Archive for May, 2006

Breaking News! Jessica Lappin Eats!

Wednesday, May 31st, 2006

Alex and I were scheduled to see a play tonight as part of the Manhattan Theatre Club, and it wasn’t half bad, but the important part is that, before the show, after I met her at work, we went strolling to find some place to eat dinner, and settled on Chanpen, and it wasn’t half bad, but the important part is that, while we were waiting for our food, a couple of people came in to meet a group for dinner, and Alex noticed one of them was Jessica Lappin!

I restrained myself from going up to fawn over her for her for her autograph, and Alex held me back from taking a surreptitious picture with my phone camera… OK, no I didn’t, and no she didn’t, because I wasn’t going to anyway. But it was weird to randomly see a public figure — and one I’ve “met” — in a random midtown Thai restaurant.

She looked healthy.

A Black Hole

Monday, May 29th, 2006

Well that was annoying. This year’s ATS conference. I just wasn’t into it. Mostly because I was preoccupied the whole time with finishing my history class’s take-home exam, and then with trying to build a site for the local environmental group I’m helping start, Upper Green Side (and I mean “helping” in the weakest sense possible; it’s Glenn’s baby, and he’s doing all the work).

So anyway, I came home tired, jet-lagged, and just not wanting to deal with anything, especially since my flights home were all shifted and delayed. Friday I don’t even remember what I did. I think I watched recorded TV all day and finished working on the Upper Green Side site. Saturday I took a nice walk, listened to a couple podcasts, and had a nice dinner with Alex and her brother Adriaan. Sunday I managed to get out enough to go see An Inconvenient Truth, which I highly recommend. It pretty much gets the science right, and when the only things detractors can say about it are just so dang laughably silly, you gotta call it a success. I specifically liked that he didn’t dwell on the blame game, taking only a moment at one point to talk about congress not addressing the problem in the past, in the context of how things could have gotten this bad to begin with. If there was anything wrong with the film at all, it would have to be the few “Gore campaign”-type segments, but, eh, whaddayagonnado?

Then today I spent all day watching the Stargate Atlantis marathon on Sci-Fi, and I think I’m sufficiently brain-numbed to actually be looking forward to work tomorrow. And I’ve seen the commercial for Sci-Fi’s ridiculous “original movie” Black Hole an unforgivable number of times. Poor Judd Nelson, forced to say stupid lines like “A black hole is not an object you can drop a bomb on and destroy!”

And now, on to summer! My classes are done and I finally have the evenings to myself. I plan to read a lot, and help move Upper Green Side forward. That, and enjoy the summer evenings sometimes. It’ll all be over in three months, and then the tutoring starts…

Notes On Economy

Tuesday, May 16th, 2006

While the President desperately tries to A) distract from investigations of his administration and of other Republicans, and B) control the issues of the 2006 elections, other people are talking about the economy. First thing to note: tax policy pretty much has zero effect on any sort of economic recovery. Furthermore, it’s worth nothing that, as Matt Yglesias says, “obviously, the aim of conservative tax policy isn’t to cut spending or to increase revenue. It’s to increase the after-tax income of very wealthy people.” Well, duh.

OK, so “tax cuts” make little difference to the economy, and mainly serve only those who are already doing just fine. No point in bothering with tax cuts in the future.* Furthermore, normal tax levels, or even hiked tax levels, also have little effect. Any government interference in the economy shouldn’t worry too much about taxes, but rather concentrate on helping stabilize the system, and making sure that businesses do less harm than good. Safety nets, public services, and regulation. They do a civic body good.

“As for the current economy,” notes Ezra Klein, “There is growth, to be sure, but it’s been curiously hollow.”

The bottom line is that inequality hasn’t been this severe since the 1920’s. As for alternative paths, the Clinton era, with higher marginal tax rates and less government spending, saw faster growth with fairer distribution. And that, at base, is the question. Do you believe growth should accumulate to the rich, or be shared across society? Jumping up and down about the 1970’s is silliness, it’s like blaming 9/11 on Rudy Giuliani. After all, the economy kicked ass under FDR and Lyndon Johnson, so theirs should hardly be a discredited economic vision. The question isn’t about growth, or employment, or anything else (all those metrics do better under Democrats, by the way). This is about the distribution of growth, and about the level of acceptable inequality.

Emphasis mine, of course.

* [I might support progressive tax cuts that actually helped those who most needed help, and made up the difference on the wealthy. But I'd prefer a stronger minimum wage and better unemployment assistance.]

Fifty Degrees Below Review

Sunday, May 14th, 2006

Just to link it — I think this review pretty much captures what I think about KSR’s second book in his rapid climate change trilogy, Fifty Degrees Below.

Apparently the third and final book will be called Sixty Days and Counting. I like, I like…

Community Connecting

Sunday, May 7th, 2006

I had a lot of fun today — thanks Glenn!

We went to a street fair at 76th & York where, thanks to Glenn’s work, the nascent Upper Green Side group had a spot. We handed out leaflets with “ten tips for greener city living” and got people to sign up as part of our group. We got a fair number of signups (OK, only 16-17 people, but give us a break, it’s the Upper East Side), and I think 9 signatures on the petition for bike lanes on the UES.

And we handed out about 100 “ten tips” leaflets, which have the website on the other side. Apparently “Fight Global Warming” is a good marketing pitch.

It was fun talking to people about what they thought was good for the environment and the community, and encouraging that a fair number of people were interested in changes. A lot of people just smiled and nodded, or were gaping vacantly, but hey, that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.

Good work, Glenn!

And then I went home and watched Prison Break. Lord only knows why