Helpful
A blind gentleman, complete with white cane, asked me for directions just now. Of course, I pointed in the direction he should go. Anything I can do to help.Printers
You know what I don’t understand? Almost every (office) printer now takes a full ream of paper. Why do people only put part of a ream in the printer and leave the rest for later?How big is Sacramento?
I was trying to figure this out a week or two ago and now it’s come up again in a reference to Sacramento being a “top-20 media market”. Sacramento is the 26th largest Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) (see also CSAs and CBSAs). It’s also the 37th largest city in the US.
This “media market” or Designated Market Area (DMA), defined by Nielsen Media Research rather than the US Census Bureau, is yet another way to measure the Sacramento area’s influence. It’s defined as an area where everyone can receive common television and radio station programing. While it was once #18, it looks like it’s slipped to #20.
How Shy Became Sick | Chicago Reader
On how misanthropy and shyness became official disorders, with drugs to cure them:
‘Lane tells me the process, which was supposed to establish psychiatry as a solid science, was itself “highly unscientific.” The task force spun out one new disorder after another, sometimes “knocking out the list of symptoms in a matter of minutes… . Almost overnight, shyness and many other routine moods and ailments became bona fide disorders.” ‘
Interesting.
China As An Island « Strange Maps
Not good.
This actually concerns me. What will the differences in America be in a generation or two that will be due to everyone growing up playing soccer instead of baseball? Somehow it doesn’t seem like it will be a positive effect.
I remember reading a article a few years ago—I think on Slate but I can’t find it in Google anywhere; I wish I could—it’s one of those that you don’t think is very important at the time but it sticks with you. It contrasted baseball and football in terms of America’s identity, arguing that baseball is the more “American” sport because it emphasizes individualism whereas football is more imperialistic and socialistic in nature emphasizing teamwork and conquering territory. I’d love to see that same analysis applied to soccer (or, as James Taranto calls it, metric football).
Chilling #3
JAPAN: “This is the land of disappearing children and a slow-motion demographic catastrophe that is without precedent in the developed world.”
Sorry about all the downers but this was just on the way to work this morning! Via Instapundit.
My Parents Managed to Raise Two Kids on One Salary. That's Impossible Today -- What Happened?
the article brings up three main points:
- Problem 1: Men’s earnings
- Problem 2 and Good Development 1: Women’s increased presence in the paid labor market
- Problem 3: Faster price growth for some important stuff
not being an economist, these all make sense. but from a social perspective, i think the biggest cause is that we’ve learned to live beyond our means, or failed to act our wage. it’s not so much the cost of goods that plays such a big role (though that’s an increasingly important factor as basic goods grow scarce), but the lifestyle which we’ve grown accustomed to. i understand that it’s harder in more metropolitan areas, but still, i think that our consumption-and entertainment-driven lifestyles play a huge role in how far our paychecks go.
given, the federal government & the fed have done a masterful job of manipulating the economy into a black hole, but i can’t blame them for my hunger when i won’t give up my cable tv.
Um, hardly “impossible”. I know plenty of people that are doing it right now. I think hilker’s exactly right about what makes it harder but it’s not impossible.