A Guy In New York

"Bachelorhood And Its Discontents"

It wasn't just that the bachelor was untrustworthy, wrote [George] Ade, he was also a “draft dodger” and a “slacker,” one who had exchanged the traditional male role of provider for that of refusenik. Or, as another wag put it, “The bachelor is a selfish, undeserving guy who has cheated some woman out of a divorce.” Until quite recently the office bachelor was seen as a serious liability, and earned considerably less than his married counterpart. Vance Packard, in his 1962 book The Pyramid Climbers, noted that, “In general the bachelor is viewed with circumspection, especially if he is not well known to the people appraising him…[However] the worst status of all is that of a bachelor beyond the age of 36. The investigators wonder why he isn’t married. Is it because he isn’t virile? Is he old-maidish? Can’t he get along with people?” By contrast, the married man was the steady one, the stable lot, not least because, in Tallyrand’s memorable phrase, "a married man with a family will do anything for money.”

"Bachelorhood And Its Discontents," by Christopher Orlet, New English Review, July 2008

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"Sources Warn Miley Cyrus Will Be Depleted by 2013"

The Onion: Sources Warn Miley Cyrus Will Be Depleted by 2013

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"Global Warming as Mass Neurosis"

Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the mass hysteria phenomenon known as global warming. Much of the science has since been discredited. Now it's time for political scientists, theologians and psychiatrists to weigh in.
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The Arctic ice cap may be thinning, but the extent of Antarctic sea ice has been expanding for years. At least as of February, last winter was the Northern Hemisphere's coldest in decades. In May, German climate modelers reported in the journal Nature that global warming is due for a decade-long vacation. But be not not-afraid, added the modelers: The inexorable march to apocalypse resumes in 2020.
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A light carbon footprint has become the 21st-century equivalent of sexual abstinence.

"Global Warming as Mass Neurosis," by Bret Stephens, The Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2008

EPA's Climate Change Site
"Don't fight, adapt. We should give up futile attempts to combat climate change." Open Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, December 12, 2007
Global Warming: Frequently Asked Questions - from NOAA
GlobalWarming.org - from the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Global warming - from Wikipedia

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True calling ... and standard of living.

If one of the disadvantages of an elite education is the temptation it offers to mediocrity, another is the temptation it offers to security. When parents explain why they work so hard to give their children the best possible education, they invariably say it is because of the opportunities it opens up. But what of the opportunities it shuts down? An elite education gives you the chance to be rich--which is, after all, what we’re talking about--but it takes away the chance not to be. Yet the opportunity not to be rich is one of the greatest opportunities with which young Americans have been blessed. We live in a society that is itself so wealthy that it can afford to provide a decent living to whole classes of people who in other countries exist (or in earlier times existed) on the brink of poverty or, at least, of indignity. You can live comfortably in the United States as a schoolteacher, or a community organizer, or a civil rights lawyer, or an artist--that is, by any reasonable definition of comfort. You have to live in an ordinary house instead of an apartment in Manhattan or a mansion in L.A.; you have to drive a Honda instead of a BMW or a Hummer; you have to vacation in Florida instead of Barbados or Paris, but what are such losses when set against the opportunity to do work you believe in, work you’re suited for, work you love, every day of your life?

Yet it is precisely that opportunity that an elite education takes away. How can I be a schoolteacher--wouldn’t that be a waste of my expensive education? Wouldn’t I be squandering the opportunities my parents worked so hard to provide? What will my friends think? How will I face my classmates at our 20th reunion, when they’re all rich lawyers or important people in New York? And the question that lies behind all these: Isn’t it beneath me? So a whole universe of possibility closes, and you miss your true calling.

"The Disadvantages of an Elite Education: Our best universities have forgotten that the reason they exist is to make minds, not careers." by William Deresiewicz, The American Scholar, Summer 2008

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Amazon down since Monday? 3-day Amazon outage?

Is it just us or has Amazon.com been down since Monday morning, June 9, 2008?

Since Monday, during the day, we have been able to reach Amazon less than 1 hour each day. We've tried 2 different locations using 2 different access providers, and can't reach Amazon from either.

Anyone else having these problems?

Diplomas Count 2008 - Dropping Out of High School

As the nation struggles to close its graduation gap, Diplomas Count 2008 examines states' efforts to forge stronger connections between precollegiate and postsecondary education.
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Nationwide, about 71 percent of 9th graders make it to graduation four years later, according to data from 2005, the latest available. And that figure drops to 58 percent for Hispanics, 55 percent for African-Americans, and 51 percent for Native Americans.

Those rates improved slightly from 2004 to 2005 for all groups, but large gaps remain across states. While more than eight in 10 students graduate on time in Iowa, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin, for example, the proportion drops to fewer than six in 10 in the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, and South Carolina.

Analyses conducted for Diplomas Count by the EPE Research Center also continue to show wide disparities between state-reported graduation rates and the center’s estimates. Such disparities are one reason that the U.S. Department of Education proposed new rules this spring that would require all states to calculate graduation rates based on a uniform method that tracks cohorts of students as they progress through high school.

"Executive Summary," Diplomas Count 2008, by Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center

Diplomas Count 2008
- Table of Contents
- Interactive Map of U.S. Congressional Districts
- Graduation Briefs
- Mapping Tool - A geographical Web interface where users can create interactive maps and download special reports for any school district in the country that includes comparisons to state and national statistics.
High School Dropout Rates - from Child Trends DataBank
"They made it!," by Joanne Jacobs, June 7, 2008
Mapping Educational Progress 2008 - from the U.S. Dept. of Education
Famous High School Dropouts: Part 1 | Part 2
High School Dropouts In Their Own Words - Susan Lulic Enholm
"High School Graduation Rates in the United States," by Jay P. Greene, Manhattan Institute, April 2002
"High School Graduation, Completion, and Dropouts: Federal Policy, Programs, and Issues," by Jeffrey J. Kuenzi, CRS Report for Congress RL33963, July 24, 2007 (26-page pdf ) (also available from Open CRS)
"Vulnerable Youth: Federal Mentoring Programs and Issues," by Adrienne L. Fernandes, CRS Report for Congress RL34306, January 4, 2008 (38-page pdf )
"What You'll Wish You'd Known," by Paul Graham, January 2005 (I wrote this talk for a high school. I never actually gave it, because the school authorities vetoed the plan to invite me.)

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"China’s Cyber-Militia"

Computer hackers in China, including those working on behalf of the Chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of U.S. companies and government agencies, stolen proprietary information from American executives in advance of their business meetings in China, and, in a few cases, gained access to electric power plants in the United States, possibly triggering two recent and widespread blackouts in Florida and the Northeast, according to U.S. government officials and computer-security experts.

"China’s Cyber-Militia: Chinese hackers pose a clear and present danger to U.S. government and private-sector computer networks and may be responsible for two major U.S. power blackouts." By Shane Harris, National Journal, May 31, 2008

Hat tip, Slashdot

"Chinese hackers: No site is safe," by John Vause, CNN, March 11, 2008
"Hackers exploit China earthquake to punt Trojan," by John Leyden, The Register, May 22, 2008
"Cyber officials: Chinese hackers attack 'anything and everything'," by Josh Rogin, FCW, February 13, 2007
"Botnets, Cybercrime, and Cyberterrorism: Vulnerabilities and Policy Issues for Congress," by Clay Wilson, CRS Report for Congress RL32114, November 15, 2007 (43-page pdf )
"Information Operations, Electronic Warfare, and Cyberwar: Capabilities and Related Policy Issues," by Clay Wilson, CRS Report for Congress RL31787, March 20, 2007 (17-page pdf )
"Critical Infrastructure: Control Systems and the Terrorist Threat," by Dana Shea, CRS Report for Congress RL31534, January 20, 2004 (22-page pdf )
"Banking and Financial Infrastructure Continuity," by N. Eric Weiss, CRS Report for Congress RL31873, January 31, 2008 (24-page pdf )
"High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) and High Power Microwave (HPM) Devices: Threat Assessments," by Clay Wilson, CRS Report for Congress RL32544, March 26, 2008 (24-page pdf )

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Nutella ... and guilt....

See this image from Mr. Toledano.

Mmmmmmmm, Nutella

Nutella - from Wikipedia
Super Simple Nutella Ice Cream, Chocolate & Zucchini, February 13, 2008
What Nutella (and I) Can Teach You About Blog Marketing

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Save Tony!

Tony Dragonas has been a vending fixture on the East Side of Manhattan (62nd and Madison) for nearly 25 years.

Last year, a jealous restaurant owner down the street started making complaints to the Department of Health.

Now the City wants to revoke Tony's vending permit and license. For good. For real.

"Save Tony!" The Street Vendor Project

"Tony Dragonas - best grilled hamburger in NYC?" A Guy In New York, January 10, 2006

"Food Fight: City Hall vs. Vendor," by Colin Moynihan, The New York Times, May 22, 2008

"From Silver To Street Vendors," by Elizabeth Benjamin, News Blog, NY Daily News, May 22, 2008

The Department of Health will ask the judge to revoke Tony's license and permit. Tony will be there, with his lawyers, making a defense. The hearing is open to the public for people who want to observe and/or testify in support of Tony. Please come!

You can support Tony by appearing at his hearing, scheduled for June 5, 2008, 9:30 am. NYC Office of Administrative Tribunals and Hearings (OATH), 40 Rector Street, 6th floor, New York , NY 10006

Redneck Update, er, Red State Update

A few videos from Red State Update....

Catching Up With Edwards, Biden, Huckabee:

Hillary Wins Kentucky, Obama Takes Oregon:

From Red State Update

Red Hook taco vendors

We've not tried any of the food from the Red Hook taco vendors, but if it's sold around a soccer field we're confident that it is worth trying. Thanks for the tip Ed!

Ikea Hack: Free Ferry and Bus Service Will Give Easy Access to Red Hook Ball Field Vendors," Ed Levine's New York Eats, May 16, 2008

And you thought your divorce was acidic....

A biochemist was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Friday for killing her estranged husband by knocking him out and stuffing him into a vat of acid, possibly while he was still alive.

Larissa Schuster was convicted in December of murdering Timothy Schuster with the special circumstance that the murder was committed for financial gain. At the time of his death in July 2003, the Schusters were in the middle of a divorce after nearly 20 years of marriage.

"Chemist gets life for husband's acid vat murder," CNN, May 16, 2008

Football, er, soccer, and promotion

For the promotion-phobics, the Premiership is a gilded fake while the Championship represents authentic football. ‘In my years as a supporter I have seen seven relegations and six promotions’, recounts Watford fan Graham Smith. ‘That is what being a football fan is all about. It is about supporting your team through thick and thin. It is about suffering the bad times and enjoying the good times. That’s why I like being a fan of a team that basically belong in the Football League rather than the Premier League. It is real football.’

"Every team wants to be promoted, right? Wrong," by Duleep Allirajah, Spiked!, May 9, 2008 [emphasis added]

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"Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn?"

In the late 1800s, a German scientist named Hermann Ebbinghaus made up lists of nonsense syllables and measured how long it took to forget and then relearn them. (Here is an example of the type of list he used: bes dek fel gup huf jeik mek meun pon daus dor gim ke4k be4p bCn hes.) In experiments of breathtaking rigor and tedium, Ebbinghaus practiced and recited from memory 2.5 nonsense syllables a second, then rested for a bit and started again. Maintaining a pace of rote mental athleticism that all students of foreign verb conjugation will regard with awe, Ebbinghaus trained this way for more than a year. Then, to show that the results he was getting weren't an accident, he repeated the entire set of experiments three years later. Finally, in 1885, he published a monograph called Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology. The book became the founding classic of a new discipline.

Ebbinghaus discovered many lawlike regularities of mental life. He was the first to draw a learning curve. Among his original observations was an account of a strange phenomenon that would drive his successors half batty for the next century: the spacing effect.

Ebbinghaus showed that it's possible to dramatically improve learning by correctly spacing practice sessions. On one level, this finding is trivial; all students have been warned not to cram. But the efficiencies created by precise spacing are so large, and the improvement in performance so predictable, that from nearly the moment Ebbinghaus described the spacing effect, psychologists have been urging educators to use it to accelerate human progress. After all, there is a tremendous amount of material we might want to know. Time is short.

"Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm," by Gary Wolf, Wired, April 21, 2008

SuperMemo - Super Memory: Forget about forgetting
"SuperMemo Helps You Remember Everything Before You Forget," lifehacker, April 22, 2008
Introduction to "Memory" Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885/1913), by Robert H. Wozniak
SuperMemo Library
SuperMemo and learning English

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"How Roses Handle Water"

A team of chemists from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China figured out why tiny water droplets seem to get stuck to petals of red roses. Not unexpectantly, the mechanism, known as the Cassie impregnating wetting state, is a result of nanostructures ("hierarchical micropapillae" and "nanofolds") on the surface of petals.

"How Roses Handle Water," medGadget, April 29, 2008

Reminds us of the invention of Velcro by George de Mestral.

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A Guy In New York

"Bachelorhood And Its Discontents"

"Sources Warn Miley Cyrus Will Be Depleted by 2013"

"Global Warming as Mass Neurosis"

More

True calling ... and standard of living.

Amazon down since Monday? 3-day Amazon outage?

Diplomas Count 2008 - Dropping Out of High School

More

"China’s Cyber-Militia"

More

Nutella ... and guilt....

Save Tony!

Redneck Update, er, Red State Update

Red Hook taco vendors

And you thought your divorce was acidic....

Football, er, soccer, and promotion

More

"Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn?"

More

"How Roses Handle Water"