EclectEcon

2013. "It was a very good year"

As most of you know, I am filled with awe and gratitude nearly every day. We have had and are having such wonderfully beyond-our-wildest-imaginations lives.

I hope this feeling shows in this link: The Facebook algorithm depicting highlights for me during the past year.

... And a Happy New Year

About 5 or 6 years ago, we bought a package of three mooses/meese who sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". All three of them used to rock back and forth while singing, but the alto (on the right) became overly exhuberant, fell off the mantle, and has been quite staid ever since then. And for two years, the baritone wouldn't sing or move at all, but somehow we managed to fix him up this year. The trio provides great fun for us every year.

Do Beards Keep Men Young, Healthy & Handsome?

Maybe.... If you're not too old :-( and ;-) [via PM]

While both dead sexy and totally awesome, beards are also a boon to your overall health. Researchers discovered that men with beards and moustaches actually enjoy numerous benefits including, but not limited to, instant handsomeness.

Check this out:

ACA: perhaps the biggest economic screw-up yet?

From Ted Frank on Facebook:

So ACA, among other sins, screws up 16% of the economy, raises my taxes, raises my cost of insurance, wastes billions of taxpayer dollars with crony sweetheart deals, raises marginal tax rates on the middle class above 100%, disrupts the labor market by penalizing hiring full-time employees, and likely hurts global health progress at the margin by deterring the creation of new medical devices--and for all that we get *more* uninsured people, the supposed social problem requiring this monstrosity of a bill.

And the only reason the effects are this "small" is because the administration has lawlessly unilaterally amended the bill so that tens of millions of people won't get blindsided until after the 2014 elections. Wait until the multi-billion-dollar bailouts of insurance companies at taxpayer expense.

And as I said there, all my elistist-interventionist friends will now be saying we need MORE gubmnt to fix the mess. Argghhh.

Addendum: Ted added,

"Passing something is better than passing nothing, even if it makes things worse, because it shows we *care*" is a very bad way to structure public policy.

Even with the generous assumption that other countries' systems are superior (the UK experience shows that's not so), it's not a defense of *this* bad law to say that "We didn't have the votes to pass the law I would've preferred, so we agreed to a compromise Rube Goldberg scheme that is a total catastrophe."

Scotch Taste-testing, Part II

A couple of years ago, my older son [David Ricardo Palmer] and I did some blind taste tests of scotch, graciously organized and administered by Ms. Eclectic.

During that test, we were both able to identify LaPhroaig (a very smoky, peaty scotch) which is also my son's favourite. It turned out then that my preferred scotch was Lagavulin, which edged out Caol Ila. The results of that blind taste test confirmed my experience from visiting distilleries in Islay several years ago: I liked LaPhroaig, but preferred Caol Ila,  and liked Lagavulin better than all the others.

On Christmas night, 2013, we repeated the taste testing, this time with these 11 different scotch whiskies I had accumulated over the past 6-7 months [again with the gracious assistance of Ms. Eclectic]:

They are not all from Islay, but they are all to one degree or another smoky and peaty-tasting scotches. From left-to-right:

1. Laphroaig -- we used the 10 year-old, which I have always preferred to their quarter cask. But when we opened it the previous evening, we both had the sense that it was defective or something. It certainly didn't seem very smoky or peaty.
2. Talisker. It is from the Isle of Skye, not from Islay, but it is well-regarded by many. It did reasonably well in our previous taste-test.
3. Caol Ila. This is the largest distillery on the island of Islay. In previous blind tastings, I ranked it fairly high. I have always liked it.
4. Ardbeg. Another distillery on Islay that produces an excellent scotch. It wasn't part of our previous taste testing, and my experience had been that I haven't quite liked it as much as I like some of the others.
5. Highland Park. This not an Islay scotch. I had heard from several non-connoisseurs that it was decent but had never tried it until recently when I received a bottle as a gift. Sampling it a month ago led me to believe I wouldn't care for it.
6. Ben Riach Curiositas. This scotch is brewed in Speyside. It is rare that a scotch from that region is peaty. I have no idea what prompted me to buy it.
7. Lagavulin. My taste-testings, both social and blind, had always led me to prefer Lagavulin over the others. It is 16-years-old and is the most expensive of the lot that we tried.
8. Islay Mist (8-year-old) is a very inexpensive blend of Islay scotches, with explicit mention that Laphroaig is one of the scotches in the blend. Its price of $30/bottle (vs $130/bottle for Lagavulin) has made it a popular scotch for me. I like it okay, but not as much as some of the others.
9. Dun Bheagan. My son gave this to me for Christmas. Interestingly, the village of Dun Bheagan is in Skye, but this bottle explicitly says it is 10-year-old single malt from Caol Ila from Islay.
10. Jura Prophecy. This is a very limited annual-production scotch from a distillery just across the channel from Islay. I have had other Jura scotches and not been excited by them; I was told this one is peatier and more special. My reaction when I sampled it last month was "eehhhhh".
11. Islay Mist (17-year-old) is a pricey blend of Islay scotches. When I tried it last year, I rated it below the 8-year-old blend.

My son and I put numbers on the bottoms of 11 glasses each. Unfortunately we don't own 22 uniform glasses, and possibly the different shaped glasses may have affected our ratings.

Ms. Eclectic then numbered the bottles and poured small samples of each of the scotches for both of us:

We sat across the table from each other and as we tasted each scotch in turn, we made brief comments and slid the glass for that scotch out toward the middle of the table: the farther toward the middle, the more we liked the scotch.

To be clear, the scotches were not presented to us in the same order as the initial photo in this posting.

We took two full passes, tasting the scotches, commenting, etc. and adjusting our ratings as we went. After each sip/taste, we also drank some club soda to at least partially cleanse our palates.

Here was the array of glasses after our first pass. Mine are on the left, my son's are on the right:

After the first pass, my son had a slight preference for the fourth scotch and the eleventh scotch. I had a definite preference for the 7th scotch. Neither of us liked the second one (I left my glass for that one so far to the left it doesn't appear in the photo).

After and during the second pass, we made some minor adjustments, but not many. And then we learned which scotch was which number. Here are my results:

For me, this time Caol Ila 12-year-old scotch was the clear winner. My son and I were both surprised how much we liked the Jura Prophecy (on the far left). It was clearly very different from the others, but we liked it.

Neither of us liked the Highland Park (second from the right) very much. After my first taste, I said, "Geez, this could be good but it has an after-taste of candy canes or something." My son agreed that it had a candy-like taste that detracted from the rest of its flavour.

Also, before we learned which scotch was which, we agreed that any but that second one from the right (Highland Park) was pretty good.

One surprise for me was that in the blind test I thought Islay Mist 8 was not as good as most of the others. Generally, I find it quite acceptable, especially for the price. I think my son's big surprise was that he ended up preferring Lagavulin, which he had not rated so highly in our previous blind taste-test.

Also we were both disappointed with the Laphroaig. That scotch had by far been my son's favourite in the past, and it just didn't taste the same at all. I wonder what happened there.

It may seem like overkill to taste-test 11 different scotches at once. It really was fine though. We made sure of two things:

1. We didn't sip much during any of the taste-testing.
2. We tried to carry out the taste-testing reasonably quickly so we wouldn't be too drunk before we completed the tests.

Finally, I have mixed feelings about the results of the test. In the past I have always preferred Lagavulin by a slight edge over Caol Ila and the others. I'm almost disappointed that my tastes seem to have changed a bit (though my bank account will be relieved, albeit only slightly).

I must pursue this shift in greater detail. I think doing so will require sampling more Lagavulin, Caol Ila, Jura Prophecy, Islay Mist, and Ben Riach.

p.s. All those glasses and a bunch more left over from Christmas dinner, four hours earlier:

Addendum #1: I have since tried Lagavulin and Caol Ila side-by-side. I like them both, but for the life of me, I cannot understand what happened during the blind taste test. Nevertheless, that test provided some valuable information and insight into my tastes and how variable they might be.

Addendum #2: Geez, we have a lot of scotch on hand! That's just my collection. Ms. Eclectic detests the smoky, peaty scotches, preferring Glenfiddich or Balvenie.

 

The Best NFL Pre-game Show

The Sunday night NFL show (on TSN in Canada; NBC in the US) is BY FAR the best NFL pre-game/post-game show on television.

The reason? These three guys talk and analyze; they don't shout and guffaw.

I've gotten so I don't watch much of any of the pre-game shows on ESPN, CBS, FOX, or the NFL channel anymore, and I used to be glued to them. I hate 'em with all the "People Magazine" BS, the shouting, the macho-guffawing; they just don't have a high enough signal-noise ratio.

Dan Patrick, Tony Dungy, and Rodney Harrison anchor the Sunday night studio. They are low-key and informative. They might disagree, they might joke, but they remain comparatively low-key.

As other pre-game/post-game shows lose audience (I guess I should say "if", since I have no idea what the ratings are like outside this household), I hope they adjust their formats:

• If you have to fill up the time with personal interest stories, please do it at the beginning so I can tune in later.
• Tell people that if they shout, if they constantly interupt others, and if they guffaw madly, they're gone.

Smartphone Theft

I have not had my smartphone stolen, but I know several people who have.

In one case, the person was walking in a European city with his suitcase in one hand, holding his phone in the other hand texting with his thumb (i.e., he did not have a tight grip on the phone). Someone just ran by and grabbed it. My friend couldn't run fast while carrying his suitcase, and he didn't want to set the suitcase down to chase the thief.

In another case, someone left her smartphone on a school desk. She wandered away, and when she returned, it was gone.

Here is one other relevant incident not involving smartphone theft: The only time I have ever been pick-pocketed was in Madrid. In preparation for traveling there, I had read warnings about pickpockets, and so I had my passport and wallet in my front pockets and had my hands on top of them. But while I was in a crowded market, someone stole my transit pass from my rear pocket.

These three incidents all highlight the advice in this article [via MA]:

One of the best ways to prevent smartphone theft is to keep an alert hand on the device at all times. Don't loosely hold your smartphone as you lollygag down the sidewalk. Keep a firm grip and keep it close to your body. Better yet, leave it concealed in an interior pocket.

I don't always follow this advice. Often, while returning from theatre or music rehearsals late at night, I walk through one of the dodgier parts of downtown, texting or checking my email. I do keep a firm grip on the phone, I don't "lollygag down this sidewalk" at those times, and I tend to put it in a front pocket at times when I feel wary of my surroundings, but I could probably use more care in those situations.

But here is some additional good advice about things to do now, before the phone is stolen:

In case of theft, you'll want to know your smartphone's serial number and model number. Both are usually listed under the "settings" tab or imprinted on the back of the device. Importantly, smartphones also have a unique device identification number, known as an International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI).

The IMEI is a 15- to 17-digit numerical code assigned to each smartphone by manufacturers. It allows carriers to remotely disable your smartphone when you contact them [source: MPDC].

The carrier can also enter your smartphone's IMEI into a national database that tracks stolen smartphones. All major carriers in the U.S. participate in this database, as do a few international carriers. This database feeds into the Global System for Mobile (GSM) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service networks [source: Rouse].

To learn your smartphone's IMEI, dial *#06# and the number will appear on the screen. If your phone is an older model, this may not work. However, you can also turn your phone off, remove the battery and record the IMEI under the label. Be sure to keep the information in a different location than your smartphone [source: Wollan].

You should also install a tracking app. For iPhones, you can try Apple's Find My iPhone. Or, if you have iOS 7 installed on your iPhone, you can remotely launch Activation Lock if your phone is stolen. This technology prevents thieves from erasing your phone's data or disabling location apps. It also prevents thieves from restoring or reactivating your smartphone [source: Friedman]. For Android smartphones, there are several third-party apps including Where's My Droid and Lookout [source: Wollan].

If your smart phone is stolen, call the police and give them the serial and IMEI numbers and any locations identified by your phone's tracking app.

Bacon FOREVER

As I have posted before, I like bacon. And here is one way to experience bacon forever: cook it in mobius strips:

 

Okay, okay. Fun for math-nerd-techs to contemplate, maybe.

Maybe It's Time for a Carbon Subsidy?

I honestly don't know what to believe about global warming. But if, in fact, the earth is cooling because of something having to do with solar activity, wouldn't it be a good idea to create more greenhouse gases to offset the global cooling? [see this, for just one example, ht MK]

If so, maybe we need carbon fuel subsidies. Maybe we need taxes, not subsidies, for solar panels and wind turbines.

From Dave Barry's Review of 2013Trono makes the big time

Did anything good happen in 2013? Yes! There was one shining ray of hope in the person of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford , who admitted that, while in office, he smoked crack cocaine, but noted, by way of explanation, that this happened “probably in one of my drunken stupors.” This was probably the most honest statement emitted by any elected official this year, and we can only hope that more of our leaders follow Mayor Ford’s lead in 2014. (We mean being honest, not smoking crack in a drunken stupor.) (Although really, how much worse would that be?)

The full Dave Barry piece is here.

Where Are My Alma Maters?

The Elder of Ziyon has just posted a list of the US universities that have publicly rejected the American Studies Association [ASA] call for a boycott of Israeli academics. I am dismayed that my three alma maters are not on the list:

• Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota
• Chicago Theological Seminary
• Iowa State University

I am dismayed in part because I can readily imagine that too many students and faculty members at these institutions support the boycott. I hope they, too, will go on record opposing the boycott.

Here is the list:

Columbia now joins dozens of other universities who have denounced the ASA boycott.

The latest list from Avi Mayer:

The following is a list of institutions whose presidents or chancellors have publicly rejected the academic boycott of Israel in recent days. The Executive Committee of the Association of American Universities, which represents 62 top institutions in the U.S. and Canada, has also expressed its strong opposition to the boycott, as has the American Association of University Professors, which counts more than 48,000 members.

• American University (President Cornelius M. Kerwin)
• Birmingham Southern College (President Charles C. Krulak)
• Boston University (President Robert A. Brown)
• Bowdoin College (President Barry Mills)
• Brandeis University (President Frederick M. Lawrence)
• Brown University (President Christina Hull Paxton)
• Case Western Reserve University (President Barbara R. Snyder)
• Cornell University (President David Skorton)
• Dickinson College (President Nancy Roseman)
• Duke University (President Richard H. Brodhead)
• Florida International University (President Mark B. Rosenberg)
• George Washington University (President Steven Knapp)
• Hamilton College (President Joan Hinde Stewart)
• Harvard University (President Drew Gilpin Faust)
• Haverford College (President Daniel Weiss)
• Indiana University (President Michael McRobbie)
• Johns Hopkins University (President Ronald Joel Daniels)
• Kenyon College (President Sean M. Decatur)
• Lehigh University (President Alice P. Gast)
• Michigan State University (President Lou Anna K. Simon)
• Middlebury College (President Ron Liebowitz)
• New York University (President John Sexton)
• Northwestern University (President Morton O. Schapiro)
• Ohio State University (President Joseph A. Alutto)
• Princeton University (President Christopher L. Eisgruber)
• Purdue University (President Mitch Daniels)
• Rhode Island College (President Nancy Carriuolo)
• Rutgers University (President Robert Barchi)
• Smith College (President Kathleen McCartney)
• Stanford University (President John L. Hennessy)
• Trinity College (President James F. Jones, Jr.)
• Tufts University (President Anthony P. Monaco)
• Tulane University (President Scott S. Cowen)
• University of Alabama (Chancellor Robert E. Witt)
• University of California, Irvine (Chancellor Michael V. Drake)
• University of California, San Diego (Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla)
• University of Chicago (President Robert J. Zimmer)
• University of Cincinnati (President Santa J. Ono)
• University of Connecticut (President Susan Herbst)
• University of Delaware (President Patrick T. Harker)
• University of Kansas (Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little)
• University of Maryland, Baltimore County (President Freeman Hrabowski)
• University of Maryland, College Park (President Wallace D. Loh)
• University of Miami (President Donna E. Shalala)
• University of Michigan (President Mary Sue Coleman)
• University of Pennsylvania (President Amy Gutmann)
• University of Pittsburgh (Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg)
• University of Southern California (President C. L. Max Nikias)
• University of Texas, Austin (President William C. Powers)
• Washington University in St. Louis (Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton)
• Wesleyan University (President Michael S. Roth)
• Willamette University (President Stephen Thorsett)
• Yale University (President Peter Salovey)
• Yeshiva University (President Richard M. Joel)

The Eldridge Knot

I saw a photo of a necktie tied in an Eldridge Knot a few months ago [link updated]. It looks so intriguing, but I hadn't had a chance to try it until Christmas day.

On Christmas I conscripted my older son, David Ricardo Palmer, and we used a necktie given to me for Christmas a year ago by my daughter, Joan Robinson Palmer, to try it.

It is a very unusual knot. My granddaughters love it, and so I may try it a few more times.

I Can't Believe No One Has Caught and Stopped These Jerks Yet

Cryptolocker. Stiff punishment is called for. From the BBC (via Jack):

A virulent form of ransomware has now infected about quarter of a million Windows computers, according to a report by security researchers.

Cryptolocker scrambles users' data and then demands a fee to unencrypt it alongside a countdown clock. ...

Safety steps

Dell suggested PCs be blocked from communicating with the hundreds of domains names it had flagged as being linked to the spread of Cryptolocker, and it suggested five further steps the public and businesses could take to protect themselves:

• Install software that blocks executable fields and compressed archives before they reach email inboxes
• Check permissions assigned to shared network drives to limit the number of people who can make modifications
• Regularly back-up data to offline storage such as Blu-ray and DVD-Rom disks. Network-attached drives and cloud storage does not count as Cryptolocker can access and encrypt files stored there
• Set each PC's software management tools to prevent Cryptolocker and other suspect programs from accessing certain critical directories
• Set the computer's Group Policy Objects to restrict registry keys - databases containing settings - used by Cryptolocker so that the malware is unable to begin the encryption process

 

No, I haven't been hit by it. Things like this really make me angry though.

For Everyone Who Supports the Boycott of Israeli Scholars and Their Institutions

Guess who is valedictorian at a top Israeli medical school. via Steve Horwitz, who wrote:

Yeah boycott the Israeli universities. How DARE they allow a Muslim to be the valedictorian? The nerve of those tools of apartheid.

You go girl! "Rather than an academic boycott – which negatively impacts researchers who want to disseminate knowledge rather than restrict it – Ali-Selah suggests a more active stance: encouraging academic life within the Palestinian Authority, strengthening academic ties with Palestinian universities, and planning joint research projects with Palestinian scientists.

Furthermore, Ali-Selah says that those interested in advancing the cause of peace in the Middle East should focus their energies on supporting more of Israel’s success stories like her own, and pressuring Arab countries to emulate Israel’s academic freedoms and democracy."

RiderNation Girl

Lara, wearing green, and sporting a RiderNation tattoo that Santa brought her:

The Christmas Spirit

A member of "The Quartet" reminds everyone of the Importance of Palmer-nomics during this Christmas season.

And for those who don't understand, see this.

Not That I'm Hung Up on Toilet Paper or Anything...

In the 8+ years that I have been writing this blog, I seem to have written a few posts on about toilet paper (this, this, this, and this for example).

Here's another. What's the best toilet paper out there? Check out this link for quality and price comparisons, but here is a summary.

Consumer Reports  says the best toilet paper in America is a Wal-Mart private label -- White Cloud 3-ply Ultra Soft and Thick. At 25 cents per 100 sheets, White Cloud got a high score of 88 based on softness, strength, disintegration, and tearing ease.

In second place, Charmin Ultra Strong got a score of 71 and costs 41 cents per 100 sheets. In third place, Quilted Northern Ultra Plush scored 70 and costs 38 cents per 100 sheets. Two store brands -- Target's Up & Up (20 cents per 100 sheets) and Walmart's other private label  Great Value Ultra Strong (27 cents) came in fourth and fifth.

I know of one person whose wife and mother-in-law were shopping, and when his mother-in-law objected to the price of Charmin Ultra Strong, his wife said that he insisted on having that brand. His mother-in-law's reaction? "Tell him not to wipe so hard."

Another personal reflection: One year a relative sent me toilet paper for Christmas. I thought it was a nice, practical gift.

Sticky Christmas Day Scenarios. Be Prepared.

The NYTimes has some "interesting" scenarios to consider and anticipate, multiple-choice style, for Christmas Day. Here are two:

Your sister Maria has a new boyfriend who is three months sober and wearing cargo shorts.

Do you drag your sister Jen into the kitchen to discuss Maria and her boyfriend behind their backs?

Do you take his picture and tweet it with #Men2Old2WearCargoShorts?

Neither.

Both.

Do you start a pool? Everyone can pay $1 and guess how long Maria’s new relationship will last.

Do you start a pool? Everyone can pay $1 and guess how long Maria’s new boyfriend will stay sober.

Your Uncle Eric loves Fox News. Your sister Jen listens only to NPR. Which of these are appropriate dinner table conversations?

The Republicans are racists masquerading as conservatives.

Obama is a Muslim socialist masquerading as a Christian Democrat.

How lucky we all are to be together.

How lucky we all are not to live in Toronto.

If I took my dirty clothes into the ice cream store instead of the cleaners, does that mean I have Alzheimer’s?

Efficiency, Borrowing Items from the Lost & Found, and Theft

Last summer I wrote a short blog post about borrowing things like umbrellas or sweaters from the Lost & Found. I lamented that due to our socialization we feel reluctant to do this but instead we inventory these things for our own personal use.

I was not suggesting that people should borrow things from the Lost & Found, especially not given what appear to be the extant morality systems under which most of us operate. Doing so would at the very least seem bad form to most people.

And I certainly was not recommending that people just take things from the Lost & Found. But apparently at Heathrow Airport, nine employees decided that some of the items in the Lost & Found were sufficiently valuable or attractive that they should just take the items rather than let the loot go to auction for charity or [horrors!] be retrieved by the original owners [ht MA].

Nine members of staff at Heathrow Airport have been arrested on suspicion of stealing items from lost property, police have confirmed.

The suspects, six men and three women, are accused of being involved in 43 separate thefts, between May and September this year.

Apparently all nine of the suspects made bail the next day, but I have not been able to learn what has happened in any of the cases.

This news item leads me to think of a couple of things

• Envy is an important force in directing human action. I can readily imagine some employees at Heathrow justifying their actions with, "Well, it was just going to go to charity anyway, so I might as well have it." In fact, I can recall several incidents from my past when people took things from me that I had been planning to give away, using precisely that justification: "You were planning to give it away anyway...."
• If it were acceptable to borrow things from the Lost & Found (e.g. umbrellas or sweaters), how many "borrowed" items would be returned for others to use? One of the major problems with common-property goods (which, I guess, is what they would be) is that people try to possess them for their own use or over-exploit them. And do you think borrowers would be as careful with them or devote much to the maintenance of them? Examples abound showing that we tend not to.

Imagine: you lose an unlocked smartphone. I don't know about you, but even if I knew I wouldn't get it back, I would much rather it was sold at auction with the proceeds going to charity than that some airport employee take it.

Major US Universities Reject ASA Call for Boycott of Israeli Academics

When various organizations began calling for a boycott of Israeli universities and academics nearly a decade ago, I sought and received academic affiliation with two different Israeli universities. My email signature reads, in part,

 Economics and old age have much in common: Both dwell on foregone opportunities...     Member, Int'l Advisory Board for Academic Freedom, Bar-Ilan Univ

 

 

Affiliated Professor, University of Haifa

I am delighted to see that most of the major US universities have rejected the ASA call for a boycott and in some cases have cut ties with the American Studies Association. [ht Rebekah]:

Harvard and Yale, along with a host of other universities, public officials, and journalistic outlets, has condemned and rejected the American Studies Association’s academic boycott of Israel. “Academic boycotts subvert the academic freedoms and values necessary to the free flow of ideas, which is the lifeblood of the worldwide community of scholars,” Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust said in a statement. “The recent resolution of the ASA proposing to boycott Israeli universities represents a direct threat to these ideals, ideals which universities and scholarly associations should be dedicated to defend.” Yale President Peter Salovey echoed these sentiments: “Any attempt to close off discussion or dialogue among scholars is antithetical to the fundamental values of scholarship and academic freedom. I stand with the Executive Committee of the Association of American Universities in my strong opposition to a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.”

Joining Harvard and Yale in condemning the boycott is a growing chorus of universities, including Princeton, Brown, Cornell, University of Chicago, Northwestern University and New York University. In total, 32 schools have thus far rejected the ASA boycott in the days following its passage. Additionally, four universities–Brandeis, Penn State Harrisburg, Kenyon College, and Indiana University–have cancelled their institutional membership in the organization, while others–Northwestern, Brown, Tufts, University of Alabama, Temple, Willamette and Hamilton–say they are not members, despite being listed as such by the ASA. Combined, these withdrawals reduce the ASA’s institutional membership from 83 universities to 72. (Several college presidents, while condemning the boycott, have emphasized that the decision to withdraw from the ASA is the prerogative of their American Studies department.)

[addendum] There's more here via the Daily Alert:

Dozens of U.S. Universities Reject Academic Boycott of Israel - Valerie Strauss
Dozens of American universities are rejecting an academic boycott of Israeli universities recently approved by the American Studies Association, and a few schools said they are withdrawing from the organization. Schools including Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Princeton and Boston universities and the Universities of Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Texas at Austin and others have slammed the boycott, issuing statements similar to one by Harvard President Drew Faust that said that academic boycotts "subvert the academic freedoms and values necessary to the free flow of ideas, which is the lifeblood of the worldwide community of ! scholars."  (Washington Post)

Favourite Christmas Movie?

I have seen several postings both in the blogosphere and on Facebook about favourite Christmas movies. To be honest, I don't know that I have seen any explicitly Christmas movies that really turn my crank.

I have been surprised at the number of times people list one of the "Die Hard" movies as a favourite Christmas movie. I think I saw Die Hard once many years ago. I don't remember anything about Christmas in it, but I do remember that I didn't much like the movie.

What's my favourite Christmas movie? Well, if people think Die Hard is a Christmas movie, then certainly "Three Days of the Condor" qualifies as a Christmas movie --- it has several scenes that are clearly related to Christmas.

If not "Three Days of the Condor", then maybe "Animal House"?  ;-)

Even The NYTimes Admits It Is "Storytelling"

No foolin'.

I just received promotional email from the NYTimes with this subject line:

Discover Storytelling at its Best -- 50% off 26 Weeks on a Times Digital Subscription

The NYTimes Study on Accents, Word Use, and Pronunciations

Yesterday, the NYTimes ran an interactive graphic quiz on pronunciation and word use. In this quiz, you answer 25 questions, and it tells you where in the United States people are most similar to you in how they pronounce and use words.

I grew up in Western Michigan and lived there for 17 years. I then spent 4 years in Minnesota, 2 years in Chicago, and 4 years in Ames, Iowa. But since then I have lived in Ontario, Canada, and my pronunciation of many words has drifted toward Canuck-speak, and so I was quite curious about what the quiz would say.

When I took the quiz, there were several questions that I wasn't sure how to answer. But much to my surprise, the quiz said I speak most like people from the deep south, especially Alabama.

But, as you can see, my word use and speech patterns are also fairly similar to those in Western Michigan, where I grew up.

Because I was ambivalent about some of my answers, I took the quiz a second time. The questions were in a different order, and there were some questions that were different from those that appeared the first time I took the quiz. The results were strikingly different. This time the quiz says I speak most like someone from Wisconsin or Northern Illinois.

I tried taking the quiz a third time, but it didn't give me any results that time.

I think these results show that my word use and pronunciation are somewhat eclectic or, as some might say, I have no idea what I'm saying much of the time.

Related articles

9 Maps That Show How Americans Speak In Different Regions

Has the Ethanol Mandate Led to Eradication of Monarch Butterflies?

Maybe not eradication, but quite likely the strong incentives/requirements for ethanol use (and the ensuing clearing of land to raise more corn and soybeans) have seriously reduced the population of monarchs.

The number of monarchs that completed the largest and most arduous migration this fall, from the northern United States and Canada to a mountainside forest in Mexico, dropped precipitously, apparently to the lowest level yet recorded. In 2010 at the University of Northern Iowa, a summertime count in some 100 acres of prairie grasses and flowers turned up 176 monarchs; this year, there were 11. ...

[T]he greatest threat to the butterfly, most experts agree, is its dwindling habitat in the Midwest and the Great Plains, the vast expanse over which monarchs fly, breed new generations and die during migrations every spring and autumn. Simply put, they say, the flyway’s milkweed may no longer be abundant enough to support the clouds of monarchs of years past.

Soaring demand for corn, spurred by federal requirements that gasoline be laced with corn-based ethanol, has tripled prices in a decade and encouraged farmers to plant even in places once deemed worthless. Since 2007, farmers nationwide have taken more than 17,500 square miles of land out of federal conservation reserves, an Agriculture Department venture that pays growers modest sums to leave land fallow for wildlife. Iowa has lost a quarter of its reserve land; Kansas, nearly 30 percent; South Dakota, half.

Citing the above quoted piece that appeared in the NYTimes, Bjorn Lomborg writes on Facebook,

That's what you get for burning food in cars. [emphasis added]

In the US midwest, conversion from grasslands to corn and soybean fields have been so fast -- about 5-30% in just 5 years -- that the rates are “comparable to deforestation rates in Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia.”

Dr. Jackson, a University of Northern Iowa biologist: “I can drive five hours east, five hours north, five hours south, five hours west and see nothing — nothing — but corn and soybeans.”

The ethanol programme is a shining example of the failure of gubmnt planning as policy makers capitulate to special interests [farmers and the owners of farm land] to the detriment of everyone else.

Related articles

Agriculture Policy and Sugar: The Rich Get Richer

It Is Time to Reduce the Use of Biofuels

EPA ethanol reduction plan overdue

Philistines: Champions of the World!

As many of you know, I am the self-proclaimed chair of the Philistine Liberation Organization. There is more about the PLO here.

In a recent taste test, shoppers were asked to choose between two different Christmas cakes. One, from Fortnam and Mason, was priced at about $60 Cdn. The other from Iceland (a low-price discount grocery store) was priced at about $11 Cdn.

Sure enough, more of the shoppers preferred the lower-priced alternative [ht MA].

We asked 25 members of the public out shopping near the Telegraph offices in central London which cake they prefered, without telling them the identity of the stores from which they came, nor their prices.

One of the passersby was Ben McCormack, a restaurant critic and editor of Square Meal magazine. He said of the Fortnum cake: “It’s a bit one-note, a bit synthetic”. After it was revealed that was his preferred choice the Iceland one, he said it was “well worth £7”.

Lorraine Kelly, the ITV presenter who happened to be shopping, said she prefered the Fortnum’s.

Many tasters said they could barely tell the difference between the two, but some pointed out that the Iceland cake was a bit more moist than its expensive rival. But at the end of the tasting session, Iceland were the winners, with 14 votes compared with Fortnum’s 11.

It wasn't terribly scientific [small sample, non-random sample, should have been double-blind, etc.] but it indicates once again the joy and power and sheer enjoyment of being a Philistine.

For other items about the PLO, see the posts linked here.

Technology Saves Baby Jesus

I guess it shouldn't surprise me, but apparently there are numerous thefts of baby Jesus from nativity scenes. Video surveillance has probably deterred some of the potential thefts, and so have fences around the scenes. Now some churches are resorting to using built-in GPS trackers to locate and recover the stolen baby Jesus [ht MA].

Each year, Baby Jesus figurines are stolen from nativity scenes across the country. Now, church owners are fighting back.

A GPS device is put inside the doll to prevent theft.

"And the beauty of this is it really works and it's simple to use,” said Alan Czyzewski, Parishioner at St. Ambrose Church in New Jersey.

Brickhouse Securities gives out free GPS devices to qualified religious institutions. Then they track the movements.

"We then monitor it from our cloud-based mapping system, and set up alerts so that they'll get a text message or an e-mail if Baby Jesus is in motion,” said Todd Morris, CEO of Brickhouse Securities.

If the motion is detected early enough, the theft can be prevented, as in, "Hey, what are you doing there? Put the baby Jesus back!"

Otherwise, the figurine can be tracked and located more often than not.

What are the odds alcohol is involved in the thefts?

One Thing I Really Like about Our Tassimo

I love layering different things into huge, clear mugs and watching the layers and swirls as they develop.

This one started with Suchard chocolate, then foaming cappuccino milk, then Mastro Lorenzo Intenzo espresso.

Some day I hope to set up the tripod and do a video of the process. It is intriguingly beautiful.

I realize that increasingly it looks as if Keurig is slowly emerging as the dominant firm the market for single-cup hot beverages, but for now we're fine with the Tassimo. We'll see how we feel in five years.

Now, which of the following categories does that creation fit? What does it say about me?

Probably when I made that, I was feeling some mixture of Mocha, Cappuccino, Latte, but with a straw so I don't worry about foam mustaches.

Related articles

Tassimo? Keurig? The Single-Cup-Coffee-Maker War

Two Links to Amazing Photos

First, some highlights from a National Geographic retrospective from The Guardian. [Update: MA sent me this link to the full set of photos, not just the few selected by The Guardian.]

Second, 27 aerial photos that really provide an intriguing perspective (as I wrote to Jack, I wondered how they found the smog-free day in Shanghai to take that photo). I think I preferred these aesthetically to the ones from The Guardian.

My Latest Role

Howie Rippemoff, a shady, sleazy lawyer (but I repeat myself)(typecasting?). I think my courtroom opponent is someone from Dewie, Dickum, and Howe.

One more Christmas Video

Some VERY good singers appear in a mall and invite shoppers to conduct them (I hope a donation was involved). Some of the conductors are quite accomplished themselves; others are jerks; and others just have fun or are amazed.

What is most fun, though, is how the singers did such a marvelous job responding to the "conductors", especially as they try to follow the baton as it is waved by children.

[Update] It seems that the embedded version of the video plays havoc with some tablets, so here is the link.  It is from a CBC video, which has an unfortunately long intro ad.