Economics of our Environment

This is an issue we will be hearing more about. Global environmental factors create our economic situation; the current rates of production and consuption, in turn, reflect back on the environment in a giant cycle that affects everyone in totally unpredictable ways. Exciting! And there are loads of funny people who think they understand it. Which makes for great comedy. We can sit and laugh at people like Sir Nicholas as they scream like headless chickens. That is not to say we should ignore the issues, rather caution is the buzzword. Try not to spend 1/2 the GDP on a dubious "environmental" project.

Should we just plant lots of trees and see what happens? Dell Computer began doing just that in an effort to offset environmental damage caused by its electronic devices. The catch: they want customers to pay ($2 extra for a laptop, $6 for a desktop). Michael Dell has called on fellow electronics companies to follow suit. See the LA Times article on the Gates Foundation to see why this may be at best a gimmick, at worst, folly.

Economics diversifies its portfolio: see story, see also Freakonomics.

Build a brain research institute. It's become a popular hobby today among people with cash to burn. Check back here for the list of those who have done it.

Happiness, the final frontier. The Economist ran a front page article, "Happiness (and how to measure it)," in its Christmas issue. The NY Times discussed Happiness 101, the new so-called Positive Psychology that has become the rage on college campuses across the country.

Economics was always about money, psychology dealt with mental illnes. Now, these disciplines are turning their tools on a goal so elusive, the DoI promised only the right to pursue it, never to attain it.

Howard Stern is earning almost $600 million for luring record subscribers on satellite radio.

To recap: environment, economics, neuroscience, and radio

Kolko Blogs, YU Radio, and Paris

There is this J-blog that talks incessantly about the Kolko case and bashes everyone. You know who I am talking about, so I won't do him the service of another link. I understand that this blogger has complaints against the system and several individuals. He lodges serious grievances about things that must be dealt with. But his impudence is astonishing and shows a great lack of compassion or even rational thought. He uses incendiary language and is wholly single-minded.

Get this:
News blog of note.
Someone who thinks?
World's Best Mayor contest.
Muqata writes.
Cross Currents or Cross-Currents? It's the battle of religioblogs.
Is this comedy site a "Things that make you say huh"?

Listened to YU Radio. They play some weird sh**. Bunch of song parodies, I caught a line about someone sleeping with a goat. Oddball radio. Is all campus radio like this? I suppose they can't play Top 40 because of copyright infringement. Here's another lyric sample: We got no class, We got no principles. No more pencils, No more books, No more teacher's dirty looks.

Once I was happy, once I was sappy, Nylons are green, Like an old goat, To sleep with a snore, Betrayed by a maid in her teens, Noodles you're hair is getting thin, Well who wants fat hair, Did you put the cat out, I didn't know he was on fire, Horizontal bars, His actions are horrible, No he's very good, Did you hear about the owl who married a goat? They had a hootenanny.

Potato cakes, Hash browns, There's no kind you haven't tried, You planned a trip to Idaho, Just to watch potatoes grow, You like them whether they're plain or stuffed, You're addicted to spuds, Late at night you always dream, Of potato chips and sour cream, Might as well face it, You're addicted to spuds. I used to hate 'em, Now they're all that I eat, Might as well face it, I'm addicted to spuds.

They made everybody green, I really wish they'd cut it out, They wasted everybody on my block, There goes the neighborhood, They're not nice to the human race, And they just won't go away, And the evil look and grin, And they sure could use a manicure, I sure hope they don't come in here, Run for your life, They're really making a mess of this place, Look out here come flying creatures from outer space, They're making a big fat mess of this place.

I also meant to mention the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe. He was in Jerusalem last week to announce the gift of the city of Paris to Jerusalem, a 25 meter high 1/12 scale replica of the Eiffel tower. He also gave 30,000 Euro to a child development center in Qiryat Shemona.