Yay Bird's team!

Mike and I were happy to see Virginia Tech beat Tennessee 37-14 before getting to stay up for New Year's. Now we want Mike's team to beat the team with the really really old coach.

-Bird

The Economist stories for the week of 31 December 2009

Asian carp advance on Chicago
So much for the engineering wonder that connects the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins.

House prices and mobility
This, among other things, is a wonderful argument for young people to rent and not own.

Mobile-phone culture
Good comparison and contrast with cell phone use around the globe.

Obituary: Oral Roberts
I can't tell whether the obituary writer was being genuine or sarcastic...

This is the year to get Sugar Bowl tickets

If at the beginning of the season you had told the folks at the Sugar Bowl that they would get matchup of #3 versus #5 they would have been estatic. However, comma, one team (Cincinnati) lost their coach and plays in a stuadium seating 35,000, while the other team (Florida) lost a chance at the national championship.

You can get tickets directly from the Sugar Bowl for $110 or from StubHub for as little as $50. I might see if I can get in for $40 from a scalper Friday night.

Pithy quote time

This week at the hotel several students are here from George Mason University. A pair of them came in and we talked a little while. One of them had transferred from Emory & Henry, in my hometown, and we managed to exchange a couple of stories. The other kept peppering me with "do you know this person" and "well this family was important" about people from northern Virginia, which was well away from me.

That second person was very flustered that he wasn't able to impress me, and it reminded me of people I have run across from time to time whose entire identity is based on their accomplishments growing up or who they used to know. Not an original thought, I know, but I sum it up and christen this Pithy Quote:

"For some people the most depressing day in their lives is the one where they find a person who does not care what they did when they were growing up."

Merry Christmas!

No Economist for this week. Merry Christmas!

Is this the sign of an intelligent dog?

My fiancee and I have an eight-year-old West Highland terrier. I just found it curious that as I walked him this morning he just happened to wait until he got next to a Jay Batt for Council sign before he decided to poop!

Too bad I had to play Mr. Responsible and clean up after him...

The Economist stories for the week of 17 December 2009

Reproductive biology
This one's for the girls; a study shows that stress induces mothers to spontaneously abort male fetuses.

Banks: Goodbye, or see you again?
Everyone's paying back TARP money. Not coincidentally, those that don't do so before the end of year can't give out mega-bonuses.

Spain's El Gordo lottery
I've always wondered how this thing works!

Direct democracy: The Tyranny of the Majority
California's constitution is even longer than Louisiana's; at least we can blame civil code.