a wanker writes shit

Tech Help

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:48:08 GMT

Quickie one here, for anyone with some familiarity with iTunes. My computer crashed causing the iTunes library to become corrupted. iTunes restarted and reassembled its database. However ~15GB of podcasts were left in limbo. iTunes can see them but they don't appear anywhere in iTunes (so when I sync my iPod, the computer says "you need 15GB of extra space"). They don't appear under "podcasts" and they don't appear under "music, genre: podcasts" (however, after deleting 15GB of music, they do appear on my iPod under "music, genre: podcasts").

Long story short: I want these 15GB of podcasts removed from the library, but can't find them anywhere? Any options other than deleting iTunes and starting anew (I have many many playlists that I would dearly miss)?

Help?

photo meme

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:05:43 GMT

From the nifty photo meme (dreadwinaard's is the most recent and has the questions). I don't generally do these sorts of things, but I did poke at some of the images on google, and was surprised.

Most of them are boring, and likely to be similar to many other peoples (uh ... I'm 25, live in Madison, my favourite colour is military green). But apparently searching for my online handle has remarkable results. My top muppetspanker images are my flickr, last-fm, livejournal and librarything icons (similar to the top 4 google normal searches). Also, when searching for my last name, 6 of the images are of a famous monument to my family (the East Shefford Church in Berkshire), 3 images are of my dad, 1 of my brother (on an MIT trip to the Amazon) and 5 more images of my dad's research. Apparently, much of my online presence is unique, and not mistakable for anyone else. I feel a small bit of pride at that.

16. Your last name:

(apparently my dad was once young. unbelievable)

Books that Sound Interesting

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 15:47:30 GMT

Rather than doing my standard thing of buying a whole bunch of very interesting sounding books (that will lay around unread), I'm trying to provide a reference to myself of why these things should be read (and I will then purchase the books as necessary). If anyone else has any thought on these books and authors, I'd love the input.

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After War: The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy by Christopher Coyne. Discusses State-Building, the foundations of democracy, and how War (capitalized) fits into the picture. Not out yet. More thoughts and a review from MarginalRevolution (whose book recommendations have been fantastic. Much as I harp on about their quality, two of my three favourite reads of the year have come from this site).

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Something by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita (previously discussed here). Nothing new seems necessary, maybe War and Reason: Domestic and International Imperatives or The Logic of Political Survival (explaining the Selectorate Theory)..

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After reading this post on The Sheer Excitement of Learning from Others, maybe a book from Albert Hirschman or Jon Elster. Apparently both answer his question of "If a [person] asked you that question 'What have you been reading lately that you learned from?' what would be your answer? ... I didn't have a good answer to [the] question because in all honesty I was reading edifying works, rather than works that challenged me and taught me".

Also, Hirschman's ideas on Perversity, Futility and Jeopardy were referenced heavily by Samantha Powers in her genocide book (although it is out of print, unlike Exit, Voice and Loyalty, his other seminal work). Elster's views on rational choice and political science appear to be important, with many interesting books.

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Violence: A Micro-Sociological Theory by Randall Collins. Also not out until January. MarginalRevolution also has another glowing review

The main argument is that people are not as predisposed to violence as we might think. Collins cites a wide array of evidence, from military behavior in the field to, most intriguingly, video studies of the micro-expressions of violent perpetrators. People are more naturally tense and fearful, sometimes full of bluster but usually looking to avoid confrontation unless they have vastly superior numbers on their side. The prospect of violence makes people feel weak and scared. The greatest dangers of violence arises from atrocities against the weak under overwhelming conditions, ritualized violence enacted in front of supportive audiences, or clandestine terrorism or murder.

I know many of you have a bit of book fatigue from MR, but that is because it has been such a splendid year for the written word. Violence: A Micro-sociological Theory is one of the most important social science books of the last few years. I'll go even further and say the same is true for any random one hundred pages you might select from the volume; it is also a wonderful book for browsing.

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Also generally, something by Thomas Sowell (his columns or his wikipedia page). Largely inspired by this post. Since they summarize much better than I do ...

If you know Sowell only through his work as a syndicated op-ed writer,though, you might not feel inclined to cut him much slack. While I've enjoyed and admired some of his columns, he's unquestionably a combative debater, as well as far more of a Republican hack, er, cheerleader than seems necessary. ...

But his work as an economist and a book-writer is quite different. When he isn't quarreling over what current policies should be but is instead organizing data, examining details, and analyzing processes and results, he's substantial, calm, and impressive. ... As a book-writer, Sowell is whatever the positive opposite of "glib" is -- patient and methodical, able to herd huge numbers of facts without letting them overwhelm his narrative or his argument. He's even capable of the occasional touch of quiet and droll humor. He jokes about one proposed law, for example, that it was so badly written that it should have been called "the lawyers' full employment act."

Main suggestions include Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality, Ethnic America: A History and A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles, with a recommendation to avoid his economics books (less entertaining)

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita (plus others)

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:36:49 GMT

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita is a very interesting political scientist from NYU, with many interesting thoughts on autocracy vs democracy. Probably the best introduction is the great collection of his interviews at EconTalk (I'd start with the second podcast on Democracies and Dictatorships). So he speaks on Israel versus Palestine:

“In my view, it is a mistake to look for strategies that build mutual trust because it ain’t going to happen. Neither side has any reason to trust the other, for good reason,” he says. “Land for peace is an inherently flawed concept because it has a fundamental commitment problem. If I give you land on your promise of peace in the future,after you have the land, as the Israelis well know, it is very costly to take it back if you renege. You have an incentive to say, ‘You made a good step, it’s a gesture in the right direction, but I thought you were giving me more than this. I can’t give you peace just for this,it’s not enough.’ Conversely, if we have peace for land—you disarm, put down your weapons, and get rid of the threats to me and I will then give you the land—the reverse is true: I have no commitment to follow through. Once you’ve laid down your weapons, you have no threat.”
Bueno de Mesquita’s answer to this dilemma, which he discussed with the former Israeli prime minister and recently elected Labor leader Ehud Barak, is a formula that guarantees mutual incentives to cooperate. “In a peaceful world, what do the Palestinians anticipate will be their main source of economic viability? Tourism. This is what their own documents say. And, of course, the Israelis make a lot of money from tourism, and that revenue is very easy to track. As a starting point requiring no trust, no mutual cooperation, I would suggest that all tourist revenue be [divided by] a fixed formula based on the current population of the region, which is roughly 40 percent Palestinian, 60 percent Israeli. The money would go automatically to each side. Now, when there is violence, tourists don’t come. So the tourist revenue is automatically responsive to the level of violence on either side for both sides. You have an accounting firm that both sides agree to, you let the U.N. do it, whatever. It’s completely self-enforcing, it requires no cooperation except the initial agreement by the Israelis that they are going to turn this part of the revenue over, on a fixed formula based on population, to some international agency, and that’s that.”

This was stolen wholesale from Alex Tabarrok at MarginalRevolution.com, which has more links and ample reader commentary. Key holes poked in this theory were related to Hamas dislike of economic incentives (they have opposed other Palestinian tourist sites, such as the Jericho Casino).

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Also interesting, are Arnold Kling's explanations of the economics of bundling (such as cable companies not allowing a la carte cable channel sales).

What George Stigler showed is that ordinary intuition about bundling is wrong. Your intuition is that the reason that the seller engages in bundling is to force you to buy something that you do not want. However, as Stigler pointed out, if that were the case, it would be cheaper for the seller to leave out the unwanted good and just charge you for what you want. That is why grocery stores do not bundle milk with broccoli -- it's cheaper for them just to sell you the milk.

Linkage

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 18:43:08 GMT

Why Marrying For Money Is Never a Good Idea

Greg Mankiw (respectable right-wing economist) vs. Brookings economist Jason Furman on current SCHIP bills.

Financial Models for Underachievers: Two Years of the Real Numbers of a Startup (interesting information on the financing of a startup)

On Photography

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:41:58 GMT

Somehow, I've been browsing a lot of incredibly cool photography related stuff online, and frankly, much of it is brilliant and well worth reading. This might have something to do with the fact that I got a new camera (or have a nifty low-end DSLR that I can borrow with regularity). The following sites are really interesting (but given my competence level, much of the stuff I've been reading involves basic learning of some variety):

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photo.net - Probably the least immediately useful site, but massive and full of very interesting/useful information. Some is out of date, some isn't (but thats the brilliance of having a site created before digital photography). Much of the best information is not obviously available (such as: I have no clue if there is an index page for their many detailed lens reviews). For just one page, try Building a DSLR System.

Digital Photography School - If you only bother to visit one of these sites, start with this one. Photography tips, articles and case-studies in a blog format (also the best designed site of the lot). Low-brow with easy explanations and a variety of authors. Wonderful, relevant information and explanations with many examples, often from flickr or the huge forums (the site hold many forum events which feed the blog and vice-versa). Great samples: Introduction to Sports Photography, Simplify Your Images (with fabulous samples from Madison's JohnnyBlood), 12 Tips for Photographing Stunning Sunsets (with AhmedZahid's breathtaking collection of photos) and Introduction to White Balance.

Luminous Landscape - Has some of the worst layout/web-design that I've seen in ages but is only read for its very technical well-written content. Try Expose (to the) Right, Understanding ProPhoto RGB (a very complicated but useful explanation about color-space), A Digital Workflow Primer, or any of the other millions of tutorials that I haven't yet read.

Dan Heller Photography - Covers the business side of photography with great depth and competence. A Introduction to Business for Amateur Photographers or A Primer on Model Releases (as in: when do you need to get your subject's signature).

Finally, I already linked to his flickr page, but Ryan Brenizer writes some cool stuff for Amazon's Digital Photography products blog.

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Also, to those that don't see the shit on facebook, I have photos from recent parties up on my flickr page. Also, in more absurd news, two of my top four pictures (as sorted by page views) are of simulated urination (from the trip to Europe). Really fucking creepy.

How Is Your Civic Knowledge?

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:18:54 GMT

Surprisingly, from my mum: http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx Test your knowledge of civics, political philosophy and American history. Reply with your score

(Personally, I found this quiz too heavy on the history and politics, though still very interesting. I would favour something that had more current relevance like: How many people are there on the Supreme Court, and how many can you name? What party controls Congress? What party is the president? How many representatives does your state have?)

Best Article of the Day

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:10:06 GMT

Robin Hanson, economist at George Mason University (also rampant blogger at Overcoming Bias) argues that we should reduce health-care spending by 50% (which would lead to an immediate 8% wage increase for everyone, and would have no net effect on health).

Am I being too allegorical? Then let me speak plainly: our main problem in health policy is a huge overemphasis on medicine. The U.S. spends one sixth of national income on medicine, more than on all manufacturing. But health policy experts know that we see at best only weak aggregate relations between health and medicine, in contrast to apparently strong aggregate relations between health and many other factors, such as exercise, diet, sleep, smoking, pollution, climate, and social status. ... So I want to say loudly and clearly what has yet to be said loudly and clearly enough: In the aggregate, variations in medical spending usually show no statistically significant medical effect on health. (At least they do not in studies with enough good controls.)

Linkage

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:10:01 GMT

Awesome article found via del.icio.us:, an Ask Metafilter question: What single book is the best introduction to your field (or specialization within your field) for laypeople? The requisite comment thread at reddit also has some more good suggestions (if your profession were a whiskey taster, the book would be Whiskey: The Definitive World Guide by Michael Jackson)

On Wisconsin ...

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 16:46:05 GMT

From the interesting book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide (discussing William Proxmire, a senator who campaigned heavily for the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide):

He ... moved to Wisconsin, home of the iconoclastic populist Robert LaFollette and a state that columnist Mary McGrory likened to "a portly Teutonic old lady, full of beer and cheese, with a weakness for wild men and underdogs."

Stuff

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 17:59:40 GMT

I got my watch fixed finally. The metal strap was badly broken (needed a new strap, somewhat expensive fix). But I have a watch again.

Reading new books also. A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. Great collection of reviews at complete-review.com. Plus, it won a Pulitzer for non-fiction. Seems great. Largely discusses American non-involvement in genocide, case by case, with an emphasis on why the patterns of action seem to be similar.

Lastly, may be moving to England. Still slightly up in the air, but those who don't already know can be warned (I will move to England if my dad moves, but my dad is incredibly indecisive).

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:26:33 GMT

Interesting interview up on BLDGBLOG with Michael Cook, about the Drains of Canada (cue dramatic music). Michael Cook runs a website on this topic, called Vanishing Point, all about the sub-urban exploration of storm drains and other facilities. Really cool stuff indeed (mainly helped by Cook's cracking photos). (Found via boingboing)

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Also, the game BioShock is very cool. And I've been watching a lot of tv, including a whole season of Top Gear and Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia (which is both hilarious and one of the most offensive shows ever written).

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:15:46 GMT

Reintroduced myself to Matthew Yglesias' blog today, and I was stunned with what I've missed. Some awesome things that I've found through his blog:

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Dirty China

A very sobering 6 page New York Times special report was released on China's pollution

Public health is reeling. Pollution has made cancer China’s leading cause of death, the Ministry of Health says. Ambient air pollution alone is blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water. Chinese cities often seem wrapped in a toxic gray shroud. Only 1 percent of the country’s 560 million city dwellers breathe air considered safe by the European Union.

...

China is more like a teenage smoker with emphysema. The costs of pollution have mounted well before it is ready to curtail economic development.

Also mentioned is Manufactured Landscapes, an Canadian award winning documentary on Edward Burtynsky's collection of photos of industrial waste. Sounds fascinating, though the November 20th DVD release date might be a while. Matthew Yglesias' review.

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Some Thoughts on Genocide, plus a link to the "the book on genocide". From amazon.com: "During the three years (1993-1996) Samantha Power spent covering the grisly events in Bosnia and Srebrenica, she became increasingly frustrated with how little the United States was willing to do to counteract the genocide occurring there." Is this the definitive book on genocide? I thought I'd ask my genocide knowledgeable cohorts?

Drunk Pedestrian Chicken, Vol2

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:53:51 GMT

To the goddamn fat bitches at 1:30am need to look both ways before crossing University Ave:

If everyone else is crossing 30 feet ahead of you, that doesn't mean that you have a walk signal. And if cars are coming at you at 40mph, you should move. And if you are so oblivious to the cars that they have to screech to a halt while honking the horn at you ... then you don't have a right to look indignant. I swear, if it weren't for the fact that I had Neuropa playing, I wouldn't have really yelled at you (Its physically impossible to y ell while Neuropa is playing. I'm only crotchety now, because the Neuropa was turned off).

So ... I lost this round of drunk pedestrian chicken.

Weird Shit v 8/16/07

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:22:01 GMT

Resistance is Not Terrorism is the catchphrase on the back of my second favourite Stromkern shirt. Last time I wore it, two weeks ago, I ended up drinking next to Kelly Shaffer all evening (one of my many evenings at the Irish Pub). I wore it again on Tuesday, and upon leaving Paul's Club (that awesome bar with the tree), I realized Ned Kirby was sitting by the door (and he doesn't even live in Madison). I expect that upon my next outing, I'll have to bump into Dan Clark or someone (Andrew Sega would be cool too).

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Some assorted links:

The Facebook Drinking Game (opstorm totals something like 11 drinks, though it is nice to know that my group of friends isn't as juvenile as the inspiration for the article).

I Built a 535ft Slip 'n Slide (with a bulldozer). Scary. This is what you get if you're a Something Awful goon.

Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers If I didn't actually like our country (and believe the socialist values of paying taxes to prop up society), I'd wish I could do this too.

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As a book-related aside, I was browsing amazon.com again, and Jason's new book is titled: I Killed Adolf Hitler. Heh.

Work

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 17:02:09 GMT

As of September 1st, I will no longer be employed. Woohoo!

Quick Link

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:03:24 GMT

Karl Rove Resigns! As Reddit said: Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead!

Dave's Funny News For the Week

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 18:56:49 GMT

This week was an interesting week at work. I missed not one, but two bullets: Just to share quickly:

- Monday, driving at 70 mph through a construction zone (with a posted speed limit of 45 mph), I became suddenly aware of a cop doing a u-turn right behind my car. I immediately hit the brakes and changed lanes. Thankfully, he got the guy directly in front of me instead (who I was using to set my speed to). Jeez, 25 over in a construction zone ... that would have been bad.

- And Friday: when the x-ray machine I was working failed to turn on, I got worried. Multimeter comes out, and I decide to check voltages (a new colleague had set up the wiring, and I had to check that he hadn't screwed up). In the process finding good point to check, my voltometer point slipped and touched a screw. This bridged the two phases, and sent 240V 20A of current through the multimeter tip and screw. With a blue flash and a loud pop, both are gone (the multimeter tip melted in half and took out a large chunk of the screw). While in shock, but not actually shocked I screamed "fuck" and sat down. My co-worker's thoughts on seeing my blackened ring finger were bad, but it was only an explosion of carbonified plastic and paint. I'll be more careful next time ....

The Persistence of Poverty

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 23:17:03 GMT

Not that I get all of my book ideas from Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution (dot-com), but they all seem to be consistently great (I have a special post on Tyler's Discover Your Inner Economist coming real soon). In which case, this book looked very interesting. The Persistence of Poverty: Why the Economics of the Well-Off Can't Help the Poor. My only worry would be that the topic would be too obvious and lacking in interesting insight. Tyler disagrees and explains why.

David's August Update

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:23:41 GMT

Listening to a bunch of music recently, bringing out my rock roots. The Stranger, The Peacocks and The Hellacopters have seen high rotation. Finally bought a Peacocks album (via iTunes, since I can't find their music any other way). Also for those in England, The Peacocks will be doing a British tour in two weeks. Catch 'em at the Astoria on the 19th or in So'ton at the Joiners Arms on the 20th.

IAMX will be playing the Double Door in Chicago on October 23rd. I'm not missing them this time around (also, this is an awesome venue).

I hear something about a Combichrist gig in Milwaukee. I really should get around to getting tickets.

Currently reading The Bottom Billion by Paul Collier, which is fucking great (previously wrote about it here). Fuller review may come later. Basically, its a simple call for action as to the social, economic and military reasons for failure among 1/6th of the planet (termed by the author as Africa+). Brief, precise, well-written, and probably well researched (James: if you have spare time at work, I suspect this guy's papers really good reads).

Stardust comes out in a week. Looks good (though appearances are often deceiving). Also, Bourne Ultimatum comes out this weekend, which I will probably see. Nifty, or something.

The Bottom Billion by Paul Collier

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:27:18 GMT

Somehow, I love reading books, yet never find the time to finish the task. Just added another book to the pile. The reviews were so compelling that my purchase was (almost) immediate (bollocks, Amazon Prime doesn't help with the "this book is not in stock" problem). Paul Collier is the Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford, an ex-World Bank economist, and is well-qualified to discuss these issues. And as Tyler Cowen states: "It is rare to read something on economic development that is true, non-trivial, and potentially useful. I recommend this book highly, it is also short and easy to read."

+ Niall Ferguson's Review in the NYTimes (while a great review, yes, its *that* Niall Ferguson)

+ Here are some other ideas from the book examined by Tyler Cowen in the NYTimes

[edit: Found some negative reviews for the book also. Less of "this book is bad", but instead "these ideas sound real iffy, and warrant further research"]

Stuff I Like

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:21:22 GMT

A couple of things that brought me a weird sense of pleasure recently:

Gazpacho. Wonderful cold soup (don't make the same mistake that Rimmer did). I have wonderful memories of making this soup with my dad while younger. Since its a cold soup, we'd make it once or twice per summer, and it was always a bonding experience. Lo and behold, I walked into my kitchen on Sunday, and smelt the the vinegar odor of gazpacho being made. First time in at least 2 or 3 years. Marvelous

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Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion. A guilty pleasure at best. Top 40s style pop music from England, with funky piano riffs and Mika's campy 4+ octave vocals. Its weird, and this isn't normally my style of music, but I've been playing this album non-stop since leaving England. Awesome pop hooks.

The lyrics to a couple of the songs really crack me up: Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)

Walks in to the room, Feels like a big balloon
I said "hey girl, you are beautiful"
Diet coke and a pizza please
"Diet coke!?!?" I'm on my knees
Screaming: "Big Girl, You are Beautiful!"
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David Attenborough. Probably the premier world television naturalist. This guy has been defining television nature narration since my parent's generation were children. My current Attenborough pleasure is Planet Earth, though his series on Life of Birds and the Blue Planet are also fantastic. Not a great Attenborough moment (search for any of those on youtube), here is an amazing clip of simple Attenborough narration from Planet Earth. This is why you don't fuck with Great White Sharks:

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American Coffee Shops. Particularly those that aren't Starbucks (blah blah blah, I know Starbucks pay's its worker's much better and is very reasonable as multinationals go). So different from the European cafe experience, yet more comfortable. I want my mug of coffee to be 20 ounces (24 if you're at Steep n Brew) and the atmosphere to be relaxing. I guess we're spoilt in Madison. Meh. Meanwhile, I recommend Indie Coffee on Regent Street. Go now (and the staff are really nice too).

Flickr

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 21:17:27 GMT

Also, the more I play with flickr, the more I enjoy the site. Though it does leave me feeling uncomfortable, since I've invested so much in it, I'm semi-permanently tied to it. Thoughts?

Also, if anyone who reads this, isn't already my friend on flickr, send me your username or something, because photos are great!

Unread Books

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 21:11:57 GMT

My pile of unread books. Photographed because all of a sudden, they really started to pile up. From the top:

John Bogle - Little Book of Common Sense Investing
*Frederic Bastiat - Economic Sophisms
Amartya Sen - Development as Freedom
*Milton Friedman - Capitalism and Freedom
Michael Lewis - Moneyball
*James M. Buchanan - What Should Economists Do?
*David Friedman - The Machinery of Freedom
Douglass North - Structure and Change in Economic History
*Tyler Cowen - In Praise of Commercial Culture
Nassim Nicholas Taleb - The Black Swan
Adrian Tomine - Summer Blonde
Yves Chaland - Freddy Lombard: Chaland Anthology #1 and #2
(half cut off) Rullier and Stanislas - By The Numbers

* Purchased after the good reviews from Don Boudreax on his blog and a Pittsburg Tribune column.

The comics come from my recent French/Euro comics kick. The Douglass North is there because it was one of opstorm's coursebooks, and is highly recommended (he won a Nobel prize for related work). The Michael Lewis is a cool book about baseball. Taleb is awesome, yet the book still remains barely read. And the Tomine was only purchased to depress the_beckster (to prove that comics can be emotionally crushing at times). BTW, it worked.

Stuff I've been Reading

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:43:14 GMT

(Back from Europe, 3 weeks well spent). Read a big fucking pile of books (as well as succumbing to the perils of reading several things simultaneously). Maybe I'll review some of them, but probably not (which is why this is going up):

Wisdom of Crowds - James Surowiecki The First of the New Yorker Duo. Surowiecki's book was better than expected, given that it started slow and picked up quickly. The 'Wisdom of Crowds' is the simple theory that if you aggregate information, the mean answer may be better than any individual guess. Which is the boring and slow bit of the book. However most of the book covers the obvious holes in the theory, or the unlikely applications. Interesting are the coordination and cooperation chapters channeling Hayek's spontaneous order.

Blink - Malcolm Gladwell Number two from the New Yorker. Both these guys write marvelously, as I've mentioned before. Blink is about the power to make quick expert judgments. Less interesting intellectually, but full of Gladwell's hyperactive "I'll mention a million interesting and insightful side-stories". Enjoyable, but forgetable.

Law, Legislation and Liberty Vol 1: Rules and Order - Friedrich Hayek Only brought along so I could say "I read Hayek in Vienna". Well ... I read Hayek in Vienna. Probably brilliant, but didn't catch my interest compared to the other books in my bag. Covers many of Hayek's ideas on Spontaneous Order.

The Truth About Markets - John Kay Brilliant. Most rewarding read of all the books, deserves a full review. Covers basic economics, and the interaction in between institutions and successful markets. Endorses socialism as being as productive as capitalism. (review cut short because I can't do this book justice quickly).

The Game - Neil Strauss Bought on Paul's recommendation. Neil Strauss (Rolling Stone writer, author several biographies, including Jenna Jameson's, Marilyn Manson's and Motley Crue's) realized that even touring with Motley Crue wouldn't get him laid. So Neil (or Style, as his Pickup-Artist name was) joined the PUA community, learned basic psychology, magic tricks, women manipulation and how to easily screw chicks. Fascinating, and much better than the simple description allows. Though does give some insight into Paul's thought processes.

More Sex is Safer Sex - Steven E. Landsburg Title says it all. Bought after a great recommendation from Tim Harford (of Undercover Economist fame). "It's a general principle of economics that things tend to work out best when people have to live with the consequences of their own behavior, or, to put it another way, things tend to work out poorly when the consequences of our actions spill over onto other people". From here, its an easy jump to determine that people carrying STDs can continue to have sex, because they don't see the consequence. Or the other side, sexually responsible people (those with few partners, who would remove themselves from the game if infected, aren't seeing enough of the benefit of their actions. ... And weird as it sounds, the research backs this up.

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I guess that I'm also done with Myth of the Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan. Simply, Caplan raises many fascinating points about how voting might be biased in one way or another. However, his conclusions leave me feeling very wary (give the libertarian economists more say, etc). Here's the In These Times review for Alex followed with Arnold Kling's response (Caplan's co-blogger. Caplan's less enlightening response can be found here).