Barro and McCleary get to the bottom of one of the central questions in 21st-century economics – beatification: We classify these blessed persons regionally in accordance with residence at death. These data are combined with time-series estimates of regional populations of Catholics, broadly-defined Protestants, Orthodox, and Evangelicals (mostly a sub-set of Protestants). Regression estimates indicate …
While shopping recently at the Dollar Store, Nora and I came across the new frontier in climate change communication – inexpensive toys. The Endangered Species Grow Pal, Penguin Edition, is apparently collectible, and was a bargain at just $1. (It’s the Dollar Store.) Its package includes this helpful background: Penguin populations have decreased by nearly …
Continue reading ‘Endangered species grow pals – the climate change connection’ »
The folks at Arizona’s Salt River Project are soliciting ideas from the public for the time capsule they plan to bury as part of Roosevelt Dam’s centennial celebration this spring. “What would you lock away for 50 years and give to the future people of Phoenix?” My question is how many acre feet you could …
This dude used to work with me at the newspaper. He was in a back corner, both literally and metaphorically, and was kinda quiet, and it took me a while to figure out that he was the smartest and most interesting person in the room.
When I was a boy, I built a river in the backyard of our family home in Upland, California. I would put the hose at one end, running slowly, and let the water course down through channels and lakes of my own devising, beneath a cluster of lemon trees. Eventually the water would spill over …
I was delighted by the National Science Teachers association recommendation of The Tree Rings’ Tale, especially this bit from science teacher Teri Cosentino: I was so inspired by the book that when a tree was felled on campus, we counted and measured the tree rings to see what happened during the tree’s life during the …
Returning to a fine New Year’s tradition*, I bring you the most-read Inkstain posts of 2010. The thing is, it’s frankly a crap list, or at least a particularly odd one. It’s not based on some profundity on my part, but rather some weird Googlejuice, drawing random readers who no doubt click, scratch head, then …
An Ngram for western water nerds- “Hoover Dam” v “Boulder Dam”:
The seminal influences on my aesthetic/writerly self are an eclectic bunch, a function more than anything else of who I was at the time I read them (or listened to them, or stared at their art). But thinking this afternoon about the death of Captain Beefheart (who I count as an odd member of my …
Continue reading ‘“So this was a drive-in restaurant in Hollywood”’ »
I got a sad note today from a friend who recently lost his beloved HP 15C calculator: It had worked flawlessly for 28 years. One set of batteries lasts 7 years or more. One key was getting a bit worn. Dropped a few times, of course. A relic of what the U.S. could once do.