this might not hurt, but close your eyes anyways

"Wife, mom, lawyer, women & kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, SecState, author, dog..."

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 17:04:12 -0400

“Wife, mom, lawyer, women & kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, SecState, author, dog owner, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, glass ceiling cracker, TBD…”

- @HillaryClinton is now on Twitter. This is her bio.

"English has no word for “the constant, repetitive reiteration of strong priors”. Yet it..."

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 09:44:05 -0400

“English has no word for “the constant, repetitive reiteration of strong priors”. Yet it is a well-known phenomenon in the world of punditry, debate, and public affairs. On Twitter, we call it “derp”.”

- Noah Smith: “What is ‘derp’? The answer is technical.”

"There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow where all of our health-care spending has..."

Fri, 31 May 2013 11:09:03 -0400

“

There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow where all of our health-care spending has magically accrued. Health care “costs” are really health care jobs. In surveys, hospital managers name labor as their largest cost issue — not the Affordable Care Act.

Achieving any substantial reduction in the cost of care will require what economists call “labor-saving technology.” We will have to find ways to destroy health care jobs — or at least to slow their growth. That will require technology. It will also require policy changes that reduce demand for labor-intensive care.

”

- Evan Soltas

Utilities for dummies: How they work and why that needs to change

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:20:54 -0400

Utilities for dummies: How they work and why that needs to change :

In most economic sectors, businesses live in fear of competing businesses coming in and providing customers with a better value proposition. They must be vigilant, cut costs, and innovate. That is the power of markets.

But utilities do not fear competition. Their customers cannot live without their product, or purchase it elsewhere. Their profits are guaranteed so long as they can justify their rates to a PUC. All they need to do to increase profits is to build more stuff — more power plants, more substations, more power lines, more.

When the regulatory compact was established, this made perfect sense. […] Now fast-forward to the present. The regulatory compact remains the same, the incentive structure it created remains the same, but circumstances in the U.S. have changed in two big, overarching ways.

Probably the most informative thing I’ve read recently.

The Hairpin has a guide to becoming a web content writer: By now, you can’t fool yourself...

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:59:43 -0400

The Hairpin has a guide to becoming a web content writer:

By now, you can’t fool yourself that this writing is even a little bit meaningful, rather than a turd sculpted to the specifications of Google’s algorithm. This is not a business that helps the world, even in a small way. Today you will write four articles about hammocks for a website that sells the world’s most ergonomic hammock. You have to work in 20 links to the product pages for Ten Day Detox, RippedoBlast, and Obesi-lance.

Behold, the patent for a caffeinated toothbrush.

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:44:29 -0400

Behold, the patent for a caffeinated toothbrush.

A Hack-Proof Internet Exists, Thanks to Quantum Physics

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:48:51 -0400

A Hack-Proof Internet Exists, Thanks to Quantum Physics:

The key is effectively transported by photons of light along a dedicated fiber optic line. Per Heisenberg’s famous uncertainty principle, hack attempts would have clear effects on those particles. As MIT Technology Review puts it, “any attempt to eavesdrop on a quantum message cannot fail to leave telltale signs of snooping that the receiver can detect.”

So while the rest of us are still prey to the spying eyes of the Chinese army, larcenous Eastern European fraudsters, or the FBI, a select research team in New Mexico can engage in snoop-proof online communication—a massive breakthrough for the security of our personal data, as well as for nationwide endeavors such as online banking and voting.

Public Policy Polling: 26 percent surveyed think 'hipsters should be subjected to a special tax for being annoying'

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:43:01 -0400

Public Policy Polling: 26 percent surveyed think 'hipsters should be subjected to a special tax for being annoying'

"Painting with several inscriptions and simbols [sic] with heavy orange (background), black and blue..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:58:40 -0400

“Painting with several inscriptions and simbols [sic] with heavy orange (background), black and blue as predominant colors. On left superior corner, some sort of three-pointed crown in black with yellow and blue outlines; on right superior corner, a yellow star with black outlines; in the right inferior corner a shape that reminds a skull with blue, magenta, black and yellow outlines and lines.”

- Interpol seized Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Hannibal in a money-laundering sting. Here’s the agency’s description of the art.

Most Creative People 2013: 1. Nate Silver

Mon, 13 May 2013 15:02:41 -0400

Most Creative People 2013: 1. Nate Silver

Not working for the Heritage Foundation is my Mother’s Day gift.

Sun, 12 May 2013 15:13:34 -0400

Not working for the Heritage Foundation is my Mother’s Day gift.

"JPMorgan “flooded California’s courts with collection lawsuits against defaulted credit..."

Sun, 12 May 2013 14:57:37 -0400

“

JPMorgan “flooded California’s courts with collection lawsuits against defaulted credit card borrowers based on patently insufficient evidence,” according to the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The company “bet that borrowers would lack the resources or legal sophistication to call its bluff,” the lawsuit said.

”

- Reuters: JPMorgan sued by California over ‘illegal’ debt collections

What Five Real Economists Think About Bitcoin

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:19:00 -0400

What Five Real Economists Think About Bitcoin:

(via Kashmir Hill.)

"The debt ceiling is becoming all-purpose leverage."

Wed, 08 May 2013 09:00:54 -0400

“The debt ceiling is becoming all-purpose leverage.”

- Ezra Klein: This is a dangerous approach to the debt ceiling

Heat May Have M.V.P., but Bulls Have Series Lead

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:42:23 -0400

Heat May Have M.V.P., but Bulls Have Series Lead:

The Heat, meantime, were fully rested and raring to go since sweeping the Milwaukee Bucks more than a week ago. The latest homage to James took shape in the hours before the game. The front facade of the arena suddenly featured a huge black-and-white mural of his profile, along with the headline “2013 MVP.” In a pregame ceremony, Commissioner David Stern presented James with his fourth M.V.P. trophy.

The Bulls took all this in and promptly made James’s life as miserable as possible.

In Chicago, that’s just how we roll.

Dealbook: New York to Sue Wells Fargo and Bank of America Over Settlement Violations

Mon, 06 May 2013 16:57:08 -0400

Dealbook: New York to Sue Wells Fargo and Bank of America Over Settlement Violations

"Open the door to the top executives’ suite and you will hear howls of rage over the backlash these..."

Mon, 06 May 2013 13:00:24 -0400

“Open the door to the top executives’ suite and you will hear howls of rage over the backlash these revelations have provoked. There is, from the corporate point of view, something a little disingenuous happening here. After all, countries, states and cities have spent the past several decades openly competing to set the lowest corporate tax rates in an effort to attract business. The fact that multinationals would respond to these incentives and turbocharge them with some international tax arbitrage is about as shocking as the discovery of gambling in Casablanca.”

- Chrystia Freeland: Business, taxes and responsibility

"Officials with Virtu Financial LLC, a high-speed trading firm in New York, view a slight head start..."

Wed, 01 May 2013 12:29:00 -0400

“Officials with Virtu Financial LLC, a high-speed trading firm in New York, view a slight head start as good for the overall market, according to a person familiar with their thinking. The person said the data helps traders who buy and sell futures contracts throughout the day manage risk and post more quotes that benefit other buyers and sellers. The person said Virtu doesn’t use the information to amplify its profits by anticipating moves elsewhere in the market.”

- WSJ.com: High-Speed Traders Exploit Loophole

Seems legit.

"If you have learned anything from Jackie Robinson, it is that teammates are always the first to..."

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:59:33 -0400

“If you have learned anything from Jackie Robinson, it is that teammates are always the first to accept. It will be society who has to learn tolerance.”

- Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers on Jason Collins.

"The Village got gentrified. Now it has the quaintness of a stage set in storage. The same thing has..."

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:10:34 -0400

“The Village got gentrified. Now it has the quaintness of a stage set in storage. The same thing has happened to similar scenes—Provincetown, Taos, the Hamptons, where Pollock could once afford to live—the difference being that the Village had lasted so very long.”

- From critic Henry Allen’s review of “The Village: 400 Years of Beats and Bohemians, Radicals and Rogues.”