Squirrell Highway

It’s probably a mutated gene I picked up somewhere in youth.  My mom used to yell, "Come here, come look!" and I would come running down from my room, probably expecting a dragon or something equally as dramatic based on the tone of her voice.  But, no dragons, it was always a deer.  Or should I say, another deer.  Sometimes they were does, sometimes bucks, always brown and always seemingly uninterested in my family’s voyeurism.

I don’t have anyone to yell to here in my ex two-car cottage.  So, I have submitted to mom’s second action in the situation: ‘Where is the camera? I’ve got to get a picture!" 

My camera is in a sock.  I call it the case, but it provides for an easy draw, which, even on my fastest of days, is no match for the speed limit on Squirrel Highway. Squirrels are kinda brown too.  Though often I don’t get the chance to focus directly on them.  It is more likely that I see a sinuous blur or a rash of leaves settling outside my door just after a calamitous thump.  You can get my drift by looking at the picture above.  What I have captured in this picture is a typical passerby on Squirrel Highway, though, as you can see, this little monster has disguised himself as a slithering dragon to the lens of my camera.

Nonetheless, I find myself just as persistent as mom.  Every time Mr. Squirrel tutters across my roof or throws himself blindly (and with great tact) into the branches of a nearby tree, you can find me ready—camera in hand, sock at my feet—for a chance at the next great photo for my archives.  And, as soon as I live within range of a possible witness to this exposition of stealth and cunning nature, they will be sure to hear me calling.

The “Danger Zone”

If you are a friend of mine you may be familiar with a conversation like this:

YOU AND ME: <40 minutes of solid discussion>
YOU: Why yes ben, What you said does sound very reasonable and I…
ME: Uh, Oh! Danger Zone! Danger Zo…
<click>

While the Silicon Valley flourishes in some technologies, others (AT&T Wireless for example) have pockets of disintermediation.

Tridge Revision #1

It seems I have miscalculated my audience.  Where I thought I could craftily sneak in a sleight of word and omit vital information, my father, a native of Midland, Michigan and one of the two people who has closely watched the evolution of my lying habits over the last 26 years (I don’t know which attribute may carry more weight, but rest assured that both of these factors are essential to the full understanding of this story), has called me on the following portion of my last post:

The three legs span the shores over the confluence of two docile, unknown rivers that will remain inessential to the full understanding of the story.

The rivers are, in fact, known as the Tittabawassee and the Chippewa.  They are even available for walleye fishing year-round.   Though, I will add, nobody was fishing on the day that I was there.  And although this new information has surfaced, the rivers remain, with me as the empirical witness, docile.

The Nostalgia that is Midland

The story begins with me helping start up a research unit out of the Department of Economics at San Jose State University.  The story has no ending yet, but somewhere in the middle I find myself running across the infamous Tridge of Midland, Michigan in the middle of a blizzard.

Before going any further, I must warn you that being from California, I carelessly use words like blizzard in reference to any weather that does not involve a sun.  The spelling of Tridge, however, was not careless; it is meant to imply a bridge with three legs (as opposed to the implicit two legs of the bridges with which you are most likely familiar).  The three legs span the shores over the confluence of two docile, unknown rivers that will remain inessential to the full understanding of the story.

While we’re off track, I used to spend my winter breaks in Midland.  This is where I first met snow.  This is where I would watch my grandfather devise intelligent bird-feeders that could throw a perpetrating squirrel a good ten feet and not spill but an ounce of seed. 

Also in the middle of the story I meet lots of really intelligent, passionate people and they teach me how to start and operate a think tank.  No, it is not that easy.  Nor is driving through a blizzard to an airport.  On return from Midland we missed our plane.  It’s the first time this has happened to me.

Taxes and Brushes with Fame

This April 15th, I had the pleasure of celebrating taxes in good company.

For concern of any stray tabloid-employds, I will not publicly assert any of the names of the involved parties, though I will mention that included in these parties was a hero in the world of economics and his wife.

Unfortunately, I did not get to, as they say, shoot the bull, with this particular Noble Laureate, however, I did have the chance to direct him and his wife to the restroom.  Let me tell you the story.

As there was a high price tag on the event, volunteer work was quite a hot item and I was one of the first on the list.  Furthermore, getting to the event just a tad late placed me in the “limbo” category of the volunteers - all of the roles were already assigned by the time of my arrival.

I was meandering with a sophisticated presence near the entryway when they approached.  They first looked behind a plant and then down a dark hallway; that is when I made my move.

“Are you looking for the restroom?” I rhetorically questioned.

Quickly, as the dark hallway exposed itself as simply a repository for chairs, the couple changed directions.  The wife looked my way and smiled with an inquisitive affirmation.  Surely, she had not heard a thing I said but, positioned awkward and available in the middle of the side of the room, I could only have one purpose.  I continued in a bit louder voice,  “Right at the other end of the hall on your left.”

Without breaking stride, she cordially replied “Thank you,” as she looked back over her shoulder and the wake of their high-speed trail came upon me as a small breeze from the elbow down.

From Dollars to Alpaca, Informal Markets Thriving

Is dollarization or improved printing technology leading to more counterfeiting throughout Latin America?  Or perhaps it is more intrinsic in the structure of their institutions and culture in these countries.

Here’s an interview on Peruvian women in the informal economy who are joining trade unions.  I wonder how much they think about the economics of unemployment in their negotiations?  Government concern for the Alpaca trade has led to a questionable program to put microchips in the Alpacas ears in hopes to keep good wool local, even though it is valued much higher abroad.

In other places, some are trying to change incentives on the informal market.  India has implemented a VAT that includes hopes of stunting the informal market for mobile phones.  This opinion discusses some features of the value added tax, including how it cuts into informal markets.

Loveboat with a Timecard

Outsourcing to international waters to avoid H-1B visa regulations.  Countries are just arbitrary, time-sensitive definitions anyway.

Tourism from Above

Using the satellite feature of Google Maps and resourceful users, the blog Google Sightseeing shares the world from above.

Friends From Above

You may not be able to zoom in on the owl house, but the barn, the driveway, the neighbor!  Google Maps now has satellite view.  The most reasonable uses that come right to mind are 1) star-perspectived entertainment and 2) writing invites for space-themed parties.

Copyright Communists and the Commons

Another of the Forbes rich listers is spamming copyright offices around the world:

Bill Gates is an intelligent man who has done a great deal of good in the world. So when he gets caught out in a bare-faced lie this should matter to all of us; and last week, when he called the opponents of American intellectual property law a "communist" movement he was encouraging a mistake that could impoverish the entire world.

Read more on the war against copyright communists.  Also check out Creative Commons who is leading the movement of sharing creativity with their ‘some rights reserved’ copyrights and encouragement of things like the up and coming music sampling commons, Mixter.

Yahoo! has even put out a beta Creative Commons search engine, so tally up on how easy home recording is these days and if you’re feeling entrepreneurial, turn your Mac Mini into a recording studio and, to Gates’ spite, head for the communes.

House Plan: Faucets

The faucet reads:
1 turn Cold
2 turns Warm
3 turns Hot

I’ve heard from the inside (inside the house that is, as I live in the illustrious, ex two-car “cottage”) that, this week, the only setting is really hot. Nevertheless, this is definitely an item that will be built into the architecture of my pipe dreams.  I’ll probably modify the heat feature in the water to be more compassionate, but I never know when I might be struck by the longing to re-create the weathered pains of a 99 year old shingle-style house in Professorville.

Thanks to mom (who apparently is a graphic designer in her spare time) for the photo and a pleasant visit.

High Price. Lots of Incentive

The drug war appears not to be having much of an effect on cocaine sales in the US.  Although Colombian cocaine traffic has been reduced by 22%, Bolivian production has increased by 17%.  The price remains steady or lower than historical levels.  Read here or here.

Fractal Finance and Business School

A great lead from Alina at Totalitarianism Today discusses randomness and rationality in markets through fractal finance.  And in a bout of rationality, a vermont businessowner bought a free-ride into a Dutch business school on eBay for $36,000.  Perhaps he’ll learn why Metcalf’s law. is a bit weaker than it was cracked up to be.

Latin American Universities

When The Times survey came out, Mexico’s UNAM university sent out ecstatic press releases to the media that resulted in headlines such as UNAM leads Latin American universities.

UNAM’s actual rank was 195 out of 200.  Nonetheless, there claims are true.  Read more on the survey and the struggles of Latin American Universities here.

Custom News

Consuming grandiose amounts of information is a hobby of mine.

Today: Google News.   If you enjoy reading the paper but don’t enjoy reading what is in the paper, Google has just solved that (minus the actual, physical paper.  Instead there will just be a large amount of photons shooting at your head).

You can now put the Sports section before the Enternainment section, or just get rid of the Entertainment section all together and add a customized section on Digital Photography instead.  Google explains here.