Newmark's Door

"Recession Forecasts Are So Bad, They're Good"

Interesting. But it raises the question that if this is so easy and so obvious, why has it taken this long for someone to recognize it?

"Are you suffering from Inflamm-ageing? That’s the inflammation which makes you miserable and angry in midlife."

Testimony from a science journalist that many of our chronic health problems are caused, or at least contributed to, by chronic inflammation.

"Craigslist's Craig Newmark: 'Outrage is profitable. Most online outrage is faked for profit'"

What's up with Craig Newmark Primary. Here's one nugget: Craigslist is up to 50 billion page views per month.

"Why Things Break: Easy Causes of Business and Investing Failure"

I don't know that there's much that's novel here, but I haven't seen the claims so clearly expressed.

"Trump moves to lessen the pain of capital gains taxes"

I support this proposal enthusiastically.

"I Was Wrong (And I Bet You Were Too)"

Another endorsement of the interesting work of Hans Rosling.

"Panda Express has new chicken strips that combine Sichuan spice with Nashville hot chicken"

I had them two days ago and I thought there were quite good.

"The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension"

Next month will be the 35th anniversary of the release of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, one of the most inventive movies I've ever seen. But it's weird. To fully appreciate it you need esoteric knowledge--Do you know the significance of Grovers Park, NJ?--or you need some explication. Here's a start. 

The complete movie is available free, but with ads, on YouTube.

"This 2019 Study Reveals the Best Used Car Values for Under $20,000"

For many years my family was quite happy with off-lease Tauruses. (Ranked #7.)

"Dear Nets fans: Here’s what you’re getting in Kyrie Irving"

Boston.com columnist Chad Finn writes a nasty, but funny (unless you're a Brooklyn Nets fan) sendoff for Kyrie. It's an amazing story: in just one year he threw away a terrific reputation.

"These are the world's highest-grossing music tours in history"

1 sure surprised me.

Bonus music-related item: "David Bowie imitates Mick Jagger!!"

"Look out mozzarella sticks, St. Louis-style toasted ravioli is the fried appetizer to beat"

OK by me. I love me some toasted ravioli.

"Democrat Leaders Announce Brief Moratorium On Calling For Political Violence"

The Babylon Bee. (Meaning it's not real. Yet.)

"Why are Japanese cars more reliable than German cars considering German engineering is supposed to be the best?"

Funny but possibly true:

Germans love rules. They follow those rules. German engineers expect people to follow their rules.

When Japanese engineers go on to design a product they ask themselves: “How will the customers use it? How can I prevent failure if they abuse it?”

"2019’s Best- & Worst-Run Cities in America"

I'm not sure I'd include life expectancy and infant mortality as measures of how well run a city is, but the ranking and methodology is still interesting.

See also "Ranking U.S. Metropolitan Areas on the Economic Freedom Index" and "The Milken Institute's Best Big And Small Cities For Successful Aging".

"One big reason you can’t get rid of cockroaches"

Evolution is clever.

"Theory claims to explain the origin of the phrase 'Jesus H. Christ' and where the mysterious 'H' came from"

I, for one, am glad we've got that cleared up.

"The Growing Science Behind a Fasting Treatment for Alzheimer’s"

Needless to say it will be very nice if this pans out.

Mattson has spent decades researching calorie intake and Alzheimer’s disease. In several studies of mice genetically altered to display symptoms of Alzheimer’s he’s found that those fed intermittent fasting diets — where you cycle through short periods of eating and longer periods of fasting — fared better than those who ate whenever they wanted. They had better cognitive function, lived longer and, most importantly, had less plaque build up in their brains.

The Alzheimer's researchers could use some luck because after a whole lot of time and effort, they haven't made much progress: "Alzheimer’s researchers shift focus after failures".

"Scientists say this ridiculously simple strategy can help you learn anything"

Sounds reasonable.

"Millennial couple in Kansas needs help making ends meet on $500,000 a year"

The mystery isn't so much how a childless couple in Kansas has trouble making ends meet on half a million a year, but why--even anonymously--they would post this information and invite public comments.

(An explanation that I'm ashamed I didn't think of immediately is that the whole thing is simply phony.)

"Never Try To Drive Through a Flood"

Useful reminder.

According to the National Weather Service, more than half of flood-related drownings take place after a vehicle has been driven into flood water. “A mere [six] inches of fast-moving flood water can knock over an adult,” the agency warns. Think your car is any safer? “It takes just 12 inches of rushing water to carry away most cars and just two feet of rushing water can carry away SUVs and trucks.”

Separated at birth?

Courtesy of my wife:

"Notice the uncanny likeness b/t Biden listening to this guy excoriate him for deportations during the Obama era and the Covington HS kid."

 

"Norwegian startups flocking to New York for lower tax rates"

Disappointingly little data--just an anecdote or two and some comments from observers--but if this finding held up on closer examination, wouldn't that be . . . unexpected?

"The Rapid Fall of the [European] Left"

"With the benefit of hindsight, there may be a simple explanation for the rapid rise and rapid fall of the far left: Its appeal was always more negative than positive."

"The Battle of Grace Church"

The vicious infighting over the leadership of a top Brooklyn preschool. 

It seems as though the new head was not a good fit with at least some of the parents and staff. The message to me is this is why interviewers spend a bunch of time trying to determine if new hires are "clubbable"--whether they are compatible with the existing corporate culture.

Here's an alternate takeaway: ".  . . the article was published was to stir up anger against a bunch of rich white women in Brooklyn".

"Portlandization: It Can Happen to a Place Near You"

The not-so-good status of the "new Brooklyn"--or was it the new Amsterdam?--now the City of Marches. As the author puts it, ". .. . like the milk from the goat they kept in their front yard, things turned pretty sour pretty quick."

"Are Facebook, Twitter, Google evil or just everywhere? What we have to do about big tech"

By law professor Glenn Reynolds, proprietor of Instapundit. 

I've been reading Instapundit regularly for at least 15 years. (I know this because my first link to it on this blog is dated 3/7/04.) In my opinion it's one of the very best things on the Net. Prof. Reynolds is consistently calm, reasonable, informed, and usually, magnificently correct. 

But on this issue--using antitrust to break up Google, Twitter, and Facebook--I'm sorry to say I sharply disagree with him. (The piece linked to doesn't quite state that he favors antitrust against the social media giants. But he regularly calls for just that on Instapundit.)

I note first that the core products of all three firms have been, and still are, absolutely free. And at least for Google, my experience is that quality--good to begin with--has improved over time. (See also "The Real Issue in Tech Antitrust: Where’s the Harm?" and "Why sound law and economics should guide competition policy in the digital economy," pp. 3-7.) 

Logically then, the folks that want to use antitrust against these three firms must propose evading the limits on antitrust's scope that have been in place for nearly 50 years now. And that's exactly what they do propose: Antitrust should either be given unprecdented new scope--Protect workers! Protect the community! Protect the environment! Protect outer space! (The last one is a joke. For now)--or we should return to what many of its advocates see as antitrust's original purpose, that of "protecting" small businesses.

I think Prof. Reynolds's complaint against the firms falls into the "protect the community" category. He has three complaints:

Thus today’s social media world tends to give us the worst possible outcome: lots of angry, ill-informed speech, coupled with censorship of things that the platform owners don’t like or are pressured into killing. Add to that a tremendous loss of privacy as platforms monetize people’s personal data, and it’s easy to see why the tech giants aren’t as popular as they once were.

"Welcome to California"

Building houses in California is not for the faint-hearted.

Though the developer tirelessly met environmentalist demands and generated “green” credibility, the project has endured more than a quarter-century of roadblocks and red tape, courtesy of California’s mammoth bureaucracy—including “lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit,” says Wendy Devine, who oversees a website focused on Newhall Ranch news. . . . The developer produced more than 109,000 pages of documents, navigated the review of 25 government agencies, appeared at 21 public hearings, and attended over 700 meetings. Finally, the project broke ground last year.

(This piece also illustrates an underreported phenomenon: how innocent laws lying around can be completely repurposed by interest groups.)