Michael Giberson
Chevy Volt promotion, courtesy of Tom Fowler at NewsWatch: Energy, without further comment.
Archive for the ‘Humor’ Category
Beckham’s chances of playing for England in the World Cup…
December 6, 2009Michael Giberson
…must be about zero after he used the words “soccer ball” when clearly he meant “football.”
See this video from South Africa ( highlighting the introduction of the new Adidas ball for World Cup 2010) at the 3:36 mark. Too much time in the States?
“Sanitized by lawyering”
November 2, 2009Michael Giberson
Al Roth draws attention to a New York Times column, “The art of blackmail,” which includes the curious phrase, “sanitized by lawyering” (pointing out that blackmail is illegal, but negotiating a settlement in lieu of filing a lawsuit in which the unpleasant matter would be disclosed is legal). Apparently blackmail is one of the few things that becomes cleaner after contact with lawyers.
And I thought Texas politics was entertaining…
June 11, 2009Michael Giberson
Have you been keeping up with the news out of Albany, New York? On Monday, with the support of two Democratic state senators the minority Republicans voted themselves back into the leadership positions. Democrats tried to prevent the maneuver by, among other things, turning off the lights in the Senate chamber, and having failed to prevent the vote, filing lawsuits and locking the Senate chamber doors and refusing to turn over the keys.
The more you read about the story, the better it gets:
- the move was fomented in part by a billionaire who spent heavily to help the Democrats seize control of the Senate last November and then was “angry to hear they were now planning to raise taxes on the wealthy” (cite);
- The billionaire, Tom Golisano, reportedly supported candidates he felt would work for a “more open political culture in Albany,” but became frustrated when his substantial financial contributions didn’t seem to get him the full attention of the new Senate leadership when he visited the state capital (cite, cite);
- New York Governor David Paterson’s first response to the leadership vote was “I will not allow this,” though he has no authority over senate organization (cite);
- subsequently Paterson urged the senate to settle the leadership dispute and get back to business, arguing that the senators should “think of the lobbyists” who have worked so hard on their issues (cite);
- one of the defecting Democrats is under indictment for felony assault (cite), the other has been plagued by legal troubles throughout his political career according to a New York Times profile. (cite)
“Send in the clowns,” you think? Don’t bother:
Nearby, amid the crush of camera crews, a clown dispatched to the Capitol by The New York Post added to the carnival atmosphere. (cite)
Who needs to read Christopher Buckley novels when you have real politics like this?
A triathlete’s favorite New Yorker cartoon
May 15, 2009
P.J. O’Rourke’s Adam Smith column
February 15, 2009Lynne Kiesling
I hope you’ve all seen P.J. O’Rourke’s Financial Times column from last week on what Adam Smith would have to say about our current economic and financial events. Adam Smith was one of the most astute observes of human nature ever, and applied those insights well to analyses of incentives and political institutions. Our political “leaders” would do well to remember his insights, as O’Rourke applies them:
The idea that The Wealth of Nations puts forth for creating prosperity is more complex. It involves all the baffling intricacies of human liberty. Smith proposed that everyone be free – free of bondage and of political, economic and regulatory oppression (Smith’s principle of “self-interest”), free in choice of employment (Smith’s principle of “division of labour”), and free to own and exchange the products of that labour (Smith’s principle of “free trade”). “Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence,” Smith told a learned society in Edinburgh (with what degree of sarcasm we can imagine), “but peace, easy taxes and a tolerable administration of justice.”
How then would Adam Smith fix the present mess? Sorry, but it is fixed already. The answer to a decline in the value of speculative assets is to pay less for them. Job done.
We could pump the banks full of our national treasure. But Smith said: “To attempt to increase the wealth of any country, either by introducing or by detaining in it an unnecessary quantity of gold and silver, is as absurd as it would be to attempt to increase the good cheer of private families, by obliging them to keep an unnecessary number of kitchen utensils.” [440]
We could send in the experts to manage our bail-out. But Smith said: “I have never known much good done by those who affect to trade for the public good.” [456]
And we could nationalise our economies. But Smith said: “The state cannot be very great of which the sovereign has leisure to carry on the trade of a wine merchant or apothecary”. [818] Or chairman of General Motors.
I’m teaching History of Economic Thought this quarter, and part of my pitch to my students for the benefits of the class was that it would give them broader insights into current events and into what constitutes sensible policy recommendations. O’Rourke’s column illustrated that point perfectly. (Note that the bracketed numbers are page references.)
While we’re at it, here are some P.J. O’Rourke quotes that are also relevant to our current flurry of government activity:
The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop.
I can haz bailout?
February 5, 2009Lynne Kiesling
And while we’re on the combined where’s my bailout/stimulus skeptic/i can has cheezeburger memes, here’s my favorite custom Obamicon:
I’m assuming you’ve all seen these, but in case you haven’t … Paste Magazine (a really good music magazine, BTW) started a site a while ago where you can make your own Fairey-style poster. The bailout one above is one of my favorites, and I also like Virginia’s. I’ve been thinking about making one for myself, but haven’t quite nailed down what I want yet …
How to deal with toxic assets
January 19, 2009Michael Giberson
The ever quotable Yzma, from Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove:
Ah, how shall I do it? Oh, I know. I’ll turn him into a flea, a harmless, little flea, and then I’ll put that flea in a box, and then I’ll put that box inside of another box, and then I’ll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives… [insert demonic laughter here] …I’ll smash it with a hammer!
It’s brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say!
Yzma, of course, is working on a plan to dispose of Kuzco, but it kind of sounds like the general strategy for getting “toxic assets” off of the balance sheets of financial institutions.
Manchester United, brought to you by the U.S. Treasury
September 20, 2008Lynne Kiesling
Courtesy of Rich Sweeney at Common Tragedies, this is the most direct impact that the AIG bailout will have in the KP household (click through to see what I mean). Tee hee!
Geeky Friday fun: chocolate chips are distributed Poisson
January 18, 2008Lynne Kiesling
Did you know that the numerical distribution of chocolate chips in commercially baked cookies is Poisson?
