Inefficient Cities as Sources of New Work

As I continue with "The Economy of Cities" there have been a number of assertions that seemed relatively uncontroversial (what with my vast knowledge of development economics). However, there's no data in this book, that I've yet seen.

I've gotten to the point in the book where the author is contending that inefficient cities--those that are somewhat "organic" in their physical and economic layouts--are engines of innovation. The idea seems pretty reasonable: a number of small firms duplicating work (economically inefficient) and/or being lumped hurly-burly next-door to different pursuits, whether business, residential, or commercial (physically inefficient) may lead to new ways of doing work, new firms making new things, what have you.

Never Thought I'd See That in Print

I jussst started reading The Economy of Cities, by Jane Jacobs. Not fifteen pages in, this gem:

...factories in rural West Virginia employed local people who already knew how to sew and possibly even made their own underwear but this should not persuade us that therefore brassiere making developed from subsistence underwear making in West Virginia.

"Subsistence underwear making" is just hilarious. Like, there they are, barely scratching out their chemises and boxer-briefs.

Height

Here you go.

Eating Enough?

Report

Well, that went okay. I fear that my talk was pitched to the wrong
level, but a few people seemed to follow it and even enjoy it a bit.

I had something like fourteen one-half-hour interviews, as well as
lunching and dining with some of the people. Those all went very smoothly.

For someone with actual knowledge of that industry, it seems like it
would be a truly wonderful place.

San Jose

Going up tomorrow afternoon. I have a day of interviews there and will be giving a seminar on my research at a research unit of a well-known tech company. Somewhat nervous, but also not too bad, as I don't think a) there's a single chance in hell I'll get it, b) don't even really want it.

Still... advice?

Soren's Growth

Continuing apace

Oh, Patton. Another Jest!

"Casserole of evil."

That's some good coinage.

Air Talk

Sometimes, I'm terribly surprised at the things I hear on the radio. With the Pope's visit coming up, it seems as though NPR is all Christianity, all the time.

Yesterday, while interviewing a couple of men in seminary, a hostess made the point that the general public don't really know much about what the lives of seminarians and priests are like. She actually said something to the effect that "the perception is that priests live very cloistered lives."

This morning, I got off the phone and turned the radio on and heard a
host talking to a priest--I think it was a priest--about coitus interruptus.

Dawn of the Dead

Hilarious if you leave the captions on. E.g. "Undead gnashing of teeth" and "cadaverous moaning."

Hello, World

Where is my mind?

I like this song by the Pixies. It came on my internet radio station at work. I said to myself, "Tom"--'cause that's what I go by, back home, is 'Tom'--where is your mind?"

Oh - stop

With your feet in the air and your head on the ground Try this trick and spin it, yeah Your head will collapse But there's nothing in it And you'll ask yourself

Where is my mind?

Way out in the water See it swimmin'

I was swimmin' in the Caribbean Animals were hiding behind the rocks Except the little fish But they told me, he swears Tryin' to talk to me, coy koi.

The What Wing?

In the sixth season, there's an episode where the President hosts peace talks between Israel and some Palestinian authority. In comments on the progress of talks, C.J. mentions the great success of the lunch buffet. The menu included Maryland crab cakes.

A big hit with those Israelis and Palestinians? Really?

I'm thinking not.

Sooo, About That Job Interview

I just found out they want to make me an offer.

I Chose A

I'll tell you about it later.

Tie Vote (har har)

As our hero prepares for his big job interview in DC next week, he seeks the wisdom of the people in an important aesthetic decision.

Option A:

Option B:

Commence voting!

I is...

Too tard to moddle.

No, Not Them!

Since Susan and I are planning on a natural childbirth for our soon-to-arrive progeny, I've procured and started to read Husband-Coached Childbirth. An interesting passage:

My personal experience covering forty-six years and over twenty-three thousand babies is a zero maternal mortality rate. This is in spite of the fact that we have a high concentration of high-risk patients--kyphotic dwarfs, pneumonectomy patients, cardiac surgery patients, diabetic patients, and the most frightening of all, the Jehovah's Witnesses who came to us in droves.

Oh no! Not the Jehovah's Witnesses!

Weird Meme

Okay, here it is: find the book closest to you. Turn to page 123. Locate the fifth sentence. Post the sixth, seventh, and eighth sentences.

The book closest to me was The Physics of Information Technology, by Neil Gershenfeld. The selection is below.

To find the field distribution everywhere, it's necessary t o solve Maxwell's equations in cylindrical coordinates for a diverging wave. This is a surprisingly non-trivial calculation [Yariv, 1991], but the result drawn in Figure 8.4 for the fundamental radial and azimuthal mode TEM₀₀ is close to what we just found. At the focus, the phase fronts are parallel and the transverse amplitude has a Gaussian dependence with a standard deviation of w, the beam waist.

So, that was fun! Do it, people of the world!

Very Tired

Between work and moving, there is little rest for the weary, let alone the wicked.