the axes of confusion

Posted on Friday, 2006 June 02 by Anton

When economists draw supply-demand charts, they put the independent variable (price) on the vertical axis and the dependent variable (quantity) on the horizontal, contrary to the usual practice in physics and pure mathematics. It’s surprisingly hard for me to adjust my thinking to that: causality ought to go the other way, dammit.

In the popular press, I think, the independent variable is horizontal if it is time, otherwise (e.g. in bar charts comparing several populations) usually vertical.

What other conventions are Out There?

Posted in economics, mathematics | Leave a comment

found poetry

Posted on Friday, 2006 June 02 by Anton

Today’s spam catch included the titles

  • panacea garnish
  • ministerial candlelight
  • apple dispassionate

How evocative!

Posted in spam | Leave a comment

the trouble with victimless crime

Posted on Friday, 2006 June 02 by Anton

I like Bruce Fein‘s language:

The nation’s experiment with Prohibition underscores the limits of the law without moral consensus. The Prohibition Amendment was ratified as a type of homage that vice pays to virtue. Popular morality never celebrated abstinence. . . . Prohibition laws died in adolescence for lack of moral sustenance.

Immigration restrictions are even more problematic than their Prohibition counterparts. While alcohol consumption was not generally condemned, it was likewise not popularly acclaimed as a virtue. In contrast, the conduct and character of illegal aliens elicit accolades by at least half the population. . . .

Posted in drugwar, race | Leave a comment

the semiannual self-pity post

Posted on Tuesday, 2006 May 30 by Anton

Some people, according to persistent rumor, have friends who help them find jobs (and dates).

Oh well. Does anyone feel like paying my quarterly hosting bill ($30)?

Posted in bitterness | 2 Comments

like I said, I read the funnies . .

Posted on Saturday, 2006 May 27 by Anton

For once I’m caught up on all my favorite webtoons. Here are links to their archives.

Sabrina; Soap on a Rope; Goats; Fluble; Ozy and Millie; Freefall; PVP; Bobbins; GPF; College Roomies from Hell!!!; You Damn Kid; When I Grow Up; Absurd Notions; Alice!; Snail Dust; Sinfest; JoBeth; Schlock Mercenary; Tonja Steele; Chopping Block; MegaTokyo; Shaw Island; The New Adventures of Bobbin!; The Gods of Arr-Kelaan; Casey and Andy; Planet Earth (and other tourist traps); Loserz; Tales of the Questor; Something Positive; Slow Wave; Wigu; Cyberbooty; Nothing Nice to Say; Sam and Fuzzy; Scandal Sheet!; Scary Go Round; The Dementia of Magic; Catharsis; Irregular Webcomic!; Bull and Bunny; Better Days; Why The Long Face; Antihero for Hire; Questionable Content; Hellbound; Girl Genius; Everyone Drunk But Me; Gunnerkrigg Court; Jesus and Mo; Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life.

Posted in cartoons | 5 Comments

who us?

Posted on Thursday, 2006 May 25 by Anton

One ought not to get wound up over what fictional characters say, but what if the character in question has the same name as his creator?

Lizard: Five thousand years of selective pressure against pride and ego battered them into a race of bitter, nervous, hate-filled, self-loathing xenophobes.

Jon: They became libertarians?

Heaven knows I have my share of bitter, nervous self-loathing – but hate-filled xenophobe? Where the hell did that come from?

Later: So I asked Jon. Seems his notion of a libertarian is someone who lives in an isolated cabin and shoots at trespassers. Maybe I gave him a broader idea of the concept. At his request I suggested a couple of works of fiction.

Posted in cartoons | 1 Comment

the saga continues

Posted on Thursday, 2006 May 25 by Anton

Today I once again had an errand at a Feral office building. This time, when I asked the badge for information about the pointless rule that I wouldn’t be admitted to the building without showing evidence that some government somewhere thinks it knows who I am, I was directed to a sign on the wall containing excerpts of 41 CFR 102-74 — but the nearest thing I could find to a relevant passage was this:

When property or a portion thereof is closed to the public, restrict admission to the property, or the affected portion, to authorized persons who must register upon entry to the property and must, when requested, display Government or other identifying credentials to Federal police officers or other authorized individuals when entering, leaving or while on the property.

Posted in security theater | Leave a comment