Jim's TiddlyWiki - a reusable non-linear personal web notebook

If you're looking for a way to waste time on the Web (as if there weren't enough options), consider [[this site|http://www.network-science.de/ascii/]] which lets you create ASCII character art. \n

America's two major political parties have only loosely-defined principles, which is necessary under the "big tent" philosophy they both need to attract members. When the New York City financial industry starting complaining, Charles Shumer, normally a pretty liberal guy, wrote an editorial piece for the Wall Street Journal (11/1) complaining about over-regulation and the need for tort reform. It would have sounded good at a Republican meeting! A great deal of political philosophy depends on whose ox is getting gored.\n\nOr consider this: in order to compete in the 2006 elections, the Democratic Party recruited candidates who didn't fit the stereotype. From [[opinionjournal|http://opinionjournal.com]]:\n\n//One such candidate, Heath Shuler, was courted by Republicans to run for office in 2001. Mr. Shuler, 34, is a retired National Football League quarterback who is running in the 11th Congressional District in North Carolina. He is an evangelical Christian and holds fast to many conservative social views, like opposition to abortion rights. . . .//\n\nor\n\n// Even as Republicans across the country vilify Pelosi as the face of the lunatic left, here she faces the enmity of the fire-breathing liberals she supposedly represents. Only in San Francisco would Pelosi be picketed as a right-wing warmonger, as she was at a January town hall meeting overrun by protesters who jeered her refusal to cut off funds for U.S. troops in Iraq.//\n\nIt is rare for either party to congeal around a coherent political agenda, but it does happen as it did with the New Deal, the Great Society, or the Contract With America. And it's not clear [[how much it matters|http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009172]].\n\nNevertheless, it is worth considering some key [[political issues]].

Replaced with http://www.google.com/notebook/public/13548250289672059765/BDQlbIgoQyZGJlO8h\n\n

Google Notes http://www.google.com/notebook/fullpage#b=BDQlbIgoQmuT4-PIh

This is where I comment on the "big issues" of the day.\n!Cost Of Health Care\nCheck out [[RSS feed items|http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/12140072190880495826/label/healthcare]].\nSee also [[Slowing Improvement in Health Care]].\n![[Global Warming]] (Click Link)\n![[Immigration]]\n![[Income Distribution]]\n![[Intellectual Property|http://www.google.com/notebook/fullpage#b=BDSXVIgoQlu3JgfMh]]\n![[Minimum Wage]] (Click Link)\n![[Social Security]] & Medicare\n[[How Bad Is The Problem?|http://www.tcsdaily.com/Article.aspx?id=111306B]] And [[what's the alternative?|http://www.economist.com/debate/freeexchange/2006/12/developing_countries_have_been.cfm]]

I'm not sure that I want to continue doing this, but it was a useful exercise in learning to use Photoshop Elements. The comix are [[here|http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ejimdew/comix.html]]

[[Hello]]

Please read my [[Introduction To Economics|http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dctfcdzc_3g5k43z]].\n\nEconomics is the study of markets and exchanges. Economics explores some very interesting questions:\n\n* What factors increase production, i.e. [[what makes wealth|What Makes Wealth?]]?\n* Why do people make the exchanges they make, i.e. what is the [[Nature Of Exchange]]?\n* What are the relationships between [[governments and markets|Governments and Markets]]?\n\nOver time, this Web site will explore these and other related questions.\n\nAn excellent source of economic education is [[The Foundation For Economic Education|http://www.fee.org/]]. One of the best things they have to offer is an online version of Henry Hazlitt's __Economics In One Lesson__, which I am reviewing [[here|Hazzlitt's Fallacies]] The lesson, by the way, can be put into one sentence: The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.\n\nEconomics is about understanding the connection between things. These connections are often overlooked. For some examples, see [[Missed Connections]].\n\nI tend to favor Austrian economic rather than conventional - the reasons are complex, but it's rather like the difference between geometry and algebra. I'll go into it some day, but one problem with conventional economics is [[Bad Numbers]]. To get a flavor of Austrian economics and Austrian thinking, check out my [[Google Notes on Austrian Thinking|http://www.google.com/notebook/fullpage#b=BDSBGIgoQ0tLi-vIh]].\n\n!Interesting Articles\n\nRecent articles, with excerpts, are in my [[Google Notes on Political Economics|http://www.google.com/notebook/public/13548250289672059765/BDRzpIgoQkf_M6u4h]].\nAnd check out my list of [[economics articles from RSS|http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/12140072190880495826/label/economics]].\n\n!The Economists\n\nMy [[notes|http://www.google.com/notebook/fullpage#b=BDR1XIgoQp6jYre8h]] on Milton Friedman.

Gosh, it seems like everyone is updating everything all at once! I just installed Firefox 2.0 and have begun testing. There are a lot of new features, but most of them don't seem relevant to me. The best is that a "new window" link now opens in a new tab rather than a new window, which I think is quite an improvement.\n\nCheck out various tips on Firefox [[here|http://www.google.com/notebook/public/13548250289672059765/BDSrpIgoQrLixi-0h]].\n\nSee [[Tabbed Browsing]]

I suppose it was bound to happen, but food finally became a battleground in the Yahoo vs Google wars. [[Yahoo Food|http://food.yahoo.com/]] looks like a winner. ''This'' could soak up a lot of time!\n\n* [[Food & Wine Pairings|http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ejimdew/wpair.htm]]\n* [[Buying Imported Wine|http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ejimdew/wineim.htm]]\n\nAdded reference to Collier Falls winery & Russian River Wine Road.

Google Pages http://www.google.com/notebook/fullpage#b=BDRhPIgoQ8uOJ0fEh

Politics produces a lot of humor. Here are some funny things I've found on the Web:\n\n* [[Racism Video|http://www.townhall.com/blog/g/455a4bfc-5770-4a6d-a6d2-c854b718e9be]] pokes fun at using the //race card//.

GTDTiddlyWiki is a customized version of TiddlyWiki which is described [[here|http://www.lifehacker.com/software/getting-things-done/get-organized-with-gtdtiddlywiki-210354.php]]. I'm kind of a nut about being organized and I initially thought GTDTW was fantastic. But what's even more interesting is the generic TiddlyWiki. TiddlyWiki is really a whole new way to organize and communicate information. What you are viewing now is my "Web publishing" TiddlyWiki which may ultimately eat my Web site!\n\nGTDTiddlyWiki offers different print formatting from a normal Wiki - and that's about it. I'd recommend going straight for a regular Wiki. But GTDTiddlyWiki was enough to get me interested, so if it appeals, go for it!

For the latest and greatest, try my [[Geek RSS Results|http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/12140072190880495826/label/geek]]. If you want to keep track of what's happening at Google, read [[Google Operating System|http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/]].\n!Latest Product Review\n* [[Cooliris|http://www.cooliris.com/]]. At first I was skeptical about a Firefox plug-in that put a browser inside of a browser. CoolIris lets you look at a page without leaving the page you're on, so functionally it's no better than a link. Except that it is. When you dismiss the CoolIris page, as opposed to using the browser's "back" key, the browser doesn't have to reload the page you came from. This doesn't sound like much, but it is a significant improvement in performance and makes any exploratory surfing (like shopping or searching) much faster. This is a "must use" as far as I'm concerned. \n!My product reviews.\nYou can open them all by using the ''tags'' pop-up menu on the right.@@color:red; In the online version, these separate tiddlers are inline.@@\n\n[[ASCII Web Site]]\n[[Firefox 2.0]]\n[[Google Docs]]\n[[Google Notes]]\n[[Google Reader]]\nGTDTiddlyWiki\n[[Tabbed Browsing]]\n[[Web Based E-mail]]\n[[Yahoo's My Web 2.0]]\n[[Yahoo Photos]]\n[[Yep (Mac Only)]]\n[[Zamar]]\n\n!References\n* HTML, CSS, RSS questions? Try [[W3SchoolsOnline|http://www.w3schools.com/]]\n* The BitTorent [[FAQ|http://www.dessent.net/btfaq/]]\n\n! Under Evaluation\n

* [[Secrets Of Greatness|http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391794/index.htm]]\n* [[Global Warming]]\n* [[Avoiding backache|http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/rson-abs112206.php]]\n\nJohn Darbyshire on how to have a decent society:\n<<<\nThe trick, if you want a reasonably happy and stable society, is to corral human nature into useful, non-socially-destructive styles of expression: sexuality into marriage, or at least some kind of formal and constrained bonding; aggression into sport or military training; the power urge into consensual politics; cheating into conjuring, drama, and games like poker. (I don’t mean you should cheat at poker, only that you need some powers of deception to play poker well.) Any aspect of human nature can get out of hand...That doesn’t mean the aspect is bad, just that some society has done a bad job of corraling [sic] it.\n<<<\n\n

[[This article|http://www.economist.com/debate/freeexchange/2006/11/how_about_that_stern_report.cfm]] gives a nice balanced summary of the debate and the central issue: how much do we want to sacrifice today as a precaution against a possible cataclysm tomorrow? In my view, there is so much uncertainty over this issue that the ''most'' governments should do (for now) is continue to study it.\n\nThis subject gets it's share of nonsense. Check out the [[Bad Numbers]] section. [[Here|http://www.mises.org/story/2372]] is a good rebuttal to the latest wave of hysteria. But even if the dire predictions are true, the [[proposed solution is wrong|http://www.tcsdaily.com/Article.aspx?id=110806C]].

Google Docs provides online word processing and spreadsheet capability. Initially, I wasn't too impressed because it was a little slow and lacked a number of features. But Google seems intent on continually improving the package. The [[latest enhancements|http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/11/major-update-in-google-spreadsheets.html]] seem pretty nifty, giving the online spreadsheets capabilities missing from Excel or Open Office Calc.

Ever try to do research on the Web, find a lot of good information, but then have a tough time organizing it? If so, you'll like Google Notes. With Notes, when you find something while surfing, you can simply select it and use the Notes button to save it in a Note. Google Notes not only saves your information, but it also keeps track of where it originally came from. You can put information from multiple sources into a Note, including text you write yourself. You can re-arrange your information and use several formatting tools that are provided. You can even publish the Note on the Web or e-mail it. Research just got a lot easier. Check out [[Google Labs|http://labs.google.com/]] and try Google Notes.\n

I've been playing with the new Google Reader and it's redesigned interface. This product seems almost perfect! If you're unfamiliar with RSS, [[here|http://www.whatisrss.com/]] is a good short explanation. Beside having a great user interface, the Google Reader has the added benefit of allowing you to do some clever things with your RSS input such as posting them on the Web. Check out [[Google Labs|http://labs.google.com/]] and try the new Reader.

You can study economics in the abstract, but in reality, governments have an enormous influence on economies. Government policies are always political, so this intersection of politics and economics is called "political economics".\n\nThere are many things that governments can do to cause free markets to veer from their natural course. Some of those things are:\n* [[Regulations]]\n* Other [[Trade Restrictions]]\n* [[Taxation]]\n* Government Spending

Hazlitt wrote his __One Lesson__ in 1946, so many of the concerns were related to the coming end of the war. They sound odd, though perfectly valid, to the modern ear. Some of the topics he makes very clear are:\n* The Broken Window Fallacy\n* The Income vs Purchasing Power Fallacy (Real Wages Matter)\n* Public Works Mean Taxes\n* Taxes Discourage Production\n* Government Credit Diverts Production (Moral Hazard)\n* Ignoring Productivity\n* Wages and employment must be related to productivity and output)\n* Who's Protected By Tariffs?\n* The Pathological Yearning For Exports\n* Price Controls (Multiple Chapters)\n* Protecting X Industry\n* How The Price System Works\n* Wage Controls (Multiple Chapters)\n* Unions\n* The Function Of Profits

What's this? This is the meta-data control for my Web site. Each tiddler here corresponds to either one of my Google Pages or one of my Google Notes. The reason for doing this is that it enables me to easily keep track of forward and backward links.\n\nI've added [[Bad Numbers]] and it's new companion piece, [[Bad Thinking]] to the main menu on the left.\n\nNavigating this may seem a little strange at first. You have a lot of choices. You can use the major categories I've defined on the left. Or you can click on "Tags" on the right to see entries ordered by keyword. You can click on "Timeline" on the right to see which entries have changed recently. And, of course, you can search. So click around and enjoy!\n\nThis may seem like a strange mix of content, but I'm not the only one thinking in this intersection of ideas. [[These guys|http://www.wju.edu/academics/bus/iscm/]] are!\n\nOh, and if you've missed some of my October commentary, my old commentary page is [[here|http://jimdew.googlepages.com/jim%27sthoughts]].\n[img[DEWTRANS.GIF]]\n

Google Note: http://www.google.com/notebook/fullpage#b=BDRPpIgoQ0O2M-fEh

Google Note

I suppose that any examination of International Relations must deal with the UN, [[as depressing as that is|http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110009212&mod=RSS_Opinion_Journal&ojrss=frontpage]].\n\nAnd no discussion of international relations can avoid the subject of [[Iraq]]. \n\nBut more generally, a good place to start is with a discussion of [[nations and state|http://www.tcsdaily.com/Article.aspx?id=110106B]].\n\nAnd in a completely different vein, [[here|http://www.tcsdaily.com/Article.aspx?id=102006B]]'s a good discussion of Graneen Bank.

Google Note: Iraq\nhttp://www.google.com/notebook/fullpage#b=BDRQYIwoQvMOjjO8h

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Google Notes http://www.google.com/notebook/fullpage#b=BDR1XIgoQ_dz42PIh

What are lifehacks? They're simply hints and tips to make ordinary living a bit easier. I hope to include my own, but for now you'll have to settle for what I've seen coming down my RSS feed:\n\n[[RSS Lifehacks|http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/12140072190880495826/label/lifehack]]\n\n!Lifehack Links\n* Courtesty of economics, [[what to do about annoying phone solicitations|http://www.economist.com/debate/freeexchange/2006/11/incentives_matter.cfm]]\n* [[Best deals on the Web|http://www.boddit.com/]]\n* [[Finding great deals on Amazon.com|http://probargainhunter.com/2006/11/28/amazon-shopping-tips-and-hacks/]]\n* Ultimately, [[WikiHow|http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page]] will tell you how to do everything!

[[Hello]]\n[[Bad Numbers]]\n[[Bad Thinking]]\n[[Big Issues]]\n[[Comix]]\n[[Economics]]\n[[Food & Wine]]\nFunnyPolitics\nGeekStuff\n[[General Interest]]\n[[International Relations]]\n[[Lifehacks]]\n[[Money]]\n[[Other]]\n[[Pictures]]\n[[Political Science]]\n[[Reading Room]]\n[[Video|http://mystuff.ask.com/public/jimdew/folders/Video]]

[[This|http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/hottopic/?id=110009232&mod=RSS_Opinion_Journal&ojrss=frontpage]] explains it well.

Economics is largely about seeing connections. When we fail to see the connections, we often experience unintended consequences. Here are stories of missed connections.\n\n* [[Slowing Improvement in Health Care]]

!Financial Articles Of Interest\n\n* [[Reverse Mortgages|http://www.economist.com/debate/freeexchange/2006/11/home_equity_to_solve_japans_pe.cfm]]\n\n!My Thoughts\nI'm an active investor (or speculator), and this is written from that perspective. Most people shouldn't be active investors. [[Here's why|http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2006/10/passive_still_b.html]]. Some people look askance at speculation, but [[speculation serves an important purpose|http://mises.org/story/2381]]. If you insist on playing this game, there is worse advice than [[this|http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2006/12/dennis_gartmans.html]].\n\n''Fidelity 401K Analysis''\n\nMy philosophy is simple: keep retirement funds in money markets (cash) until favorable opportunties appear and then monitor holdings closely, getting out at the first sign of serious weakness.\n\n11/15/06. Now looks like a good time to buy the Japan Fund. Remember, it's not a good idea to drop too much in a single country fund - it's like using spices in cooking!\n\n11/9/06. Man, the Diversified International Fund is on a roll! Not so Japan Fund, which has sputtered around pretty badly. In fact, it looks like the Japan Fund may present another buying opportunity pretty soon. Remember, buy low sell high! \n\n10/31/06. I'm pulling out of Convertible Securities. It was a nice little run while it lasted, but it looks like the end is nigh. I'm still bullish on Diversified International and Japan, although I wouldn't be buying either just now. \n\n''Trading Stocks''\n\n11/29/06 - It is odd that a set of stocks in the same industry will all take a plunge on the same day. This often represents a buying opportunity in the near future. It happened again yesterday - keep your eye on railroads!\n\n''Background'' - I favor the "buy low, sell high" approach to trading stocks. The alternative, "buy high and sell higher", or momentum investing, is certainly a valid alternative, but my disposition is such that I am more comfortable with the style I use. Executing a "buy low" strategy involves finding stocks that are cheap, but not getting cheaper. I think the easiest way to do this is to identify stocks that are "in trouble" and then monitor their price until they show signs of reversing their downward price trend. So I monitor a lot of stocks. When stock prices are declining, it's usually for a reason, and those reasons are often specific to the company. I'm normally monitoring many stocks in a wide variety of industries.\n\nBut sometimes a bunch of related stocks all fall into decline, indicating some broader trend is underway. This is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, when you're right, you can win big. On the other hand, it flies in the face of diversification theory. So much for theory!\n

In an honest voluntary exchange, one finds more value in what one receives than in what one gives up. This means that voluntary exchange is always productive of value for both parties (provided there is no deceitful conduct). The implication of this is that free trade is always beneficial for those doing the trading.\n\nIn terms of exchanging labor, everyone has an interest in specializing in what he or she knows best comparatively to what others know. This is called comparative advantage.

There's stuff I read that I find interesting, but it's not (I think) of general interest and I'm not sure how to integrate it into my overall thematic arrangement. Here are the outliers:\n\n* [[Guns and Better|http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110009173&mod=RSS_Opinion_Journal&ojrss=frontpage]]

Our collection of online pictures is available at http://new.photos.yahoo.com/jimdew/albums. I've just finished scanning years of old pictures, so content is constantly being changed.\n\nBelow are the most recent sets of photos.\n----\n[[Thanksgiving 06|http://new.photos.yahoo.com/jimdew/album/576460762350656383]]\n\n[[California 06|http://new.photos.yahoo.com/jimdew/album/576460762347405726]]\n\n[[Ann's 2006 Stockholm Trip|http://new.photos.yahoo.com/jimdew/album/576460762319827900#page1]]\n\n[[Labor Day Weekend 2006|http://new.photos.yahoo.com/jimdew/album/576460762319825012#page1]]\n\n[[Tuscaloosa Trip|http://new.photos.yahoo.com/jimdew/album/576460762319829119#page1]]\n\n[[Platteville Trip|http://new.photos.yahoo.com/jimdew/album/576460762319791173#page1]]\n\n[[Las Vegas - July 4|http://new.photos.yahoo.com/jimdew/album/576460762319791144]]\n

Is the role of government is to make decisions and take actions on behalf of it's citizens or is it to make decisions and take actions on behalf of those that govern? In most governments, both are true in various degrees. It is inevitable that, sooner or later, those that govern will use government for their own benefit and to the detriment of the governed. This is why most modern governments institutionalize limitations on government powers, the division of power within government, transparency, accountability, and some amount of randomness and uncertainty.\n\nNevertheless, there is substantial disagreement about the scope of government. Governments provide benefits, but they also impose costs. The three critical issues are these:\n\n* Government can constrain behavior. Most people would prefer a government that constrains violent criminals. But to do so, government must define criminal behavior and the associated penalties. Some people will find some government constraints too constraining. \n* Governments can provide services. Who doesn't like the idea of a fire department? But when are government services less desirable than private services? And when do government services become abusive?\n* Governments can enrich some at the expense of others.\n\nI myself favor a [[Libertarian View]] of limited government because history and experience shows (at least to me) that, as governments expand in power, the opportunities for mischief expand faster than the benefits to citizens.\n\nThat about sums up my political philosophy. Yet there are many many shades of gray and lots of interesting issues to ponder. I try to capture some of the fodder for political thought in this.\n\n!Interesting Reading\nBe sure to check out my [[Political Science RSS Feed|http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/12140072190880495826/label/polisci]]\n\n* [[Fascism|http://www.mises.org/story/2360]]\n* [[Limits On Government?|http://cafehayek.typepad.com/hayek/2006/11/government_pate.html]]\n* [[A higher set of political values?|http://www.mises.org/story/2374]]\n* [[Why democracies have poor leadership|http://www.tcsdaily.com/Article.aspx?id=102406A]]\n* [[Why democracies are resilient|http://www.tcsdaily.com/Article.aspx?id=111506B]]\n* [[Prelude to democracy|http://www.tcsdaily.com/Article.aspx?id=102506A]]\n* [[All About "Rights"|http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dctfcdzc_5gvp6k3]]\n* [[Does Politics Matter?|http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009172]]

Attempts by governments to dictate prices have a very poor history. Prices can be controlled directly or indirectly.\n\nExamples of direct price controls:\n* Anti-gouging laws\n* [[Minimum Wage]]\n\nExamples of indirect price controls:\n* Minimum coverage standards for health insurance

The best way to find good stuff to read on the Web is to use RSS feeds and a good RSS reader (I recommend [[Google Reader]]). Beware, however, that you can easily get overwhelmed. I keep refining my process for handling the stream of RSS flowing to me. I believe the answer is a multi-step process.\n\n* Keep current by quickly scanning the summary and mark items that you want to read\n* When current, read your marked items and keyword them (or not) and unmark them.\n* Do whatever it is you want to do with your list of keyworded entries at your leisure.\n\nThere are zillions of RSS feeds, but [[one I particularly like|http://www.economist.com/debate/freeexchange/]] is new at The Economist.\n\nSome of my keyed lists are: \n* [[Topical|http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/12140072190880495826/label/topical]]\n* [[Economics|http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/12140072190880495826/label/economics]]\n* [[Geek Stuff|http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/12140072190880495826/label/geek]]\n* [[Healthcare|http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/12140072190880495826/label/healthcare]]\n* [[Lifehacks|http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/12140072190880495826/label/lifehack]]\n* [[Oddities|http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/12140072190880495826/label/odd]]\n* [[Political Science|http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/12140072190880495826/label/polisci]]\n\nIf you are interested in the "old" Reading Room, it's [[here|http://jimdew.googlepages.com/readingroom]].

Few things are as contentious as government regulations. A useful way of thinking about regulations is that come in two basic forms.\n\nThe first form is really a form of standardization. For example, someone has to decide what exactly is "a gallon" or "a pound". What does "organic" mean? These kind of regulations serve to make exchanges easier to make and provide a baseline for discovering fraud. Another kind of standardization regulation determines level of harm. For example, how much sulphur dioxide can a power plant emit before it is deemed harmful?\n\nThe second kind of regulation serves to prohibit voluntary exchange. It is really a form of [[Trade Restriction|Trade Restrictions]]. Almost anything concerning drugs, alcohol, and firearms fall into this category, as well as a host of other things.\n\nAre regulations good or bad? There are clearly benefits from both kind of regulation, but all regulations have costs. DO the costs exceed the benefits? My [[Google Notes on Regulation|http://www.google.com/notebook/fullpage#b=BDQqFIwoQldia2PIh]] explore these issues.

<<tabs txtMainTab Timeline Timeline TabTimeline All 'All tiddlers' TabAll Tags 'All tags' TabTags More 'More lists' TabMore>>

Jim's TiddlyWiki

Like most companies, drug companies plow most of their profits back into the business. For drug companies, the big expense items are:\n* Educating physicians about the latest drugs\n* Clinical trials of new drugs\n* Research & Development\nIn short, drug company profits fund a big piece of the ever improving quality of health care. Yet many politicians often attack drug companies for their profits and actively work to reduce them. You never hear them say that they want to slow the improvement of health care!

It takes the Brits to [[explain the problem well|http://www.economist.com/debate/freeexchange/2006/11/one_of_the_promises_of.cfm]].

If you're not using a tabbed browser, you're browsing in low gear! My favorite browser is Firefox, although Safari also has tabbing capability. Microsoft's product seems like a resident of Jurassic Park.\n\nThe advantage of a tabbing browser is that you can start "projects" on the Web, interrupt them with new "projects", and then later get back to what you were originally doing. Yes, any browser can do this with multiple windows, but, trust me here, multiple tabs are much easier to manage than multiple windows. Tabbed browsing is especially convenient if you use Web pages to store information that you get from other Web pages.

If you think that knowing what's fair or unfair about taxes is easy, consider this:\n<<<\nMy dinner companion was passionate in her conviction that the rich pay less than their fair share of taxes. I didn't understand what she meant by "fair," so I asked a clarifying question: Suppose that Jack and Jill draw equal amounts of water from a community well. Jack's income is $10,000, of which he is taxed 10%, or $1,000, to support the well. Jill's income is $100,000, of which she is taxed 5%, or $5,000, to support the well. In which direction is that tax policy unfair?\n<<<\nStephen Landsburg, __The Armchair Economist__

You have to see [[http://www.tiddlywiki.com/]]

Governments can restrict trade in goods and services in a number of ways:\n\n* Certain types of trade can be made illegal, e.g. you cannot sell a kidney\n* Prices can be dictated by government, overruling natural market pricing - see [[Price Controls]]\n* Trade volumes can be restricted, e.g. quotas\n* Governments can tax some exchanges while not taxing others, thus establishing unnatural preferences in the market\n\nThe latter two constitute barriers to [[Free Trade]].\n\nIn all cases, trade restrictions encourage the development of [[black markets|http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/karlsson6.html]]. \n

In the early days of Web based e-mail (Hotmail, MSN, Yahoo), the major drawback was that you had to manually check your in-box. Unlike a real mail program, these mail services wouldn't notify you when a message arrived. That all changed with Google's mail service, G-mail. Using AJAX technology, G-mail will automatically add things to your inbox as long as your browser is pointed at your G-mail inbox. With a tabbed browser (see below), this is trivially easy to do. Even better, when a new message arrives, the actual browser tab changes, indicating the number of unread messages.\n\nBut nothing is perfect. G-mail has a lot of great features, but it handles messages in an odd way, clumping them together in conversations. It takes a little getting used to. It also doesn't support folders, using keywords instead. Keywording is all the rage these days, but I guess I'm too organized and too old-fashioned: I prefer folders.\n\nSo I was interested to see that Yahoo's new e-mail beta supports message notification, just like G-mail. Even better (from my perspective), it supports traditional folders with a drag and drop interface. Yahoo! But Yahoo keeps it's old disadvantages of stamping all your outgoing mail with a small ad (unless you pay a fee).\n\nAll in all, I think G-mail is superior and good enough to be my standard mail interface. Combined with tabbed browsing, it requires one less thing on the desktop, which is benefit enough to learn to like conversations and keywording.

People often ask why there are poor people. You can't understand much asking the question that way. The better question is this: why is anyone not poor? Why don't we live the lives of grim subsistence that our ancestors endured? The answer is innovation - millions and millions of innovations, small and large, which serve to make life more agreeable. One way to look at economics is as the study of the factors that encourage or discourage innovation and progress. The questions of economics aren't about technology, but rather the questions of how mankind should best organize it's affairs in order to make life as agreeable as possible by nourishing innovation.

Yahoo has done a major upgrade of their Photos service. The onscreen editing is much much better. Uploading is supposed to be better too, although I haven't tried it. They now provide an ability to download pictures in the orginal resolution, which makes it suitable for a photo backup facility. The upgrade appears to have messed up the reference pattern of the old interface - links I had created to individual albums now link to a menu of all the public albums. Oooh, we don't like incompatibilities. But there is a lot to like about the new capability, so I'll forgive them this time. All in all, I think Yahoo provides the best photo management system on the Web. It's great to watch Google and Yahoo duke it out - the rest of us get the benefits!

It might seem like all of the cool toys come from Google, but that's not the case. [[Yahoo's My Web|http://myweb.yahoo.com/myweb]] is one of the best things on the Web. This is an elaborate bookmarking facility which allows you to create an infinite number of bookmarks. What's impressive is that you can give your bookmarks keywords and then select by keywords, search the content of your bookmarked pages, and even save a copy of the page (on Yahoo's servers) in case it should disappear from the Web. The archiving facility is great for maintaining historical records. With the Yahoo toolbar installed in your browser, saving a page in My Web is a simple one click operation.

[Yep|http://www.thekip.com/] (Mac Only) claims to do for PDFs what iPhoto does for digital photos. It includes an organizer (using tags), a PDF viewer, and a scanner driver. Their vision is to support a paperless environment. It seems to work as advertised, but I'm not sure how enamored I am of organizing all my PDFs, much less trying for a paperless environment.

I haven't tried Zamar yet, but [[this|http://www.lifehacker.com/software/conversions/online-file-conversion-with-zamzar-211968.php]] looks interesting.

Issues come in and out of style, but some keep coming back to haunt us.\n\n[[Social Security]] is one such issue. [[Here|http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009176]] is some analysis of it's impact on the 2006 elections.