Indeed, it does explain a lot.

A gem from Calvin and Hobbes.

We take another step on our inevitable path towards national self-destruction. Our national character is changing to prefer training over initiative; process over outcomes, paternalism over self-reliance and planning over innovation. “Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than… Read moreThe Inevitable

Derived from this If the executives at financial firms were always compensated in a “representative basket” (or random, even better) of securities held by the firm, they would have a much stronger incentive to pay more attention to the longer-term… Read morerandom thought of the day

Inspired by TJIC: a bunch of sailors speculating about quantum mechanics. Arrrr… ’tis like the waves of the ocean, but also like me musket shot – at the same time, lads! My attempt: If a tree falls in the forest,… Read morePhilosophize Like A Pirate Day

Forget the economy: Killer asteroids could pose real danger. As I’ve said before, it won’t matter how clean our air, water and energy are, if we are unable to deflect/avoid/minimize large scale catastrophic threats. We’re not really the “Stewards of… Read moreWho’da thunk it?

So I skimmed this discussion of the gaping hole in the Earth’s magnetic field the other day, and left puzzled, but not terribly concerned – there’s already more than enough to worry about on a day-to-day basis. One of the… Read moreRuh Ruh, Relroy

Well, if this graph is using consistent data, this is certainly good news. Hansen’s Scenario A was the one that assumed continued large growth in carbon emissions, consistent with our actual growth in carbon emissions. I think it’s very good… Read moreTime for some good news

Another Fine Rant That’s what I get for paying off $100k or so of personal and corporate credit cards that I had used to help grow the company over the past few years. Bottom line – the extroverts noticed that… Read morePreach it, Brother Travis

http://feralchimp.com/blog/2008/12/17/simplif/ On my way to work this morning, I saw a BMW 325xi sedan (all wheel drive, $30k+ new) with a ski rack on top, and a little sticker on the back bumper: SIMPLIFY hat tip: tjic

There are many flaws in Atlas Shrugged, deep, abiding errors that haunt her writings to this day. But there is no doubt in my mind that one claim she made is manifestly true – the United States is slowly but… Read moreWelcome to the Aristocracy of Pull

Slashdot asks a silly question The question is silly because the answer is so manifestly obvious – 9 times out of 10, government actions are simply terrible – a spiraling disaster of unintended consequences, graft, corruption, rent-seeking and the surrender… Read moreCAN SPAM 5 years later – What went wrong

So I’m signing up for Google Apps, and, in a fit of incredibly user-friendly behavior, Google looks and sees that I’ve registered my domain name through GoDaddy, and gives me a GoDaddy-specific tutorial on how to change my DNS records…. Read moreGood on google

If this movie is as good as its trailer, this should be an interesting film.

Bryan Caplan finds our prophet: If anyone is the prophet of 2008, it’s economic historian Robert Higgs. Here’s how he concluded Crisis and Leviathan way back in 1987: [W]e do know something – at least abstractly – about the future…. Read moreNostradamus of the 20th century

Reminds me of when I did ‘Donuts with Dad’ many years ago. My son described my work as ‘He works in a dark building and makes special money’ Everyone thought I was a counterfeiter!