largest portions of their economies that were unlicensed and unregulated -- in other words, citizens of the countries with the most robust System D -- fared better in the economic meltdown of 2008 than folks living in centrally planned and tightly regulated nations."

In categories: Commerce/Macroeconomics, Other/Politik

Just following orders

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:08:20 -0700

I wanted to share this in Google Reader, but that's gone now. Anyway:

PBA Official 1: Okay, we've sent text messages to at least 400 delegates, and they're all going to come to court tomorrow to protest the arraignment of our brother officers. We've called this meeting to decide what signs they should hold up for the myriad news cameras that we expect to be there. I'll open this up to the floor - any ideas?

PBA Official 2: How about 'Just Following Orders'?

In categories: Other/Politik

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:27:51 -0700

In categories: Photos/PhotosIWishI'dTaken

Gliding

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:06:05 -0700

Long, ultra-detailed look at the Night Slugs roster

In categories: Music/Reviews, Music/Labels

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:19:29 -0700

In categories: Photos/PhotosIWishI'dTaken

Why we fight

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:29:33 -0700

via

In categories: Commerce/Macroeconomics, Other/Politik

All the world's religions

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:32:49 -0700

Posting this to inaugurate a new category here: iPad bait.

C�r�monies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde

In categories: Arts/iPadbait

The Boundary Waters are on fire

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:38:57 -0700

When I was a kid I used to go to Camp Widjiwagan in northern Minnesota, where we'd go on long canoe trips in the Boundary Waters and Quetico - the wilderness areas on the Minnesotan and Canadian sides of the border. Since then I've never been anywhere that felt as remote or as eerily peaceful. 93,000 acres are on fire right now after a drought and a lightning strike, apparently the biggest fire in Minnesota since 1918.

In categories: Other/Minnesota

Dating Without Kundera

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:08:09 -0700

One of the terrors of dating is Milan Kundera, and specifically, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, the sexually-transmitted book that this Czech-born author has inflicted on a generation of American youth.

I fully recognize the important role of the dating book, that is, the carefully selected work you lend a prospective lover sometime in the golden honeymoon period between your second cup of coffee together and the first time you spend a night in the same bed without touching ...

Dating Without Kundera via Enthusiasms.

In categories: Arts/Literature

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 21:33:55 -0700

In categories: Other/NYC

Still learning the basics

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:25:26 -0700

Good product managers find and champion great ideas more than they create them. Raw creativity is great, but in this role taste and empathy are probably more important.

In categories: Tech/ProductManagement

So it turns out if you keep walking up 17th Street (which is not always easy) you end up in the middle of a forest.

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:37:37 -0700

So it turns out if you keep walking up 17th Street (which is not always easy) you end up in the middle of a forest.

In categories: Other/SanFrancisco

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 14:00:32 -0700

In categories: Photos/PhotosIWishI'dTaken