Quick hits

I've been busier than a one-armed paper hanger the past few days, but I wanted to comment on a couple of things I've noticed of late.

First, there's this nugget from Brad DeLong (a Cal-Berkeley economist):

Democrats are (because of the environmentalist wing of the party) generally in favor of higher gasoline taxes and higher gasoline prices--except when gasoline prices are high. Republicans are in favor of letting oil markets "work"--except when gasoline prices are high.

Everyone seems to have lost perspective in the face of the increase in gas prices. Am I bothered by the fact that gas prices are higher than they were? Sure. Do I believe government threats or "quick fix" schemes like the proposed $100 gas tax credit will solve the problem? Hell no. Full disclosure: I can afford to be a little blase about the gas price crisis because I only live (approx.) 4 miles from work. I'd like to think I'd still resist the "oh my god, the sky is falling" impulse even if I had a longer commute, but I can't say for sure.

On a more fun note, loyal reader, Ang, sent this science of basball story the other day:

Your Little League coach probably didn't know it, but every time he sent you to the plate with the instructions "keep your eye on the ball," he was giving you an impossible task.

And if you followed the coach's advice of positioning yourself directly under a pop-up, you probably struggled to catch balls in the outfield, too.

Ken Fuld, a baseball enthusiast and visual psychophysicist at the University of New Hampshire, has pored over numerous baseball studies and suggests that neither of these approaches produce optimal results.

The story itself covers a lot of the usual physics of baseball stuff. For instance, the rising fastball -- an impossibility for an overhand pitch -- a "myth" that just refuses to go away. I was watching a game last night (don't remember who) when the play-by-play guy said something like, "Boy, it seems like his hard fastball almost rises up out of the zone at the very end." The color guy then chimed in with, "Well, sometimes it will -- if he has a rising fastball." Sorry, guys, gravity says no!

Though I was familiar with most of the material, I still love articles like this. First, how cool would it be to be known as an expert on the science of baseball? [There are already way too many baseball economists out there.] Second, even if you weren't a baseball expert, how cool would it be to be a "visual psychophysicist"? Anyone even know what a "visual psychophysicist" does?

Well that's it for now. I've got to get back to my plan to conquer the world -- er, survive until the end of the semester.