Marc Kaufmann

I came across MathJax last week, an open source JavaScript engine to display maths in browsers. It looks pretty nifty, since it understands LaTex. So I thought I'd try and see how well it works.

\[Y = X \beta + \epsilon \]

And if you right-click on the equation above, you can get the source code, either in LaTex of MathML. That's a pretty nice feature, I'll see in the next weeks how easy it is to use it.

(Notice: Despite the spinelessness of PayPal, MasterCard and others, it is still possible to donate to WikiLeaks via the micropayment website Flattr. Signing up for Flattr.com is a good idea anyway)

The current unfolding of the situation around WikiLeaks is pretty disturbing. Not so much the fact that Assange sits now in prison in the UK, since this is on charges of sexual misconduct - legal euphemism for all things rape. Even though it is striking and telling how quickly the legal system got up and running - which certainly is due to Assange's status -, I doubt very much that this is a total setup. I am certainly not going to take much of stance on that one, if he's guilty, he's guilty, if not, so much the better for him. Even if there are lots of ad hominem attacks on Assange, this doesn't mean we should have ad hominem defenses of him, purely because WikiLeaks is a good thing.

Ken Robinson is always inspiring to listen to:

RSA Animate, Changing Education Paradigms

and the graphics are just awesome. I think I'll get the PDF, although I have to pay them people for their work!! Antisocial behaviour, really...

And here he is on TED, both talks are worth watching and funny.

Nice French Music:

Zazie, "Je suis un homme"
Zazie, "J'étais là"
Renan Luce, "Nantes"
Renan Luce, "La fille de la bande"

I have just finished reading Carlos Ruiz Safon's book "L'ombre du vent" ("La sombra del viento" is the original title in spanish).

I had been wanting to write something about the silliness of selfishness in economic modeling, not only from the point of view that I don't believe it is true, but also because economists are quite picky about what they mean by selfish. People are supposedly selfish on the market, pure utility maximising machines, but for some obscure reason, there set of actions is restricted to trading. So economic models don't usually include the easiest way of getting money (in the very short-term), that is kill and steal.

Renan Luce, Repenti
Sexion d'Assaut, Desole

Robert Solow has an interesting little note to congress on the worth of macroeconomics.

Landier, A. et D. Thesmar (2010) La societe translucide: pour en finir avec le mythe de l'Etat bienveillant, Fayard

Antonio Estache says: "Extraordinaire"

Jonathan Gruber, 'Public Finance and Public Policy'