voluntaryXchange

MS Surface

The networks are showing a short video of Surface, an experimental project of Microsoft's.

Loyal voluntaryXchange readers saw a video of a more sophisticted version of this software back on February 1.

This Just In: Economy Still Lousy

The first revision of last month's announcement of real GDP growth for the first quarter of 2007 came in over half a point lower at 0.6%.

We are now in low D territory on my preferred scale, and low C territory using my college student grading scale.

No change on either one of those letter grades since the first announcement a month ago - we're just more certain the final tally will end up in one of those grade ranges.

Warren Jeffs Is Nuts

Gee ... d'ya think?

Polygamist leader Warren Steed Jeffs, 51, has been suffering from depression and anxiety and at least one of the two mental health experts that examined him said he suffers substantial mental illness.

... Jeffs appeared to be detached, confused and unclear about "everything transpiring in court" during a March 27 hearing.

...Conclusion that Jeffs suffers a substantial mental illness.

... Jeffs did not appear to be paranoid during the evaluation but was careful what information he revealed and came across as mildly depressed. There was also ample evidence in the chart that Jeffs has been struggling with symptoms of depression coupled with anxiety.

...By his March 27 court appearance, Jeffs was, according to the report, catatonic, in a depressed state, complaining of anxiety and not functioning well.

On Jan. 28 Jeffs was taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center for treatment after he was found "distressed" by jail medical staff.

Although the exact reason for the trip has not been made public, Jeffs denied past suicidal or homicidal ideation in his evaluation with psychologist Tim Kockler.

But in Kockler's report, it states that "records indicated self-injurious behavior."

... Jeffs meets DSM-IV criteria for Depressive Disorder NOS (Not otherwise specified)

Read the whole thing in the St. George Spectrum.

Flexible Spending and the IRS

My employer offers (true but fairly rare) flexible spending accounts.

These allow me to have my gross pay reduced, with the money placed in dedicated accounts for health and dependent care.

The advantage is that this money is invisible for tax purposes; in my case every 5 dollars I elect to have withdrawn is the equivalent of 7 that I don't. With a $3K limit for each account, that's like getting a $2,400 pay raise.

The disadvantages are that 1) the money has to be allocated before the fiscal year, 2) that allocation is not reversible, and 3) you lose any money you don't spend by the end of the year. None of those has been a big deal.

But ... I've found out about a hidden disadvantage. So hidden in fact, that when I tunnelled through multiple layers of help at the IRS to find an expert, the expert had never even thought of the possibility.

Well, here goes: dependent care covers day care but not school. Fair enough - after all this isn't a tuition assistance program. The rub is if your local (public and therefore free) kindergarten is half-day. Clearly, day care in the afternoons is covered. But, what if you would rather pay for a full day of private kindergarten? This isn't covered - even for half the day.

Yep. The government will cut me a break if I don't educate my kid, and will punish me if I do educate them.

Of course, the problem is even stickier than that. Rather obviously, if public schools only offer half-day kindergarten, the niche for private schools is all-day kindergarten. In my small town, all the private kindergartens are all-day. The alternative for working parents is warehousing in daycare for the afternoon.

And ... in the national scheme of things, the money is small potatoes. A half-day at my private kindergarten of choice is $2,250 for the whole year - in many places that won't buy your more than a few months of daycare. Paying for that out of a flexible spending account would save me all of $900.

The flexible spending account offers no flexibility at all for 5 year-olds. A 4 year-old can a get a free ride in daycare or preschool, while a 6 year-old gets no ride whatsoever during regular school hours. But ... the parents of a 5 year-old get screwed.

Trivia: Videotape

The last (big studio) movie to ever be released on VHS was ... wait for it ... Borat.

Little Egypt

Fans of Little Britain know what "bitty" means. Those who don't can watch the video below.

It's sad that as parts of the Moslem world try to progress out of the Dark Ages that what is absurd comedy in the west will be workplace reality in the east:

... Issued a fatwa, or religious edict, saying adult men could breast-feed from female work colleagues as a way to avoid breaking Islamic rules that forbid men and women from being alone together.

In Islamic tradition, breast-feeding establishes a degree of maternal relation, even if a woman nurses a child who is not biologically hers...

... Insisted the same would apply with adults. He argued that if a man nursed from a co-worker, it would establish a family bond between them and allow the two to work side-by-side without raising suspicion of an illicit sexual relation.

Little Britain - Bitty

Via Best of the Web Today and the Associated Press.

All the Mathematics You Missed (But Need to Know for Graduate School)

This book advertises its target audience as students intending on going into mathematics or other quantitative subjects.

In browsing through this book, I wonder if the intended audience is an empty set.

Admittedly, I don't use my math too much any more. Yet, I entered a mathematically intense Ph.D. program in the late 80s, 2 classes short of a second major in mathematics, and I have taught Ph.D. level mathematical economics courses, so I'm not a slouch either.

My impression of the book then is, if it is supposed to be a primer, who exactly is it a primer for? Mathematics and physics Ph.D. candidates, certainly, but what about others? Twenty years ago, I wouldn't have even been conversant in most of the chapters. The title suggests that this is the point, but given that, I wouldn't say that most of the chapters are even accessible - browsing through it reminded me of the lousy real analysis text that my incoherent professor chose for us in 1984.

In sum, I had anticipated this being something like Kennedy's A Guide to Econometrics, and I was sorely disappointed.

We send a few economics majors to graduate school here, and they all need more mathematics. There is only one I'd consider recommending this book to.

Some Things Shouldn't Be Mixed

My 4 year old requested that I put on music in the car this morning.

My wife had left Weird Al Yankovic cued up.

A few moments later, my daughter asks "What did that man have in his underwear?"

I didn't crash, but I did listen to the lyrics a little more closely:

I was driving on the freeway in the fast lane
With a rabid wolverine in my underwear

Economics at UC Santa Barbara

A flyer from my acquaintance Finn Kydland included this snippet of trivia: UC Santa Barbara has 2,400 declared economics majors.

My first thought was are they &*%$!!! kidding me?

My second take was: bet they don't have a business school.

Sure enough, their website lists over 200 majors, but apparently the likes of Aquatic Biology, Chicano Studies, and Portuguese are not satisfying to the ten percent or so of the student body that wants a business orientation.

Don't get me wrong: there is a big part of me that thinks it is great that there are schools that differentiate themselves in this way.

But another part of me recognizes that this is kind of like the motel along the interstate that advertises that they have a pool that the guests only find out is out-of-service after they've paid and got their luggage unpacked.

Life: The Odds (And How To Improve Them)

If you are not a "risk geek", this is a great book:

This book is filled with little chapters about the odds of unusual situations - like striking it rich on Antiques Roadshow. It's definitely something to buy and place on the bookshelves in your guest bedroom.

Each chapter lays out the odds in Sunday magazine fashion. It then offers you tips on how to improve on them.

It's all great fun for the casual reader: in fact, I have to pass the book on to a couple who spotted it in my hands while walking from the library.

But ... for me ... I found it either uninforming or impractical.

As to the uninforming part, there wasn't much here that you either 1) couldn't find on the internet (like vehicular death rates), or 2) figure out quickly on a napkin (the odds of being a professional athlete).

And, as for impracticality, how exactly am I helped by a back-of-the-napkin calculation of my (unconditional) probability of winning an academy award, when I sure as heck know that the conditional probablity is substantially lower?