If you are in the Twin Cities area November 6, and whether you are ostensibly a ‘liberal’ or not, you should see Paul Krugman speak. John Gruber calls him “the world’s best political commentator” and even wrote “I didn’t mind paying the $50 a year for TimesSelect — I’d pay that just to read Paul Krugman and Frank Rich.” Krugman’s most recent book is called The Conscience of a Liberal. Here is a quick summary from Andrew Leonard’s recent review of the book in Salon magazine:
“The Conscience of a Liberal” is a history of the political economy of the United States from the beginning of the 20th century to the present, but its most important message is that, after years of Republican ascendancy accompanied by rapidly growing economic inequality in the United States, the point at which the pendulum finally starts swinging in the other direction has arrived.
I like the phrase “political economy,” but that blanket summary isn’t as interesting as another major point from the book (summed up again by Salon):
The gross inequality of the Gilded Age that led up to the Great Depression morphed into a stunningly middle-class economy because of concrete initiatives forced through via Roosevelt’s New Deal.
Indeed, when Kottke linked to the inaugural post on Krugman’s new blog, the topic was New Deal economics and the echoes of the government’s positive influence in shaping a middle class economy. (At least I think that’s a good summary, it’s been about a month since I read that quite-interesting post.)
Regardless, according to St. Thomas, Krugman speaks at a free event at a local Jewish temple in Minneapolis.
The illustrious Kottke recently linked a piece from the New York Times about Jewish Delis. While the following quote does nothing to summarize the article, I thought it stood on its own pretty well:
One thing I’ve learned is you have to let them do what they think is right. I’ve always taught my kids that it’s not so bad to make a mistake. There’s only one thing worse than making a mistake. And that’s not making a decision.
Anyhow, the article does a surprisingly good job of capturing both the events surrounding the decline of delis in New York City and the more difficult-to-summarize culture of the Jewish community that runs those delis.
You may visit a Minnesotan and be offered something to drink multiple times.
Minnesotans are renowned for charity work and donations.
Minnesotans are renowned for taking forever to say goodbye. This is in part due to the winter weather and reluctance to leave. This behavior is seen in Scandinavian and Finnish cultures where many Minnesotans trace their heritage.
Minnesotans file fewer civil lawsuits than residents of other states.
Minnesotans are more open with their homes than in many other states. Many homes outside of the larger cities are left unlocked even if no one is home.
Instead of rejecting an idea in the workplace, Minnesotans are known for calling a meeting to discuss the idea, and then canceling the meeting.
Do these seem accurate? I know the first one is certainly true, and the third is very true in my experience. However, I haven’t noticed the last one to be true. Anyhow, today just seemed like a good day for some Minnesota pride.
I’m filing my own bug report for tumbledry here. Has anyone noticed that when you mouseover Dan’s comments, there’s a thing that says “A partial iron” instead of loading an image? Well, that’s not the intended behavior of the comment code - it’s a rounding error that should never have made it past bug testing. Nevertheless, here we are, months after I recoded the ranking system… and this ugly bug pops up. I’m working on a fix, and more pictures. So that’s good.
It’s very odd to be busy with so many things that aren’t school. Honestly… school has taken the majority of my time for so long that it’s an adjustment to be doing other things (for a while). Interestingly enough (well, it’s interesting to me :) ), I’m still busy. For example, I’m setting up an apartment. This is infinitely more complicated than I had thought, as there are many items necessary for domestic comfort. You see, as a result of years of dorm living, I’m missing many basics — but at least I have no homework to interfere with the shopping. Furthermore, there’s figuring out a long term budget by factoring in monthly bills, transportation, connectivity — you know, all that stuff that allows you to function in modern society.
Oh, and budgeting becomes even more difficult when there are little tempting luxury items (like Sigg Water Bottles) bleeding your wallet dry with one thousand tiny cuts. I still haven’t bought one: trying to hold out against temptation!
