Newmark's Door

The ten supposedly most intelligent and ten least intelligent breeds of dogs.

Another school year has begun. Something all college students should read is this oldie-but-goodie by Glen Whitman: "The (in)Significance of Significance".

Duke Star Trek geek sets the student newspaper straight about the "invisibility cloak". (Via Fark.)

The New Yorker on the economics of spam

Bill Gates infamously predicted in 2004 that the problem of spam would be solved "in about two years".

Not one of Mr. Gates's better predictions.

If you haven't seen it yet, here's the New Yorker's depressing take on the economics of spam, "Damn Spam".

"2000 Unofficial Uses for WD-40". (I love "unofficial".)

UPDATE: longtime reader John Palmer helpfully points out that at the WD-40 page, this list is described as "official". But when you download the list, the first paragraph reads as follows:

The uses of WD-40 described on this website were provided to WD-40 Company by end-users of the product, and do not constitute recommendations or suggestions for use of WD-40 by WD-40 Company. These uses have not been tested by WD-40 Company. Consumers should exercise common sense whenever using WD-40. Always follow the instructions and take heed of any warnings printed on the WD-40 packaging.

So, apparently the list is an "Official Unofficial" list. Thanks to John and the company for clearing that up. :-)

Review of a book about a public high school that's three times as hard to get into as Harvard: NYC's Stuyvesant.

Sumatra: a simple, small, fast .pdf viewer.

Summary of Nordhaus study on global warming

Ronald Bailey briefly discusses the new study on global warming by noted economist William Nordhaus.

There's a lot of potentially useful information here: Popular Mechanics's updated "Survive Anything: Your Ultimate Guide to Disaster".

Sowell on infrastructure

Thomas Sowell on the what the real cause of our infrastructure problem is.

Michael Fumento nicely summarizes the recent snafu regarding NASA temperature data.

Very interesting article in Forbes about how to run a restaurant.

Your humble master of ceremonies here at the Door almost certainly will never run a business, but if I did, a restaurant would probably be the one I'd like to try. How about an All-Hot restaurant--the best spicy-hot dishes from Thai, Mexican, and Chinese cuisine, along with Buffalo chicken wings?

(Update: some of my family members thought this was too narrow; what do people who don't like spicy food do? My first answer was, let 'em eat at another restaurant! But upon reflection, I decided the restaurant could be "Hot and Cold": the spicy foods would be accompanied by famous cool drinks and foods, such as mint juleps and gazpacho and lemon sorbet.)

The New York Times on some of the "trendsetter" foods in restauarnts.

"25 Most Popular Business Websites, July 2007".

Despite the concerns of "some physicians"--and, soon I would presume, some "consumer advocates"--store-based health clinics might well be a reasonable way to help control rising medical costs a little.

The summer is winding down and the question arises anew: where have the Raleigh Newmarks been eating recently? Brief comments on a dozen new, or almost new, restaurants, and mention of a half dozen older favorites and a few we hope to try soon.

Rey's. A fine meal--I had the "French Quarter Chicken", a house specialty, "Airline breast stuffed with herb cheese, topped with lemon beurre blanc"--made even better by one of those $20-off postcards they mail out frequently.

P. F. Chang's. I had two items from their new Yunnan menu--Yunnan Wontons and Dali Chicken--and enjoyed both.

Red Robin. I haven't had a hamburger there yet, and I should because that's what they specialize in, but I can recommend their "Groovy Smoothie" made of "strawberries, peaches, bananas, wild berries and grenadine blended with apple juice and vanilla cream".

South. Excellent fried pimento cheese beignets and about the best fried chicken I've had anywhere.

La Vie Pan Asian. Satisfying Thai buffet lunch, weekdays, for just $7.47.

Champi Thai and Sushi. Service was slow the one time we were there, but the Crab Rangoons were excellent and so was the Red Curry Beef.

Taste of Thai. Fine Thai coffee, Pad Thai, Chicken Satay, and Red Curry Beef. They will also sell you a jar of their fine peanut-based salad dressing which made my wife very happy.

Jibarra. It specializes in tequilas, which I did not try, and my younger daughter and I went only for Sunday brunch. But we liked said brunch very much. I had Bistec con Chilaquiles, corn chips with poblano sauce and queso fresco along with thin ribeye slices. That, plus a nice fruit plate, a mimosa, and the dessert bar were a bit pricey at $25, but it was a welcome change from usual brunch fare.

Tres Magueyes. One of the busiest restaurants we've been to in Raleigh. They have low prices--made even lower by the zillions of coupons they mail out (if you miss one, the coupons are also online)--quick service, and good quality food. I really like their tortilla chips and their carne asada tacos.

On the Border. A new one just opened in North Raleigh, near the Triangle Towne Center. Once again, excellent tortilla chips and carne asada.

Ferlo's Alimentari. I have a weak spot for family-run restaurants. Ferlo's has opened recently in Plantation Square and is owned and operated by two siblings. Excellent Italian deli meats and sandwiches.

Jack Astor's. I forget what I had to eat--it wasn't bad--but "Jack's Original Lemon Concoction" was quite a refreshing drink on a hot day. ("Shake made with fresh lemon and French Vanilla ice cream.")

We continue to get good value at Tasca Brava, Metro 8 in Durham, Solomon's, EVOO, Carver's Creek, and Biaggi's. Tasca Brava, in particular, should have a lot more patronage than it apparently does. Owned and operated by a husband and wife, two true foodies, it has outstanding tapas and good wine. 

We hope to try soon North Seafood Bistro, Kin, Pollo Rico (Peruvian grilled chicken in Cary), and Falls River Smokehouse (8320 Litchford Road).

Prevention Magazine's "Anti-Aging Guide". It's really just an elaboration of "Eat right, exercise, be happy." But I think regarding health and diet, details matter. Point #2, about alpha-lipoic acid and A-L-C, is getting a lot of attention.

You might want to read about economist Art de Vany's "Evolutionary Fitness", too. It's a harder program to follow but very interesting.

Useful graph

Yes, it wiggles a bit, but that long-term trend is impressive: "Real Gross National Income Per Capita, 1929-2006".

A useful list of "all the [recent] fallen journalists, journalistic mistakes and major and minor screw-ups in the media."

Jay Leno arranges for Claire Danes to meet someone she admires.

The Boss and the E Street Band, Paris, 1985: "Ramrod". ("Ain't it all right, now?!")

I know Chapel Hill-ians despise Coach K, but c'mon, this is just too much.

"Best High School Flicks". (Clueless should be ranked higher, but no list is perfect.)

Another high-profile Vista supporter prepares to jump ship:

I could go on and on about the lack of drivers, the bizarre wake-up rituals, the strange and nonreproducible system quirks, and more. But I won't bore you with the details. The upshot is that even after nine months, Vista just ain't cutting it. I definitely gave Microsoft too much of a free pass on this operating system: I expected it to get the kinks worked out more quickly. Boy, was I fooled! If Microsoft can't get Vista working, I might just do the unthinkable: I might move to Linux.

Radley Balko makes an excellent argument for once again returning abortion policy to the states.

Without Roe, the pro-choice movement would have had to keep taking its case to the state legislatures. States with more permissive attitudes about sex and reproductive rights likely would have passed more permissive abortion laws. Other states would have embraced tighter restrictions. And some states would have kept the existing prohibitions in place. . . .

A federalist approach wouldn’t minimize the stakes for either side. But it would recognize how important the issues are to both sides by allowing as many people as possible to live under an abortion policy that best reflects their own values, and it would transform national politics by moving a particularly poisonous argument to a more appropriate venue. Justice Ginsburg may have embraced Roe, but other supporters of abortion rights have moved in the opposite direction. Pro-choicers who have recently criticized Roe v. Wade include The Washington Post’s Benjamin Wittes and Richard Cohen, Harvard’s Alan Dershowitz, and Slate’s William Saletan. It’s healthy that at least a few voices on both sides of the debate are finally coming to realize the benefits of leaving this issue to the states.

Why go to Great Falls to have four babies?

Thanks to Chris M. for this interesting and instructive story of why a Calgary woman drove 325 miles to Great Falls to have her quadruplets.

In praise of Southern sweet tea.

Heh: The Onion reports "Longtime Married Couple Subjected To Excruciating 'Romantic Weekend Getaway'".

Fight blog cliches!

Certain folks, particularly on the Left, are fond of talking about the great evil of "greed". But distinguished historian Paul Johnson argues that "Greed is Safer Than Power-Seeking". (Love the anecdote about Stalin's pay envelopes.)

Scott Johnson at Powerline argues supportively. ("Indeed, the affair illustrates the power of ideology as a source of intellectual corruption rivaling that of money.")

R. Emmett Tyrrell makes a prediction:

Actually, the economy is chugging along in a healthy and protracted period of growth. For the past five years, per capita gross domestic product has grown at 11%. We are living through a vast global economic boom, and the Democrats seem completely unawares. In 2008 their presidential candidate will be moaning that we have lost a war and are economically in a hell of a mess. The Republican will only have to point to a healthy economy and the success of General Petraeus's splendid army to win. Then the Democrats will whine that the Republicans stole the election from them. That is my prediction, and I base it on the evidence.

Bringing you all the important news, the New York Observer notes sadly that the "Geezer Roue" is virtually extinct.

Thanks to reader Kyle for this list of Windows services that can be safely shut down. There are other sites that provide similar advice. Here, for the record, are three:

Black Viper's Windows XP Service Pack 2 Configurations. (I've used this one successfully.)

The BIG Windows XP Services Guide.

Guide to Useless Services (Windows XP SP 2).

A small window on a world most of us don't know about: the august New York Times's obituary for Joybubbles. (Thanks to Dave Flath for the pointer.)

I am not a laywer, never went to law school, and disclaim any responsibility for this list. But I did find it interesting: "Top Ten Reasons Not To Go To Law School".

Courtesy of the Net, another of my important life questions answered: how do models walk down the runway on those weird shoes? Answer: some of the time, they don't.

Mainstream publications are reporting on the work of physicist Amos Ori, who thinks time travel may be possible. More.

C'mon Beldar, tell us how you really feel. :-)

My working assumption is that [Hillary] Clinton has no political soul, and that she will say or endorse anything that she and her advisers (and their polls and focus groups) tell them will attract a plurality of Democratic primary voters; then she'll shed that skin, and say or endorse whatever's necessary to attract a plurality of general election voters. My certainty in this regard is based on close observation of her husband's political life going back to the early 1980s. It worked for him, and she rightly regards herself, I think, as a more disciplined candidate, so it ought (she believes) to work for her too.

Well put.

"Ten Life Lessons the Army Has Taught Me".

Three on life.

An interesting article on Aubrey de Grey and his very bold claim that the first person who'll live to 1000 years old is alive today. Among the interesting pieces of information, I'll highlight two. One is the claim that "men are the sex that clings most to life":

Only 25% of women say they want radical interventions — resuscitation, ventilation, tube-feeding — to save their lives; 75% of men demand such actions as their right. 

The other is that there are people who apparently believe "Medical interventions aimed at immortality are, therefore, a potential source of evil." That has got to be the worst version of Stockholm Syndrome ever seen. And it's utterly beyond my comprehension. I say to those folks: if you don't want to live a long time, you're free to jump out of a skyscraper any day you want. Please let the rest of us encourage, and maybe benefit from, anti-aging research.

Ronald Bailey reviews estimating the "longevity dividend" as discussed at the World Transhumanist Society's Transvision 2007 meeting.

Finally, a five-screen article in New York magazine explores the possible reasons why New York City residents now have a higher life expectancy than the rest of Americans. It isn't until the last screen that the author explores what should be an obvious candidate explanation: selection effects. (I suppose that still puts the author ahead of some mainstream journalists.)

Cell phones don't cause more auto accidents

Thanks to reader Ritu at UC Berkeley for sending a pointer to this interesting study: two econ grad students at Berkeley, using a novel identification strategy, find that cell phone usage does not increase auto accidents. Press release. Study (.pdf file).

The economics of kidney transplants

AEI scholar Sally Satel discusses "Supply, Demand, and Kidney Transplants". Conclusion:

Would incentives work? There is good reason to be optimistic, but pilot studies are required to test various models. Architects of any new plan must give serious consideration to principled reservations and practical concerns; but they must act nonetheless, taking small, cautious steps. One thing is certain: A larger pool of kidneys would offer a reprieve, at least a partial one, to those patients languishing on dialysis and to those given the tragic charge of deciding which lives will be saved.

Economists and rankings (blog version)

What is it about economists and rankings? I will boldly state--without any kind of evidence whatsoever--that there are more rankings being compiled for economics blogs than for blogs dealing with any other academic subject. Here's a relatively new ranking (updated daily!). Here's one that's been around for a while (updated monthly).

(Here's the one I did in July 2005, perhaps the first.)

Interview with Heckman about the value of early education

Interview with James Heckman about the tremendous potential value of investing in very young children from disadvantaged environments, particularly teaching them to read.

Rich Ankiel has been in the sport news recently, and if you don't know about him, it's worth a couple of minutes. Few athletes have ever failed in so humiliating a fashion: nine wild pitches in four playoff-game innings. Fewer yet have made it all the way back. It's just a great story.

A cranky hedge fund manager reviews a GS report

Barry Ritholtz at The Big Picture reprints the key part of a Floyd Norris blog entry that is apparently behind the NY Times pay firewall. A hedge fund manager sent Mr. Norris a copy of a recent Goldman Sachs report, "The Quant Liquidity Report". The fund manager also included some nasty annotations of the report's arguments. It's hard to choose the best of the seven annotations; here are two that made me laugh:

Goldman Sachs: "We do not believe that current prices reflect fundamental values.” Manager: "Based on what? The very models that failed you last week?"

Goldman Sachs: "In the coming weeks, we will continue to analyze this extraordinary period. We will also re-evaluate and re-prioritize our research agenda in light of recent events. Stay tuned. As we continue to study these events, we hope to gain additional insights that will help us avoid similar problems in the future.” Manager: "We don’t know what happened to us or what we’re going to do about it, but we really, really, really don’t want to admit that the fundamental premise of our business is fatally flawed and shut down, so we’ll come up with something."

It seems to me--though I'm eager to read more from experts in the area--that this recent blow-up was quite similar to the blow-up of Long Term Capital Management: asset prices which are almost always negatively correlated suddenly became postively correlated. Lots of undervalued stocks--like Bank of America, after announcing a fine quarter and a 14% dividend hike, fell in price to yield a whopping 5.4%--became still more undervalued.

When the quants rework their models, it seems as though it will be easy to build in a "trip wire" so that they can recognize, extremely quickly, when conditions have become very unusual. But what will they do with that recognition? Other than deleverage, which undermines--as the cranky hedge fund manager notes above--the very heart of their strategy? 

I don't know anything at all about the Australian book market, but I found this letter from a Tower Books executive to a major Australian book retailer, Angus & Robertson, quite entertaining.

In summary, we reject out of hand this notion that somehow, even giving you 45% discount on a Sale or Return basis, with free freight to each of your individual stores, where we make less than half of that on the same book, puts us in the "category of unacceptable profitability". We have seen Angus & Robertson try this tactic before - about 12 years ago Angus & Robertson decided that unless we gave them a 50% discount, they would not buy from us any longer. We refused. Angus & Robertson desisted from buying from us for seven months. We survived, Angus & Robertson came back cap in hand.

We have seen Myer effectively eliminate smaller suppliers. We survived and prospered but look at the Myer Book Departments today.

We have seen David Jones decide that it had too many publishers to deal with and to exclude the smaller suppliers. We survived and prospered but look at the David Jones Book Departments today.

Look in the dictionary for the phrase "sustained excellence" and you just might find Mariano Rivera.

The Onion, excellent as usual: "John Edwards Vows To End All Bad Things By 2011".

I hope none of my readers ever need this, but . . . "10 Things You Can Do When Windows XP Won't Boot".

Or you can consult "Two Best Bootable CDs for Computer Repair".

An argument to privatize some of the infrastructure

Issue #1: state and local governments need--or think they need-- lots more revenue. Issue #2: those governments have, shall we say, some big issues in adminstering assets efficiently.

Possible two-birds-with-one-stone solution: privatize roads, bridges, and airports.

The Daily Show properly and beautifully skewers a certain Liberal Lion of the Senate on the Cape Wind project. (Link via Watthead via The Anchoress.)

Regarding the U.S. News & World Report college rankings, which will be released on Friday, Kevin Depew at Minyanville writes sensibly:

The goal then is not to go to the best school, but to make sure you don't go to the worst school. 

To help you in your mediocritic learning endeavors, Minyanville has created MV's Worst of the Worst Colege Rankings. [Near the bottom of the page.]

#4 is University of Kegstand and #1 is Spellchekc Laerning Acadamy.

 

I don't remember where I saw it, but supposedly 600 people a year in the United States drown in cars. Here's one discussion of how to escape from a sinking car. Here's another.

"Why do people prefer music from their teenage years?" Nothing definitive, but some interesting speculation.

From the opening snare hit to the howling, inimitable question, "How does it feel?" everything you ever wanted to know about "Like a Rolling Stone".

There is nothing like any sort of system evident in the recording session. To traditional professional musicians, it would have seemed like mayhem. There were no charts, no arrangement. Dylan lacked any sort of language to convey to the others whatever sound he may have wished to hear. It seems simply a process of trial and error, and mostly error, with the recording tape continually rolling, ready to capture whatever might emerge, and with most of the takes breaking down mid-song after obvious failures. There was general satisfaction expressed after only one take — the one that eventually became the master — but even then, there was no indication that anyone thought that they were done, or had produced what would eventually be hailed as the most masterful rock recording of all time.

So we can see that, just as Dylan tells the woman in the song that the simple order to her life was an illusion, there was no simple, obvious order to the way in which this masterpiece was recorded. The music was recorded by musicians who were then unknowns, who were themselves rolling stones — Bloomfield walked into the recording studio with his guitar slung over his shoulder, not even having a case for it — who happened to come together for a few days to work together in this loose fashion, and then moved on. The recording sessions were themselves a reflection of this reality that Dylan was singing about.

John Rosemond, at his best:

. . . the editors of Parents Magazine apparently feel that children should never be described by adjectives that carry even the slightest negative connotation. Referring to words like "shy" and "fussy," PM proposes substitute labels that can "go a long way toward making your child feel that he's great."

In the first place, I fail to understand why it is necessary, or even desirable, for a child to feel he or she is great. I don't think I'm great. Most people, if asked, "Do you think you're great?" would answer that while they might feel physically and emotionally great at that moment, "great" does not apply to their persons.

Read the whole thing.

Capitalism as a U.S. asset

Nice argument: maybe spreading democracy is harder than it looks, but the U.S. has still got a huge weapon in obtaining influence, capitalism.

The new economics of the music industry

An article that explains something students in my "Economics of the Internet" course will have heard: the recorded music industry is never going to be, even approach, what it once was. Musicians will make most of their money on what can't be easily pirated: the experience of live concerts.

(And that makes for an interesting parallel to the movies. First television and then tapes and DVDs were supposed to be the death of movies. But there is still a significant demand to go "out", to have the live experience.)

Harvard and Yale endowments' alpha

Mebane Faber argues that over 1985-2004, the Harvard and Yale endowments each generated about 400 basis points of alpha. (Would like to see this updated.)

It pains me to report this, but it seems as though the great Cindy has lost a little off her fast ball.

Sarah Lawrence just edges out Wesleyan for Most Annoying Liberal Arts College. (But Swarthmore finishes an impressive, write-in third!)

Roger Pilon of Cato explains James Madison to the dunderheaded folks on the D.C. Circuit who wrote the majority decision in Abigail Alliance.

James Madison stood for limited government, not wide-ranging democracy. His first principle was that in wide areas individuals are entitled to be free simply because they are born free. His second principle was that in some areas majorities are entitled to rule because we have authorized them to. That gets the order right: individual liberty first, self-government second, as a means for securing liberty.

Let's hope that on appeal the U.S. Supreme Court gets it right.

"How the Shrimp Tariff Backfired"

"How the Shrimp Tariff Backfired" is a wonderful illustration of the fundamental law of economics, "People respond--creatively and intelligently--to incentives."

It also helps explain the explosion of shrimp entrees in the frozen foods section of your grocery store.

"The Intellectual Bankruptcy of the Peak Oil Movement"

Mike Moffatt has three superb questions for the "Peak Oil" crowd.

Sociology professor Fabio Rojas presents his thirteen "grad school rulz".

Excellent advice for current conservatives: "Listen to Goldwater".

At the 1960 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Barry Goldwater famously told conservatives to "grow up." It's time we hear that message again.

As in 1960, the conservative movement seems grumbling, disaffected, even downright angry -- and, most importantly, it sometimes seems more interested in complaining and moaning than in uniting, constructively, to achieve political success.

What's worse is that we seem to be fighting among ourselves. Every chance we get, we take shots at other conservatives. Nobody, it seems, is good enough. We moan that nobody is another Reagan. Nobody is another Churchill. Nobody is another Washington.

To which we ought to say, so what? There's only one Second Coming, and He isn't running for anything.

It's time we look at the good things we've got -- and the good people, and the good times. Take stock of those goods, and celebrate them, and consolidate them in an attractive way, and build, build, build upon them.

Three big economics ideas: Mankiw's, Steckbeck's, and mine

Greg Mankiw lists his favorites for "three big economic ideas". Mark Steckbeck's list is better. Mine is very close to Steckbeck's, just a little different wording and emphasis:

1. People tend to respond to incentives.

2. Scarcity, and its important corollary, opportunity cost.

3. Markets tend to be low cost allocators of goods and services.

(I'd put "Voluntary trade is mutually beneficial" at #4.)

UPDATE: Steckbeck link is now correct. Thanks to reader Michael W. for pointing out the error.

A fine way to spend a few minutes, Tom Wolfe's "The Pirate Pose": "Twenty years after The Bonfire of the Vanities, the author checks in on the new masters of the universe and finds them even coarser and ruder than their predecessors could have ever imagined being."   

Friday's Fed action

The events of the past week in the financial markets, particularly Friday, put me in mind of the (supposedly) ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."

Faithful Door reader Chris M. e-mailed me to ask about Friday's Fed action. Rather than try to explain it myself, I referred him to other folks who are a lot more knowledgeable about monetary policy and Fed operations. Maybe other readers would also be interested.

Start with a six-paragraph description of how recent events are similar to a bank run. Then read Jim Hamilton's fine discussion of what the Fed did, and why. Finally, read King Banaian for additional useful commentary, a bunch of other links, and a bit of discussion about what to watch for now.

P.S. If you want some bitter black humor, you can read about the "newest stuctured finance product": Constant Obligation Leveraged Originated Structured Oscillating Money Bridged Asset Guarantees.

John Lott on Booknotes

Distinguished economist and friend of the Door, John Lott, will appear on C-Span 2's BookNotes this coming Sunday at 11 a.m., with repeats Monday at 12 a.m. and next Saturday (8/18) at 7:00 p.m.

Department of Incredibly Dopey Lawsuits: see this.

Pain and suffering are not laughing matters. But may I respectfully suggest to the plaintiff two things:

1. Under no circumstances should you ever, ever trust your health and well-being to a teenager working the counter at a fast-food restaurant.

2. If you are strongly allergic to something (in this case, cheese), so allergic that one bite puts you "near death", then you should take two seconds to verify that it is not present on your food. (Plaintiff didn't see the cheese on his hamburger because he ate it "in a darkened room where [he was] going to watch a movie".)

Both of which assume that the plaintiff wasn't trying to be damaged, which is at least open to question in this case.

You think economists don't agree? What about journalists?

Old joke, adapted. Q: If you laid all the journalists in the world end to end, how far would they reach? A: We don't know exactly, but we know it wouldn't be far enough to reach a conclusion.

From the Washington Post, August 9, 2007, page D01, headlined "High School Seniors Test Well in Economics":

Sixty percent of high school seniors know that lower tax revenue and higher spending increase the national debt, and about half can tell you that the cost of imported goods would probably decrease without trade restrictions. But only 1 in 10 could analyze how a change in the unemployment rate affects income, spending and production.

Those were some of the results released yesterday from the first National Assessment of Educational Progress survey of economic literacy. The findings paint a portrait of a student body that is high in common sense when it comes to dollars and cents, but lower in classroom knowledge. Overall, education officials said the results are an encouraging sign that the study of economics is gaining currency.

From the Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2007, page D2, headllined "High Schoolers Aren't Good at Economics" (may require subscription):

Although more U.S. high-school students are taking economics courses, most graduating seniors have only a basic understanding of the subject, according to results from a key nationwide test.

On a zero-to-300 point scale, 12th graders had an average score of 150 points in the first-ever economics test administered under the federal government's National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP.

Question: will the major media, happy to report and repeat certain poll numbers, spend a lot time discussing this one?

More than half of Americans say US news organizations are politically biased, inaccurate, and don't care about the people they report on, a poll published Thursday showed. 

I won't hold my breath.

Maybe some of the ill will expressed in the poll is caused by the media's consistent lack of perspective, a lack well described by Don Surber.

Cinnamon Stillwell offers some interesting thoughts as we mark the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love.

I had more than a passing familiarity with the type of people portrayed in the film because, as can be discerned as soon as I introduce myself, I am inexorably linked to the Summer of Love generation. I was born in 1970, but it is the '60s to which I owe my first name. And I'm not alone. Indeed, one would be hard pressed to pass through states such as California, Oregon and Colorado without running into those of a certain age, all bearing the unmistakable mark of the hippie baby. . . .

While there was many a happy childhood among the bunch, including my own, also evident around us was the fall-out of the '60s. There was nary a classmate of mine growing up whose parents had not been divorced, and more than a few had been through rehab by the time they got to high school. Casual sex and, inevitably, abortion were de rigueur.

"5 Simple Ways to Store Your Files Online".

If you want more choices, try: "80+ File Hosting and Sharing Sites".

Growing up, I heard inspiring stories of successful people who overcame underprivileged backgrounds by using public libraries. Soon--very soon, I'd guess-- we will hear even more inspring stories of people who've taught themselves huge amounts by using the Internet. Here's one guide on how to "Become an Autodidact" using the Net.

Slashdotter rants about the deficiencies of Alexa webpage rankings.

Joanne Jacobs argues convincingly that all kids should