A visit this morning to the Predictify.com website (via Freakonomics) reveals that some 77.4% of participants in that prediction market believe the current recession will be worse than the 2001 episode. That, coupled with just having read Kevin Phillip's "Number's Racket: Why the economy is worse than we know" in this month's Harper's has me searching for the aspirin.
Think those town budgets are balanced?
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
MAC's Art Exhibition
The good folks at the Monson Arts Council (MAC) are hosting their annual art exhibition and sale, starting tomorrow (April 12) and running through April 27th. It's always interesting to visit the House of Art (200 Main Street) and this year's theme is "The Dance of Texture, Light and Color."
Hours are Fridays 4:00 - 8:00 PM, Saturdays 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Sundays Noon to 4:00 PM. The MAC always manages to attract a substantial number of visitors from well outside the area.
(The fact that I have three images in the show did influence this posting somewhat.)
Hours are Fridays 4:00 - 8:00 PM, Saturdays 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Sundays Noon to 4:00 PM. The MAC always manages to attract a substantial number of visitors from well outside the area.
(The fact that I have three images in the show did influence this posting somewhat.)
Know when to fold 'em?
Pelham officials, faced with financial problems, raised the prospect of merging with or outsourcing services to another town. (Sorry, I can't link to the Gazettenet story, maybe it will appear in today's Bulletin.) Pelham's looking at yet another override vote -- this time to replace aging equipment.
This isn't the first time Pelham's been in this fix. In 1854, faced with a declining population and high poverty rates, the town asked the legislature to give up its charter -- opening up the prospect of a merger with Amherst or Belchertown. Taking over Pelham didn't appear to be an appealing prospect for the surrounding towns so the legislature refused. Apparently Pelham kept up the petition until 1870. Who said history doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme?
Sustainability is a real issue that we'll hear more and more of. Small may be beautiful but it can be expensive and inefficient.
This isn't the first time Pelham's been in this fix. In 1854, faced with a declining population and high poverty rates, the town asked the legislature to give up its charter -- opening up the prospect of a merger with Amherst or Belchertown. Taking over Pelham didn't appear to be an appealing prospect for the surrounding towns so the legislature refused. Apparently Pelham kept up the petition until 1870. Who said history doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme?
Sustainability is a real issue that we'll hear more and more of. Small may be beautiful but it can be expensive and inefficient.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
April 1st
The countdown begins to the Amherst town elections. It will be interesting to see who tops the list at the end of the day on (unfortunately) April Fool's day. By any measure, this is a memorable campaign season for Amherst and a strong turnout will be welcomed (and unusual).
It's tough to judge who might be ahead by lawn signs and standouts, phone calls or leaflets stuffed in the door. But as the old saying goes, there's only two ways to run for office: scared or unopposed. Clearly there's opposition, this year more than last, which is reflective of the opinion folks have of the Selectboard. Running in a contested election takes a great deal of time, effort, and some money so the fact that so many people are willing to step forward and try can be taken as a signal of discontent. One open seat and one vulnerable incumbent makes for an interesting opportunity for change.
It's tough to judge who might be ahead by lawn signs and standouts, phone calls or leaflets stuffed in the door. But as the old saying goes, there's only two ways to run for office: scared or unopposed. Clearly there's opposition, this year more than last, which is reflective of the opinion folks have of the Selectboard. Running in a contested election takes a great deal of time, effort, and some money so the fact that so many people are willing to step forward and try can be taken as a signal of discontent. One open seat and one vulnerable incumbent makes for an interesting opportunity for change.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Hanging at the State House
Stan Rosenberg invited the Pioneer Valley Photo Artists to exhibit images at his office in the State House and I'm among those taking him up on the offer. The photos (40 in all) will be on display from April 1 through June 6th and can be seen during normal statehouse business hours (no weekends or holidays). Stan has long been involved in promoting the arts and is one of the founders of the Arts Extension Service.
The photo in the header is a slice of my contribution to the exhibit.
The photo in the header is a slice of my contribution to the exhibit.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Error of our ways?
There's been some grumbling of late that the folks who got it wrong in the first place continued to get space in the media on topics like Iraq and the housing bubble. The question is why and Alex Tabarrok over at Marginal Revolution has the answer:
The answer is media incentives. It wasn't just the experts who were wrong, the majority of the American people got Iraq and housing wrong. The war was popular in the beginning and people continued to buy houses even as prices rose ever higher. So what does the American public want to hear now?
The public wants to hear why they weren't idiots. And who better to explain to the public why they weren't idiots than experts who also got it wrong?
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
TATA for Now
No, I'm not going anywhere – just engaging in a bad pun for the purpose of restarting this blog.
TATA Motors of India, in what has to be world class irony, is buying to esteemed British brands from Ford Motors: Land Rover and Jaguar. Back in my dreamy misspent youth in western New York state (the hinterlands some 400+ miles away from The City) I used to dream about traveling across deepest, darkest Africa or some other god forbidden place in my Land Rover. Not luxury but the opposite. A bone jarring ride on terrain that required a vehicle as tough as the men on board. Luxury be damned, it was reliability and ease of repair we adventurers required.
Of course, that was I time when I would have purchased my big game rifle, a Weatherby .457 magnum, from that premier outfitter, Abercrombie and Fitch, located in Manhattan.
So now, Land Rover is reduced to selling SUVs to folks who have to negotiate the difficult terrain of southern Connecticut, in rain or snow. It is in competition with the Toyota Land Cruiser which seems to have pre-empted the Rover from its natural habitat if not the 'burbs.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Monday, June 4, 2007
Amazing.
What a cold, lots of work, an impending deadline and the second printer to go south on me in two months can do for one's blogging....
At any rate, town meeting is on once again (will they or won't they with the school budget?) with a special golf course edition planned for Wednesday for some local action and commentary. We have a dust up over casinos on the state level and can consider if the gov's municipal partnership act is in fact DOA. Nationally the Repubs look like they've found another pretender for prez (not that we don't have one now) and the Dems sorta think that it's Bush's war even though they keep enabling him.
The back cover of my copy of "The Black Swan" says that Nassim Taleb is temporarily the Dean's Professor in the Sciences of Uncertainty at UMass. If you haven't read his book "Fooled By Randomness" you should -- it's a mind expanding exploration of the impact of random events on our lives and how that planned purposeful success that turned someone into a millionaire may well be dumb luck. I'm not doing the book justice. Now I'll have to check the UMass web site to see if he's doing any public presentations, if he's still at the university (funny, they never mention things like this when the alumni fundraising letter arrives).
At any rate, town meeting is on once again (will they or won't they with the school budget?) with a special golf course edition planned for Wednesday for some local action and commentary. We have a dust up over casinos on the state level and can consider if the gov's municipal partnership act is in fact DOA. Nationally the Repubs look like they've found another pretender for prez (not that we don't have one now) and the Dems sorta think that it's Bush's war even though they keep enabling him.
The back cover of my copy of "The Black Swan" says that Nassim Taleb is temporarily the Dean's Professor in the Sciences of Uncertainty at UMass. If you haven't read his book "Fooled By Randomness" you should -- it's a mind expanding exploration of the impact of random events on our lives and how that planned purposeful success that turned someone into a millionaire may well be dumb luck. I'm not doing the book justice. Now I'll have to check the UMass web site to see if he's doing any public presentations, if he's still at the university (funny, they never mention things like this when the alumni fundraising letter arrives).
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