PC versus Mac: a cultural interpretation

Grant McCracken, the Harvard anthropologist whose blog I am again reminded I should read more often, dissects the new PC ad campaign.

It has always seemed to me that Mac ownership is more of a personal statement than a technical decision, despite all the talk about avoiding the "blue screen of death", which I never seem to encounter anyway.

The one time I ever sat down to use a Mac was in graduate school. I powered up a Mac at the social science computing center in the basement of the 1155 building and it came up with a frown face which was supposed to tell me that I should insert a disk (this was a while ago). I decided that a computer that starts with a frown face is not really a serious computer and went on my way, never to return.

A similar line of reasoning could be applied to the LaTex versus Word + Mathtype divide among economists.

A causal effect of names?

"The initials of your name may influence where you choose to work, new research suggests.

While it sounds like a joke, a well-known psychological theory called the name-letter effect maintains that a person’s behavior may be influenced by his or her name."

Causation or correlation? I report. You decide.

Whole thing here.

Hat tip: Jessica Goldberg

Obamatopia

I think I have concluded that the thing that irritates me most about Obama is actually not his policies, some of which are just fine and others of which are not, but his more fervent supporters.

This video from the Upright Citizen Brigade sort of sums it up.

Hat tip: Ophira Vishkin

What to expect from the government bank

LOS ANGELES — An Amtrak train traveling from here to San Diego ran out of fuel on Sunday night, an Amtrak spokeswoman said.

"It’s not uncommon for trains to run out of fuel here, the spokeswoman, Vernae Graham, said. “It happens from time to time.”

Details here.

Hat tip: reason.com

Economist cartoon

Mankiw column on the financial crisis

Some wise thoughts here.

Includes nods to my Michigan colleagues Matthew Shapiro and Kathryn Dominguez.

It is interesting to see the revisionist view of the New Deal that has been percolating in the economic history literature for some time going mainstream. That view argues that much of what FDR did actually prolonged rather than shortened the Great Depression.

Hat tip: marginalrevolution.com

Willingham resigns

Ty Willingham resigned as Washington's football coach yesterday, but will continue to coach the team for the remainder of the season.

So, another new start with another new coach. The Seattle Times' thoughts on possible replacements here. I think the job is more attractive than it might seem at first blush. UW regularly turns out 60,000+ fans this year for a team with no wins. Even a decent team would fill the 75,000 seat stadium. Washington also has a long winning tradition that includes the Don James era when I was an undergraduate but also goes well back into the early 20th century.