John's Commitment to Posting

UPDATE: One week ago, in this space, fellow blogger John vowed to review the first sixty blog posts sent to him. And where are we a week on? Up to our eyeballs is where! We've been sorting through stacks and stacks of electronic bundles - all pining to be in the first sixty - like kids lined up outside Wal Mart for PS3s before Christmas. Actually, that's not at all true. No one has requested his kind offer of service. Not a one.

But not to worry, we here at Iron Triangle Daily are not without pride or creativity. John, I hereby request that you review your own post on your commitment to review posts. How was the writing? The conceit? Do you have a favorable opinion of the author having read his post? As far as I can see, this request meets the substantive requirements laid out...and provides you with a way out.

A Cartoon Ethnography

Ever wonder what a Looney Tune is? How about a Merry Melodie? They all have their roots in the early days of animation when cartoon production would begin with the soundtrack and only later, the animation (allegedly because animating a piece of music made it easier to devise plot elements and characters).

First out of the box with this concept was Disney with their Silly Symphonies series (1929-1939). Knowing a good idea when they saw it, Warner Brothers followed suit a year later with Looney Tunes (1930-1969). And here's where it gets interesting. Warner figured they would extend the concept of a musical short to live action - essentially a pre-curser to today's (or yesterday's) music video. The result was Spooney Melodies (1930-1931). However, the idea didn't take and was subsequently converted to another animated musical shorts program, Merry Melodies (1931-1969). MGM was substantially late to the party with their also-ran series, Happy Harmonies (1934-1938). Further muddling matters, Warner opted to reissue some of their older Merry Melodies in the 1940's under the name 'Merry Melodies, Blue Ribbon Classics' (in case you ever wondered what the blue ribbon in the title sequence was all about). Perhaps Warner Director Fritz Freleng said it best: "I never knew if a film I was making would be a Looney Tunes or a Merrie Melodie, and what the hell difference would it make, anyway?"

I Demand A D.C. Bottle Deposit

Washington, D.C. has no bottle deposit program. As far as I can find, there hasn't been any movement to create such a program since a proposed D.C. Deposit Law went down in defeat nearly 20 years ago. And since New York State enacted similar legislation in 1982, no other state or major municipality has imposed such a law. But there's new movement in this field. Consider Oregon's recently introduced legislation to include plastic water bottles in its state-wide deposit program, which are currently excluded in every deposit program in the country. In any new deposit program, including plastic water bottles is a must. As the New York Times noted over the weekend, "[w]ater, together with other nonfizzy drinks, accounted for 90 percent of the growth of the entire beverage industry between 2002 and 2005. By the end of the decade, they are expected to outsell soda."

Washington D.C., unlike any place else in the country, is in the position to prove the concept of a reconceived and modernized deposit program solely within the confines of a major urban area without ever having to address the urban/suburban compromises that bedevil any attempts at state-wide legislation (curbside pickup v deposit centers etc.) Call it my moonshot, but I think there is major promise for the District here.

Music Friday II

Music Friday: Music and Your Friends

Every once and a while I hear a song and am certain that it will be a favorite of someone I know - even though they haven't heard it yet. John had this experience with 'Hey Ya!' and our friend Luke - it just seemed a natural fit and sure enough, it was. In that spirit, I submit to you songs/artists and people who I think would like them:

Artist: Plan B
Person I know Who Will Like Him But Doesn't Know It Yet: my younger brother
Reason: This review pretty well sums it up: "Much of the CD is pretty unpleasant, with bleak music that sounds less than innovative and a load of self-important shock rhymes that try too damn hard, as on the murder ballad "Sick 2 Def," which rhymes "cum in a biscuit" with "sadistic". Bear in mind, this kid was also a huge Limp Bizkit fan.

Artist: Amy Winhouse
Person I know Who Will Like Her But Doesn't Know It Yet*: high school friend Stacy
Reason: The drunken, trainwreck persona, the song about the glories of refusing rehab etc. This one just fits - while Stacy doesn't, to my knowledge, hang out with Amy Winehouse, she's made a life-long habit of hanging out with people who aspire to be like her. (*In fairness, it's likely Stacy has already heard of, and fallen in love with Amy Winehouse)

Artist: KT Tunstall
Person I know (of) Who Will Like Her But Doesn't Know It Yet: Hillary Clinton
Reason: Her song 'Suddenly I See' is already making a play at becoming her campaign's theme song via an online 'you pick it' contest at Clinton's website. While I'm sure Clinton has yet to fully familiarize herself with it, this ode to chick-power is sufficiently not-related-enough to the point at hand to become a stone-cold campaign trail classic ('Beautiful Day' anyone?)

The View From Your Law Firm

"It's just 'Cirroc', your Honor.. and, yes, I'm ready. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I'm just a caveman. I fell on some ice and later got thawed out by some of your scientists. Your world frightens and confuses me! Sometimes the honking horns of your traffic make me want to get out of my BMW.. and run off into the hills, or wherever.. Sometimes when I get a message on my fax machine, I wonder: "Did little demons get inside and type it?" I don't know! My primitive mind can't grasp these concepts. But there is one thing I do know - when a man like my client slips and falls on a sidewalk in front of a public library, then he is entitled to no less than two million in compensatory damages, and two million in punitive damages. Thank you."

(Above: Cirroc [ki:'rok])

Commitment to Posting

Since Josh has been haranguing me all day to post more than I have been, I have decided that I will commit to reviewing blog posts of the first sixty posters that request it. This is sort of done in the spirit of Tyler Cowen's fifty questions that he answered. Unfortunately, I can't take my intellectual toolbox to fifty questions, so you will have to settle for a review of your blog post.

In my review I promise to link to your blog. You are not required to reciprocate.

I will review anything, however, if your blog is NSFW let me know so I can look at it while I am not at work. I promise to review these posts two a day until they are finished. If I get no requests starting tomorrow I'm not sure what I will do.

Disaster Merchandise

Wal-Mart seriously has its shit together: "Data from past storms instruct supply-chain staff to pre-position caches of "what we call 'disaster merchandise,' like blankets, ready-to-eat foods, 5-gallon gas cans, and generators," said Kenneth Senser, a former CIA spy catcher who is now Wal-Mart's vice president for global security. Strawberry Pop-Tarts are a particular favorite." And if the power goes, they can provide a good source of light and heat as well.

Unintended Consequences

The Virginia-Pilot's Kerry Dougherty goes for the throat. Here's the rub for Dougherty:
"On Monday, [Virginia] Tech president Charles Steger told the panel [investigating the Virginia Tech shootings] that federal privacy laws effectively gag school officials from disclosing personal information about students. Even more troubling, they prevent medical professionals from sharing critical information about students with school administrators."

But consider this case of a straight-A sophomore at George Washington University who sought emergency psychiatric care for depression. "When they [GWU administrators] learned of [his] hospitalization, university officials charged him with violating the school code of conduct, suspended him, evicted him from his dorm and threatened him with arrest for trespassing if he set foot on university property." All of which lead the Washington Post to ask, “[s]ince when does being sick constitute a disciplinary problem?” The answer is, unfortunately, when liability to the university attaches - which it most certainly will under Dougherty's approach.

A recent example is the tragic case of the MIT student who made use of the university counseling service before setting herself on fire. "The Massachusetts Superior Court recently allowed her parents, who had not been told of her psychological deterioration, to sue administrators for $27.7 million. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount."

The bookends of these two incidents make for a pretty complicated problem for universities that leads to just one solution: mandatory reporting requirements from health officials to universities and from universities to parents (and potentially in the reverse order). But do we really want to revert to a kind of in loco parentis approach that exceeds even the rights of parents? While I sympathize with Dougherty's sentiments, the solution, whatever it might be, requires more than just a cursory examination of who does and doesn't 'deserve' privacy rights.

While We're Waiting...

I'm about to go into a meeting for the afternoon but wanted to take a second to share my thoughts on the three things required in a proper conference room:

1. WINDOWS! No meeting can or should take place in a room without windows. Casinos make use of this tactic to great effect, but your office shouldn't have to resort to sensory deprivation to get you to stay on task.

2. Round Tables: A nice egalitarian touch that says I'm no control freak. Famous adherents include the aptly named Knights of the Round Table (no head nor foot to reflect the equality of the members).

3. Coffee: Preferably at a sideboard or somewhere that makes participants get up and move a bit throughout. I think this makes the experience less funeral-like. Also, if people are getting up occasionally, it'll make it less awkward for you to get up if you have to pee during the middle of it.

Open Question

OK - there seems to be a disagreement out there as to the reliability of the consumer price index in general. For those in favor of the CPI's reliability in the ice-measuring exercise, this is an open call. I wasn't an econ major and have precious little background in the subject. That said, I'm hoping those of you with a little more knowledge on the subject will chime in.

My Absentee Co-Blogger

Regarding John's previous post. First, my calculation was based on per capita GDP. As I noted in the post, there are many problems with this - however - I opted for this approach because of the problems in accurately calculating inflation over that long of a period. That said, I am skeptical of both John's 2 and 8 cents. It's nice to have John back with us and I welcome a continued discussion on this subject.

UPDATE: Here's six ways to calculate the value of the dollar. (Note - I didn't use the GDP deflator option as it only goes back to 1900, and I didn't use a Consumer Price Index as (1) it wasn't started until 1913 and anything prior to that is a reconstructed guess and (2) CPI data is generally considered of lower quality the further into the past you get.

my eight cents

Josh posted about a week ago an account of our trip to Old Town where we found that under Gatsby's there was an old ice pit. Anyway, Josh some how got the inflation numbers off. Apparently 8 cents in 1805 would work out to be about a dollar and four cents in real dollars.

She's Like the Anti-Rachel Ray

Giada De Laurentiis was at the Farm Fresh in Dupont last weekend and nobody told me. I have nothing more to say about it.

Technology and My Attention Span

Rosalind W. Picard, Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and Co-Director of Things That Think offers a great bit of technologic common sense. How hard would it be to create a technology interface that recognizes your mood and attention? Apparently not very. The premise is simple enough - recognition software that takes a continues series of measurements (feature point tracking, head pose estimation etc.) to accurately determine your emotional state and level of engagement. This could have a very wide application - from autistic people to editing software. Imagine a real time editor that understands when you're not comprehending (or paying attention to) what you're reading.

Is English Efficient?

English as an informationally efficient language? Not so says Michael Erard in his review of a new book by K. David Harrison, When Languages Die :

"For example, what information is encoded in the English "my nephew"? For sure, it's a male person. But (as Harrison writes) "is he related to me by blood or marriage? Unclear. Is he older or younger than me? Unclear. Is he the son of my sister or my brother? Unclear. Is he the son of an older sibling of mine or a younger sibling? Unclear. Is he a boy or a man? Unclear." Taken in absolute terms, English isn't so efficient: we'd need a separate book to list all its major inefficiencies."

The Forgotten History of the Jake Leg

In the 1920s and 30s, Jake (Jamaican Ginger Extract and ethyl alcohol) provided a cheap and legal way for the poor to get around Prohibition. While researching its use several years ago, Dr. John Morgan of the City University of New York noticed that a number of blues songs from that era referenced a phenomenon called the 'Jake Leg' ("I can't eat, I can't talk, drinking mean Jake, Lord, I can't walk") as a kind of distinct paralysis of the lower legs. From the lyrics, Morgan figured that there must have been a major contamination of Jake sometime in 1930 that caused this, and he was right. It turns out that a pair of amateur bootleggers had developed what they thought was a non-toxic additive to the Jake they were importing. But it was actually a potent poison that caused paralysis of the lower legs. The result left potentially tens of thousands of victims without use of their feet - and a peculiar gate. "The Jake Leg story is almost completely about class", Morgan said, "if someone had poisoned the Canadian source of bonded Scotch, something would have been done."

Glory Fades

I realize it's not often that one would associate the Ford Taurus with the term groundbreaking, but credit where credit is due. It was the 1986 Ford Taurus that pushed the US auto industry out of the boxy 'Fairmont' design that dominated the previous 3 decades and ushered in today's pervasive rounder, grille-less design. For that, I offer the Ford Taurus a long-overdue thanks.

Roses Speak for Themselves, But These Guys Provide a Megaphone

Sometimes when we try and make nature a little better, we end up making it a lot tackier. Like these embossed roses. Sure, a rose is pretty - pretty boring if you ask me. But a rose with my name on it (Josh)?! Or the name of the thing I'm doing with it (thanking you)?! If you still don't get it, here it is all laid out: "Embossed roses are really starting to take off. You see them at Oscar parties, the Kentucky Derby, the Rose Bowl, and hundreds of corporate promotions. Although, the embossed roses are a little pricey they are so neat that they are becoming part of a lot of events." See, sometimes, when just having roses at your Rose Bowl party isn't quite as closely thematically related as you'd like, now you can write 'The Rose Bowl' on the petals of the roses you bought for the Rose Bowl and the connection will be instantly clear. Get it?

Know Your Rules of Succession

Rules of succession don't just apply to the Presidency. Here's a list of the rules of succession in executive agencies. When asked, always remember that in the event that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs is unable to perform the functions and duties of that office, the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health beats out the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Benefits - every time.

Top Ten Remittance Recipients

Total remittances (millions of dollars):
Mexico: 9,920
India: 9,160
Philippines: 6,366
Egypt: 2,911
Turkey: 2,786
Bangladesh: 2,104
Jordan: 2,011
Dominican Republic: 1,982
El Salvador: 1,925
Columbia: 1,784
(Source: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Yearbook 2002.)

Old School Luxury

We decided to enjoy the weather and take a walk around Old Town, Alexandria this weekend. Those of you familiar with the area are probably also familiar with Gadsby's Tavern, which dates back to the late 18th Century. Outside they have an old ice-well (where ice harvested from the Potomac was stored during the warm months) and a little plaque explaining the historical significance. Of particular note, ice was 8 cents a pound in 1805. I can only imagine how luxurious that dirty frozen river water must have been back then. Point of comparison - using a nominal per capita GDP comparison (less than perfect for a lot of reasons, I know), 8 cents in 1805 works out to $37.62 in 2005 dollars. That night we bought 14 pounds of ice for Margaritas for $3.50 - or $526 by 1805 standards. Remember that next time you hear some baby boomer reminiscing about a 10 cent Coke.

Music Friday Part II: Yglesias Is Right, Alanis I Am Sorry

Matt Yglesias on Alanis Morrisette's Ironic: "I have a longstanding contention that the not-actually-ironic nature of the various purported examples of irony in the song is the ironic part and not just some kind of coincidence." Alanis confirms here. For those of you who may have forgotten, here's a partial list of things spectacularly not ironic in Ironic (thereby properly making it ironic):

1. It's a black fly in your chardonnay (a waste of $5 if you're fussy)
2. It's a death row pardon two minutes too late (bad luck, bad phone connection, bad governance? In any case, more like a very special episode of Benson than irony)
3. It's like rain on your wedding day (unfortunate)
4. It's a free ride when you've already paid (dumb on the payers behalf)
5. It's the good advice that you just didn't take (again, dumb. Always take good advice - even a 1st grader knows that.)
6. It's a traffic jam when you're already late (the word here is frustrating, not ironic)
7. It's a no-smoking sign on your cigarette break (just go outside, really)
8. It's like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife (I don't even know where to start here - where are you and what are you doing when this comes up? In any case, it's weird, not ironic)

Cautionary Tales

Anticipating the Ghastly Crumb Tinies by more than 100 years, Struwwelpeter is one hell of a kids book, arranged as a series of stories whose sole aim is to scare your kids into right action. There's 'The Story of Kaspar Who Did Not Have Any Soup' about a young boy who stops eating his soup and dies, 'The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb' about a boy who wouldn't stop sucking his thumbs until a roving tailor cuts them off with a pair of giant scissors, and 'The Dreadful Story of Pauline and the Matches' whose premise is pretty well summed up by the title.

Music Friday: The Happiest Guy on Youtubes

It's Friday People. So let's all get buck naked and jam out to the musical stylings of Ronald Jenkees.