When to refinance

via Mankiw

Principles of OS design

I can’t find a better excerpt than the one from /. :

Ubuntu goes out of its way to get out of your way, even if it doesn't succeed all the time. Vista goes out of its way to be Vista and enforce the Vista way. You must conform regardless of the implications.

I haven’t yet used Gutsy on a desktop (or upgraded from Feisty on my MythTV), but it sounds like enough of their/gnome developers have finally used OS X to appreciate the “get out of the way” principles that largely drive Apple human interface design. Nowhere of course is it better distilled and applied than in Quicksilver (“Act Without Doing”)

Economists Explain the World, again

More wacky instrumental variables: is leaded gas the next tv-and-autism?

Goat curry

I haven’t made it yet but I certainly plan to soon.

OMG so annoying I agree!

Could the entire subfield of American politics please stop talking about the 77th Congress or the 103rd Congress and start talking about the 1941-42 Congress and the 1993-94 Congress and so forth? This would just make everybody's life easier. —Gelman.

Chicken Paprikás

I have been asked for my tasty chicken paprikás recipe. It's so simple a dish I cannot claim ownership – the one I learned from my grandfather is not really any different from June Meyer's excellent version here. I usually serve it with simple dumplings:

• two flour
• two eggs
• some water (half a cup? more?)

Mix in a bowl with enough water to make a medium-sticky dough. Using a large pot of well salted boiling water, cut dumplings with a spoon directly from the bowl (it will come off easily in the water). I usually do this in two or three batches, skimming them out so they are varying levels of chewy.

Informational Cascades!

in nyt!

Gumbo

Gumbo
Originally uploaded by gay.goy.gourmet

the end of the jerk chicken, m&k andouille, tons of okra. Built on a roux of delicious bacon fat.

foodlist

• gumbo (chicken, andouille, okra)
• black beans and rice
• mushroom risotto
• polenta with goatsbeard blue cheese (!)