No pennies for your thoughts

Canada decides to abandon the penny. The US should too.

Jonathan Gruber

The NYT puff piece does not mention his furniture, or his clothes, but it does mention his birds and that he likes Van Halen (or, at least, that his son does, and he puts  up with it).

Further evidence, if any was needed, that economists are a pretty conventional lot.

Assorted links

1. Why we fight, Ann Arbor edition (obscure historical reference explained).

2. Justin and Betsey shine some sunlight on the tea party.

3. Charles Murray responds to his critics.

4. Posting about Uncle Bonsai got me thinking about other women I had crushes on back in my college days and that, of course, led right to the web page of Martha Quinn, one of the original MTV VJ's.

5. Partisan differentiation disorder: wine edition.

#2 via Greg Mankiw, #3 via marginal revolution, #5 via the Agitator.

Heckmania

Now this is useful! A list of all of Heckman's publications, with links to nearly every one, courtesy of the University of Chicago library.

Uncle Bonsai

My favorite folk group, Uncle Bonsai, played last night in Ann Arbor. I was quite remiss for not advertising it on here in advance, but it was a busy week, with many undergraduate draft term papers to read, a visitor from Europe and prospective student day. In lieu of the show, here is a video from last year's show at the Ark:



I thought this year's show was stronger than last year's, mainly because new band member Patrice O'Neill, who replaced the beloved Ashley (on whom I had a gigantic crush back in college), is now much more comfortable performing with the group.

Their show in Ann Arbor is part of a Midwest tour that includes stops in Evanston, Northwest Indiana and Madison.

I have seen Uncle Bonsai perform around 25 times over a period of over 30 years. They are highly recommended.

Human Evolutionary Studies

Via Arthur Robson on Facebook

Movie: Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Jeff, Who Lives at Home is great, light-hearted fun. I think I felt more sympathy than the NYT reviewer for the non-slacker brother Pat, who just wants to have some adventure in his life before completely settling down to domesticity. At the same time, his utter and complete cluelessness in how to deal with his longsuffering wife is brilliant. The ending was a bit too sweet for my taste, and it is not clear that one amazing deed should save a marriage, but still well worth watching.

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