The Incidental Economist » For Fun

Best of xkcd: Geeks and nerds

Austin Frakt — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000

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Pie

Austin Frakt — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000

(Via, The Puzzler.)

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Just the “fracts”

Austin Frakt — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:28:07 +0000

Fracking is in the news. Normally I wouldn’t pay much attention. But we’re talking about a gerund whose root is a common misspelling of my name!

In yesterday’s NY Times we learn,

American politicians often extol natural gas as abundant, cleaner-burning than other fossil fuels, and domestically produced, unlike Middle Eastern oil. But the process of extracting it is raising concerns among people with wells in their backyards. …

At issue is a procedure known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which has been adopted widely in the United States over the past 10 years to extract gas trapped in shale formations. …

Fracking involves shooting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals deep underground, to break up rock and release the gas. The technique has vastly expanded access to shale-gas reserves in the United States, including deposits in Pennsylvania, New York, Texas and Louisiana. …

In New York, state officials are moving aggressively to protect the watershed supplying New York City with drinking water from potential contamination from hydraulic fracturing.

Part of the problem, according to environmentalists, is that gas companies do not disclose at the wellheads what chemicals they are using. They also argue that regulations, which in the United States are mostly the responsibility of state governments rather than the national government, tend to be weak — especially in drilling-friendly places like Texas.

Not only can’t I take any credit for the term, I have no association with it whatsoever, and it isn’t even clear it’s anything to be proud of. I just wonder who decided to turn “fracturing” (which has a “t” and no “k”) into “fracking” (which has no “t” but has a “k”). I’d have made it “fracting.” But then it’d be even harder to distance myself from it.

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Best of xkcd: Computer problems

Austin Frakt — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000

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How I blog

Austin Frakt — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 08:00:10 +0000

In one way or another, people keep asking,

Doesn’t all this blogging take a lot of time? Isn’t it a lot of work? How do you gather the information for a post?

My answers are in part inspired by a post by Joanne at the blog Tomorrow Museum (h/t Tyler Cowen). She discusses the various ways in which she gathers and keeps track of ideas using modern tools.

First of all, blogging is not work for me. It’s entertainment. So whatever time it takes escapes my notice. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter how much effort I exert doing it. If it ceased to be enjoyable I would stop. Nevertheless, I can answer the question how much time it takes.

When I started blogging I spent hours per post. I recall one post (OK, maybe two) on which I probably spent over four hours, but most took me about two until I got the hang of it. I no longer spend nearly that length of time, and I don’t think it is because quality is lower. I think I’ve just gotten more efficient at writing blog-length pieces. Writing nearly every day does improve one’s skill. Now I tend to compose blog posts in my head during spare bits of time. When I get a few minutes in front of a computer I type out my thoughts. The paragraphs mostly flow. There’s hardly any wasted time at the computer puzzling over words and structure. My thoughts are in order well in advance.

I write two kinds of posts. The “real time” type are responses to and thoughts about events that are in the news and public (blogosphere) debate right now. I usually want to get those out quickly and they don’t take much time. Sometimes fifteen minutes is all that is needed to write such a thing. An example of this type is Consequences of Obstruction. When I write these I publish them immediately.

The other type of post is less time-sensitive and I write them far in advance. They do not rely on any current news or information and will seem fresh even if published months after I write them. I typically have blog posts of this type scheduled two to four months into the future. I wrote this sentence on 1/1/10, for example. These types of posts take longer to write because the ideas come more from me and less from news/blogosphere sources. They take an hour at most.

I gather and keep track of information that goes into posts using several Google products. Most information comes to me via Google Reader. Anything that sparks an idea or is related to something I’ve written or am working on I flag in some way, either by sharing it (putting it in my News & Links feed) or staring it (a way to mark Google Reader items to find them easily in the future). I also keep a Google Notebook dedicated to blog ideas. I drop in links and notes into that as I see them. Then when it comes time to write a post I just pull up my Google Reader and Notebook and plop in the links. The two references I made in the third paragraph of this post were stored in my Google Notebook until I was ready to use them. The second of them (the link to Tyler Cowen’s summary) was shared in my News & Links feed the minute I read it on 1/1/10.

Because I have access to Google Reader and Google Notebook nearly everywhere (on my phone or on any internet connected computer) these are the only tools I need to gather and keep track of information for blog posts. Once upon a time I also kept a small spiral notebook in my work bag in which I would jot notes. But I don’t see a need for paper and pen anymore. It’s hard to jot down a URL anyway. Cut and paste with Google tools is far better and faster.

That answers the questions posed, and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to know much more (feel free to ask if you do). I think I’m sufficiently far into my navel now that escape is uncertain. I’d better stop.

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Potty training

Austin Frakt — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000

(Source: NY Times, Strange Signs from Abroad.)

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Common knowledge

Austin Frakt — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:45:41 +0000

A long time ago I blogged about the notion of common knowledge in game theory. Yesterday, over at the Cheap Talk blog, Jeff Ely put up a post with an interesting problem that hinges on the concept (Cheap Talk is a good blog for lovers of game theory):

Two generals, you and me, have to coordinate an attack on the enemy. An attack will succeed only if we both attack at the same time and if the enemy is vulnerable.

From my position I can directly observe whether the enemy is vulnerable. You on the other hand must send a scout and he will return at some random time. We agree that once you learn that the enemy is vulnerable, you will send a pigeon to me confirming that an attack should commence. It will take your pigeon either one day or two to complete the trip.

Suppose that indeed the enemy is vulnerable, I observe that is the case, and on day n your pigeon arrives informing me that you know it too. I am supposed to attack. But will I?

Go to Cheap Talk to find out.

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Former chicken

Austin Frakt — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

(Source: NY Times, Strange Signs from Abroad.)

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Not bragging, just amazed!

Austin Frakt — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:13:56 +0000

Once upon a time I didn’t understand the internet, at least not the way I do now. In particular, I didn’t appreciate how certain bloggers drove traffic. Then I saw stuff like this. It’s stunning.

Earlier today, Andrew Sullivan posted:

And this site’s traffic exploded:

At least that explains some of the comments (clearly not all from regular readers).

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Of milestones and changes

Austin Frakt — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Though I’ve been blogging for fifteen months, this blog launched one year ago today. That’s the milestone.

To celebrate, I’m making a permanent cosmetic change (not that I need an excuse). Beginning with this post something will be different compared to all prior posts. It’s clearly visible, but you might overlook it. What is it?

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