Monthly Archives: May 2008

POPULAR DISSATISFACTION WITH UMPIRING.

Posted on May 31, 2008 by Philip

POPULAR DISSATISFACTION WITH UMPIRING. ESPN had a poll during lst week’s Sunday night game on whether there should be instant replay for questionable home run calls (e.g., near the foul pole). There were a couple hundred thousand responses and 82% … Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball, Sports | Leave a comment

HOW MUCH FOOD DO SUPERMARKETS WASTE EACH DAY?

Posted on May 31, 2008 by Philip

HOW MUCH FOOD DO SUPERMARKETS WASTE EACH DAY? In a world with so much poverty and hunger,when I am in a supermarket at the end of a day, I tend to wonder about the unsold food going to waste. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Leave a comment

THE RELATIVE POVERTY OF VERY POOR PEOPLE.

Posted on May 30, 2008 by Philip

THE RELATIVE POVERTY OF VERY POOR PEOPLE. The new approach I posted on yesterday takes into account concepts of relative poverty in setting the new guideline of $1.25 a day. The authors argue that relative poverty (whether my neighbor is … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, History | 1 Comment

WHY THE ONE DOLLAR A DAY LINE IS VALUABLE.

Posted on May 30, 2008 by Philip

WHY THE ONE DOLLAR A DAY GUIDELINE IS VALUABLE. What I find valuable about a poverty guideline (whether $1 a day or $1.25 a day) is that it focuses attention on the way that many people are living. (I prefer … Continue reading →

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MEASURING “ESCAPES FROM POVERTY.”

Posted on May 29, 2008 by Philip

MEASURING “ESCAPES FROM POVERTY.” I don’t think that the new poverty line is of much use in telling us who is poor. When I posted here on studies of how people (twenty to forty per cent of people in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, History | 1 Comment

LIVING ON $1.25 A DAY.

Posted on May 29, 2008 by Philip

LIVING ON $1.25 A DAY. The phrase isn’t as memorable as “LIVING ON $1 A DAY”, is it? This article in The Economist also thinks that “as a slogan, $1.25 just doesn’t have the same ring.” The “dollar-a-day” definition goes … Continue reading →

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FAKE TRUCK, FAKE WATERMELON?

Posted on May 28, 2008 by Philip

FAKE TRUCK, FAKE WATERMELON? It has been called to my attention that there is on the internet a short demonstration—which I have watched—of a lady crushing a watermelon with her thighs. I do have one reservation. It occurs to me … Continue reading →

Posted in Sports | 1 Comment

I MAY BE VULGAR, BUT I’M NOT A UTOPIAN (COMMENT).

Posted on May 28, 2008 by Philip

I MAY BE VULGAR, BUT I’M NOT A UTOPIAN (COMMENT). Dick Weisfelder commented on my acknowledgment that I tend to look at history from a Marxist point of view that I’m “just what Marx would call a vulgar utopian, not … Continue reading →

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MARXISM AND FARCE.

Posted on May 27, 2008 by Philip

MARXISM AND FARCE (COMMENT). Annalisa here and Dick Weisfelder here expressed surprise that I acknowledged that in some sense I have Marxist tendencies. It is true that I am not a thoroughgoing Marxist or a scientific socialist (or a socialist). … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, History | 5 Comments

A NOVELIST WHO REJECTED DIALOGUE.

Posted on May 26, 2008 by Philip

A NOVELIST WHO REJECTED DIALOGUE. I have also read somewhere recently that Nabokov would glance through a novel to see if it had dialogue. If it did, he wouldn’t read it.