Monthly Archives: May 2015

What If It Rains?

Posted on May 29, 2015 by TheZvi

Follow Up To: Full Service Gas stations in New Jersey do not have awnings to protect customers from the rain. Let us presume for the moment that due to some combination of inertia, regulations and initial costs, it is not … Continue reading →

Posted in Death by Metrics, Economics, Impractical Optimization | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Full Service

Posted on May 24, 2015 by TheZvi

New Jersey has a law that says that you are not allowed to pump your own gas. They have had this law for 70 years. This is, of course, absurd. But if it is so absurd, why do 63 percent … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

NFL is a perfect example of complexity creep

Posted on May 22, 2015 by TheZvi

The NFL has voted to adopt a new rule that extra point attempts are snapped from the fifteen yard line, whereas two point conversions will continue to be run from the two yard line, but with the additional rule that … Continue reading →

Posted in Impractical Optimization, Sports | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Two Words That Offer Final Ultimate Proof That Medical System Is Evil

Posted on May 21, 2015 by TheZvi

Music therapy. At the hospital, I have just learned, they offer Music Therapy. By music, I mean random folk singers with guitars. By therapy, I mean letting those folk singers sing, and play their guitars. And by offer, I mean … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal Experience | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

TPP is about as good as it is supposed to be

Posted on May 19, 2015 by TheZvi

Tyler Cohen stakes out quite a sensible position on whether or not we should approve the trade deal called TPP: What would convince me to oppose TPP if is somebody did a study showing the following: when you use a … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Twelve Virtues of Rationality

Posted on May 17, 2015 by TheZvi

Yesterday, Raymond Arnold sent out an email announcing that those at Highgarden had come up with a really cool art project and invited everyone to come down and participate. The idea was to paint panels depicting the Twelve Virtues of … Continue reading →

Posted in Good Advice, Rationality | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

In a world… of venture capital

Posted on May 15, 2015 by TheZvi

On Twitter, Robin Hanson asked a question yesterday I have given a lot of thought to, which is why the bigger venture capital firms dominate the market and make oversize profits while the other firms taken together make almost no … Continue reading →

Posted in Death by Metrics, Impractical Optimization, Personal Experience | Tagged , , , , | 36 Comments

Trolley Problems: Conveniently Inconvenient Worlds Considered

Posted on May 14, 2015 by TheZvi

The basic trolley problem is under-specified. In the basic case (no one will ever know what you did or did not do, a transfer saves N people and dooms M other statistically identical people) I hold that the answer is … Continue reading →

Posted in Rationality | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Team New York City

Posted on May 13, 2015 by TheZvi

I have decided that I will not be working with Channel-Fireball: The Pantheon for Pro Tour: Magic Origins. The logistics involved in going to a team house for a week, and leaving my family for a week and a half, … Continue reading →

Posted in Magic: The Gathering | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

What is stupid?

Posted on May 12, 2015 by TheZvi

In a post that I mostly agreed with, but am also mostly not that interested in, Scott Sumner concludes with the following note: But I also understand that the part of my brain that tells me that the conventional narrative … Continue reading →

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