Interesting read from the NYT.

Several highlights:

Mr. Buffett compiled a data sheet of the men and women who work in his office. He had each of them make a fraction; the numerator was how much they paid in federal income tax and in payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, and the denominator was their taxable income. The people in his office were mostly secretaries and clerks, though not all.

It turned out that Mr. Buffett, with immense income from dividends and capital gains, paid far, far less as a fraction of his income than the secretaries or the ...

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While waiting for Nathan to come over I stumbled upon this blog. Very interesting stuff. In particular, this interview with Economics Nobel Laureate Prof. Gary Becker caught my eye. The whole thing is a worthwhile read, however this is most remarkable:

What's your proposal exactly?

I think you have to legalize drugs. That will eliminate most of these costs, the incarceration costs, the judiciary costs, the police costs. You'll be able to reallocate the police to better activities, reduce the effects on neighborhoods, and so on. Critics would say you'll get a big increase in drug consumption ...

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Is simply brilliant. I have watched many interviews and read several of his writings though not his latest book. Most of them have always been on the same caliber as the interview with Prof. Weinberg I blogged about sometime ago. However, this Q&A; which follows this talk seems a tad more notable than most of the other remarkable things I've heard this man say. His responses are very rational, well thought-out and adequately delivered. But I was amazed at how unintelligent the crowd seemed to be. Just because Prof. Dawkins said something doesn't mean he said something great ...

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The seller's name should remain undisclosed. However, if you think of online booksellers named similarly to rivers in Brazil you are on the right track.

Over the summer I was buying a book for $15. As I was checking out I noticed that there was an offer to get an $25 discount by signing up for a credit card and putting an order for over a certain amount on it (let's say $50). So, I went ahead and found another book I wanted making my order well over $50 and got the credit card. Figured it was a ...

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Amidst all the media attention and all the bashing string theory has been getting lately this is a refreshing view of the current landscape of theoretical physics. A.J usually writes pretty interesting stuff on his blog and interestingly enough his textbook recommendations come up as the third result on a google search for 'undergraduate arrogance'!

Let my own ignorance and undergraduate arrogance speak, though: I do think that string theory gets a bit too much attention (and funding?) and other approaches to quantum gravity and unification do not. Many a time have I read about it being very difficult ...

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There are days left until the midterm election and what's everyone talking about? Former presidential candidates making bad jokes, pastors buying meth from gay escorts, presidents making bad jokes and inept talk show hosts bashing people with Parkinson disease. Are all these matters of national policy?

It has always amazed me how much people care about little or irrelevant things when it comes to their politicians' and how little they care about the policies those politicians pursue. Somehow it is more important to us to belabor the point about Kerry's bad joke being ok because it was intended ...

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