Re: Conferences, Hotels, Miscellaneous

1

Put up the please-don't-clean sign while you're there, then leave N*$5 as a tip when you leave (since they'll be cleaning the room between guests).


Posted by: Nathan Williams | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:27 AM
horizontal rule
2

I also can't pay attention in conferences, and almost never pick up anything from them. They should just cut out the talks and leave the socialising/networking in. If you want to learn something, read a damn journal article, as usual.


Posted by: real ffeJ annaH | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:30 AM
horizontal rule
3

This one might be helpful - it's about admin stuff for a position I've recently assumed, and I've never held this kind of position before.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:35 AM
horizontal rule
4

Which of course means I don't know anyone here, though. It's also kind of nice when you already know a few people.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:36 AM
horizontal rule
5

You know us, heebie, and we're right there with you.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:38 AM
horizontal rule
6

I'll be live-commenting, I assume.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:39 AM
horizontal rule
7

I'm at one now

I initially read this as an expression of Zen-like peace. (Or is this a "thanks for making that explicit" moment; as I said on the other thread, blogs are confusing.)


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:39 AM
horizontal rule
8

4: Yeah, I've been to those before, too. It's like the first day of 7th grade in a new town and new school all over again, but harder because we're adults now, and the walls are up.

That sounds overly dramatic now that I reread it.


Posted by: real ffeJ annaH | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:40 AM
horizontal rule
9

I've only been to one, ffej, but it wasn't that bad.


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:43 AM
horizontal rule
10

I like how at this point we're basically guaranteed to hear anything happening to the front-page posters that involves the sum of five dollars. (Not that this an uninteresting post; far from it.)


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:44 AM
horizontal rule
11

10: Too bad pay-for-sex rates are well past that.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:46 AM
horizontal rule
12

9: Well, ok, but I've gathered from my lurkings that you're a pretty lady, which might make things a bit easier.


Posted by: real ffeJ annaH | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:47 AM
horizontal rule
13

Ok, I'll use this as an opportunity for two blegs.

1) how much do you tip the hotel maid? I believe we've had this discussion somewhere before but can't find it. I've gone as high as $20/day but that feels excessive. This seems like an area where there are NO RULES.

2) How do I answer my 4 year old's constant question "Why does Mufasa [of the Lion King] die? I went through a long explanation of the struggle for power in monarchies and how that struggle leads to disregarding human relations, but that just produced confused blinks and repetitions of this question like 10 times a day. What would you say?


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:53 AM
horizontal rule
14

You're supposed to tip hotel maids?? Shit. Now I feel like an ass.

These sort of rules need to be more explicit.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:54 AM
horizontal rule
15

Trampled by wildebeest, as I recall.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:55 AM
horizontal rule
16

13.2: "The narrative requires it." (Seriously, I have no idea.)


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:55 AM
horizontal rule
17

Tipping is a cultural disease. It's one of the little things I dread when I visit the states.


Posted by: real ffeJ annaH | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:56 AM
horizontal rule
18

13.2: "You didn't clap hard enough."


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:58 AM
horizontal rule
19

I thought $5/day? Left each day, because it will be different people.


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 7:58 AM
horizontal rule
20

13(b): "The devil possessed Scar because he hadn't accepted Jesus as his savior."


Posted by: Cyrus | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:03 AM
horizontal rule
21

I thought conferences were for getting sloppy drunk in hotel bars with people you know mostly from your bibliography?


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:03 AM
horizontal rule
22

I thought conferences were for getting sloppy drunk naked in hotel bars rooms with people you know mostly from your bibliography?


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:05 AM
horizontal rule
23

Though I suppose one could easily lead to the other, so maybe the strikethroughs were unnecessary.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:06 AM
horizontal rule
24

22: I'm not sure why you think those are mutually exclusive. The former facilitates the latter.


Posted by: real ffeJ annaH | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:07 AM
horizontal rule
25

pwned


Posted by: real ffeJ annaH | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:07 AM
horizontal rule
26

The last rule I knew is way out of date by now, I think it was valid in the eighties: a dollar per person in the room per day. I think I just sort of guess. (I've heard the 'do it every day' thing, and I'm just not going to. Surely even if they can't manage to split their tips in some organized way, who cleans the room on the last day will even out in the long run.)


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:07 AM
horizontal rule
27

maybe the strikethroughs were unneccessary

'Sloppy naked' is really the one to avoid.


Posted by: One of Many | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:09 AM
horizontal rule
28

2 They should just cut out the talks and leave the socialising/networking in.

The trouble is: everyone agrees that conferences/workshops/whatever are best with fewer talks. But everyone thinks that they should give a talk.

Every time I've organized something I've tried very hard to limit the number of talks, and every time it's been way more than I or anyone else wanted. It seems like superannuated people whose careers don't benefit at all from giving yet another talk are also the pushiest about insisting that they be allowed to.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:18 AM
horizontal rule
29

||

I have a coast-to-coast red-eye flight tomorrow night to attend my brother's wedding, and I can never sleep on planes*. I have no experience with sleep aids, but is there something OTC suited to this purpose that won't make me drowsy the next day?

* On trans-Pacific flights, I can get so tired I attain a state of no-mind for 15 minutes or so, but that's the maximum.

|>


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:22 AM
horizontal rule
30

I've considered going with a modified version of 20.

$5/day seems reasonable, I guess, but it's odd in that most tipping is a percentage of the bill, which would be ludicrously expensive in hotels.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:23 AM
horizontal rule
31

29: Benadryl makes most people pretty sleepy, as does dramamine. I think most OTC sleep aids are basically antihistamines, but I'm not sure.


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:28 AM
horizontal rule
32

I also can't pay attention in conferences, and almost never pick up anything from them. They should just cut out the talks and leave the socialising/networking in. If you want to learn something, read a damn journal article, as usual.

I can't pay attention to journal articles because there's rarely any indication of which 1% of the results are the important part and which 90% of the results are supposed to be obvious, or why any of it matters at all. Presentations at conferences are so much better because you can actually see what the person presenting the data is emphasizing, you can see an actual person leading you through the stages. Unless they are horrible public speakers.

This only applies to scientific conferences of course. Somebody standing up and reading a paper out loud with no visual aids would be horrible.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:34 AM
horizontal rule
33

Somebody standing up and reading a paper out loud with no visual aids would be horrible.

Yeah, what's up with those people?

I remember being kind of weirded out at some point in the music class I took my first quarter of college when I realized the instructor wasn't just, like, talking off the cuff, or even lecturing from notes, but had written his remarks in advance and memorized them.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:37 AM
horizontal rule
34

$5 or $10 per day, depending on the cost (real cost, not rack rate) of the room. I suppose if you're staying at the Ritz in NYC or in Pasadena (as I did once -- ah, that was truly a glorious time) or somewhere similar, $20 might be appropriate. The key, though, is to leave it every day, as a different serf person will be cleaning your filth from the floor around the toilet.

And speaking of serfs and the like, this is just about the best thing I've seen in forever. If anyone can figure out how to buy such a print, please let me know. I'd be very grateful for that information.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:38 AM
horizontal rule
35

32, 33: It's the old fashioned style. Everyone used to do that back in the day.


Posted by: real ffeJ annaH | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:38 AM
horizontal rule
36

29:Melatonin, but see the Wiki page

And it is prescription in some countries

I took melatonin for a few years, and found the timing to be important.


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:39 AM
horizontal rule
37

29: get some Valium. Seriously, 10 mg will make a trans-continental flight a lot more bearable. 10 mg with a 5 mg booster over the Polar cap (shrinking, shrinking, shrinking) will work for a trans-Atlantic journey. And so on.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:40 AM
horizontal rule
38

No time for a prescription.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:41 AM
horizontal rule
39

36 gets it right. doesn't work if you're in a well-lit room though.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:43 AM
horizontal rule
40

37: Valium was OTC* in Honduras and I stocked up when I was there a few years ago, but I am sadly out now. I need my own Dr. Nick.

*Or maybe a prescription was just pointing and saying "I would like to have that, please." Not sure.


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:44 AM
horizontal rule
41

This reminds me, I've been planning a long weekend getaway and didn't until just now think that, depending on the length of the trip, I should perhaps make arrangements for the cat.


Posted by: Di Kotimy | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:54 AM
horizontal rule
42

Best conference-type thing I've ever been to, each presenter had twenty (enforced) minutes to talk, then there was a long discussion. Kinda like a panel, only with real research results in the twenty minutes. My blog-fed squirrel brain has no patience for any talk not severely pared down.


Posted by: Megan | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 8:54 AM
horizontal rule
43

32, 33: the last time I gave a talk (that wasn't my dissertation defense spiel), I used a powerpointbeamer thing in which every other slide was completely blank, and the only text on the slides that had text was quotations I was referring to. I'd bring up the quotation when I reached the appropriate point in the paper, then when I'd moved on from it move back to a totally blank slide.

When I'm talking you should be paying attention to me, dammit!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 9:58 AM
horizontal rule
44

34: I was less taken by the piece than you were, but I really did love the line,
You smell like bacon to us.


Posted by: x.trapnel | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 10:42 AM
horizontal rule
45

Best conference type thing that I've been to was the most recent BALLE conference (though I only attended the final day, so it's a small sample).

Much, much better than I expected. The presentations were fascinating and the event was very well organized.

I did have a conversation with somebody at the time about how it probably made a difference that most of the people were not there for career advancement, but just because they were interested in the issues.


Posted by: NickS | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 11:06 AM
horizontal rule
46

A sleep specialist told me that there are actual data behind valerian, but it won't knock you out like Benadryl does.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 11:38 AM
horizontal rule
47

Thanks for all the tips.

Mayo Clinic site says valerian increases the sedative effect of alcohol, so maybe that and a couple beers.

Bob, what do you find to be the optimal timing for melatonin? 30-60 minutes before when you want to sleep, as I read in places?


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 11:42 AM
horizontal rule
48

33: I had a professor who basically did that, but it was like theater, carefully practiced over many years.

I hate a lot of visual aids unless they're very good. Does anyone know where tutoring is available for people who struggle to prepare visual aids. I
I'm so non-visual that it's really a learning disability.

Has anyone tried Beamer presentation software?


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 11:47 AM
horizontal rule
49

47:Yeah, exactly. My experience was that max effect was at around 45 minutes. So I would be trying to relax and sleep at 15-30 minutes.

Increasing dosage was counterproductive.


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 11:54 AM
horizontal rule
50

Melatonin is useful for falling asleep and adjusting to time zone changes BUT prolonged use can exacerbate depression, so be careful.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 11:57 AM
horizontal rule
51

I found melatonin useful *if* I got to bed around 30 minutes after taking it. If I accidentally stayed up for 45-60 minutes, I ended up in this weird hyper-awake state. Also, I often felt mentally cloudy the day after taking it.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 12:16 PM
horizontal rule
52

I've got about 6 post ideas from this conference so far. But the internet access in the conference rooms is annoying. Back to the conference rooms now.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 12:55 PM
horizontal rule
53

Does that mean we get math posts?


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 12:57 PM
horizontal rule
54

I used valerian for a few months, and then it suddenly not only stopped working, but started keeping me awake. I since then was once served tea that I didn't know had valerian in it, and figured it out from the very particular kind of wakefulness it caused.


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 10-20-11 1:07 PM
horizontal rule
55

I like conferences, because they are often an excuse to use the Eurostar, which is my favourite form of travel.


Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:33 AM
horizontal rule
56

51: This might explain one of the worst nights of my life, when I was having a bad acid trip, and a friend gave me melatonin to help me fall asleep. Then I laid down and tried desperately to go to sleep. DID NOT WORK.

Also, I don't know if I'll ever trip again (though that wasn't the last time) but from the couple worst trips I've ever had, the main lesson is that no matter how much fun I'm having, I DON"T want to take another hit.


Posted by: Alfrek Macsteinie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:12 AM
horizontal rule
57

This might explain one of the worst nights of my life, when I was having a bad acid trip, and a friend gave me melatonin to help me fall asleep. Then I laid down and tried desperately to go to sleep. DID NOT WORK.

That might have more to do with the acid than the melatonin. It's nigh on impossible to get to sleep until it wears off completely.


Posted by: Ginger Yellow | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:53 AM
horizontal rule
58

Yeah, for sure. I had always thought that was the only culprit, and I'm interested to know that the melatonin might have hindered, not helped.


Posted by: Alfrek Macsteinie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:59 AM
horizontal rule
59

An OT question from a friend:

Do you think I can get in trouble if my company is doing fraudulent things to get state contracts. My boss has been lying about who works here and faking like he's them on the phone. I don't really care unless somehow I could end up in trouble because of it.

My instinct is no, as long as you don't somehow become involved, because I don't think there are any sort of required whistleblower statutes for this sort of thing (this is a small company), but honestly I have no idea. Anyone else have an opinion?

(My advice would be to try and find another job, because it's not good for your soul to work somewhere evil. But this friend just came out of protracted unemployment when he found this job, so I think that advice may fall on deaf ears.)


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:26 AM
horizontal rule
60

He should find a friend who's a lawyer and ask him.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:30 AM
horizontal rule
61

I think someone else already gave him that advice.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:31 AM
horizontal rule
62

I would be really surprised by the existence of a whistleblower statute -- generally, you can't even get in trouble for not reporting a murder unless you were involved. I would warn him to be really really careful about anything that could be perceived as assisting the fraud, though -- anything he signs should be absolutely literally true or he doesn't sign it, and if anyone ever asks him a question about anything related, he should spill his guts instantly.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:36 AM
horizontal rule
63

I thought white collar crime was protected by law?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:38 AM
horizontal rule
64

Speaking of lawyers, I was amused by this overheard tidbit in the elevator at the courthouse the other day, "At least your guy used his gun."


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:43 AM
horizontal rule
65

62: the only one I have any familiarity with is S-OX, but it's surprisingly tough on whistleblowing requirements (not generally, of course, but for a few very particular people who may know about a few very particular misdeeds). Obviously that doesn't apply here, but I didn't know if state contracting might involve anything similar. Probably not.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:45 AM
horizontal rule
66

I've actually given the advice in 62 before to an acquaintance in a similar situation, but he left the job before anything happened. I would be looking for work and figuring out how best to turn them in when he finds something different, though -- not just morally, but it doesn't sound as if the job is going to last long.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:48 AM
horizontal rule
67

66.last: Yes, in my not extensive but non-zero experience of things of this nature, when the cracks start showing to people outside of the inner circle it's usually not too long before it blows sky-high with unpredictable* consequences .

*Other than not-goodness.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:53 AM
horizontal rule
68

59: My advice would be that shorting his own company is insider trading, but AFAICT there's no reason not to go long on the competition.


Posted by: Benquo | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 9:21 AM
horizontal rule
69

Also, yes, he should be looking for other employment.


Posted by: Benquo | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 9:22 AM
horizontal rule
70

60: How did you know this was a "he"?


Posted by: Benquo | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 9:25 AM
horizontal rule
71

Tight shorts.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 9:27 AM
horizontal rule
72

70: there's a "he" in 59.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 10:08 AM
horizontal rule
73

72: Darn it, I reread that like 3 times looking for a gendered pronoun and couldn't find it...


Posted by: Benquo | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 10:09 AM
horizontal rule
74

How do you know he's not a lawyer?

Shite torts.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 10:19 AM
horizontal rule
75

Well, at a minimum, it seems likely that your friend (and possibly you) could end up subpoenaed and having to testify. And what LB says above.

Does state x have a qui tam statute or rule? Your friend could leave, get a new job, and make some money. Actually, what is his phone number? (kidding).


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 10:21 AM
horizontal rule
76

68: do not try the strategy.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 10:22 AM
horizontal rule
77

This isn't hardly on topic, even for a thread that's no longer on topic, but it's as good a place as any to ask the econ-minded folks here. Laurence Kotlikoff's Purple Tax Plan: does it make sense? Is it glossing over stuff? I don't quite trust the people I've seen advocating it, though they seem generally saner than the Flat Tax / Fair Tax evangelists. But mostly I just don't have enough economics chops (or any such chops, really) to evaluate its claims.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 10:55 AM
horizontal rule
78

The thread topic is "Miscellaneous", apo, so I think you're okay.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:00 AM
horizontal rule
79

Well that's a relief.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:01 AM
horizontal rule
80

77: The first thing I noticed about it that's definitely not going to fly is this from the transition rules: In transiting to the new system, taxes businesses and individuals on unrealized capital gains, calculated as of the date of the reform, on existing asset holdings.

Everyone with a house they've owned for a long time would be in for a huge payment that they might easily not have liquidity to make; even beyond that, valuing all assets in the country, which you'd have to do for this, is not a trivial problem.

I don't have the chops to work out whether the plan makes any sense at all; that bit just popped out as something that's not going to happen.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:05 AM
horizontal rule
81

73: Benquo doesn't even see gender.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:06 AM
horizontal rule
82

77: I have no idea but it reads like it was designed by the sort of people who make really nice models that don't really account for how hard it is to adjust for a baseline state. This is mostly a VAT, no?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:06 AM
horizontal rule
83

Pwned by LB.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:07 AM
horizontal rule
84

The FICA tax part might make some sense in isolation if removing the ceiling would raise enough money to offset the under $40k part. Except I don't think it would.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:09 AM
horizontal rule
85

82: Model railroaders?


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:13 AM
horizontal rule
86

85: I was thinking of econometricians.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:22 AM
horizontal rule
87

76: Probably right. Anyone taking investment advice from me should probably bear in mind that I employ an almost entirely passive strategy.

Do as I do, not as I say.


Posted by: Benquo | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:53 AM
horizontal rule
88

Or did you specifically mean that the aforementioned strategy could still get one in legal trouble?


Posted by: Benquo | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:57 AM
horizontal rule
89

The demogrant is critical to making the sales tax progressive, but it's hard to trust that the demogrant wouldn't eventually be labelled "welfare" and lopped off from the rest.

I will say that the sharpest anti-tax conservatives are terrified of any national sales tax or VAT, because it's such an efficient way for the national government to raise funds. European countries are VAT-funded but thanks to benefits the whole tax and transfer system is very progressive.

I am fascinated by Kotlikoff's Limited Purpose Banking plan (http://www.thepurplefinancialplan.org/node/2 ) though. He wrote a good book on it that explains it well, called "Jimmy Stewart is Dead" I think.


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 12:00 PM
horizontal rule
90

88: If insider trading based on knowledge of criminal activity is wrong, I don't want to be right.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 12:02 PM
horizontal rule
91

88 -- it's trading on material nonpublic information, so, yes, most likely illegal (as long as it's a conceivably effective strategy). Simply buying a competitors' stock is not a magical out from the insider trading laws.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 12:07 PM
horizontal rule
92

91: What you need to do is list the name of the company here. That makes it public and then trading on the information is so legal that you'll get 6 hours of CLE credit for doing it.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 12:18 PM
horizontal rule
93

91: That seems odd, because he wouldn't be taking a position on the one company he has direct info about.

When a company I worked at was doing some ill-thought-out deals, an analyst colleague of mine had the idea of shorting our nearly identical competitor, on the assumption that they were probably making the same mistakes. The legal department's insider trading specialists (who AFAIK had no incentive to say yes to anything ever) assured him he was in the clear.

He never followed through, but if he had, he'd be a rich man now.

Did they give him wrong advice, or is my intuition that 68 describes an even safer action incorrect?


Posted by: Benquo | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 1:12 PM
horizontal rule
94

Your intuition is wrong. In the situation urple describes, the guy actually knows something specific secret, that will cause the price of his own company's shares to go down, and, thus the competitors to rise, once it is disclosed. In the situation you describe, your colleagues didn't actually have any specific material nonpublic information -- they were simply making an informed guess about what the competition was up to.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 1:18 PM
horizontal rule
95

95 -- My experience from a decade ago is that the regulators are slow to care about insider trading that is based on a large revelation of fraud on the part of the company. By "slow" I mean glacial. Glacial during the age of Global Warming. I hope things have changed . . .

My concern goes the other way. It's fraud to omit a material fact. So long as the friend is never in a place where its his job to interact with contracting officers or whoever, I suppose he stays in the clear. If he does have to deal with them, though, and doesn't say anything, then he seems like a conspirator. I wouldn't expect to see him prosecuted (except as a ploy to get him to roll over on the other guys) but you really never know what the state is going to do.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 1:45 PM
horizontal rule
96

95 to 94.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 1:45 PM
horizontal rule
97


94: Huh. Doesn't there need to be some kind of violation of fiduciary duty here?

Suppose you know that company A is buying company B. Clearly, front-running the deal and buying B's shares would be illegal. But what if you make an educated guess that the purchase of B will drive up the shares of C? What responsibility are you violating here if you buy C shares? (Has there ever been a case like this?)


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 1:48 PM
horizontal rule
98

What responsibility are you violating here if you buy C shares?

The responsibility not to trade on material nonpublic information.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 1:50 PM
horizontal rule
99

What is material nonpublic information? If you accumulate mounds of publicly available information and then combine them in some novel way, that's just research and you can trade on it, right? But, what if your research involved seeing which cars were parked outside of which bars on a given night? That information would have been publicly available but isn't really available after the fact.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 1:56 PM
horizontal rule
100

95.2 is a very valid fear. 98 gets it right. Another danger, of course, of trading on the nonpublic information is that the feds are more likely to tag you as a co-conspirator.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 1:57 PM
horizontal rule
101

98: Well, I'm not going to get into an argument about law with lawyers ... Oh, wait, apparently I am.

You can certainly trade on material nonpublic information, as Mark Cuban knows. Cuban got off the hook (as I understand it) because he didn't have a fiduciary duty to the company.


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:00 PM
horizontal rule
102

101 -- That story doesn't say that Cuban got off the hook. It says that the IG found that his complaints of SEC misconduct were unfounded.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:12 PM
horizontal rule
103

101 -- there's a complicated law of selective disclosure that, IIRC, Cuban was invoking -- he was a regular investor and got a message from the CEO, and the question was whether that message was provided in confidence and selectively. Plus, I thought that the decision dismissing his case was reversed by the Fifth Circuit and is still going on, but I haven't checked. Under the misappropriation theory, you don't need to be in a direct fiduciary relationship to be liable for insider trading.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:12 PM
horizontal rule
104

Oh, I just saw that you linked to the story about the Cuban case. No time to read it now.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:13 PM
horizontal rule
105

The worry here is that the whole concept of insider trading is caselaw, not spelled out in the statute. So pinning down the boundaries enough to be sure you're safe is also tricky.

I think this sucks, and it should be much more tightly defined than it is, but in practice it's not.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:16 PM
horizontal rule
106

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/092110cubanopinion.pdf

Actually, the Fifth Circuit opinion looks like a nice basic review of the law.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:18 PM
horizontal rule
107

105 gets it right. I've actually always wondered why these prosecutions don't get thrown out on due process groudns as void for vagueness.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:21 PM
horizontal rule
108

Eh, in practice the rule is "don't trade on a secret that seems like it came from an insider source," almost everyone seems to get that, and most prosecutions are for pretty obvious and egregious frauds. Not too worried about this one (and I reserve my world's smallest violin for white collar criminals generally).


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:30 PM
horizontal rule
109

A lot of economists think the whole concept of 'insider trading' is unworkable and stupid anyway (since you should want people trading on all the information they have since then prices will be more informative). I am generally *extremely* skeptical of economists who wish to eliminate financial market regulation but in this case I wonder if they're right.

Sure, insider trading means naive outsiders to the markets get fleeced, but won't this always happen anyway?


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:30 PM
horizontal rule
110

109: No, they are not right. Prices do not become "more informative", they become more prone to profiteering. And it's not just naive outsiders who potentially get fleeced, it's anyone, which makes the whole market less liquid and significantly raises transaction costs (in terms of the diligence required to (help) prevent getting screwed).

This is yet another example of some economists pitching the results of their simplistic theoretical models, while completely ignoring the actual historical experience we have with markets without bans on insder trading.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:38 PM
horizontal rule
111

108: I've got a certain amount of sympathy for criminal defendants regardless of what they're wearing -- criminal law an area where there's a general obligation of the law to be unambiguous and it's really not on this topic.

The problematic issue isn't so much where the info came from -- anything about a company is going to have come from an insider originally -- it's when has it become public. A rule saying "I'm not an insider myself, have no duty to anyone who is, and was not engaged in an investment scheme in cooperation with an insider. I'm the public, and so if I know something, it's public information, even if it's not known by many people," makes perfect sense to me. As prosecuted, though, it's fuzzier.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:38 PM
horizontal rule
112

Well, you're talking about tippee liability. There are very few prosecutions for even remotely plausibly innocent tippees, since the tips generally come from actual insiders. Again, prosecutors can always overreach, but that's true in any criminal law context and I'm not particularly worried about this one.

Urple gets it right in 110. The point of the insider trading laws was to open up the stock markets to mass investors (or, more precisely, to get mass investors back into the markets after 1929) in order to provide liquidity; before you had regulations, the stock markets were basically the realm of (even more than today) scammers and con artists.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:43 PM
horizontal rule
113

of economists think the whole concept of 'insider trading' is unworkable and stupid anyway

As far as I know, basically everyone who feels this way is part of the Efficient Market Hypothesis crowd. I would think that's all you would need to know to dismiss this claim in its entirety.


Posted by: urple | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:44 PM
horizontal rule
114


McMegan has a piece in The Atlantic this month that flirts with the "insider trading is a victimless crime" line.


Posted by: knecht ruprecht | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:45 PM
horizontal rule
115

There are very few prosecutions for even remotely plausibly innocent tippees, since the tips generally come from actual insiders.

That begs the question a bit, doesn't it? Say your actual insider is just a big gossip, and tells people stuff she shouldn't. At some point, that stuff isn't secret any more because she told people. So when are the people who heard stuff from her allowed to trade in the stock without committing a crime?

If there's no brightline answer to that, I think it's a problem despite the fact that anyone who might be prosecuted is the sort of evil person who has money to buy securities with.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:48 PM
horizontal rule
116

I was off reading the Fifth Circuit opinion in a different case, and missed the economist business. No one should listen to economists pretty much ever, but especially when they are trying to justify might making right.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:51 PM
horizontal rule
117

The brightline rule is that the tippee knows or should know that the insider was breaching a duty of disclosure. That kills the "innocent gossip recipient" prosecution, but allows for the far more realistic prosecution of people to whom the tipper is giving the tip in the hopes of benefiting the tippee. It might not be the clearest of clear lines but in practice it's not exactly incomprehensible.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 2:53 PM
horizontal rule
118

people to whom the tipper is giving the tip in the hopes of benefiting the tippee.

Abetting is a valid concept in the criminal law, as is conspiracy, but they require the person prosecuted to agree to aid in the commission of a crime, or to assist in the commission of a crime. That a tippee has independent liability even where the prosecutors can't show such an agreement or such aid seems fucked up to me.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 3:03 PM
horizontal rule
119

As a frequent tipee, I hope I can't be held liable.


Posted by: Opinionated Cow | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 3:05 PM
horizontal rule
120

The theory is that the tippee is participating in the breach of duty, and is doing so for profit. There is a requirement that the tippee know (or constructively know) that the tip is being provided in breach of a duty.

Without that rule, insiders could just tell their friends or relatives about inside information, and have them trade on it, with near-impunity.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 3:13 PM
horizontal rule
121

That a tippee has independent liability even where the prosecutors can't show such an agreement or such aid seems fucked up to me.

Prosecutors still have to show that the tipper had a fiduciary duty, and that the tippee knew that or should know it. That seems pretty reasonable.


Posted by: politicalfootball | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 3:21 PM
horizontal rule
122

Without that rule, insiders could just tell their friends or relatives about inside information, and have them trade on it, with near-impunity.

Conspiracy, vague as it is, isn't enough here?


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 4:05 PM
horizontal rule
123

Just read a new NYRB piece arguing the laxer standard for insider trading should be extended to other forms of financial fraud - so you prove not that they knew, say, the marketing for a CDO was false, but that they should have known. I'd be on board with that, especially if it's true, as the article has it, that the lack of prosecutions has been partly due to trepidation over proving mens rea beyond a reasonable doubt, not purely lack of political appetite to do so.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 4:08 PM
horizontal rule
124

I haven't read the piece, but I disagree; we've got plenty tight enough laws if they were just enforced, and vague criminal laws that don't require mens rea are oppressive and evil even if the people being oppressed do work in the financial industry. Increase the enforcement budget in the SEC and the Justice Department before passing vaguer laws with weaker standards of proof -- draconian laws and weak enforcement is a recipe for invidiously selective prosecution.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 4:17 PM
horizontal rule
125

My world's smallest violin is sounding up again.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 4:21 PM
horizontal rule
126

Enjoy your police state, Halford.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 4:26 PM
horizontal rule
127

Note that the most significant ramifications would be in civil, not criminal, cases.

Also, you want to play around with the world's money, you should take on the risk that errors of gross negligence can lead to serious run ins with the government. (I actually think that many prosecutions would be warranted under current law, but that the Obama administration is a bunch of pussies). If not, world's smallest violin.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 4:31 PM
horizontal rule
128

I know a company that is about to perfect violin miniaturization. They haven't announced yet, so I can't tell you which company.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 4:40 PM
horizontal rule
129

I've officially lost patience with this conference. I'm ready to go home, which is good, because I fly home in the morning. I officially made zero friends and hid out in my lovely hotel room as much as possible, but actually learned a lot about what I was supposed to learn.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 5:01 PM
horizontal rule
130

Everyone is nice individually but in aggregate I'm hostile to them all.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 5:01 PM
horizontal rule
131

hid out in my lovely hotel room as much as possible

#OccupyMarriott


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 5:03 PM
horizontal rule
132

Also it's somewhat hard to find food without being social because there aren't big tables of pastries and that kind of thing, and they seem to intend that you go hunt down a restaurant, which i did once, but mostly I've just been hungry all conference, which is getting annoying.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 5:04 PM
horizontal rule
133

I do have $15 worth of vouchers to buy myself room service dinner tonight, though! After this last talk.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 5:07 PM
horizontal rule
134

You are away from the kids? How often does that happen? Go nuts.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 5:31 PM
horizontal rule
135

Our at least write something untoward on the hotel comment card.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 5:38 PM
horizontal rule
136

I feel a night of hookers and blow is in order.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 5:47 PM
horizontal rule
137

That's the traditional move, anyway.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 5:47 PM
horizontal rule
138

excuse me, sorry to interfere, but my god, kids who knows WHERE and mom commenting on blogs is an inacceptable situation


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 5:53 PM
horizontal rule
139

Enjoy your well-shod police state, Halford.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 5:54 PM
horizontal rule
140

138: Hookers and pedalyte.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 5:55 PM
horizontal rule
141

"Sergeant, these are the best hydrated prostitutes I've ever seen."


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 5:58 PM
horizontal rule
142

Nice shoes, too.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:00 PM
horizontal rule
143

THERE IS NO I IN PEDIALYTE


Posted by: Opinionated Birth Coach | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:07 PM
horizontal rule
144

I love eating alone in restaurants with a novel. I also love room service. Eating alone on a trip! It's great!


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:26 PM
horizontal rule
145

So here's my observation of trading by insiders (as distinct from insider trading ... let's assume) based on observations of a company that um, ..., a friend of my brother's told me about. The insiders have a good track record on things like when to dump options and the like*. Who knows based on what, but pretty freaking good, but not like supernaturally great. And of course broadly speaking they always have inside information. Let's say, hypothetically speaking, there are vague rumors of a takeover in the offing and the stock climbs and insiders dump a fair bit and then the rumors are debunked (and the insider stock trades are seen as confirmation/part of the debunking)--all legitimate rewards of the system, right? Nice system.

*And I don't think this is just true for my friend's brother's company, but it raises the question, are there any broad studies of insider trades compared to the market? A bit of desultory googling yielded nothing, but did not come up with a query that did not have a lot of confounding words.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:29 PM
horizontal rule
146

A drink alone with a novel at the hotel bar is also ACES.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:29 PM
horizontal rule
147

I love love love room service.


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:32 PM
horizontal rule
148

144: On a recent West Coast business trip, I went to Fatburger while on an expense account. In part because of feelings such as heebie expresses in 130 (so as you can see, I had a good reason).


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:32 PM
horizontal rule
149

Room service should be here within 30 minutes!

The last talk was amazing and wrecking. (I suppose I'm just going to ruin any shred of mystery about what conference I was at.) The speaker was Tyrone Hayes, the scientist who's fighting Atrazine and other pollutants that make us die. It was entertaining and moving and about 1000x more than usual I want to cry for the sorry state of the human race.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:42 PM
horizontal rule
150

You know how science is. One week eggs are bad for you, the next they're great. Atrazine will probably be the same way.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:51 PM
horizontal rule
151

Don't cry for me, heebie-geebie.


Posted by: Sorriest State of the Human Race | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:53 PM
horizontal rule
152

Tyrone Hayes

Googled and wtf. I assume whoever wrote this has an agenda, but it's still pretty weird if they're not making it up.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 6:58 PM
horizontal rule
153

I wish my job involved more frog gonads.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:01 PM
horizontal rule
154

Holy shit. He did actually mention sending some emails with foul language, which were part of the controversy surrounding him.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:03 PM
horizontal rule
155

He's very charismatic, and gives a very moving presentation, though.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:04 PM
horizontal rule
156

RUN HOP!


Posted by: FROGS OF THE 'BURGH | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:04 PM
horizontal rule
157

The journals he'd published in, and the peers he published with, during the presentation, seemed to leave no doubt that his science was totally sound.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:08 PM
horizontal rule
158

152: In other emails, Hayes brags about his personal wealth, the value of his house, his $150K remodeled kitchen, and his prestigious education.

I wonder what kind of a coffee maker he has.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:08 PM
horizontal rule
159

seemed to leave no doubt that his science was totally sound.

I hope not. I spent my youth drinking water from aquifers filled by rain that fell on fields covered in the stuff.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:11 PM
horizontal rule
160

Hooray, my burger and beer are here! Won't you dine with me?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:11 PM
horizontal rule
161

These green chiles are totally lame and not at all spicy. WTF?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:16 PM
horizontal rule
162

152: That site seems a bit politically motivated, by which I mean extremely politically motivated. But, Wikipedia agrees about his Atrazine studies having findings that could not be replicated.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:17 PM
horizontal rule
163

And the PICKLES ARE SWEET. That's the grossest thing I've ever mistakenly put on a burger. WHAT THE FUCK?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:18 PM
horizontal rule
164

The EPA report they mention that disregards his findings is from 2007, so I feel comfortable dismissing it out of hand.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:18 PM
horizontal rule
165

Atrazine is not allowed to be used in Europe.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:19 PM
horizontal rule
166

I cannot get over these sweet pickles. Who the fuck puts sweet pickles on a burger?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:19 PM
horizontal rule
167

163: BWAH-HA-HA!


Posted by: OPINIONATED AGGREGATE | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:20 PM
horizontal rule
168

It seems you've learned something, heebie. In future, be one of those room service orderers who says, "And make sure the pickles for the burger are dill pickles. I'm not even kidding. Also, if your green chiles are not spicy, don't even bother including them. I assume the beer is going to be cold, by the way."

How's the beer, by the way?


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:23 PM
horizontal rule
169

162: Yeah, it's not the kind of site I'm comfortable believing. But those emails are really something.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:23 PM
horizontal rule
170

I like sweet pickles on burgers. Bread and butter pickles especially.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:24 PM
horizontal rule
171

It's cold. It's Sierra Nevada. It's ok.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:25 PM
horizontal rule
172

Sweet pickles. For crying out loud.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:25 PM
horizontal rule
173

I don't like sweet pickles at all.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:26 PM
horizontal rule
174

And relish on hotdogs.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:26 PM
horizontal rule
175

170: Oh really? Because you like gross food?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:26 PM
horizontal rule
176

I love relish. Only not sweet relish, because that is gross.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:27 PM
horizontal rule
177

Okay. Apo will take your sweet pickles, so it works out. If they gave you olives for some reason, I'll take those.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:27 PM
horizontal rule
178

I like dill pickles too. Pickles for the win!


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:28 PM
horizontal rule
179

I like olives, although the little black ones aren't my favorite. But there weren't any.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:28 PM
horizontal rule
180

If they gave you feta cheese, I can take that off your hands. nosflow doesn't want it.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:29 PM
horizontal rule
181

175: Because I like many different foods, you racist.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:29 PM
horizontal rule
182

But, Wikipedia agrees about his Atrazine studies having findings that could not be replicated.

Where is this? I don't see it in the Hayes wiki article.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:30 PM
horizontal rule
183

164: Based entirely on the Atrazine wikipedia page, it looks like there are EPA studies from before and after Bush that didn't find anything. Not that those studies included frog gonads.


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:30 PM
horizontal rule
184

183: I'm looking in the Atrazine wiki article, which sites Hayes.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:30 PM
horizontal rule
185

"cites Hayes"


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:31 PM
horizontal rule
186

Sweet pickles and relish are great, especially on hotdogs.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:34 PM
horizontal rule
187

||

I just read the following paragraph and thought, "no wonder megan wanders the streets at night adjusting sprinklers."

The [Sacramento] metropolitan area, which lands regularly on lists of the top green cities, smart cities, and liveable cities, also has earned this startling ranking: it squanders more water than anywhere else in California. That distinction makes it one of the most water-wasting places in the United States . . . Residents of the metro region use nearly 300 gallons of water per person per day -- double the national average.

|>


Posted by: NickS | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:34 PM
horizontal rule
188

Oh, there it is. I'm still on Team Hayes, though. The evidence in his presentation is pretty stunning.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:34 PM
horizontal rule
189

Well, the last amphibian section sentence said the USGS may have found something.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:36 PM
horizontal rule
190

on hotdogs.

Keep telling those knock-knock jokes, while the girls shiver and give you weird looks.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:36 PM
horizontal rule
191

Tyrone Hayes eats sweet pickles all the live long day.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:37 PM
horizontal rule
192

On a couple of occasions I've had amazing room service burgers at the O'Hare Hilton late at night after an exhausting day of getting bounced from one standby list to another. Probably the burger wasn't objectively very good, but being able to finally sit down and eat something in a comfortable room was.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:38 PM
horizontal rule
193

191: Are you calling him black?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:39 PM
horizontal rule
194

I have a friend/colleague who recently wrote a book about endocrine disruptors. She's been lecturing about the issue for years. That's some chilling, sit-with-your-legs-tightly crossed shit. As for Tyrone Hayes, he seems like a very weird dude. But every time I start to doubt him*, I think of all the ratfucking that Rachel Carson withstood and remember that Big Pesticide doesn't play nice. And then I think, so what if he raps.

* I'm not qualified to judge his findings.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:40 PM
horizontal rule
195

On the one hand, there's a ton of chemicals dumped onto fields and that can't be good in the aggregate. On the other hand, dumping herbicides on fields means tractors don't have to drive up and down fields nearly so often and that soil erosion is better controlled. On the third hand, there are probably other herbicides. On the fourth hand, it's been around a long time and all my farmer relatives who didn't smoke seemed to live long lives. On the fifth hand, maybe I should look into why I have so many hands.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:41 PM
horizontal rule
196

I think of all the ratfucking that Rachel Carson withstood...

She's got a bridge in Pittsburgh named after her, so that worked out in the end.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:42 PM
horizontal rule
197

I'm afraid I saw that coming, Moby. And yes, DDT wasn't really all that bad (this comment offered in the same spirit as urple suggesting that Di is objectively pro child slavery).


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:44 PM
horizontal rule
198

He asserts that BPA and Atrazine are uniquely well-understood to be horrifying, and are real no-brainers, compared to the other 80 chemicals in our run-off water that are poorly understood to be horrifying.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:44 PM
horizontal rule
199

I thought you said all the bridges in Pittsburgh are falling down.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:45 PM
horizontal rule
200

uniquely well-understood to be horrifying

By whom? I mean, I'd agree that a select group of enviros and scientists understand this (for some value of "understand"), but I don't think it's anything like conventional wisdom at the moment. Or at least it wasn't the last time I went to one of my friend's talks, at which I crossed my legs tightly and generally felt uncomfortable about my gonads (not all that unusual, I suppose) and worried for the future.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:47 PM
horizontal rule
201

197: Most of them. She got a very nice bridge. Just as nice as the bridges Warhol and Roberto Clemente got. Hers is even better because it is farther from where the Pirates play.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:48 PM
horizontal rule
202

201 actually to 199.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:48 PM
horizontal rule
203

You know what? I'm going to shut up now. I'm starting to feel the same way I did when Steve Jobs died: like my comments are suggesting hostility that I don't feel. I'm actually an endocrine disruptor panic fellow traveler. I just think Hayes is a weird dude and probably not the ideal spokesman for the movement. But again, Rachel Carson was the ideal spokesperson, and look what happened to her (sotto voce: cancer).


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:50 PM
horizontal rule
204

We stopped using stuff with BPA, but everybody else was also. Things started to come with labels that said BPA-less and I misread it as 'braless.'


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:50 PM
horizontal rule
205

200: By the Science! I mean, this is not something I've researched; just based on his talks. He made it sound like these two chemicals had boatloads of well-established peer-reviewed articles making the case, and since I already believe that to be true about BPA, it was an easy sell. We saw lots of slides of various gonads and learned about aromatase.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:51 PM
horizontal rule
206

I think BPA is broadly understood to be bad. I'm less sure that's true of Atrazine. But like I said above, I'm going to shut up now.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:54 PM
horizontal rule
207

I also stopped using plastic containers in the microwave about the time we went BPA-less.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:54 PM
horizontal rule
208

I believe he is weird, but he is charismatic in person, and answered questions thoughtfully and brought up issues like the disproportionate impact of these toxins on minorities and migrant workers, which made me predisposed to like him.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:55 PM
horizontal rule
209

No, no, keep defending Big Chemical.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:56 PM
horizontal rule
210

I'm predisposed to like him, too -- for the same reasons, I might add. But I can't quite pull it off. As read will tell you, I'm racist.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:56 PM
horizontal rule
211

I've never had room service. I actually don't think there's a way to get it, if you're deaf. I've never been in a hotel room that had a tty or a videophone. I guess I could walk down to the front desk and order food to be delivered to my room. That seems like it defeats the purpose though.

I like sweet pickles. Not on a hamburger, though.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:57 PM
horizontal rule
212

I just realized that I actually have three friends who have written books about endocrine disruptors. That's gotta be some kind of a record!


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:57 PM
horizontal rule
213

Sweet pickles are disgusting. I think this might be, at least in part, a Jew/gentile divide that can never be bridged.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:58 PM
horizontal rule
214

207: Me too. The thing I haven't figured out is that they also say "Also it's in the liners of all cans". Plus I still drink sodas. Even when pregnant.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 7:58 PM
horizontal rule
215

Soon I bet you can text in your order, or email it to them. In fact, I bet you could email it in currently if you could figure out which email address would be locally monitored.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:00 PM
horizontal rule
216

I cannot believe they gave me sweet pickles on a goddamn burger. I appreciate the solidarity, Jew.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:01 PM
horizontal rule
217

Sweet pickles are disgusting. I think this might be,
at least in part, a Jew/gentile divide that can never
be bridged.

I will gladly bridge the divide by declaring my gentile disgust with sweet pickles.


Posted by: Di Kotimy | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:04 PM
horizontal rule
218

yeah I guess that's probably a thing that I could get sorted out during checkin. I bet somebody would tell me a text number or email that would work, in some hotels at least.

Other hotels put me in a wheelchair-accessible room and insist that this satisfies all my disabled needs, and then ask if I'd like a wakeup call.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:04 PM
horizontal rule
219

217: Me also, as noted above.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:05 PM
horizontal rule
220

I feel like you guys have just never had a good sweet pickle. I mean, sure, everybody hates a bad sweet pickle. But if you just TRIED a really GOOD sweet pickle, there's no way you could maintain this weird sweet-pickle-hating attitude.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:06 PM
horizontal rule
221

The only good sweet pickle is a dead sweet pickle.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:07 PM
horizontal rule
222

I define "a good sweet pickle" as "a sweet pickle that everybody likes". So you can see I'm bound to win this argument.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:07 PM
horizontal rule
223

I apologize for the oversight of Moby's pickle preferences and hereby acknowledge the rightness of Di's preferences.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:08 PM
horizontal rule
224

E. Messily eats living pickles.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:08 PM
horizontal rule
225

Sure, if a vacuously true statement can really be called winning.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:09 PM
horizontal rule
226

Solidarity with 220. I only ever had homemade sweet pickles until I was around 10, so I'm just going to assume that my idea of 'good sweet pickle' is superior to anything you're thinking of.


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:09 PM
horizontal rule
227

Your mom is vacuously true.

I WIN.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:10 PM
horizontal rule
228

I've had homemade sweet pickles and they sucked ass. They're worse that sweet pickles from the store because you have to pretend they are good.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:10 PM
horizontal rule
229

Di is objectively pro child slavery.

To be fair, it's more of a subjective preference. I appreciate that it's not for everyone.


Posted by: Di Kotimy | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:11 PM
horizontal rule
230

I'm willing to alter my theory: there may be goys who deprecate sweet pickles, but there will surely never be a Jew who precates them.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:12 PM
horizontal rule
231

it's true that the sweet pickles they sell in your average grocery store are gross. I'm on board with hating them. Boo! Down with bad sweet pickles!


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:12 PM
horizontal rule
232

Not a real Jew, at least.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:12 PM
horizontal rule
233

My mom is a wonderland, bitch.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:12 PM
horizontal rule
234

A Jewy Jew, I mean.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:13 PM
horizontal rule
235

Jewsy Jews and maresy doats and little lambsy diveys.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:14 PM
horizontal rule
236

231 smacks of the sweet pickle Vichyism to me. Choose a side, dammit!


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:14 PM
horizontal rule
237

I'm on my own side. It's the side of truth and justice and happiness and delicious pickles.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:15 PM
horizontal rule
238

326: You put soup on your pickles?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:16 PM
horizontal rule
239

Also I lost a jacket at this conference and I didn't love it very much, so who cares, except now I'm cold.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:16 PM
horizontal rule
240

Nazi Pickles Fuck Off.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:16 PM
horizontal rule
241

You know who else hated sweet pickles? Hitler's mom.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:16 PM
horizontal rule
242

I'm not sure that counts as being pwned, but it's something.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:17 PM
horizontal rule
243

238: Always thinking ahead? Or just a bit dyslexic?


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:17 PM
horizontal rule
244

If you dip sweet pickles in atravine they reconfigure into a swastika. That was in the talk.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:18 PM
horizontal rule
245

234: Listen, Won Vafer, I'm not dyslexic, just tired and maybe a bit sideways.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:19 PM
horizontal rule
246

Okay, back to work. I may have solved the problem of the introduction that won't not suck. Yes, I called Encyclopedia Brown for help. But in the end, it was Sally who cracked the case.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:19 PM
horizontal rule
247

Seems we've got a No True Jew/No True Pickle standoff.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:19 PM
horizontal rule
248

Now I want french onion dip and Ruffles. The store is three blocks away and it's cold.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:20 PM
horizontal rule
249

Call room service!


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:20 PM
horizontal rule
250

Unless you're DEAF like SOME PEOPLE.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:21 PM
horizontal rule
251

If you mean wake-up my wife and send her to the store, that won't work. I haven't tried lately, but in the past it really made for a rough week.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:21 PM
horizontal rule
252

250: I have tinnitus.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:24 PM
horizontal rule
253

So cold, Heebie. I'm probably going to mail you a package full of sweet pickles as revenge.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:24 PM
horizontal rule
254

In about 10 minutes, I have to decide if I want to pay $12 for internet, or else I can switch to teeny devices and watching TV.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:24 PM
horizontal rule
255

253: I'm so scared. Like deaf people can mail stuff.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:25 PM
horizontal rule
256

Unless you're DEAF like SOME PEOPLE.

I wondered if this sort of thing was fair game. I suppose it depends, right?


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:25 PM
horizontal rule
257

In about 10 minutes, I'm going to bed.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:25 PM
horizontal rule
258

In about ten minutes, I'm probably doing to sleep so I have energy for soccer tomorrow.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:26 PM
horizontal rule
259

You said "doing".


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:26 PM
horizontal rule
260

256: You bastard.


Posted by: Opinionated incontinent lurkers | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:26 PM
horizontal rule
261

I mean, you said it as if it rhymed with "boing".


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:27 PM
horizontal rule
262

On one hand, it depends if you're deaf or not. On the other hand, it depends if you are my friend or not. There are probably some other hands too.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:27 PM
horizontal rule
263

259: I probably meant 'going'.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:27 PM
horizontal rule
264

256: Well yeah, she probably should've kept her voice a little quieter.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:27 PM
horizontal rule
265

I like to think that I'm edgy and transgressive and Messily's friend, all in one.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:28 PM
horizontal rule
266

It's totally rude to shout at deaf people. Except sometimes you have to, because otherwise they can't hear you.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:28 PM
horizontal rule
267

Also I have really great hearing.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:29 PM
horizontal rule
268

I know, Heebie, and we're all really proud of you for that.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:30 PM
horizontal rule
269

Good night invisible able-ists.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:31 PM
horizontal rule
270

I put in my 10,000 hours of hearing, and well, you know.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:32 PM
horizontal rule
271

p.s. Von Wafer, you can make hearing-loss-related jokes directed at me if you want to. I promise not to mail you any sweet pickles.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:36 PM
horizontal rule
272

262: mmm, when you put it like that, I think I'll remain silent (not that you'd know).


Posted by: VW | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:38 PM
horizontal rule
273

Oh dear, 271 is actually a bit of a relief.


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:39 PM
horizontal rule
274

I'm reading Conferences, Hotels, Miscellaneous as one of the papers Dwight Yoakam wrote after leaving country music for mathematics. As a contribution to the ever-growing but clichéd subgenre of papers about the loneliness of being on the road going from STEM gig to STEM gig.


Posted by: One of Many | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:39 PM
horizontal rule
275

Also, making the changes that need to be made in this introduction: harder than I expected. Damn you, Encyclopedia Brown!


Posted by: Von Wafer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:40 PM
horizontal rule
276

Also I have really great hearing.

And acute angina.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:42 PM
horizontal rule
277

I got kicked off wifi.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:43 PM
horizontal rule
278

Also I've got a pleasant buzz.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:44 PM
horizontal rule
279

266: It took my son a whole month to stop shouting at me after I got the hearing aid. What's really strange is singers sound totally different now that I'm hearing the songs with a somewhat normal frequency response curve.


Posted by: Biohazard | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:45 PM
horizontal rule
280

I'm going to bed. See you later, pickle-haters.


Posted by: E. Messily | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:45 PM
horizontal rule
281

I'm sorry for your internet-impairment, heebs.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:45 PM
horizontal rule
282

After a while, picklephile.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:46 PM
horizontal rule
283

I'm half deaf and like semi-sweet pickles okay so I think I can bridge the divide here.


Posted by: Sifu Tweety | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:47 PM
horizontal rule
284

Thanks, gplanty.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:47 PM
horizontal rule
285

There's no such thing as getting a little abortion, tweets. Pick a side.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:50 PM
horizontal rule
286

285: Oh, there is such a thing. It's just that everything's bigger in Texas.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 8:59 PM
horizontal rule
287

Are we talking about jammies' pickle?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 9:01 PM
horizontal rule
288

287: only you know, Heebie. Are we?



Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 9:09 PM
horizontal rule
289

"previous channel" is he best remote control button, hands down.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 9:14 PM
horizontal rule
290

Can one of the Texas commenters see to it that heebie drunk-comments more often?


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 9:29 PM
horizontal rule
291

109

A lot of economists think the whole concept of 'insider trading' is unworkable and stupid anyway (since you should want people trading on all the information they have since then prices will be more informative). I am generally *extremely* skeptical of economists who wish to eliminate financial market regulation but in this case I wonder if they're right.

They are wrong. But LB is correct that the law should be clearer.


Posted by: James B. Shearer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 9:47 PM
horizontal rule
292

everything's bigger in Texas

Hey, you know who's really disdainful of this claim?


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 9:48 PM
horizontal rule
293

117

The brightline rule is that the tippee knows or should know that the insider was breaching a duty of disclosure. That kills the "innocent gossip recipient" prosecution, but allows for the far more realistic prosecution of people to whom the tipper is giving the tip in the hopes of benefiting the tippee. It might not be the clearest of clear lines but in practice it's not exactly incomprehensible.

So if I overhear a executive talking about an impending takeover I can trade on the information but if he deliberately tells me I can't? Doesn't seem like the most logical rule in the world.


Posted by: James B. Shearer | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 9:52 PM
horizontal rule
294

292: Mexicans?


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 9:57 PM
horizontal rule
295

294: Probably, but that's not who I was thinking of.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 9:58 PM
horizontal rule
296

I'm willing to alter my theory: there may be goys who deprecate sweet pickles, but there will surely never be a Jew who precates them.

Fuck that noise. I love all pickles equally. (Well, okay, except for sour tomatoes. Those I love even more than most.)


Posted by: Josh | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:12 PM
horizontal rule
297

What about fried pickles?


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:21 PM
horizontal rule
298

They're awesome too. Also delicious: kimchee and sauerkraut.


Posted by: Josh | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:27 PM
horizontal rule
299

I'm down. I once ate at a Korean restaurant in Reno where the waitress was so shocked that I liked kimchee that she asked if I had lived in Korea.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 10-21-11 11:36 PM
horizontal rule
300

I once shot a Korean restaurant in Reno just to watch it die.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 4:05 AM
horizontal rule
301

I would eat kimchi every day and probably should. Our farmshare-ish bin this week (mostly local farms with other fruits/veg supplementing to make for kid-friendlier eats) brought me a lovely daikon and I can't wait to figure out what to do with it. My last pickled radishes weren't quite a success but I blame myself.


Posted by: Thorn | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 4:16 AM
horizontal rule
302

Josh and I are going to found the Southern Pickle Law Anti-Defamation Center.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 6:56 AM
horizontal rule
303

145: I'd have to look for them, but IIRC there's good data showing that the market consistently leads the announcement of what should be secrets by a couple of days; tracing trades back to specific insiders may not be possible, but either there are more clairvoyants out there than you'd think, or insider information is getting out.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:08 AM
horizontal rule
304

292: Hey, you know who's really disdainful of this claim?

Don't tell me you're going to turn into one of those fucking Alaskan fuckheads who love to tout the map of Alaska superimposed on the lower 48? Also see the Alaska Statehood Medal.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:11 AM
horizontal rule
305

Did you know the phoenix airport has a Barry m goldwater terminal?


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:25 AM
horizontal rule
306

Fried pickles, kimchee, and sauerkraut are all on the side of good. I assume no one would fry a sweet pickle and try to pass it off as food.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:27 AM
horizontal rule
307

Fried pickles are the best. I made fun of them the first time I saw them on a menu (hello, Great Lakes Brewing of Canton-Akron Airport!), but then I ordered them. Heaven.


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:32 AM
horizontal rule
308

305: Not surprising. Barry Goldwater was precisely 2.89 times the man and the politician than John McCain for instance, Arizonans* are very aware of that. My favorite Goldwater moment was when he hauled his butt up to the White House in August 1974 to tell Nixon that he was fucked and just give it up already.

*ObAnnoyingGeographyNitpickingAsswipeTrivia: He was not born in the state., he was born in in the Arizona Territory.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:39 AM
horizontal rule
309

To the pickle-lovers: I got the very best housewarming gift, of four kinds of these pickles, which are fucking incredible. My friend who sent them knows Rick and says nice things about the company. I got the Smokra (my favorite), the Mean Beans (holy shit), and the hotties and classic sours. Highly recommended. I may have actually injured myself consuming nothing but spicy pickles for about two days.


Posted by: AWB | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:40 AM
horizontal rule
310

307: That would be the Akron-Canton Airport, thank you very much.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:42 AM
horizontal rule
311

I know him! Or rather, I was friends with his brother in grad school and went and introduced myself to him down at the market in Union Sq. one day and we chatted. Mean Beans rule for years.


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:42 AM
horizontal rule
312

310: My favorite airport. You park like 20 feet from the baggage claim!


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:43 AM
horizontal rule
313

Fried pickles are superawesome but can only be had once in a lifetime. Clausen's are the pickle golld standard. Bread and butter pickles are acceptable on hamburgers, but on hot dogs you want one dill spear. Kimchi will keep you alive.

I'm an extra in a friend's film today. 7 am call, craft services, hurry up and wait. It seemed like the Hollywood thing to do, if I were 24.


Posted by: k-sky | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:49 AM
horizontal rule
314

303: Yes, that would be interesting as well. I was thinking more of a very related set of data where you look at the actual published stock actions that identified insiders make, folks who just in the normal run of action should have a pretty good clue as to when the market is being fueled by unwarranted rumors or optimism.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:54 AM
horizontal rule
315

305: That's nothing, the Minneapolis airport has a Charles Lindbergh terminal.

Mister Charlie Lindbergh he flew to old Berlin. Got him a big Iron Cross and he flew right back again.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:56 AM
horizontal rule
316

254: In about 10 minutes, I have to decide if I want to pay $12 for internet,

You must have been at a nice hotel, it's free at anyplace ordinary. Is there a name or concept for this kind of market "anomaly"--in this case greatly fueled by the fact that the majority of customers are spending other people's money


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:58 AM
horizontal rule
317

314: Of course there's a weird issue where insiders are probably in the best position to accurately interpret public information, IYSWIM; their attention is focused on their own company, and they're likelier than anyone else to actually know most of what is publically known, so you'd expect them to be trading better than the market even without misusing secrets.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 8:00 AM
horizontal rule
318

317: Which is why their trades are published of course... after the fact (maybe they should require advance notice). Did find this discussion of a particular type of inside trading (scheduled in advance) and gives a figure of 3.6% advantage over market. Make me think there is probably research out there on the more general class of trades.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 8:10 AM
horizontal rule
319

315: Charleston has a Sir Oswald Mosley terminal.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 8:15 AM
horizontal rule
320

Here's a paper on options trading, looking for spikes in option trading as a symptom of insider information leaking. I don't think it analyzes actual prevalence, but it lists some case studies where it seems to have happened.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 8:15 AM
horizontal rule
321

I assume no one would fry a sweet pickle

Anybody who assumes that no one would fry [insert any feasibly edible item] has never been to the North Carolina State Fair. There was fried Kool-Aid this year.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 8:21 AM
horizontal rule
322

I think it was Iowa where they deep fried sticks of butter.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 8:23 AM
horizontal rule
323

The smokra are my favorite, too. And the mean beans are the perfect garnish for a bloody mary!


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 8:25 AM
horizontal rule
324

319 and *: Sometimes I want to have Wikipedia's babies. Although from the list I learn that it is now the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. The fuck? Get on that, teo.

*Is there an equivalent of "et seq." for priors?


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 8:26 AM
horizontal rule
325

As an honorary Jew, I dislike sweet pickles intensely.


Posted by: AWB | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 8:30 AM
horizontal rule
326

the mean beans are the perfect garnish for a bloody mary!

Yes!


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 8:36 AM
horizontal rule
327

321: it's also worth going to the Gilroy Garlic Festival to widen one's sense of the possible. Once will suffice.


Posted by: Biohazard | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 8:41 AM
horizontal rule
328

Re: conferences, I once was in a session where the chair got up and announced that he would give $20 to anyone who had made fundamental progress on [important problem that everyone says they're working on]. (For context, this was a chemistry / materials science conference.) Then he slotted a $20 bill into the edge of the podium, so it was standing up and everyone could see it. And for the next two hours, every speaker had to interrupt their talk for a few minutes and explain why they weren't going to take the $20.


Posted by: YK | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 8:54 AM
horizontal rule
329

This being an extra thing is not as gllamorous as it sounds. Stillll waiting for that wide shot, Mr. DeMille. Finished reading The Keep by Jennifer Egan. Recommended!


Posted by: k-sky | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 11:01 AM
horizontal rule
330

315: the whole damn San Diego airport is named for Lindbergh.


Posted by: Sifu Tweety | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 11:15 AM
horizontal rule
331

The last conference I was at, the organizers arranged for tips to be included in the bill. I was extremely pleased. It is so annoying to have to tip separately, why don't I just get a service-included price?


Posted by: Benquo | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 11:21 AM
horizontal rule
332

The local airport isn't named for anyone, but due to its IATA code, I've taken to calling it the Margaret Cho Memorial Airport


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 2:19 PM
horizontal rule
333

Finished reading The Keep by Jennifer Egan. Recommended!

I'll second that.


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 2:20 PM
horizontal rule
334

304: No, I'm just going to goad you into doing it for me.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 2:24 PM
horizontal rule
335

You must have been at a nice hotel, it's free at anyplace ordinary.

So true. When I was a fancy-shmancy hotel earlier this week, they had a particularly evil set-up: free super-slow WiFi, or $20/day for fast WiFi. (No, I didn't pay the $20 in order to refresh Unfogged more quickly.)


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 3:47 PM
horizontal rule
336

For an extra five bucks, you get hot water instead of just luke warm.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 3:52 PM
horizontal rule
337

I'm midway through The Keep.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 10-22-11 7:35 PM
horizontal rule
338

||
Adventures in pre-computing information management #42. Got to use the sort of interesting Roberts Indexing system at the courthouse the other day.

Select the Index book by the first letter of your surname.
Determine the "Key Letter" of your Surname. To do this, start with the second letter of the surname, and find the first occurrence of one of the Key letters, (L, M, N, R, T, or Misc. for surnames not having one of these letters.)
Determine where to look for a particular individual. Take the first letter of the individuals given name, and look in the column on the chart with the heading "Given Name Initials." Where the column intersect with your "Key Letter," is the page in the index book where this name will appear
Turns out it was developed by the same guy who developed Soundex with which shares some features (the first web link has it labeled incorrectly). The guy lived in Pittsburgh (early 20th century) and the first system seems to be in use in many Pennsylvania courthouses (I'm betting not in Philly and surrounding areas, however).
|>


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-23-11 11:30 AM
horizontal rule
339

338 is great. Also the typo of "Roberts" for "Russell" is great.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 10-23-11 11:36 AM
horizontal rule
340

339: "Roberts" for "Russell"

Holy shit... it was my secret indexing system ... I was googleproofing ... help me, Mommy.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 10-23-11 11:43 AM
horizontal rule
341

Check it out; James Fallows linked to a video of derauqsd's pet bird.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 10-23-11 11:57 AM
horizontal rule
342

Very cool. The slo-mo wings reminded me of videos of octopuses or squid.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 10-23-11 1:32 PM
horizontal rule
343

I hate bread and butter pickles so much, but I love sweet gherkins (or used to). Cornichons are better.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 10-24-11 5:27 AM
horizontal rule
344

Fancy hotel FYI: If you go to a Fairmont, join the President's club thing. It's free, and you get the wifi for free.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 10-24-11 5:38 AM
horizontal rule