I can’t help but think this is a bigger deal than the media is making it out to be. More here and here.
Tunisia
Month: January 2011
The Dragon’s Awake
The other day in a conversation, someone reminded me of a famous Napoleon quote: “Let China Sleep, for when the Dragon awakes, she will shake the world.” I looked it up to double-check. That was in 1803. And then this morning, via Chris Blattman, I read this: “When the presidents of China and the United States meet next week in Washington, neither will likely be aware that, measured in terms of purchasing power, it is Hu Jintao not Barack Obama who represents the world’s largest economy. Some time in 2010, the Chinese economy overtook that of the United States.” Somehow I think Hu Jintao is all too aware of his country’s economic position. And then while I was waiting for
Horses More Dangerous Than Cars?
Via Marginal Revolution: Odds in New York City in 1900 of dying in a horse accident: 1 in 19,000 Odds today of dying there in an automobile accident: 1 in 26,000 I’m not sure which would be worse…
The Cambodian Ministry of Cults and Religions
No joke. This exists:
A Cambodian’s Perspective on American Politics
Earlier today I had a slightly serious, slightly humorous, but mostly enlightening conversation with a Cambodian man who’s been generous enough to spend the past two days teaching me about rural economic development here. Here’s what he had to say about American political history: He really likes John McCain and John Kerry because they fought communists. He thinks Bill Clinton won the presidency because he’s good looking and all the American women must have voted for him. But he’s glad that Clinton won, because he’s a good man and the economy grew while he was in office. He believes Ronald Reagan was a bit old to be President. In fact, he thinks John McCain is too old to be president too,
Fried Tarantula
I had this for lunch today: It actually wasn’t all that bad. The usual chicken analogies apply.
Obama High Power
Cambodian car batteries. High power. Like President Obama.
Various Links
For anyone who’s interested (mom?), I enjoyed these: 1. Great article on momentum investing, an approach I tend to agree with. Kid Dynamite had a good post on the same topic a couple years back. 2. Scott Sumner compares happiness with utility. I’d skip part three, unless you’re really craving some macro economic commentary. 3. From Ezra Klein: “If you only read one John Kerry speech today…” 4. Thunderstorms Shoot Antimatter Beams Into Space!
Well Hello, Mr. Jefferson
The other day I paid for lunch, and this is what I was given for change: The waiter found there to be absolutely nothing unusual about this.
Murphy’s Law Kind of a Morning
Yesterday morning my commute was humorously disastrous. I had three meetings scheduled for the day, the first of which was set to begin at at 8:30am. I found the meeting location on my map, determined it was about 25 minutes away, and left the apartment at 7:40am, leaving a little room for error. I flagged down a tuk tuk driver, showed him where we were going, negotiated a price, and then was on my way. By 8:00am, we appeared to be within a half mile of the office, so I was feeling pretty good. I even started looking around to see if there was a nearby cafe so I could relax and read for the spare 20 minutes. And then things