I tried not to, but

I just have to pass along this comment from The New Republic. It's one of my biggest pet peeves -- people who intentionally misuse numbers to make things look bleaker than they really are. The financial system crisis is bad enough on its merits; there's no need to make it look worse by harping on "the largest one-day point drop in history." It's basically the same complaint I've had for the last few years about how gas prices are at "all-time highs." That is (roughly) true over the past few months, but it wasn't really so (in inflation adjusted terms) for much of the time it was being reported.

Anyway, the comment from TNR goes over some familiar, basic complaints, but it also offers evidence that it's an intentional misuse of numbers rather than just a result of journalists' (general) lack of numerical aptitude. Read the whole thing; it's not long.

Things I'm sick of reading about ...

and, thus, will not be blogging about.

Number one on this list has to be THE ELECTION. I know it's important, but I figure most people have made up their minds. Yes the sheep fleetingly react to each new bit of breaking news (hence the post-convention bumps), but don't you think most people have decided who they're voting for? I consider myself to be truly unaffiliated with either party, but I've known for a while which candidate I was going to vote for. No he's not my ideal candidate, but I think the differences between the two are pretty stark and they've been laid out pretty clearly. What is there to be undecided about?

Number two is THE FINANCIAL CRISIS. It's bad. Credit is going to be tight. No, it's not due to the repeal of Glass-Steagall. Yes, it will pass. Unfortunately when it all settles down, I fear there will be more concentration in the banking industry -- the smart set seems to think there'll be 3 big commercial banks left standing.

Now for some things I am not sick of -- and, hence, will blog about:

#1 has to be my beloved University of MS football team. I know "close" doesn't count, but the Rebs have been having a good year. The "prevent defense" cost them a win (in my opinion) over Wake Forest in the opener. Then they lost to Vandy (a better team than most would have thought), in large part, due to a disastrous fumble at the end of the game. So they'd had some tough losses, but they'd looked pretty good. Then there was Saturday. The Ole Miss Rebels went into the swamp and beat the mighty Florida Gators. Again I thought being conservative at the end was going to cost them the game, but the defense stood up and stopped the Gators on a 4th and 1 at the end. It was sweet.

Okay now that I think about it, as happy as that made me, I'm more excited by the MLB playoffs. The Cardinals did not make the playoffs this year (in part due to their fine imitation of the Durham Bulls, from the movie Bull Durham, the last few weeks of the season), but they had a better year than anyone expected back in March/April. Albert Pujols, of course, had another stellar year and, in my opinion, deserves to win his 2nd (should be his 3rd) MVP award. On top of that, Troy Glauss and Ryan Ludwick had years no one expected, and Yadier Molina hit over .300. All-in-all, a pretty good year for the Redbirds. Now they just need to figure out the bullpen. Outside of the Cardinals, it is now playoff time and there are some unexpected teams there. I'm looking forward to it.

Yikes, it's time for class. I'll try for a more personal post soon.

Still here

In case my couple of devoted readers might be getting worried, I haven't quit blogging. It's just that I'm giving about a bazillion tests this week, so things have been pretty busy. I had to pull the old geezer card again, but ...

I can't believe the behavior of students today. In one class yesterday (approx. 30 students) 3 cell phones went off during the test! One guy even answered his phone -- just to say, "Dude, I'm taking a test," then he hung up! I called him out on that one and his response was, "Well that was the third time they'd called." Geesh. That floored me, but I may have been even more amazed that two other phones rang later in the period. Wouldn't you have checked (and silenced) your phone after the first incident? Oh, there was one final "insult to injury" ...

After the third phone rang, I interrupted everyone and said, "Okay, folks, please silence all your noise making devices." There were 3 people (that I saw) who still hadn't made their phones be silent, even after three disturbances! Are these people incredibly dense or are they just horribly inconsiderate?

Grrr!

Incentives, incentives, incentives ...

Not to make light of a tragic situation, but here's a new wrinkle in the story of Bruce Ivins, the government scientist who committed suicide after being named as THE SUSPECT in the 2001 anthrax mailings.

In a will he wrote last year, a few months before the Federal Bureau of Investigation focused the anthrax letters investigation on him, Dr. Ivins wrote of his wish to be cremated and have his ashes scattered. But fearing that his wife, Diane, and their two children might not honor the request, he came up with a novel way to enforce his demand:

“If my remains are not cremated and my ashes are not scattered or spread on the ground, I give to Planned Parenthood of Maryland” $50,000, Dr. Ivins wrote in the will.

Why that particular threat?

Ms. Ivins is a former president of Frederick County Right to Life, according to F.B.I. records.

The Times goes on to suggest this is another indicator of Dr. Ivins' "quirky and mentally troubled" state of mind. I don't know; it seems to me like a pretty good way to try to establish enforcement power in a contract.

Shiver me timbers

Once again it is Talk Like A Pirate Day. [No, Vol Abroad, this is not an invitation to discuss illegal downloading of songs, movies, etc.] While I always try to note this holiday, this year I'm going to offer "me mateys" some practical pirate advice.

First, here are some tips on the best way to sell yourself as a convincing pirate. My favorite tip: Procure one dead stuffed parrot and sew feet to right shoulder of 2nd hand store jacket. Now that's just good solid advice.

Second, if you find yourself at a loss for just what to take to the Talk Like A Pirate party hosted by your friend/co-worker/etc., well how about an easy-to-make pirate cake?

So with these helpful tips, I don't see why anyone would miss out on the fun that is Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Whoops

These things never seem to happen to my fellow teachers.

Yesterday we were talking about price ceilings (government mandated price caps) in my macro class. They lead to shortages and, invariably, people attempt to cheat on them. I was using coffee as my example and I hypothesized a maximum price of $3 per cup -- far below the market clearing price of $5 in my example.

Anyway, I was walking them through the analysis of the unintended effects of the ceiling and I decided to use one of my students to illustrate a point about people cheating on the cap. Lily (not her real name) works at a Starbucks in Athens, so I decided to have her play the role of coffee shop owner. I then set the scene: I'm desperate for a cup of coffee and I have my $3, but Lily's shop is all sold out of the "cheap" coffee. "What," I asked Lily, "could I offer you to convince you to make me another cup of coffee?"

I was anticipating she would say, "More money." Well she did say that, sort of. What she said was, "You could offer me six." Now she meant if I was willing to pay her $6, rather than the mandated $3 price, then she'd take the time and go to the trouble of making some more coffee -- a perfectly fine answer. The problem was, I did not hear SIX. I heard a different word that starts with S, ends with X, and has a vowel in the middle!

I immediately froze and said, "I could offer you WHAT?" She repeated her answer and then, foolishly, I blurted out, "OH, I didn't hear SIX." Well the rest of the class then figured out what I thought she had said and much hilarity followed. I feel sure I turned a pleasant shade of crimson, as did Lily. To her credit, though, she handled it MUCH better than I would have in her position. If that had happened to me, I think I'd have gone to drop the class immediately. Hopefully she won't.

Anyway, another exciting day in econ. I just don't get why some people think it's a boring subject.

A TV star, hardly

Back when I was at UAH (whoops, they now prefer to be called UA Huntsville), I would sometimes be asked to talk to one of the local TV stations about economic issues.  Since moving to my current place, though, I haven't been asked to do that. Until now.

On Monday, the campus PR woman called and asked if I'd be willing to talk with channel xx about the current state of the economy.  I was just grateful they didn't want to talk about the intricate details of Lehman Brothers, so I agreed. It's really not a big deal and I did what any economist would. I admitted that the economy is not doing really super right now, but it will bounce back. I then pointed out that AL is not doing as badly as some other parts of the country and this part of AL is doing better than the state as a whole. I even went so far as to point out that, by historical standards, this downturn is not all that severe. Basically I downplayed the irrational sense of panic that the chicken littles seemed to be espousing.

Then the rest of the week unfolded. The feds signed on for another massive bailout, the stock market took a huge hit, and things in general started looking a bit more grim. To further make me look like an idiot, the station decided to hold the story for a while -- making my optimistic spin from Monday look even more foolish. Plus, to add final insult to injury, I now hear they are planning to make it a bigger story AND talk to a local family about how they've been affected by recent economic changes. I can already picture it. A destitute family will be talking about how they both lost their jobs, the bank took back their house, their child needs surgery but they don't have any insurance, and the dog just up and died. Then there will be me: Don't worry, the economy will bounce back; it's not really that bad, etc.

Needless to say, I will NOT be watching that particular news report.

Okay, okay, ...

Yes, it's been quite a while since I shared my thoughts, feelings, and pearls of wisdom. Due to popular demand -- actually 2 people -- I'm back. I feel a bit like one of those washed up rock stars, reduced to playing local festivals and being lured back on stage for an encore by the two devoted fans who drove hours to see you play. So what to write about in my return to blogging?

How about my crazy family?

For those of you who do not know, I come from a really large (extended) family. Not only are we a large bunch, but we're "colorful" as well. Further, most members of this large, colorful bunch actually like each other and enjoy spending time together. That means we plan, attend, and even enjoy frequent family get togethers.

Now, though, my Uncle Al has jumped the shark. Several years ago, Al developed an interest in genealogy. He's traced the family back a pretty long way and, surprisingly, no horrible surprises have fallen off the tree. A couple of years ago, he managed to locate a branch of the family centered somewhere in North Carolina. He made contact and even went up to visit a bunch of them last year. Then he decided it'd be fun if a bunch of them came down to TN to experience the Caffeine family, in its TN form, in all our glory. Well this past weekend was the big event.

Actually there were two events. First, on Friday night there was a "meet and greet" at some hotel in Florence, where all the "foreign" Caffeines were staying. I, of course, did not attend that. However, I didn't really see an easy way to get out of the BIG EVENT on Saturday. We were throwing a pig roasting at the cabin, similar to our 4th of July thing, for the NC Caffeines. Okay, I could have refused to go, but that just seemed rude -- especially in a family that puts great stock in attending gatherings. So I went.

I knew I was in trouble as soon as I walked up to the cabin. My cousin, Tara, met me before I got anywhere close to the main action to give me my name tag. Let me repeat. NAME TAG! This, by the way, was not some ordinary "Hello, my name is ____" name tag. No, this was a professionally printed name tag -- with my name and home town, a string to go around my neck, a picture of the cabin in the background, and a color-coded box to indicate which "branch" of the Caffeine tree I belonged to. Then I noticed Ma Caffeine's name tag looked a little different. It was the same basic design, but her color-coded box, while the same color, was only outlined in color. Turns out that was an intentional feature to show she only married into the Caffeines. Wow! Did I mention -- NAME TAGS?!?!

I thought it couldn't get any richer than that. I was wrong. After getting some food and visiting with various cousins ...

An aside: While I appreciate the spirit of the venture, the application sort of fell flat. I noticed that while there were two large branches, and one smaller one, in attendance, most everyone was sitting with and only talking to people in their own lines. So it was a good effort, but I don't think it accomplished what Uncle Al hoped.

Back to my story ... I was visiting with some of my (known) cousins when I heard a motor of some sort start up out in the woods below the cabin. Someone had cranked up the portable generator. See the cabin does not have electricity (or running water or cell phone service or ...). It's a cabin. Some uncle, though, did bring a generator over once upon a time, just in case there was ever a dire need for power. Well when I heard the thing crank up on Saturday, I couldn't imagine what it was for. Then I saw this ponytailed guy walking around holding an open laptop computer and a small camera in his hand.

We were being broadcast, via a live feed, on the internet!!! Yes, the Caffeine family's gathering was being uploaded and viewed (by the unfortunate Caffeines who could not attend?) in real time on the web! How bizarre is that? However bizarre you think it is, it's more bizarre. Unless, of course, you know the (extended) Caffeine family, in which case you may not be that surprised. I was flabbergasted. Seriously.

So anyhow, that was my weekend. I don't know that I'll ever view a family gathering the same way from now on. Name tags and a live feed on the net. Who'd have thunk?

P.S. For the entertainment of my many dedicated readers I've tried to find a link to the reunion, but it seems to be well hidden. Hmm, I'll have to ask one of my more informed cousins. I'll let y'all know if I find it.