And you are here why?

From SMBC , we have the clearest depiction of the difference between Normal and Economist type humans that I have seen in quite a while. (Zach Weiner is a genius...)

View Where to Eat in Liguria in a larger map Liguria - also called the Italian Riveria, is the area around 80 miles or so on either side of Genoa.  The actual riviera part is not all that interesting, its the hills and mountains that abut the riviera where all the fun happens, and where you'll find some quality non-touristic dining experiences. And, as a key point, if there is one place that you should go to in Liguria, it would be  Osteria Enoteca Baccicin du Caru outside Genoa (more details below).  Oh, the rest of the places I've listed are great, but this, my friend, is destination dining .  Make a point of it, and fit it into your travel plans... THE BOOK   David Downie :  The Terroir Guides:  Food, Wine, The Italian Riviera & Genoa . David is our patron saint when it comes to Italian food.  We ate our way through Liguria based on his book 'bout that area, and thanks to him, have had some of our best dining experiences ever. You'll also note t

Rickard Green makes an interesting point on the erlang-questions mailing list regarding CPU utilization in Erlang R15B02 Regarding increased CPU utilization in R15. When schedulers run out of work, they busy wait for a while before going to sleep. Waking up a busy waiting thread is much faster than waking up a sleeping thread. Due to the rewrites of memory allocation in R15, schedulers are more frequently woken, which cause more busy wait, which in turn cause an increase in CPU utilization when schedulers frequently run out of work (you will at least see some decrease of CPU utilization due to this in R16). When not running out of work there will be no busy wait at all. That is, the increase in CPU utilization does not translate into loss of performance. The busy waiting is there since it shortens the average time to wake up a scheduler, and by this reduces average communication latency between processes. Depending on application the reduced latency might also translate into imp

Doonesbury w/ a riff on the idiocy associated w/ Creationism . Which brings to mind Billy Nye's (the Science Guy) take on all this "I say to the grownups, 'If you want to deny evolution and live in your world that's completely inconsistent with everything we've observed in the universe that's fine. But don't make your kids do it." [...]"We need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future." Because, seriously, if you insist on raising your kids to be morons, Who is going to take care of you when you get old? P.S. : Saying " I don't care, I'll be safe due to the Rapture " is not a reasonable response.  Go aways. P.P.S. : Saying " I don't need anyone, I can take care of myself when I'm 93 " is even less of a response...

Chris Travers has a fairly nifty article up titled O/R Modelling interlude: PostgeSQL vs MySQL , where-in he makes the claim MySQL is what you get when application developers build an RDBMS. PostgreSQL is what you get when database developers build an application development platform. This isn't really flame-bait - its intended as a statement to show how people approach arguments (flame wars?) about MySQL vs PostgreSQL.  To paraphrase Chris, MySQL has been massively disruptive because it tends to really, really look at the world from a Use Case perspective, answering the questions " What problem are you trying to solve ", while Postgres has been massively disruptive because it tends to look at the world from a theory perspective, answering the question " How should the database work in the solution " I'd add MongoDB to this mix though, and extend the above quote to say MySQL is what you get when application developers build an RDBMS. PostgreS

I, seriously, could not make this up.  From Ari Ashe at WTOP , we have this gem - New cameras to watch cameras that watch you Many people find speed cameras frustrating, and some in the region are taking their rage out on the cameras themselves. But now there's a new solution: cameras to watch the cameras. One is already in place, and Prince George's County Police Maj. Robert V. Liberati hopes to have up to a dozen more before the end of the year. Got that? And, in case you are wondering about why the speed camera can't take the pictures itself, it isn't about people sneaking up from behind   Speed cameras themselves can't be used for security because under Maryland law speed cameras can only take pictures of speeding, says Liberati.  The sheer insanity of this whole process is mind-boggling.  Me, i'm waiting for when they put up cameras to monitor these cameras :-)

Bloom County said it all, a long time ago Hackers, as a rule, do not handle obsolescence well. Mind you, the unsaid caveat should be "Unless you are a fanboy " (ref: the latest MessiahPhone)  

Herewith a somewhat frightening interactive chart showing where, in the US, all the uninsured people are. The short answer - Everywhere . The slightly less short answer is - Most of the country has an uninsured rate of 13% or greater. Yeah. 13% Mind you, it goes up from there. (Below is just an image. Click here to go to the actual interactive map )  

From BannedInLondon , we have this (not so) little piece of awesomeness - a visualization of every area where stuff is banned.  To quote You are in danger of unwittingly committing an offence if you stray into one of 435 special zones in London. The boundaries of these zones are often unmarked and within them many everyday activities are either banned or restricted. A new Manifesto Club online Google map,   Banned in London , reveals the 435 special zones that now cover half the area of the UK capital. In these areas, people can be fined or prosecuted for activities that would not otherwise be an offence - including leafleting, protesting, dog walking, gathering in groups, and drinking in public. Go to the actual interactive map , the below is just an image...

Yeah, its true. The number of gummint employees has actually gone down under Obama.  The chart above, based on the Federal Reserve of St. Louis , shows the number of (federal) public sector employees added since Obama's inauguration. Helpfully, it also shows the same under Bush ( hat-tip Krugman ). The Bottom line is that we currently have almost 700K less Gummint employees than when Obama started!!! And the spike? That big honking spike that proves that Obama is an evil baddie dude? Those are the census workers - the temporary (!!!) census workers - that are ( Temporarily!!! ) hired once every 10 years.  So no, can't use that against him. So, seriously, based on the chart above,   Which of these is the "Big Gummint" President?    Which of these is the "Shrinks Gummint" President? Mind you, this is no real surprise - after all, data is data... As I've said earlier So yeah, the bottom line (to the bottom line) is that if you care

SMBC does it again - riffing (sadly, but truly) on the reasons to go to College .  To be precise, its a rant against signaling which, according to most economists, is main reasons to go. Noah Smith thinks differently , believing that human capital is one of the main reasons, viz. Motivation , Perspective , and Networks - To replace Mom, young adults need to form new relationships. Close friends. Romantic partners, and eventually a spouse (which in turn leads to kids, another motivator). But it is very difficult to form these relationships   fast   (which you need to do in order to start a career fast) without sacrificing quality; if you're just randomly searching, it takes a long time to find friends and a lover who really click with you, especially if you're a smart person who clicks best with other smart people. This is where college comes in. College is an intense incubator where smart people meet other smart people. The large number of leisure activities and the clo

Spotted across from Gate C6 at DFW, we have Cereality - a Cereal Bar & Cafe . From the marketing material Cereality® is more than a place to get cereal. It's a new way of thinking about cereal. A new choice in fast food. And an idea whose time has come. At Cereality, customers choose from their favorite brands and toppings. Pajama-clad Cereologists™ fill the orders. And customers choose and add their own milk, just the way they like it Words fail me...

The Washington Examiner meets w/ Romney , and junk-science ensues (italics mine).  CARNEY:   What role should government have in promoting certain industries or economic activities such as homeownership, or manufacturing, renewable energy or fossil fuel energy, exports, or just advanced technology? What sort of subsidies and incentives do you favor? You had some of these in Massachusetts, I know. ROMNEY:   Very limited -- my answer to your first question. I’m not an advocate of industrial policy being formed by a government. I do believe in the power of free markets, and when the government removes the extraordinary burdens that it puts on markets, why I think markets are more effective at guiding a prosperous economy than is the government. So for instance, I would not be investing massive dollars in electric car companies in California. I think Tesla and Fisker are delightful-looking vehicles, but I somehow imagine that Toyota, Nissan, and even General Motors will produce a

John Kovalic with a brutal riff .  Mind you, the ongoing whack-a-doodle attempts to push Creationism in schools, and insisting that Vaccines are Bad,  (why? for god's sake, why? ) don't exactly help...

Herewith a map showing where one can ship wine legally (Thanks to SpecialtyWineRetailers ). Do you see what I see? Yup.  Three states - California, DC, and Alaska - thats it.  And even there its tricky - California technically a "Reciprocal" state, but they have a policy of non-enforcement. The next map shows all the states where you can not ship wine legally  Pretty nifty, isn't it?  Basically most of the rest of the states.  The remaining ones are Reciprocal states - "You can ship to me if I can ship to you", and Permit states - "Follow my rules. All of them. And yes, you may as well abandon hope while you are at it". To put it all together, we have this Of course, you know the reason for this, right? Section 2 of the 21st Amendment , that sez. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is he