We have only two rules: Be polite and wear socks to the beach. And there you have it.
We only have one rule: Don’t make a career by being a boogeyman that lives under a child’s bed.
The mood for today is that dude from Grease. The mood for today is eating a sandwich.
The mood for today is that moment from Grease where the guy tries to make his date feel better about her looks by telling her how much he wants to be with her. The mood for today is how I'm always getting distracted in the middle of something important
The mood for today is feeling zesty and calm while having a poor visual imagination. The mood is having some Pepsi. The mood is not being afraid of name calling. The mood is saying “It is kind of mean though.”
She did nothing, and it was okay.
She did nothing, and it was okay
She did nothing, because she would like a little help and is not happy with being messed with. So it is okay.
For someone with a poor memory who never does such things, simply using google would be a colossal waste of time.
In your particular case, yeah. I was talking more generally though, although that’s partly for the benefit of people whose memories aren’t great.
This was not emphasized. Saying there will be a party, and saying you need to help people are two very different things, especially if the person is on IV nutrients and little else.
Oh yeah, no, I agree with you there.
I guess either these things were not very well-defined, or they were, in which case that is a little mean. Or condescending.
I think you’re misinterpreting my point somewhat, which is that when a person (or any kind of organism) has a particular kind of deficit, it’s hard to make general advice about how to treat it.
Here’s a concrete example: my memory is poor, but I don’t think that necessarily makes a good guide for how to deal with memory problems that people might be having in real life. Like, I’d be pretty reluctant to just randomly come out with “hey, have you considered using flash cards?”
No hey, it’s fine, these things take time right?
Yeah, this is a good thing to keep in mind, since you do have a lot of control over your time, and so if you want to spend time helping a person with a memory problem or whatever, you have options.
I still kind of think it’s a scam.
For something like this, I don’t think it’s much of a scam. If you’re saying “it’s a scam because I don’t actually care about this person” I don’t think I have any responsibility to try to tell you otherwise.
As an aside, I am glad that I read the post I mentioned earlier today. I don’t think it was actually scammy, and I would have been confused if you thought so. I thought it was sincere in expressing a real, valuable experience, but I now feel more certain that the author was just expressing a sincere experience. I would have liked an elaboration, but I understand the limitations of the genre of the post in question, and I would say that the experience of being in this situation is real and interesting in a way that is accessible to almost everyone (although there are people who won’t understand it as easily).
I think you have a poor memory in a way that is both important and understandable, and I’m glad you’re aware of it, and that you’ve found people who’ll help you deal with it. If this was a scam, it would have been a good scam, because the goal would have been to manipulate you into feeling “caring” about someone who was experiencing something that nobody shares. But this was an honest attempt to share an interesting experience that I think most people can share, at least to some extent, if they do the work to think about and understand the relevant issues.
Sorry that I didn’t respond earlier – I had just finished this conversation with my mom and forgot to go back.
Good to know it’s about the eels with you.
Right here is where you could have said you don’t have to do something big. Right here.
For someone with a poor memory who never does such things, simply using google would be a colossal waste of time.
In your particular case, yeah. I was talking more generally though, although that’s partly for the benefit of people whose memories aren’t great.
This was not emphasized. Saying there will be a party, and saying you need to help people are two very different things, especially if the person is on IV nutrients and little else.
Oh yeah, no, I agree with you there.
I guess either these things were not very well-defined, or they were, in which case that is a little mean. Or condescending.
I think you’re misinterpreting my point somewhat, which is that when a person (or any kind of organism) has a particular kind of deficit, it’s hard to make general advice about how to treat it.
Here’s a concrete example: my memory is poor, but I don’t think that necessarily makes a good guide for how to deal with memory problems that people might be having in real life. Like, I’d be pretty reluctant to just randomly come out with “hey, have you considered using flash cards?”
No hey, it’s fine, these things take time right?
Yeah, this is a good thing to keep in mind, since you do have a lot of control over your time, and so if you want to spend time helping a person with a memory problem or whatever, you have options.
I still kind of think it’s a scam.
For something like this, I don’t think it’s much of a scam. If you’re saying “it’s a scam because I don’t actually care about this person” I don’t think I have any responsibility to try to tell you otherwise.
As an aside, I am glad that I read the post I mentioned earlier today. I don’t think it was actually scammy, and I would have been confused if you thought so. I thought it was sincere in expressing a real, valuable experience, but I now feel more certain that the author was just expressing a sincere experience. I would have liked an elaboration, but I understand the limitations of the genre of the post in question, and I would say that the experience of being in this situation is real and interesting in a way that is accessible to almost everyone (although there are people who won’t understand it as easily).
I think you have a poor memory in a way that is both important and understandable, and I’m glad you’re aware of it, and that you’ve found people who’ll help you deal with it. If this was a scam, it would have been a good scam, because the goal would have been to manipulate you into feeling “caring” about someone who was experiencing something that nobody shares. But this was an honest attempt to share an interesting experience that I think most people can share, at least to some extent, if they do the work to think about and understand the relevant issues.
Sorry that I didn’t respond earlier – I had just finished this conversation with my mom and forgot to go back.
Good to know it’s about the eels with you.
For someone with a poor memory who never does such things, simply using google would be a colossal waste of time.
In your particular case, yeah. I was talking more generally though, although that’s partly for the benefit of people whose memories aren’t great.
This was not emphasized. Saying there will be a party, and saying you need to help people are two very different things, especially if the person is on IV nutrients and little else.
Oh yeah, no, I agree with you there.
I guess either these things were not very well-defined, or they were, in which case that is a little mean. Or condescending.
I think you’re misinterpreting my point somewhat, which is that when a person (or any kind of organism) has a particular kind of deficit, it’s hard to make general advice about how to treat it.
Here’s a concrete example: my memory is poor, but I don’t think that necessarily makes a good guide for how to deal with memory problems that people might be having in real life. Like, I’d be pretty reluctant to just randomly come out with “hey, have you considered using flash cards?”
No hey, it’s fine, these things take time right?
Yeah, this is a good thing to keep in mind, since you do have a lot of control over your time, and so if you want to spend time helping a person with a memory problem or whatever, you have options.
I still kind of think it’s a scam.
For someone with a poor memory who never does such things, simply using google would be a colossal waste of time.
In your particular case, yeah. I was talking more generally though, although that’s partly for the benefit of people whose memories aren’t great.
This was not emphasized. Saying there will be a party, and saying you need to help people are two very different things, especially if the person is on IV nutrients and little else.
Oh yeah, no, I agree with you there.
I guess either these things were not very well-defined, or they were, in which case that is a little mean. Or condescending.
I think you’re misinterpreting my point somewhat, which is that when a person (or any kind of organism) has a particular kind of deficit, it’s hard to make general advice about how to treat it.
Here’s a concrete example: my memory is poor, but I don’t think that necessarily makes a good guide for how to deal with memory problems that people might be having in real life. Like, I’d be pretty reluctant to just randomly come out with “hey, have you considered using flash cards?”
No hey, it’s fine, these things take time right?
For someone with a poor memory who never does such things, simply using google would be a colossal waste of time.
In your particular case, yeah. I was talking more generally though, although that’s partly for the benefit of people whose memories aren’t great.
This was not emphasized. Saying there will be a party, and saying you need to help people are two very different things, especially if the person is on IV nutrients and little else.
Oh yeah, no, I agree with you there.
I guess either these things were not very well-defined, or they were, in which case that is a little mean. Or condescending.
For someone with a poor memory who never does such things, simply using google would be a colossal waste of time.
In your particular case, yeah. I was talking more generally though, although that's partly for the benefit of people whose memories aren't great.
This was not emphasized. Saying there will be a party, and saying you need to help people are two very different things, especially if the person is on IV nutrients and little else.
That is a question he would always rather not think about.
What’s the question, Frank?
It was a long, complicated question, one that made John sad, but that the rest of his friends had asked him a lot and that he had asked himself often.
(To give a brief answer, it is: was John a “bad friend?” )
If the world had more Johns, would John still feel this way?
That is a question he would always rather not think about.
What’s the question, Frank?
That’s gross, Frank. To me anyway
He would sneak an eel in there, right when you need an eel least
I like how this is a completely reasonable question to ask of someone, and yet
It’s not a question.
I don’t know how long it’ll stay clean, but we finally cleaned out the garage! No more parking in the street.
This is good news!
How many days before it gets so bad that it's not worth it, though? Is it a matter of how much space is taken up or how close it is to the house itself?
How close what is to the house itself?
It was a pretty normal Pain Snickers Bar. The same kind of Pain Snickers Bar you could find anywhere in the US where they sell food. It was just the method of cutting it that was weird and fancy.
I love the way that this makes it sound like I know all about Pain Snickers bars, like they're a foodstuff you just have to keep up with
No, I know nothing about Pain Snickers bars and can't really speculate about what they're like.
----
Oh, and the other funny aspect of this story is that there was this guy I knew years ago who was actually a fan of pain snickers bars, and when I told him you had to cut the ends off he was all "OMG I HAD NO IDEA, THAT'S so COOL"
And it turned out he hadn't known the pain snickers were supposed to hurt and didn't think it was that cool to eat the unshelled candy anyway so he hadn't gotten around to eating the ends
Was that the guy that liked to poke grapes?
he shreds
!!!!!!!!!
Frank, why do you like this post so much?
“The problem with gardening” she said, “is that you get less than you put into it! No one can live off 2 tomatoes and 4 cucumbers in the time it takes to grow them.”
This is my second gardening reference in this chapter and if anyone is still keeping score, now we have:
A garden is about 2.5 hours per vegetable.
Gregory Mankiw says: “If the Federal Reserve adds a dollar to the economy and that dollar is held as currency, the money supply increases by exactly one dollar. But … if that dollar is deposited in a bank, and banks hold only a fraction of their deposits in reserve, the money supply increases by more than one dollar.” I can’t do math, but isn’t the dollar in question the only dollar we’re talking about and part of that dollar going out is all that the supply is increasing by? Or is it only when we do it the first time?
Yeah, I think this is a very good counterexample to the idea that we “add to the money supply,” because it’s literally the only currency in play. It can be held in banks, but it is only one dollar in the system, and that dollar is not in a bank – the bank has to make an arbitrary choice and deposit it. If, say, the dollar were held by a hedge fund, which is not a bank, it would not be in the system at all, and this is indeed the same for the dollar and any other currency.
So the Mankiw example really makes me skeptical of this kind of analysis.
Is it like, “we’re going to lend you the money, but we still have it because of magic”?
Nope – money is simply not physically stored in the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve is a government institution that provides liquidity for the national banking system. This is what it looks like:
The “Federal Reserve Notes” are bills, and “Federal Reserve” is shorthand for “Federal Reserve Bank,” so… yeah, there it is.
As you might imagine, this diagram is not nearly as simple as the one in my original post, so I’ll try to give some simpler pictures in the next post (coming soon).
Is this why the economy historically has mainly grown?
The author asserts that in the recent past (1989-2013) the top 0.5 wealthiest households owned 42 percent of all municipal bonds in the US. During Detroit’s bankruptcy, bankruptcy lawyer Timothy M. Wittebort spread the belief that ordinary people own the public debt. But wouldn’t that vary from municipality to municipality and Timothy Wittebort is probably right in quite a few cases? I would think municipalities also probably differ in how rich they are. What do you think, Frank?
Thanks for asking! This is a good and interesting question. I don't really have much to say other than … I'm not an expert, that's all.
I read Tim Wittebrot's book The Rich Don't Always Win when I was in college, and I remember thinking at the time that it seemed very questionable to me. I'm not really the kind of person who wants to be an expert in things, I'm just an amateur trying to learn – I don't like to go with someone else's opinion unless I'm 100% sure that they have a really good case, I think that my "skepticism" is actually an indicator that I'm looking at something carefully (i.e. not so I can easily dismiss it as an obvious outlier, etc.).
For instance, I once wrote a long post about a paper by [I think it was Steve Keen and someone else?], that expressed my views as "I'm not convinced of everything Keen says here, because he uses the term 'deficit' a lot in a way I don't think he intends (he talks about budget deficits that don't go down even when you lower taxes, which I think he intends to be about budget deficits over and above tax policy), and because I think it's misleading when a paper is aimed at economists as a class and then uses phrases like 'economic growth' when it's really talking about 'economic output per capita.' (It was about a paper claiming that the Great Moderation is "explained" by the shift to computer modeling and that "the idea that it is some other reason is preposterous and wrong." Not sure if that still seems ridiculous to me now, but I remember feeling something like it back then.) I wrote at the time:
Also, I'm not an expert in economics either, but I am a mathematician, and if I'm going to critique a paper on economics, my critique is supposed to be a mathematical critique, not to try to argue that this conclusion should maybe follow from this premise. For example, if I have some way to prove that Keen's premise doesn't quite hold, that would be a critique of his work that, I think, makes sense to me. But my post was not even trying to do this. It just used math terminology to point out some possible technical inaccuracies with the paper.
As a result of this, I think my "skepticism" is in some sense the right skepticism, and not the skepticism I would have if I were an economics expert.
To be fair, I think Wittebrot did some good work in that he actually made a lot of concrete claims about what happens in municipalities, and some of those claims are very accurate. So he doesn't seem like an "outlier," as you say.
I don't know what makes this a good outlier but it makes sense. (What makes it a good outlier for something else I can't imagine atm.)
“(he talks about budget deficits that don't go down even when you lower taxes, which I think he intends to be about budget deficits over and above tax policy)”
Don’t you mean raise taxes, Frank? Also is over and above like above and beyond?