The Kindle

Listening to Billy Bragg makes me want to buy a Mexican Strat and a cheap amp. If I land the job I’ve applied for, I might just do that. It would be that or a Kindle. I have seen the Kindle and it is incredible. Maybe in 20 years hipsters will be dragging around dog-eared paperback copies of Penguin Classics like Joyce’s ‘Portrait of An Artist as a Young Man’ because it will be even more ironic, as the printing page is becoming yesterday’s vinyl record. (Though doesn’t stop me from buying 45s whenever the opportunity presents itself.)

-There has been a little battle brewing among our national news and economic elites over whether Europe is better than America or vice versa. Ross Douhat seemed to have lit the spark when he said “Social democracy has its benefits, but global competitiveness isn’t one of them”. His colleague at the NYTimes Krugman stoked the flames. Greg Mankiw responded with this useless (and snarky) post, though he later was a little more ready to contribute to the discussion. The conclusion is that comparing America to Europe does not really prove anything as people will draw different conclusions from the same sets of data.
My take is that if one likes more vacation, more soccer, better public infrastructure, improved access to the BBC, and cheaper school and healthcare in exchange for higher taxes and less GDP growth, Europe is ideal. If one’s utopia involves large tracts of open land to build spacious homes, more material wealth (think gigantic TVs with 200 channels), greater reliance on personal responsibility regarding education, healthcare, and transportation, and more American Football, in exchange for a less mobile society and greater income inequality, then maybe the U.S. is for you. Of course, the choice isn’t that simple since we cannot feasibly ‘vote with our feet’ en masse by moving to those countries whose priorities match our own.
There are so many fundamental differences, interpretation of liberty, etc, that they are impossible to keep track of. In a sense, depending on the person, the American or European way just ‘feels’ more right and no one ever is going to prove who actually is. That is unless the neo-cons somehow get us all blowed up.

-I would like to point out that architecture in Sweden (despite their socialist ‘shortcomings’) is not stifled by government interference like architecture in the U.S. is stifled by an emphasis on the bottom line (I like to call this phenomenon ‘efficiency interference’). A design proposal for the new Stockholm Public Library is striking.

-the lede says it all here: “Thieves in Brazil made off with nearly $6 million in a heist that demonstrated the unbelievable distracting power of soccer in the country.”

-This clutch of links is for Kevin Bargnes, who has a lot of Detroit pride. Yglesias talks about turning Detroit around. And, a sobering reminder of the project that will be.

-Gratitude: A tasteful holiday greeting card from Joseph Stalin here.

-And finally, Mark ‘The Shark’ Titus, Ohio State’s most articulate bench warmer and (conjecture here) complete jackass in real life, has made an NBA highlight video showing his soaking wet jumpshot. It is great. Bill Simmons and Mike Bruesewitz are documented fans of Club Trillion, so you’d best hop on the wagon.

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