Category: economics
Private Gain at the Public Expense
We should be on the Appalachian Trail today, but the threat of thunderstorms persuaded me that this week was not the time for a first backpacking trip with the ...
Business Ethics
One of the products I worked on at Prodigy was ProdigyBiz, since expired. ProdigyBiz basically sold brochure-ware. You too can have a presence on the Internet! ...
A Plague of Locusts
The absurd contempt for life expressed in the apparent lack of concern for the necessities of survival — air, water, food — by the powerful drives m...
Science Fiction was never entirely about The Future
I’ve been reading stories from the November/December 2017 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine that I picked up at Barnes & Noble before C...
We Have No Choice
I read Underground Airlines yesterday. It’s fresh in my memory. This morning browsing through Edible Santa Fe I ran across an advertisement for work the ...
Transitioning to a Post-Westphalia World
What prevents the signatories of the TPP or TTIP, and their ilk, from just saying no when the investor-state dispute settlement provisions don’t go the wa...
Age Segregation
From grade schools to senior villages, we now spend much of our lives on separate generational islands. Can we reverse the trend? “What ‘age segregation...
Cul de sac
I have to say that I was way ahead of the prediction curve on this, partly through desire and partly because it’s pretty fucking obvious just from looking...
Against Full-Day Kindergarten
The Common Core State Standards website asks, Q: Why do we need educational standards? A: We need standards to ensure that all students, no matter where they li...
On the Arlington Central School District Budget (2012-2013)
Arlington Central School District budget planning for FY 2012-2013 has resulted in a fairly good budget. I particularly like the appendices that are included fo...
Negative Feedback Loop?
I’m a little puzzled by one of the statements in David Hackett Fischer‘s conclusion to his The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of Histo...
Hasta la Vista, Baby
We’re cancelling DirecTV service. It’s been about a year since purchasing the HDTV and the associated DirecTV package. Meanwhile, our viewing of ...
Dear Amtrak: Learn How to Price Your Service
Apparently you neglected to read my last letter, but with the fast approach of National Train Day and the increase in oil prices making your services slightly m...
Whose Benefit?
The medical benefit plan I have requires payment of a certain sum before it begins paying a high percentage of the cost of prescriptions. This sum is called the...
When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Drink Cocktails
J. T. Dobbs at American Drink asks, Is it a coincidence that on the heels of one of the worst economic crises since The Depression, artisan cocktails began maki...
Replacing the Oxygen Sensor on a 2002 Honda CR-V
In order to pass the New York State vehicle inspection, all emissions control components must work. For example, if the oxygen sensors fail, they must be replac...
Google Travel
Apparently Google wants to purchase a travel data company, but the existing flight comparison websites don’t want them to. I can see why they wouldn’...
Why I Cancelled My Newspaper Subscription
I’ve maintained a subscription to the deadtree edition of my local newspapers since I was old enough to pay my own bills. I’ve continued to subscrib...