Taxes

Two interesting articles on taxes. When read together, they pretty well sum up my philosophy on the subject: progressive, Pigouvian, simple, and strict.

Gregory Mankiw arguing for a better tax system at the NY Times.

The Economist on optimal tax rates and tax evasion.

While there is bipartisan support for some sort of tax reform, as noted by Mankiw, a Republican advisor to Bush and now Romney, I fear the problem will never be appropriately addressed. Our Congress is just not currently set up to properly address complicated problems.

Termites!

So, it turns out these giant hills are termite hills and not ant hills. The rainy season returned a week or so ago, and the termites are out in force. They are kind of creepy. Read about them at wikipedia.

Lisbon

I had a long layover on my way to Ghana - enough time to get out and see a bit of the city. Lisbon was very pretty and quite tourist friendly; I was able to tour the Castle of São Jorge and see quite a few other sites for not a lot of money and very little trouble. If you ever find yourself with a five or more hours in Lisbon, don't spend it in the airport. Get out and at least see the castle.

Ghana

I had the opportunity last week to travel to Accra, Ghana for a conference on agricultural biotechnology that I have been planning for the last few months with the Brazilian Agency for Cooperation. The U.S. and Brazil are the #1 and #2 largest producers of biotech crops in the world. We cooperated jointly on this conference to share our experiences with government representatives from Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda - all of which are at various stages of progressing with biotech crops to improve food security. I think the conference was a success, but it was really only the first step to coordinate our efforts. Now, it will be a matter of identifying specific areas where we can actually work together.

In addition to the conference, I had a day to do a little sightseeing. My first stop was a canopy walkway in Kakum National Park, which is now just a mere fragment of the forest that formerly covered West Africa. I didn't see much wildlife except some lizards. I also got to see this cacao pod, which contains the magnificent cocoa bean. I had no idea how big they are! Ghana is one of the top producers of cocoa, but it is almost exclusively exported, meaning chocolate bars are almost twice as expensive in Ghana than in the U.S.

After the park, I ate at Haun's Cottage restaurant and hostel. The restaurant sits on a small lake surrounded by trees. The trees were full of these amazing yellow birds and their nests. 

The owners also thought it would be a good idea to bring in some crocodiles. 

This lady was pretty insistent that I touch one of the crocodiles. I asked her if they ever bite, to which she replied, "No, we feed them." Me: "Feed them what? Foreigners?" She thought that was funny, but didn't deny it. 

This was as close as I was willing to get. What you don't quite get from the picture is that in addition to the croc that I am approaching, I am also surrounded on all sides by at least six other crocs on the land, plus one monster in the water. Scenes from Jurassic Park of velociraptors working as a pack flashed through my head. "Clever girl."

After lunch, I went to Elmina Castle, the oldest European building in Sub-Saharan Africa. Elmina is infamous as one of the most important locations for the transatlantic slave trade. Africans from all over the region were brought here by slave catchers to be sold and shipped off by the Portuguese and later the Dutch. I had a great tour guide who pulled no punches in describing the atrocities that occurred in this castle. However, he made it clear that his point was not to instill guilt, but to inspire all of us to use our lives to make the world a better place by never tolerating such wickedness.

Elmina Castle

Slave Dungeon

Slave Exit to Waiting Boats

View from the Door of No Return

The Door of No Return

Governor's Balcony

My tour guide, Phillip

Boats of Elmina

The optimist in me found it interesting that a Mormon chapel was right next door to Elmina with many more such chapels all along the two-hour drive. If the people of Ghana can accept an institution that ended its official policy of racial discrimination only three decades ago, perhaps we are all capable of moving forward?

Rockonomics

So, President Obama nominated Alan Krueger to be the Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors. Regardless of any of his political persuasions or economic ideologies, I have to like the guy for his thorough research of Rockonomics. It is a lengthy read that even I couldn't get all the way through, but if you like economics and you like rock 'n' roll, you will probably find a couple interesting parts. I found the discussion on ticket scalping to be noteworthy. I also think the explanation surrounding payola was as clear as any I have read:

So why has payola become illegal? Perhaps an analogy is instructive. Payola is analogous to a professor paying bribes to the editor of the American Economic Review to publish his paper. The professor would be willing to pay since a publication is good for career advancement, and eventually translates into higher future earnings. But AER readers expect the published articles to be the best and most relevant to the field, not the ones written by those with the deepest pockets or the most eager to get tenure. An essential function of a scientific journal is to screen papers. One could argue that an essential feature of a radio station is to screen records, especially since the right to broadcast on the radio waves is licensed by the government. 

Mac OS X Lion

The latest version of the Mac operating system is here and I've been using it for a few days. There is too much for me to cover exhaustively, besides others have already done that. I just wanted to put down a few of my thoughts on Lion.

First, the price ($30 for all of your computers) and the installation process (Mac App Store) are both real positives. Cheap and easy is hard to complain about.

Unfortunately, the next thing I noticed after installing wasn't so positive; Lion just feels slower than Snow Leopard did. There are a lot of new animations that might be to blame, but I think it might be something else. One of Lion's new features is a constant auto save of not only documents, but also the layout of all your windows and apps. The upside of this is that you never lose a document for lack of saving and you can resume right from where you left off if you turn off your computer or quit an app. I am no expert, but I think this might be leading to the slothfulness, which seems particularly noticeable on apps that haven't been updated since Lion came out. I am hopeful that some optimization by both Apple and developers will speed things up.

The other big thing that you will notice right away is that Apple has flipped the way scrolling works. They call the new way "natural scrolling." Previously, if you put two fingers on your trackpad and dragged them downward, the web page or whatever would scroll down. Now, if you want to scroll down, you put two fingers on the track pad and push the page up. This new method matches what you do on an iOS touchscreen, but it isn't quite the same when you aren't actually touching the screen. All the reviews seem to say that you get used to the new method in a day or two, but I couldn't last that long. I have to use a Windows machine at work all day, and flipping back and forth wasn't going to be enjoyable. So, I turned the new scrolling off so that it matches both the old Apple method and the regular Windows method.

I think the most important upgrade for me is Mission Control, which unifies Exposé, Dashboard, and Spaces into one thing. This is far easier to manage and make sense of, even if it is slightly less customizable from the Spaces point of view. Describing how Mission Control works would be painful. Let's just say that the average user should have a much easier time now managing multiple virtual desktops and a bunch of open apps. Mission Control is almost enough to make upgrading worthwhile by itself.

Launchpad, which was touted alongside Mission Control as new way to manage your apps, is less of a success in my mind. It gives you an iOS style view of your apps to launch them. Unfortunately, it also comes with an iOS style way of organizing them. I think users with just the stock Apple apps plus maybe one or two more might find Launchpad useful, but not me. I just turned it off and ignore it.

Full-screen apps are a partial hit. I like turning iTunes, Mail, and iCal into full screen apps that get their own desktop. Other programs that you would think would be good in full screen just aren't, like iPhoto and Aperture, which both inexplicably use the extra real estate to remove functionality in full-screen mode. I think Apple designed the full-screen mode of those two apps more for in-store demos than for actual use. The other big letdown on full-screen apps is that they don't take advantage of multiple monitors. When you switch to a full-screen app with two monitors, one will display the app and the other just goes blank. Not very useful unless your sole purpose for using full-screen mode is to remove distractions.

The new Mail, iCal, Address Book, and iChat all include some decent upgrades. Mail gives you a great new conversation view that is similar in concept but way better than Gmail's web interface. iCal now has a better day view and a new year view. You also can create new events using natural language like in Google Calendars. Address Book has a few new fields and slightly better integration with Faces from iPhoto or Aperture. iChat gives you a unified buddy list finally. All nice improvements, but I have to say that I think the new looks of iCal and Address Book are kind of gimmicky. Address Book in particular is annoying because the new look actually makes it harder to use by placing your groups on a different screen or page rather than just another column.

Safari has some new improvements that I like, including moving (hiding) the download window. There is also a new Read It Later feature that is best thought of as temporary bookmarks. Unfortunately, until iOS5 comes out, they don't really sync in any useful way.

Those are my initial thoughts on Lion (10.7.0). I would have to say that I love Mission Control, but the rest is either simply nice or slightly disappointing. For $30 I still think Lion is a good deal and worth the upgrade, but I wouldn't advise you to rush into it. 10.7.2 is already being seeded to developers for their preview, which means 10.7.1 is probably due out very soon with some bug fixes and hopefully some optimizations. I think it would be wise to wait a few weeks/month to let developers make sure their apps all play nicely with the Lion.

Replacing MobileMe

While iCloud does seem to have its virtues and despite some fears the web interface isn't going away, it appears that three MobileMe features that I use all of the time are going away: iWeb hosting, iDisk, and Gallery. Apple's idea of the cloud seems to focus on syncing and less on sharing. So, I guess it is time to start looking for replacements.

iWeb hosting: iWeb can make some decent web sites in a hurry, but without the simple, one-button publishing of MobileMe hosting, it just doesn't seem like an app that is sticking around anyway. There are a lot of great replacements out there for every type of need. However, I don't need much and I don't want to pay for it. So, I think for now I'll stick with Blogger for my web presence.

iDisk: I like the ability to access any of my documents from any computer. iDisk is nice because it integrates right into the Finder on my Mac and has a nice web interface for when I am at work. I am trying out Dropbox for now. Dropbox in many ways is even better than iDisk. It integrates into the Finder almost as well as iDisk. It is cross-platform with a very easy web interface. It makes syncing and sharing files easy. So far my only complaint with Dropbox is the pricing. You get 2GB for free, but then the first paid tier is $100/year for 50GB. While not a bad GB/$ ratio, it is still a lot of money. I would like to see a tier somewhere in between this and the free option. Maybe like $50/year for 10-25GB. Still, I recommend that you try it. If you do, please use this link and we both get a little bonus.

Gallery: Perhaps the best MobileMe feature of all was Gallery. It had a few problems like slow rendering on the web page, but it was the best way that I know of to seamlessly share photos out of iPhoto/Aperture. It worked especially well if others were also using iPhoto/Aperture. You could then jointly add photos to a gallery and have them sync to each account. I haven't found anything that replaces all of the functionality of Gallery, particularly the easy full-size RSS feeds. I really don't care for Flickr, even though it is probably the most popular sharing site. So, I am trying out SmugMug, which has the added bonus of letting you use your own domain. Check out my site here. The only downside with SmugMug is that it does cost. The pricing seems fair though.

So, if you have any suggestions on other services I should look at, let me know.

Comic Book Movies

I recently saw two good movies based on comic books: Red and X-Men: First Class. Both are worth watching. Red is only loosely based on a very short comic book that most people probably have never heard of. As such, the adaptation to the big screen worked quite well even if a lot of liberties were taken. The thing I like about Red is that it was an ensemble cast done right. Bruce Willis plays his typical John McClane role, but this time retired and aging - so we don't have to believe that he is still in his thirties. John Malkovich may have the best role, using his trademark craziness without going over the top. I was nervous about how Helen Mirren would pull off her role and Morgan Freeman sometimes is asked to do too much to save a movie. Both didn't disappoint. Brian Cox has a nice supporting role that is familiar enough to work for him, but a bit comedic and much more likable than his usual villain character. The plot is typical Mission Impossible fair, but done with just the right amount of levity.

X-Men: First Class, on the other hand, has an extensive and familiar comic book canon that had to be addressed, not to mention making it fit in with the previous X-Men movies, which were a little hit or miss. Even though the story wasn't exactly true to how I knew it as a kid, I think they did a nice job in staying true to the comics where it mattered most.

Again, the cast really works to make this movie enjoyable throughout. I don't normally care for James MacAvoy, but he played a good young Prof. X. He sounded a little too Austin Powers at times, but that just kept the movie from taking itself too seriously. Not to say it wasn't a serious movie. The plot continues the familiar theme of discrimination and Michael Fassbender was excellent as the troubled and charismatic Magneto, straddling the line of good and evil. On the pure evil side, Kevin Bacon was top notch as Sebastian Shaw. I don't know if he really speaks German, but his German-speaking parts were really well done. I can't complain too much, because the movie was really pretty good, especially with its 60s Bond-esque feel, but I don't think January Jones was quite the right fit for Emma Frost.

It seems like most of the comic book movies being made these days have been pretty good, despite some duds (Wolverine was a major disappointment), but Red and X-Men: First Class are better than most.

iCloud, youCloud, and other Apple news

Apple showed off a few big things last week, including the next version of the Mac OS (due out in July), the next version of iOS (due out in fall), and iCloud (also due out in fall). Lion, the last non-obscure/extinct big cat name left for Apple to use for naming Mac OS 10.7, looks to be another no-brainer upgrade. It's an evolutionary upgrade with a lot of cool little features. At $30, there really is no reason (other than technical hardware limitations) to not upgrade when it comes out. The new mission control feature looks particularly handy.

If Lion is a good deal, iOS 5 is even better. It is packed with important improvements and free. It looks like the only downside is the wait until its release this fall. I think most of the items on my iPhone wish list from January 2010 will now be resolved and then some. Finally, native to-do syncing with iCal. Finally, message flagging in Mail. Finally, wireless iTunes syncing. Of course, the biggest applause came with the news of a revamped notifications system, which Android showed could be so much better than the lame system currently used by Apple. With the wireless iTunes syncing, over the air software updates, and PC-free setup, I think the iPhone will now be much less maintenance for the average user.

Apple will also throw in with iOS 5, free of charge, their new iCloud service. I think there are quite a few questions that need to be answered about this MobileMe replacement between now and release, but I remain guardedly optimistic. The good: Its free. It gives you an @me.com email address, calendar syncing and sharing, contact syncing (but not sure about sharing - an area where Apple could really help me out). The biggest news is perhaps the iTunes integration, which allows you to re-download previous music purchases (hopefully TV and movies follow, but for now it is only music). For an additional $25/year, Apple will scan your music library for tracks you may have ripped from CD or obtained elsewhere. You can then access a high quality version of this track from Apple assuming they sell it.

The bad: It looks like iWeb and iWeb hosting will go away. It is unclear what will happen with iDisk, but it also looks like it will be deprecated. The photo Gallery feature of MobileMe is also looking like a dodo despite the new Photo Stream feature. I use all three of these services a lot and it looks like I will have to find replacements.

The ugly: It is still unknown and there is a bit of a debate in the tech blogosphere over it, but it is unclear if there will be any web-based front ends for these services. This may not be a big deal to everyone, but I work in an environment where I can't download any programs to my work computer and I can't bring my phone into my office. If there are no web apps, I can't use any iCloud services while at work, which means even adjusting my calendar will be impossible. This doesn't make sense to me, so I tend to side with John Gruber in thinking that at least some of the web front ends that currently exist in MobileMe will stick around.

Another unexpected wish fulfillment from Apple happened today. Apple began selling unlocked iPhones on its U.S. web site for the first time ever. This isn't a big deal for most people - the phone still will only have full functionality with AT&T in the U.S. and at $649, it is not a good deal for most people. However, it is a big deal for a few people. First, people like me who live overseas and travel a lot will no longer have to jailbreak their phones to use foreign carriers. Second, people in some markets where iPhones are unavailable or expensive may find this gray market alternative to be quite attractive. I predict a lot of Brazilians will buy them because even a subsidized iPhone here is so expensive. Finally, I think there is a good chance that this will have longterm implications for the mainstream U.S. market. The rumor is that the next iPhone will combine GSM (AT&T) and CDMA (Verizon) technologies into one handset. If that is the case, an unlocked version could actually improve competition and take away power from the carriers (something Google has let me down on). I remain hopeful that locked phones disappear and this could be a step towards that.

Discworld

I heard about Terry Pratchett's Discworld series every once in a while on some podcast or referenced somewhere. I may have even noticed it on a bestseller list somewhere. I don't know what finally made me decide to try it out myself but I purchased The Colour of Magic, the first in the series of almost 40 books, a couple years ago and tried reading it on my iPhone's Kindle app. I never finished the book. I partly blame the iPhone reading experience; it is a very small screen requiring a bit more patience than usual. I also think that The Colour of Magic wasn't the best book. Last year, I watched the made-for-TV movie of the book starring Tim Curry and Sean Astin and found myself enjoying it. So, I decided to give Discworld another go and just finished Guards! Guards! I liked this one a lot and am now part way through Men at Arms, which is pretty good so far.

So, for those of you not at all familiar with Discworld, here is a quick explanation: The Discworld novels might easily be filed under Fantasy but I don't think that is exactly fair. If you don't like Fantasy at all, you probably won't like Discworld, which features your typical medieval humans, dwarfs, trolls, vampires, dragons, etc. all living together on a giant disc that rests on the back of four elephants standing on top of a giant turtle flying through space. Strange enough, but that description fails to capture that Discworld is really much more of a modern British comedy series that happens to be set in this fantasy world. While there are similarities to Tolkien, Wodehouse is a more apt comparison. I saw one reviewer who said something to the effect that Pratchett does for Fantasy what Douglas Adams did for Sci-Fi. I think The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a fine book and this is a fair comparison but I would argue that despite the strange explanation above, the Discworld is actually much more normal and approachable than Douglas Adams. Perhaps I can offer a couple other imperfect comparisons that might help a little bit in explaining the tone of Discworld. Think of all the funny allusions in Shrek to other fairy tales and you are on the right track. Or perhaps if you have read Robert Aspirin's Myth-Adventures, then you will know the tone. However, I think Pratchett is a superior writer, which is amazing considering how prolific he is.


Guards! Guards! is the first book in the City Watch story arc, which reads like police procedural set in this fantasy world. The City Watch is a rag-tag police force that isn't of much use because of the institutionalization of organized crime. They make themselves relevant when someone conjures up a dragon. Sounds like a typical fantasy story, but it has some extremely funny moments and a general lightness that is missing from a lot of the fantasy genre. So, if you are in the mood for something light, funny, fantastical, and yet relevant, try Guards! Guards!