1
Opinion
Is the Human Brain Like a Computer?
Readers — and a computer — weigh in.A mind is not much like a program.
We are learning how the two differ.
Dividing by zero does not halt a mind.
2
Food
Condiments Galore at New York’s Fancy Food Show
New varieties of sriracha, ketchup and other condiments make their debut; a children’s book recounts a dessert’s history; new olive oils; and more.To Pour: A Double-Walled Teapot Does Double Duty
This
new glass teapot is sleek and efficient. The cylinder is double-walled
for insulation and has a waterproof cork stopper and a tiny removable
strainer in the pouring spout. Through the glass, you can easily judge
the tone of your tea. And the teapot can double as a cocktail shaker: Ora
Teapot, 14 ounces, $45 at Kikkerland; double-walled cups for tea are
$30 for two, 493 Avenue of the Americas (between 12th and 13th Streets), 212-262-5000, kikkerland.com.
I am late off the mark.
3
Opinion
Welcome to Hooverville, California
As the wealth gap grows, so do the shanty towns of the homeless.There is food and the weather does not kill them.
Labor is in surplus.
4
Opinion
Bring Back Prostate Screening
Advanced techniques have made prostate screening more accurate. It’s time to bring it back.I am asymptomatic.
I had a PSA test once. It was negative.
5
U.S.
Remnant of Boston’s Brutal Winter Threatens to Outlast Summer
A mound of ice and debris still stands in the Seaport district, where plows pushed relentlessly falling snow. No one is quite sure when it will melt.Raking off the loose trash would help.
6
Health
Study Shows Diseases Like Plague Can Perilously Evolve
The bacterium responsible for the Black Death probably caused small outbreaks of lung disease for thousands of years before it evolved.Yes.
The danger of a new plague is real.
7
Sports
Tour de France 2015: Joaquim Rodriguez Beats Chris Froome to Win Crash-Marred Third Stage
Rodriguez, a Spanish veteran, won a stage disrupted by a large crash, while Froome finished second to take the race leader’s yellow jersey.Some are faster than others.
8
Opinion
Is the Death Penalty Unconstitutional?
Don’t listen to Justice Scalia. But don’t listen to Justice Breyer, either.My problem is not with death but with the concept of death as a penalty.
To do that requires belief in the soul and the survival of the soul.
Divine judgment, heaven and hell have been added.
These are part of religion.
It is not death that is unconstitutional but the long trial and appeal process.
Life with the possibility of parole or appeal is equally unconstitutional.
They are torture.
I am left with the problem of how to commit justice.
9
Opinion
The Myth of Big, Bad Gluten
Our wheat phobia distracts us from the real problem."Maybe we should stop asking what’s wrong with wheat, and begin asking what’s wrong with us."
10
Travel
Monday’s Travel News and Tips
What you need to know if you’re on a trip or planning one soon, including a renovation at the Lanesborough hotel in London and discounts on Palm Beach attractions.I generally do not make reservations. My travel times are not certain.
If I make a special effort I can "be there when the band starts playing".
That means I will arrive early having suspended some task to do so.
11
Travel
Perks at Smaller Hotels Mimic Luxury Brands
More wallet-friendly properties are giving their guests freebies like free Wi-Fi and in the lobby breakfast.The end of the day comes when it does.
My problem is to find a bed there.
12
Food
Freezing Food: Tips From the Pros
Using freezers to preserve food can be done efficiently to achieve a better taste.It is all good advice.
I buy frozen, fresh in season, dried and canned.
I am resisting freeze dried because of the high premium charged.
13
Science
Texas Scientist With a Thing for Longhorns
David M. Hillis, an evolutionary biologist, has employed genetics, biochemistry and computation to figure out how those horns got so long.Even in Texas creationism has no standing in court.
14
Corrections
Quotation of the Day
Quotation of the Day for Saturday, July 4, 2015.http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/no-puerto-rico-isnt-greece/
No, Puerto Rico Isn’t Greece
There are
obvious parallels between the crisis in Puerto Rico and the disaster in
Greece — a poor economy overshadowed by a huge wealthier economy to the
north, budget problems, declarations that the debt is unpayable. And I
don’t want to minimize the problems and pain in San Juan. But it’s
important to understand that the depth of the pain is just not of the
same order of magnitude, and not just because Puerto Rico’s banks are secured by a national safety net, although that helps.
I’ve been trying to produce some indicators using the Puerto Rico data, and they’re remarkably unlike Greece.
It’s true that Puerto
Rico has achieved an impressive drop in real GNP (people usually use GNP
for PR because so much of of GDP is profits accruing to offshore
firms). But the drop per working age adult is less, because of
large-scale emigration — which is actually supposed to happen when
changing economic winds cause a U.S. region to lose competitive
advantage. Unemployment is up, but “only” by 4 percentage points. And
there doesn’t seem to have been anything comparable to Greece’s collapse
in living standards. Greek real consumption per capita has plunged,
whereas Puerto Rico’s has actually risen.
What’s supporting that
consumption? Some of it surely involves private remittances from Puerto
Ricans working on the mainland and sending money home. But it’s also
fiscal federalism: as Puerto Rico’s economy has stumbled, its payments
to Washington have dropped while its receipts from federal social
insurance programs have risen, so that the island is in effect receiving
aid on a scale that would be inconceivable in Europe.
Now, none of this
guarantees against bad economic developments, all it does is soften the
blow. And there is a downside to high labor mobility (suggesting, for
the wonks, that Mundell had it wrong), namely the problem of an
emigrating tax base while the recipients of government services stay
put. But again, bad as it is, the Puerto Rico story isn’t remotely in
Greece’s league."
15
Food
Grocery Delivery Service Instacart Adds Zabar’s
On Monday the partnership between Instacart and the Upper West Side specialty food store was made official, though delivery will remain uptown for now.There are still alternatives.
The delivery service is important to the customers.
16
N.Y. / Region
Manhunt Over and Patrols Gone, Calm and Quiet Return to Dannemora
Residents of Dannemora, N.Y., freed from the tension of the three-week hunt for two escaped killers last month, went back to keeping their doors unlocked.The chaos is all inside the walls again.
17
World
Enticed by a Library, Tourists Browse a Chinese Village
Li Xiaodong, an award-winning architect, has built a library in Jiaojiehe that is so intriguing it has become a destination for day-trippers from Beijing.I am pleased with the appearance of the building.
I wonder about cleaning the windows.
Bark on wood does not age well.
Flat roofs require understanding and careful construction.
Tall spaces are hard to heat. Wright liked the hypocaust or heated floor.
He learned of it in Japan. The Japanese called it a Korean room.
There does not appear to be enough stack space.
I have no idea how artificial light is supplied or how color is handled.
18
Travel
From Cooking to Sailing, ‘Summer Camps’ for Adults
Camplike experiences are being embraced by adults who want to spend their time off learning new skills or mastering ones they already have.Your choice.
19
Opinion
Why the Greeks Said ‘No’ to Bailout Terms
Readers discuss the reasons for the rejection and possible effects.http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/austerity-arithmetic/
Austerity Arithmetic
The betting
markets now believe that Greece will vote “no”, but nobody really knows
even now. So let me take some time to do a calculation that I should
have done a while ago. Here’s the question: Even if you ignore
everything else, can austerity policies really improve the debt position
of a country in Greece’s situation? If so, how long will that take?
Suppose, to be
concrete, that we talk about permanently raising the primary surplus by
one percent of GDP. As I’ve written before, and as Simon Wren-Lewis
notes, given the lack of an independent monetary policy achieving a
primary surplus requires a lot more than one-for-one austerity. In fact,
a good guess is that you’d have to slash spending by 2 percent of GDP,
because austerity shrinks the economy and reduces tax receipts. This in
turn means that you’d shrink the economy by around 3 percent. So, a 3
percent hit to GDP to raise the primary surplus by 1.
But a smaller economy
means that the debt/GDP ratio goes up initially. In fact, given Greece’s
starting point, with debt at 170 percent of GDP, the adverse effects of
austerity mean that trying to raise the primary surplus by 1 point
quickly causes the debt-GDP ratio to rise by 5 points (.03*170). So this
might suggest that it would take 5 years of austerity just to get the
debt ratio back to where it would have been in the absence of austerity.
But wait, there’s
more. Let’s bring Irving Fisher into the discussion. A weaker economy
will mean lower inflation (or faster deflation), which also tends to
raise the debt/GDP ratio. The chart shows a scatterplot of Greece’s
output gap (as estimated by the IMF — a dubious measure, but stay with
it) versus the rate of change of the GDP deflator.
Yes, it’s a crude
Phillips curve, but it sort of works. And it suggests that a 1 point
rise in the primary surplus, which requires austerity that causes a
3-point fall in real GDP, will reduce inflation by about 0.7 percentage
points (3*0.23). And if you start with debt of 170 percent of GDP, this
raises the debt ratio by more than a percentage point each year.
That is, the attempt to reduce debt by slashing spending actually
raises the ratio of debt to GDP, not just in the short run, but
indefinitely.
OK, we can soften this
result by bringing in the effect of falling Greek prices on exports,
which should boost economic growth. I’m still working this one out, but
at best it makes austerity successful at reducing the debt ratio in the
very long run — think decades, not years. Austerity for a country in
Greece’s position appears to be an unworkable solution even if debt is
all you care about.
And just to be clear,
I’m basically doing textbook macroeconomics here, nothing exotic. It’s
the austerians who are inventing new economic doctrines on the fly to
justify their policies, which appear to imply not temporary sacrifice
but permanent failure"
Permanent failure has been the Greek experience with austerity.
20
Opinion
The Civil War Is Winding Down
The South Carolina Senate’s vote to remove the Confederate flag from the Capitol’s grounds was overdue. Now the State House must finish the job.We are still paying for Andrew Johnson's policies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Johnson
I do not know how to better end a war.
Occupation is not a better way
Assassination is tempting to both sides.
|
