Tough break

Think about it. You've just been asked to appear on Oprah -- to talk about New Orleans, Katrina, and the resulting depression from being in the former after the latter -- and, just your luck, you've just written A BOOK describing exactly that! Could your life get any better? Well maybe, but it would have to involve a super model and your very own island nation. Right?

Wrong.

What if Oprah's people refused to let you talk about your book?!?!

That's too cruel to imagine, but it apparently happened to Chris Rose.

So, when I found out that Oprah's people (a producer) called my people (my editor) to arrange an interview, it dawned on me that I was about to become a made guy, a best-seller, a millionaire, super model arm candy. I'd get profiled in People magazine and Us would start reporting about who I'm seen with and Maxim would invite me to all their parties.

So I was drafting my letter of resignation to this newspaper when O's producer said to me: "You need to understand -- we're not going to talk about the book."

"What do you mean: 'We're not going to talk about the book?' " I said, and I'm paraphrasing here: "I just wrote a book about Katrina. You're Oprah and you want me on your show about Katrina. WHATTHEHELLDOYOUMEANWE'RENOTGOINGTOTALKABOUTTHEBOOK?!?!?!?!?"

Seriously, not only was Oprah not going to "feature" his book, she (they?) wouldn't even let him MENTION his book. Not even in the sense of, "Well as I say in my newly released book." Seriously, no book. Anything even hinting of the fact that the guy had once ventured into a library would be edited out of the show. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but not much.

Why? Well apparently Oprah recognizes her amazing influence on American reading habits and she doesn't want to give the impression that she's endorsing a book that gets casually mentioned on her show. I guess I can understand and maybe even admire that sentiment, but c'mon, think of this poor, virtually unknown, author. How much does that suck?

To his credit, Rose didn't give up. He tried his best to sneak it in:

So I tried to make the best of it all and I tried to drop references to the book in the interview but the producer clucked at me. And then I arranged a stack of my books on my desk so they would be on camera during the interview but the producer clucked at me.

In all seriousness, I read Rose's essay (no idea where a link would be right offhand) on his serious bout of depression in post-Katrina days and I thought it was pretty good. As far as those "horrible personal experience" essays go, I'd say it was really good (as well as I can remember), so I'm not surprised someone gave him a book deal. He and I both know, however, that it won't be the next HP. [I won't type the name. I don't want to be overrun by intrepid net wizards seeking all references to HP.]

Even though he tries to keep it "jokey", I honestly cannot imagine how it'd feel to be that close to a potential cash pinata (imagine the tilde) and NOT be allowed to whack it. Not even one little poke! Ouch!

If I were a true humanitarian, I'd buy his book right now. As it is, I'll compromise and at least give him a link. I'll have to sleep on the decision to buy it.

1, 2, 3 -- it's simple

I hate to pick on Ozzie Guillen (the White Sox manager), but ... Actually, I love to pick on Ozzie Guillen. I think the man is a kook. He makes bad baseball decisions, he has a horrible temper that he cannot control, he makes racist/homophobic/etc. comments and then invokes the "no speak English" defense, ... Yet the press, for the most part, gives him a pass because he's "fiery" and he gives good quotes.

Anyway, it's not much, but I chuckled when I saw this Ozzieism after his team played dismally in losing both games of a double header against the Red Sox:

"A tough day for everyone. Pitching, hitting, defense. You just name it. I think that's one of the reasons they're [Boston] in first place and we're in last place."

Er, Ozzie, I hate to be a stickler, but that's THREE of the reasons they're in first place and you're in last!

Ode to sweet tea

I'm usually not a big fan of those "odes" to deep cultural icons, but I liked this one devoted to sweet tea. Truthfully, I actually prefer unsweetened tea, but every once in a while -- while eating catfish or a meat-and-three in an authentic place or ... -- you just have to have sweet tea.

Anyway, I liked this particular ode for a couple of reasons. First, the author grew up Jewish in Atlanta and now lives in Boston (I think), yet you can tell he truly considers himself to be a Southerner. I guess I shouldn't be surprised about that, but I like his constant use of "we" when describing "out" affinity for pecan pie, etc.

I think, though, what really caught my eye was his theory that it's not the tea itself, but the ice that appeals to Southerners. Now I know that theory has more holes in it than a rusted out F150 (Southern imagery), but I like the way he ties sweet tea to a larger cultural phenomenon.

Tea was mostly a drink for the upper class, and early on, it was the rich who had access to the ice that came down on ships or in wagons. ... One historian, Joe Gray Taylor, wrote in Eating, Drinking, and Visiting in the South: An Informal History that the rural electrification—and, consequently, refrigeration—wrought by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s was "probably more appreciated for the ice cubes it provided … than for any of its other services."

As I read that I thought, "Gee, he may be on to something." See, I know a lot of folks who happen to be inordinately fond of ice in their drinks. I'm not talking about the "yeah, it's nice to have some ice in a drink" people. I'm talking about folks who put so much ice in their glasses that there's hardly any room for beverage. In fact, I'll speculate that part of the reason a former relationship didn't work out was that she and I had vastly different opinions on the importance of ice! I never thought of that as a Southern thing, but maybe it is.

Regardless, I enjoyed reading a tribute to Southerness that didn't focus on pride in stubborn backwardness. Heck, he didn't even mention Freebird. Not once!

I may live in Massachusetts now, but I still consider myself Southern at heart. In the fall, I ask the bartender to let me watch the [UGA] Bulldogs game. In the spring, I feel a potentially suicidal need to stop wearing a coat. And in the summer, I still look for sweet tea. Even on the rare occasion I can find someplace that has it on the menu, it's often slightly off. Maybe it isn't sweet enough. Maybe it's the lack of free refills. Whatever it is, it chills me.

By the way, did I read that correctly? No free refills?!?! Is that a common thing "up north"? And "we're" supposed to be ashamed?

How about that?

Thanks to my old pal, The Vol Abroad (I keep asking Santa to make her change her name or at least tone down the "hunter" orange, but I'm not holding my breath), I see that my old hometown of Lawrenceburg, TN has made the LA Times! The reason? The Fred Thompson Express.

Evidently the powers that be in L-burg have somehow sussed out the location of his presidential announcement: Lawrenceburg!

Truth be told, Lawrenceburg has been ready for months for its favorite son, former Sen. Fred D. Thompson, to announce his candidacy for president. And in this middle Tennessee town near the Alabama line, it's considered as certain as Wednesday night Bible study that Thompson will launch his run in the public square, a block from the David Crockett Theater.

While I wasn't too crazy about some of the Mayberry imagery the Times invoked (e.g., every local knows you don't fish in Shoal Creek -- at least not in town), I am small town enough to admit it was kind of a hoot to see names of folks I know in the LA (freaking) Times. I was, though, troubled by one part:

Mayor Keith Durham???

When did that happen? Actually it seems I recall Caffeine Brother might have mentioned something about that, but seeing it in print -- too weird.

Big dark cloud

Remember when I went through that "bad spell" last month? The giant tree limb, the busted washing machine, and the leaking sink? I thought that fulfilled my bad luck quota, but it seems I might be in for a new spell of misfortune.

First, I got up this morning and went out to get the paper and feed porch cat. I noticed something wasn't quite right. See, my mailbox doesn't normally lie flat on the ground! Yep, someone pummelled my mailbox last night. It was fine when I got home from Huntsville around 8:00, but it was all busted up this morning at 6:00. My initial reaction was, "Damned kids!!!" As I looked around a bit, though, I became puzzled. They didn't just "baseball bat" the box; they shattered the cedar post that was driven into the ground. Seriously, the post was split in half. In fact, the mailbox itself appeared remarkably undamaged.

So I thought maybe a car, rather than a malicious teenager with a bat, might be to blame. However, the curb is fairly high in front of my house and I could find no evidence of a car climbing the curb. Hence, I'm back to the conclusion that someone did intentionally take out my mailbox, but I'm amazed at the force they used to split the mailbox post. Further, I looked up and down the street and found no other evidence of vandalized boxes. This leads me to believe someone may have it in for me. Hell, the semester's just now started! Who could I have pissed off that badly in the first week of class? Regardless, I went to Lowe's this morning and I now have a new mailbox post. If this one gets taken out I don't know what to do. Geesh!

Given that I had to replace a mailbox, I missed a work function today. Normally that wouldn't bother me, but this was a "going away party" for someone I really will miss. Seeing as how I'd missed the party, I figured I could at least take care of some chores -- update some lecture notes, work some stats problems, pay some bills, etc. When I logged on to pay my credit card bill, though, I had a big WARNING flag on my account! Something about suspicious activity, suspended service, etc. As a result, my account has been "frozen" and I couldn't even pay my bill online. Fortunately the live person phone call wasn't too painful and I was able to get everything squared away. I am a little nervous, though, about the possibility that someone out there might be trying to stir up trouble with my account number. I'm assuming nothing will "clear" since they canceled the old number, but who knows?

Now I'm worried that there's a third piece of bad luck waiting on me. Maybe I'll just go home and take a nap. I don't see how I can go wrong with that plan.

Is there no limit ...

to government power? I ask because of this bit of news that the Chinese government has outlawed reincarnation. Actually that's not true; they've outlawed reincarnation WITHOUT PERMISSION! Okay, that's MUCH different.

According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation."

While that statement sort of speaks for itself, I can't help but offer a few comments of my own. Like, "Seriously, what are they thinking?" Actually it appears that "what they're thinking" is pretty simple. The Chinese government appears to want to pick the next Dalai Lama. Since the current DL is 72 and has lived in India for the past 25+ years, this "law" (which somehow seems to apply excusively(?) to monks living OUTSIDE China) seems pretty squarely aimed at preventing him from reincarnating himself and retaining his leadership. See, the DL refuses to be reborn in Tibet so long as it's under Chinese control. Evidently he has a choice.

Yeah it's easy to poke fun at the story, but the episode does raise a larger question. Is China really serious about "joining up" with the rest of the world (and by rest of the world I do mean The West)? Can they continue to open their economy and form international partnerships while maintaining this stranglehold at home? Is someone somewhere finally going to say NO? I realize China has huge economic clout right now and they cannot be ignored, but do they have to be coddled? Is there no one* who will point out China's nakedness or do we all pretend she's all gussied up and just ignore stupid crap like this? I mean c'mon, the country is freaking outlawing reincarnation (without government permission) in a blatant attempt to wrest control from someone they consider an enemy of the state!!! Sorry for the rant, but stuff like this pisses me off.

*I'm talking about someone other than "activists". I'm talking about a head of state or the CEO of the next company China wants to work with. You know, someone with power.

Puzzled

Seeing as how I am an economist (at least that's my paying job) and a new semester is about to start, I thought I'd throw out an econ puzzle and see if you guy's can help me with it. First, a little background ...

One of my very favorite topics to teach in microeconomics is the concept of price discrimination -- charging different prices for the same product. Most common cases are examples of either 2nd degree PD, in which you charge different prices for the 1st, 2nd, ... units (think of a "buy one, get one 1/2 off scheme), or 3rd degree PD, in which you charge different prices to different groups of people (student discounts, ladies night at bars, etc.). I really like discussing 3rd degree PD because once the students catch on, they realize just how many times they encounter this AND they realize it's not always a bad thing for them.

Anyway, probably my favorite example of 3rd degree PD is the book publishing market. For example, readers of this blog may remember that my current favorite "pop econ" book is The Undercover Economist. Actually, my favorite is The Undercover Economist. No, you don't have to click on both links. The first is the hardcover edition (list price of $26) and the second, released a year or so later, is the softcover (list price of $14.95). I've looked at both. They are identical in terms of page numbers, print size, etc. The only difference is the fact that the first has a rigid cover. Oh and the release date.

See, that's the key. Book publishers know that some folks want a book early and are willing to pay for it. Others might be convinced to buy the book, but not for $26. Hence, the two tiered pricing scheme allows book publishers to capture more of the high willingness to pay from the eager beavers without sacrificing later sales to more reluctant purchasers. It's genius. [Note, there is a small cost difference between producing the hardcover and softcover books, but it is NOT an $11 difference.]

So that leads me to my puzzle. Why does the music industry do the exact opposite? Following the publishing industry, it seems music companies should charge a premium for new release to appropriate more of the consumer surplus from the dedicated fans who "have to have" the new Ryan Adams CD [A disappointment, by the way. Almost every new CD of his claims to be the new Heartbreaker or Gold and they never are.] and then cut prices later to lure in the fence sitters. Instead, I was able to get it for $9.99 at Best Buy the day it was released while it would cost me $13.98 to get it at the same store now. That just makes no sense to me. I have a gut feeling that it has something to do with the fact that music companies cannot (or at least do not) produce two distinct versions of the product. That is, there's not even the minor difference of hard cover vs. soft cover. Still, though, I can't quite come up with a cogent explanation. I suppose "positive buzz" and "word of mouth" from high early sales would be important, but wouldn't that be true in the book world too?

In the end, I'm puzzled. I'm thinking I'll have my students work on this this semester and I thought I'd test it on you guys first. So let me know if you have any thoughts. If not, well that's okay too.

Must be the "communiss" influence

I'm not usually a fan of these lists, but here's one of the Top 10 Movies NEVER Made. Most of the entries just made me go, "Man, I'm glad to know there are bigger nerds than me out there." Then, though, I got to #1 and had to issue a hearty AMEN! C'mon, though, Will Ferrell??? Surely they jest!!!

P.S. If you're a fan, you might recognize the allusion in this post's title.

Howdy y'all

Summer, unfortunately, has come to an end -- on the semester calendar, certainly not by Mother Nature's reckoning! Yes it's hot, yes it's miserable, yes I long for high temps of only two digits, ... Complaining, though, doesn't make me feel any cooler. Besides, I've got this heat thing figured out -- stay inside!

While classes have not yet started, today marks my third day "back at work." Though I complain about having to be here when there are no classes, I find it does force me to get some work done that I would otherwise put off again and again. For instance, we are switching to a new stats book this semester. One might think it'd be wise to work ahead to prepare lectures, work through example problems, select homework, etc. Well one might think that, but my take all summer has been roughly, "Aw, it's just stats. How different can it be? Mean, median, mode, binomial distributions, t-tests, etc. Right?"

I'm sincerely hoping the answer is, "Not much different." In any event, I have spent the past day or so getting some of that done. I'm hoping this is not a sign or responsibility or maturity on my part. Next thing you know, I'll be ironing my clothes and shaving every day!

Oh, I am toying with a new idea for my classes this fall. I read about this somewhere, but I don't remember where. Regardless, the plan is that each day I will work one (intentional) lie into the classroom lecture/discussion and then award points of some sort to the student who catches me in it. The idea is that it forces students to pay attention and think about what I'm saying. I'm sure there are practical problems with it, but I really like the idea. In reality, I think the toughest thing would be coming up with a plausible lie that fit the topic each day. Anyway, I'm toying with the idea. We'll see. Hey, I've got tenure now, so I figure I can get all radical.

Okay, that's about it for now. Just wanted to let y'all know my sabbatical was at an end and I'll be posting more regularly now.

Random thoughts

Enjoying the last days of my summer freedom, but I stopped by the office for a few minutes and thought I'd share some random thoughts.

First, I love counter intuitive stuff like this:

Walking does more than driving to cause global warming, a leading environmentalist has calculated.

Food production is now so energy-intensive that more carbon is emitted providing a person with enough calories to walk to the shops than a car would emit over the same distance. The climate could benefit if people avoided exercise, ate less and became couch potatoes. Provided, of course, they remembered to switch off the TV rather than leaving it on standby. [See, there's always a catch!]

The guy should have been an economist. I'm thinking of buying his book, but it seems it'd be wasteful to have it shipped here from England. Seriously, if the guy's "pitch" is what it seems, how can he justify using up resources printing books?

What else has been going on? Well I had a run of household "accidents" that led me to consider the possibility that my domicile was located on a burial ground populated by recently infuriated Indian spirits. Fortunately, the mishaps seem to have abated and I now have a nifty new
washing machine. I'm not a big fan of spending large sums of money on anything, but buying a new washing machine really burns me up. See, every washing machine I've ever had a "personal history" with has lasted at least 20 years. Hence, it seems silly to spend multiple hundreds of dollars on a new appliance when the classifieds are chock full of used ones. Heck, if you search you can even find ones just a couple of years old.

The problem, though, is the "lemons problem" (for which this guy won a Nobel prize) of asymmetric information:

1. The seller knows MUCH more about the used appliance than the potential buyer.
2. The buyer knows such appliances last a long while, so why would the seller be selling -- unless it's a lemon.
3. Hence, many mutually beneficial trades will not occur because of the asymmetric information. How does a seller of a quality used washing machine convince me it's a good machine?

I tried a few options on my own and had just about resolved myself to buying new, but then I talked to Caffeine Brother. He knows a guy and this guy hooked me up with a fancy new" (some minor unloading scratches) high efficiency front loading machine for less than 50% of even the sale price. So far I've done a couple of loads and all seems well. I hate to admit it, but I am very fond of the new machine. It has all kinds of cool lights, timers, options, buttons, knobs, etc. I have no idea if I need all those, but damnit they're fun.

Oh, I also spent a goodly chunk of Friday sitting in the local ER. [No, I wasn't the injured party; I was helping a friend.] That, though, deserves a later post of its own. For now, I'm going back to enjoying the last days of summer vacation.