text:
The Philadelphia School, deterritorialized
z 2 b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 3
Louis I. Kahn
Adler House
Can you say canonical?
"Eisenman's Canon..."
Luigi Moretti, Casa "Il Girasole," 1947-50
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Farnsworth House, 1946-51
Le Corbusier, Palais des Congres-Strasbourg, 1962-64
Louis I. Kahn, Adler & DeVore Houses, 1954-55
Robert Venturi, Vanna Venturi House, 1959-64
James Stirling, Leicester Engineering Building, 1959-63
Aldo Rossi, Cemetery of San Cataldo, 1971-78
Rem Koolhaas, Jussieu Libraries, 1992-93
Daniel Libeskind, Jewish Museum, 1989-1999
Frank O. Gehry, Peter B. Lewis Building, 1997-2002
In an October 1969 ("The Big Little Magazine: Perspecta 12 and the future of the architectural past," Architectural Forum) review of Perspecta 12, Peter Eisenman writes:
"It is difficult to judge in retrospect whether Perspecta, while purporting to be a reflection of history, was not in itself creating history. And while the making of history cannot, of course, be directly ascribed to Perspecta, one can practically trace the history of post-war American architecture through its pages, from the appearance of Paul Rudolph's early Florida houses in Perspecta 1, to the Adler and DeVore houses of Louis Kahn in Perspecta 3, which in a quiet way signaled a significant, if marginal, change in the course of the Modern Movement--the eclipse of the free plan and a return to a direct modulation of space through structure."
Eisenman continues:
"There has unfortunately flourished, since the war, around the Modern Movement, a body of secondary literature which has tended not only to obscure some of the original ideas adherent to this movement, but also in some cases, in a search for an over-simplified version of history (and because of highly simplistic criteria of explanation), created an idealized picture of it--which can hardly be regarded as a representation of reality. Thus, Kenneth Frampton's article on Pierre Chareau's Maison de Verre, both in its style of presentation and its choice of material, can be seen as a break from this tradition. And while such a documentation of this building, as well as other canonical works of the Modern Movement, is long overdue as a contribution to the history of the recent past, it is the quality and scope of the documentation which commands our attention. Here is a set of precise, hard-line drawings, restrained, elegant, almost in the genre of the building itself, which certainly must establish a standard for such a presentation. But further, it is the abstract style of drawing in itself, the emphasis on plan, section, and axonometric view, which makes them useful for an analytical approach to the building. It is important to note that it was Frampton who had these drawings made in this particular manner; first because they probably did not exist, and second, because they present the building and the ideas inherent in it in a way that is not possible to retain, even when one is confronted with the actual fact."
Thirty-five years later Eisenman publishes Ten Canonical Buildings 1950-2000 (2008), where Louis I. Kahn's Adler and DeVore Houses are featured (which actually makes for a total of eleven canonical buildings within the book, but who's counting). Regarding the Adler and DeVore Houses:
"In the Adler and DeVore Houses of 1954-55, unlike in many of his other projects, Kahn achieves what could be considered an architectural text in diachronic space. This is brought about by the superposition of classical and modern space; that neither of these "times" dominates results in a dislocation of moments or, in other terms, a disjunction that is experienced in space. In the Adler and DeVore Houses, Kahn presents architecture both as a complex object and as the potential for the subject to experience the object as both a real space and an imaginary space. Both conditions are present and can be read, each in turn displacing the other. It is this unresolved moment in the Adler and DeVore Houses, which are themselves suspended in real time between the Trenton Bathhouse and the Richards Medical Center, that makes these two houses different from much of Kahn's other work. It is in the context of the denial of axial symmetries and part-to-whole relationships evident in much of Kahn's later work that these differences lie.
Thus the Adler and DeVore Houses can be seen to articulate an alternate internal logic: first, as a conscious, didactic proposal against the free plan of modern architecture, and second, as a critique of modern architecture."
To be precise, the Adler and DeVore Houses (1954-55) predate the Trenton Jewish Community Center Bathhouse (1956-57).
"The hipped roofs of Kahn's Trenton Bathhouse, as well as its emphatic materiality, are clearly antecedents to the Adler and DeVore Houses, given that initial sketches of both houses similarly have hipped roofs. The Trenton Bathhouse is the first example in America of a massive brick and concrete structure denying the free plan and dynamic asymmetries of modernism with a classicizing nine-square plan. While only a small portion of the Trenton Bathhouse was built..."
Again, it is in fact the early hipped roofs schemes of the Adler and DeVore Houses that are antecedents to the Trenton Bathhouse, and, as built, the Trenton Bathhouse is complete. Eisenman confuses the Trenton Jewish Community Center Bathhouse with the much larger Trenton Jewish Community Center Community Building which was a wholly separate building design never executed.
When seen in (correct) chronological order and at the same scale, a number of Kahn designs, centering on the Adler and DeVore Houses, reveal a more interesting evolutionary development of the "eclipse of the free plan and a return to a direct modulation of space through structure."
Fruchter House 1952-53
Adler House 1954-55
DeVore House 1954-55
Trenton Jewish Community Center Bathhouse 1956-57
Trenton Jewish Community Center Day Care 1957
Goldenberg House 1959
Fisher House 1960-67
Also see the White House.
www.quondam.com/40/4012b.htm


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Professional Gaming Has a New Wellness Culture That Can Save Office Workers
"It's an evolution of the sport with respect to fitness, health, and spiritual well-being."
Emma Betuel
Things are looking pretty bleak for those of us who spend each day hacking away at a keyboard. America's office workers are furiously typing their way toward an early grave.
"Yes Your Desk Job is Killing You, New Study Confirms," reads the headline of a 2017 Newsweek article.
"I always wondered what dying felt like, but then I got a full-time office job," comments Elite Daily.
Though they seem dramatic, these headlines are actually backed by epidemiological evidence. Sitting for hours per day is linked to heart disease, diabetes, all-cause mortality; blue light has shown effects on sleep; and working extra hours has demonstrated mental health risks. The evidence all points toward the health issues of a screen-based economy.
As bad as America's deskbound workers have it, their screen time pales in comparison to a whole population of people for whom the clicking, typing, and screen time is everything. It's their passion and their job.
This week in Los Angeles, the E3 video games convention is in full swing, and if there's one thing pro-gamers and weeknight warriors alike can share with people who have computer jobs, it's how to keep your carpals, ligaments, joints, and phalanges in good shape.
If computer work is destined to kill us, then esports gamers should be the first in the ground, right? Maybe not, gamers and doctors tell Inverse.
At this point, esports athletes and office workers are well aware of the health risks that emerge from 12-hour days in front of a screen. But we're just starting to come up with ways to combat them.
Dr. Levi Harrison, an orthopedic surgeon in Glendale, California, has a YouTube channel with over 67,000 subscribers and is a self-branded "esports doctor." He has treated professional gamers, and you'll find his videos lurking on gamer subreddits from r/Global Offensive, to r/osugame. Harrison also diagnosed Kim Kardashian with "selfie wrist" when he appeared on Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
Basically, if you've got an injury that you think came from using your phone or computer, Harrison is your doctor.
Dr. Harrison is enthusiastic about helping his patients and the public improve their physical and mental health. Dr Levi Harrison/YouTube
A wellness culture of gaming has been born, says Harrison. And while it flies in the face of the traditional stereotypes of Mountain Dew-chugging gamers, wellness culture fits snugly with the prevailing attitude of millennials who are focused more on self-improvement than earlier hard-drinking, heavy-smoking generations. The amount of people googling for self-care help has steadily increased in the past five years, and alongside it the self-care industry has closed in on the $11 billion mark, notes Harvard Business Review.
"I think it's definitely evolving," Harrison tells Inverse. "Gamers really are athletes. They should be treated and respected as such. It's an evolution of the sport with respect to fitness, health, and spiritual well-being."
Harrison explains that it's not outlandish that we could learn a thing or two from these intense athletes, for whom thousands of dollars rides on the movement of a thumb or forefinger.
Maybe it's worth treating our computer jobs like a sport. To do that, you have to train accordingly. Here's how.
Why We Can All Benefit From a Little Warmup
Pro esports players have to approach the sport and their health far differently than someone who sneaks in all-night Fortnite sessions at the end of the workday. And no one knows this better than 19-year-old Austin "Morgausse" Etue.
Almost overnight, Etue went from an unsigned amateur with something like 300 Twitter followers to a signed professional after he won *Fortnite's 2018 Summer Skirmish event in Seattle and walked away with the $225,000 prize.
Etue now has over 38,000 Twitter followers and 32,803 subscribers on Twitch. He distinguishes himself as a professional through his speed and accuracy, and trains for sometimes 10 to 14 hours per day.
Before a major event, Etue plays games like osu! before an event starts to get his hands feeling "warm and smooth."
"I will start my warm-up earlier, when a big event is on the line such as World Cup qualifiers, around two to three hours before the event starts," he tells Inverse.
Harrison says warming up before playing a high-speed game is incredibly important. The idea is to help increase blood flow to the tiny muscles and tendons in the hands and fingers, which theoretically should help increase a player's actions per minute — a metric that has been likened to pitching speed in baseball.
The top StarCraft gamers can perform 500 to 600 actions per minute, which works out to around 10 movements each second.
Meanwhile, professionals who sit at a computer all day likely come nowhere close to that threshold. Anyone can benefit from a warm-up that makes fingers more nimble, Harrison says.
How to Prevent 2 Common Keyboard Injuries
Harrison says warming up for a day at the keyboard begins with basic stretches to prevent two common injuries: lateral epicondylitis, also known as tennis elbow, and the notorious carpal tunnel syndrome.
To help keep tendons around the wrist, hand, and forearm loose, Harrison recommends a series of stretches called gliding exercises, which are useful for osu! players — he notes. Osu! is a rhythm-based game where players have to react to different visuals on the screen that are set to music — kind of like Guitar Hero. Players can use a mouse, a touchscreen, or a stylus, but the idea is that you have to be able to use your hands really quickly.
But even people with desk jobs can benefit from gliding exercises. He recommends that gamers do some of these exercises for about five minutes, ideally once every hour.
To start, he begins with some basic stretches, which involve pointing your arms out straight, flexing the wrist either upward or downward, and pulling back gently on the hand, holding for 30 seconds. Harrison has a series of videos that go through things step by step, but Inverse tried them out, too. (Disclaimer: They're pretty challenging if you've never done them before. I did my best.)
From there, Harrison recommends a series of movements, but a few that he highlights, particularly on the osu! subreddit, are called middle flappers, bottom flappers, and, finally, the "queen's wave." The motion for each is the same, a side-to-side movement of the wrist.
But wrist orientation makes things feel a lot different. To do the "queen's wave," for example, you keep your arms extended, fingers pointed upwards, and shake the wrist back and forth 10 times.
For fuller motion, you can also rotate your hands in a circle, 10 times in each direction, with a fist or an open hand.
For carpal tunnel, he's developed another series of exercises that target both nerves and tendons in the hand. One of these is a deconstructed fist with four parts: a claw, a "tabletop position," a half-fist, and a full fist, which can be done slowly and in combination with some basic warm-ups.
He encourages people to run some warm water over their hands or wrists just to keep things loose. There's also nothing wrong with taking a break every once and awhile — for at least five minutes every hour to shake out your wrists and hands (and maybe make some time for flappers). Ideally, you would stand up during this break and walk around, but he adds that pedaling feet back and forth under the table works fine in a pinch.
Stretching and warming up is a good starting point. But it's only one aspect of injury prevention. There's a bit more to combating screen fatigue that requires a little more effort each day.
An "Algorithm of Wellness"
When Inverse spoke to Harrison, he was fresh off of a consultation with a Beat Saber player — a VR game where the player has to slice through flying objects (beats) set to a rhythm. This athlete had crushing tendonitis in his elbows and forearms, but Harrison diagnosed a more pressing problem that stems from general fitness. Together, they developed a nutrition plan and an exercise regimen.
"We have to have what I call an 'algorithm of health and wellness' for gamers or for people who do a lot of desk work. It's not even just gamers," he says.
There's an emerging industry now dedicated to esports fitness and wellness. In 2018, consumer insights publication LS:N Global referred to nutrition in esports as a microtrend. Now, there are massage balls and low-calorie specialized drinks marketed as an alternative to energy drinks that were once a staple of gaming culture to help them recover from training and competition. And brands are starting to make an appearance at the college levels, too — the University of California Irvine's esports team has recently partnered with Hyperice, a sports medicine and wellness company, and will sponsor two more "health and wellness esports scholarships" for athletes with "a background in sports medicine and passion for esports."
Major esports teams may be sponsored by Mountain Dew, but they're probably not subsisting off it, says Jake Middleton, a strength trainer, former competitive gamer, and exercise physiologist.
"It's really cool to see where it is now and where it's going in the health and wellness aspect. This is kind of like the next chapter right now; you're going to see a lot more about that," Middleton tells Inverse.
Middleton was once a competitive Halo player — the last tournament he competed in was MLG Dallas in 2012, a Halo 4 tournament. He has spent years on the forefront of emergent esports fitness culture. Largely, players are turning to exercise to stay cognitively sharp, as they sit at the computer for hours on end, he says.
"With esports, the most important thing is going to be endurance and stamina. If you're going to play for long periods of time, especially during multi-day tournaments, which are usually the format for most games," he tells Inverse.
Cardio is trendy for gamers right now, especially in light of research suggesting that exercise can improve cognitive function. But Middleton also adds that players tend to mix things up, incorporating push-ups and other upper-body exercises with bodyweight squats, followed up by calf raises.
"Especially if you're sitting for a long period of time, those are the two that are very important to do just for your day-to-day," Middleton says of the squats and calf raises.
Perhaps the biggest idea that esports trainers, athletes, and gamers are now embracing is this: To perform your best at the computer, you have to step away from it.
Middleton says there's a real importance of a nightly ritual that can help one unwind from the cognitive stimulation of the screen — whether that's Halo or an Excel spreadsheet:
"It can be highly personal — reading a paperback book or listening to relaxing music and drinking hot tea," he says. "You can also take a hot shower, too, that will actually cool your body temperature down, because that's something that your body will naturally do during the first sleep stages."
What We Can Learn from Esports Athletes
Naturally, office workers and competitive esports athletes face different levels of stress that rides upon their physical performance. Like traditional athletes, those of the esports variety are making a living with their bodies, which takes a toll at the professional level.
The stresses of any office job can be large, but they pale in comparison to players who travel, compete, and live, all while tied to a screen.
"[Teams] really put an emphasis on the health and wellness of their players because they are dealing with a lot of problems, things like repetitive stress injuries, burnout, and other mental health issues. As of now, there's still a huge gap even at the professional level," says Middleton.
As the sport grows, so do the support networks needed to keep athletes competing at tournaments where thousands are on the line. Meanwhile, it's unlikely that office workers will soon have their own support staff to help manage the physical requirements of a computer job.
We'll have to do it ourselves, and, fortunately, the increasing number of esports athletes focused on stretching and wellness give us plenty of people to emulate.
If pro-gamers aren't willing to succumb to the ills of digital life, we shouldn't be either.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Black Crane Kids is a brand by Alexander Yamaguchi and Momoko Suzuki. Their inspiration comes from their Japanese culture with a strong focus on a silhouette that complements supple lines and comfort, their collection is characterized as minimal and edgy.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of the Black Crane Kids Collection, in store and online here.
Ostheimer Toys are handcrafted wooden toys with expressive character and realist detailing. Each beautifully hand carved toy is created from sustainable hardwoods, such as maple and ash, and beautifully painted with non-toxic water-based colours.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of the Ostheimer Toys, in store and online here.
Tambere is a Korean brand whose collection embodies minimalist playful design with a focus on comfort and practicality.
The Tambere One Piece Swimsuit in Charcoal is designed with a button back neck and a bow tie waist.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of the Tambere Collection, in store and online here.
Bonpoint colours seamlessly blend into the twilight. Twilight colours are produced by refraction, scattering or selective absorption of light rays from the Sun in the atmosphere. They can be observed in clear, cloudless air.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Album Di Famiglia 2017 Spring Collection, in store and online here.
Old Soles was formed in 2008 when Australian designer Vicki Lever launched her range of fashion inspired "pre-walker" and "first steps" leather baby shoes. The brand has grown to include shoes for older children too, with the philosophy that style, comfort and protection for growing feet can all be upheld together.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our OLD SOLES, in store and online here.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of 7115 SZEKI, in store and online here.
Bloomingville was founded in Denmark in 2000 designing household products drawing in on Danish design traditions with modern charm.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Bloomingville Collection, in store and online here.
Baltic Club is on a mission to create fun stationery that makes you smile. All of their products are handmade in Canada.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Baltic Club Collection, in store and online here.
Nico Nico was created by LA designer Sue Tsai. Produced in the United States, Nico Nico combines the finest organic cotton fabrics with modern comfortable designs.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Nico Nico Womens Collection, in store and online here.
Brookes Boswell founded her brand back in 2012 after completing an apprenticeship with an iconic milliner from New York City. Her studio produces exquisite handmade hats and accessories that combine functionality, a sleek aesthetic and beautiful materials.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Brookes Boswell hats, in store and online here.
Moulin Roty was established in 1972 in a French village of the same name by a group of friends searching for a common project that will provide both work and a certain way of life. At the outset, the Moulin Roty Workshop specialised in decorative items. It then went on to children's and nursery rooms and launched wooden paintings, height charts, clocks as well as small stack-up wooden toys.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Moulin Roty, in store and online, here.
Ekobo is an Eco-friendly company dedicated to designing and manufacturing contemporary home accessories made from a natural and renewable bamboo.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our EKOBO, in store and online, here.
Nico Nico's 2017 Spring Collection is inspired by cool ocean breezes, the shade of a leafy palm, the scent of plumeria drifting in the air. Hawaiian paradise with a nod to the summer of '59. Nico Nico's palette reflects the diversity of island life, with traditional stripes and checks alongside citrus, orchid and aloe accents.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Nico Nico's 2017 Spring Collection, in store and online.
Polder is a Parisian brand created by two sister of Dutch origin, who in 2007 also added a childrenswear line to their collection. Previously know as April Showers, Polder Girl is just as clean and sophisticated as as the adult line, with great focus being placed on craftsmanship, rich colours and unusual prints and materials.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Polder Collection, in store and online here.
Aigle revolutionized the world of footwear by using rubber as its core material for boot manufacturing. Aigle continues to foster a unique expertise, protecting mankind from the elements and conbining authenticity, style and practicality.
The Aigle Lolly Pop Kid's Rain Boots in Fern are made from sturdy rubber with a non-slip sole, these boots feature a breathable textile inner, embossed logo on the shaft and contrast stripes to the top.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Aigle Collection, in store and online here.
Lennebelle Petites is a jewellery collection from The Netherlands that celebrates the love and special connection between a mother and her children. All the pieces are made with certified sterling silver and gold, genuine semi-precious stones.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Lennebelle Petites Collection, in store and online here.
Binge Knitting is a handmade accessories label committed to empowering women through artisanal craft and spreading the Slow Fashion movement. They employ women from low-iconcome communities in Mexico to create bags and accessories by hand with high-quality yarn made from textile waste from the garment industry. Their collections are designed around current trends, but always with the aim of transcending seasons.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Binge Knitting Collection, in store and online here.
Salt Water Sandals invite you to wade into the ocean and see how they dry quickly and spring back into shape, ready for your next adventure. The sole is moulded from urethane and finished with a leather insole providing firm support. The Salt Water's unique double adhesion process ensures the leather straps never detach from the sole of the sandal.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Salt Water Sandals Collection, in store and online here.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Morley Collection, in store and online here.
Mini Rodini is a Swedish organic children's wear brand with a vision to making products for kids with a priority to design as well as environmental and ethical aspects to their production The brand is a tribute to all children, their imagination and sense that everything is possible. The Mini Rodini collections take children seriously with a playfulness that matches your child's own personality and mood.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Mini Rodini, in store and online here.
Finger in the Nose is a French company specializing in timeless, long lasting designs of everyday pieces. Finger in the Nose has reinvented the classics and essential pieces for your child's wardrobe with a bold attitude.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Finger in the Nose Spring Collection, in store and online here.
Materials + Process is a design studio based out of San Francisco founded by industrial designer Christine Marcelino. Finding inspiration and grace in creating elegant and simple designs.
The Material + Process Tahlia clutch in natural is a vegetable tanned leather purse. Designed with a silk wrapped natural horsehair tassle and brass hardware.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Materials + Process, in store and online here.
Maison Mangostan is a Spanish footwear brand for kids born from the initial idea of creating a kidswear label with a sense of endless possibility, influenced by art, music and a rich ethnical heritage.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Maison Mangostan, in store and online here.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Petit Bateau, in store and online here.
Piroutte Blog celebrates the wonderful world of children. Click HERE to see their feature on Advice from a Caterpillar.
Bobo Choses Vintage Bathing Costume in Wavy print is a cute one piece swimsuit with a high neckline, crossover adjustable straps and UV Protection Factor.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Bobo Choses Spring 2017 Collection, in store and online here.
The CBC show THE GOODS features - Advice From A Caterpillar's cool, wall-mounted change table fits invisibly on a wall and is discrete, making it ideal for small spaces. Constructed out of sheet metal, this versatile product can hold up to 110 pounds, meaning you can even move it down and use it as a desk!
Watch the full episode on the CBC here.
AKID is a Los Angeles based company with a carefully crafted children collection of shoes that focus on style, comfort and wearability.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our AKKID Collection, in store and online here.
Bacabuche embodies contemporary trends in a modern baby's wardrobe using a mix of natural and organic textiles for the baby's comfort and well-being. A collection designed to create an easy dressing experience for mom and baby. Simple. Modern. Playful.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Bacabuche Spring 2017 Collection, in store and online here.
Moutmout is a French homewear brand for children going from 0 to 6 years old with multifunctionnal products and 100% very soft cotton. Moumout is a happy family that loves their children and yours.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of our Moumout Collection, in store and online here.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of Makie 2017 Spring Collection, in store and online here.
1+ in the Family is a Spanish clothing brand with simple beautiful cuts and comfortable fabrics. A minimalist design with pieces that are driven by practicality and comfortability.
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of 1+ in the Family 2017 Spring Collection, in store and online here.
7115 SZEKI is inspired by the fluid and fast-paced nature of New York City, designer Szeki Chan focuses her spring collection on the idea of movement.Playing with different textures, clean lines and innovative proportions, this season showcases the many ways clothes can move with you throughout the day. In experimenting with shapes and textures, Szeki aims to ignite all senses and encourage you to explore the notion that movement is everywhere in life.
This season sees soft, breathable fabrics – linen, cotton and rayon – in muted, neutral tones that create versatile pieces which can be effortlessly blended into your existing wardrobe, and worn all summer long.
Spring is on its way. Early mornings and late afternoons will soon be filled with songs. Buds, flowers, and sweet smells will soon fill the air. Fresh rain and misty mornings will soon greet you.
Bonton is a French line dedicated to children, where basics go hand in hand with a timeless spirit, spiced with colours and fun-filled ideas.
This season, Bonton is inspired by the beautiful colours and sounds of spring. Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of Bonton's 2017 Spring Collection, in store and online here.
Stella McCartney's Spring Collection is bursting with bold new prints and rainbow shades, the new collection awakens the adventurer in all of us!
Visit us at Advice from a Caterpillar in Toronto to see our selection of Stella Mc Cartney's 2017 Spring Collection, in store and online here.
Sometimes the beauty routine can feel very overwhelming; innumerable marketing campaigns clamouring for our attention from every billboard, magazine and online ad. It can all get a bit much. Surely there is a simple way to stay happy, healthy and radiant? Now we can't minimise the value of a good sleep routine, regular, fun exercise and plenty of veggies in our diets, but in the realm of beauty we have a couple of humble suggestions. Today we want to share with you some of our favourite pieces that help to simplify the bath time routine, not make it more complicated than it has to be.
At the moment we're loving the charcoal infused line from Morihata. Made in Japan, the special ingredient in these products is the binchotan charcoal, created by quickly cooling oak branches after they have burned for several days. This unique process creates one of the highest quality charcoals for absorbing and removing toxins from water, the air and even the skin.
The amazing thing about this facial puff is how easy it is to use: simply wet the puff with warm water and lightly massage into the skin. You can use this with whatever facial soap or cleanser you have at home, but if you want to keep things even more simple you can use it on its own and it is just as effective. It is even perfectly gently on sensitive skin. The puff is a sponge made from the Konjac root that is infused with the micro-fine binchotan charcoal powder, so it has all the antibacterial, toxic-removing qualities you need in a good facial routine.
This simple little toothbrush is actually a powerful oral hygiene tool; the binchotan charcoal infused into the bristles helps to fight bad breath and prevent plaque - and even helps the bristles clean themselves when you're finished brushing! We love the extra layer of cleaning power this brush gives us without having to add an extra brush/rinse/gargle element to the process. Simple, sleek and clean this little brush is a big hit at home with the Advice team!
This towel is deceptive. Light and fine, it looks like it won't do what a towel does best - absorb water - but it absolutely does. Quick drying, and taking up half the storage space of the average North American towel, this handwoven Japanese towel is a beautiful addition to any bath time. It feels so plush against the skin and is an absolute joy to use. And if you need a light extra layer one day, you can wear it out as a scarf too!
Katherine Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, in 1967, in an age where marathons were reserved purely for men because women were supposedly 'too fragile'. Switzer began the race with only a desire to run her first marathon, but as she ran she knew it had become more significant. After being physically assaulted by a race official and hounded by the press, the race became a way to prove that women were capable and deserving of the right to run. She didn't quit. Five years later the rules were changed and women were freely allowed to compete.
John McEnroe is often considered to be one of the best tennis players of all time. Across the course of his career he has won seven Grand Slam singles titles as well as 77 overall singles tour titles, and in 1984 he played 85 tennis matches and only lost three, which is a record that still hasn't been broken today. He was a very passionate player (some would say a little too passionate!) but was committed to playing the best tennis he could, developing superb volleys and the ability to anticipate what his opponent would do next. Even now, at the age of 57, he hasn't given up playing the game, and continues to compete for senior titles all around the world.


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Q: Pandas dataframe drop rows which store certain number of zeros in it Hello I have dataframe which is having [13171 rows x 511 columns] what I wanted is remove the rows which is having certain number of zeros
for example
col0   col1  col2  col3   col4 col5
 ID1    0      2     0     2    0
 ID2    1      1     2     10   1
 ID3    0      1     3     4    0
 ID4    0      0     1     0    3
 ID5    0      0     0     0    1

in ID5 row contains 4 zeros in it so I wanted to drop that row. like this I have large dataframe which is having more than 100-300 zeros in rows
I tried below code
df=df[(df == 0).sum(1) >= 4]
for small dataset like above example code is working but for [13171 rows x 511 columns] not working(df=df[(df == 0).sum(1) >= 15]) any one suggest me how can I get proper result
output
 col0   col1  col2  col3   col4 col5
  ID1    0      2     0     2    0
  ID2    1      1     2     10   1
  ID3    0      1     3     4    0
  ID4    0      0     1     0    3

A: This will work:
drop_indexs = []
for i in range(len(df.iloc[:,0])):
    if (df.iloc[i,:]==0).sum()>=4:    # 4 is how many zeros should row min have
        drop_indexs.append(i)
updated_df = df.drop(drop_indexs)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Archive for the 'Big Government' Category
Posted in Big Government, Debt, Deficit, Economics, Fiscal Policy, Government Spending, Taxation, tagged Big Government, Debt, Deficit, Economics, Fiscal Policy, Government Spending, Taxation on January 27, 2020| 6 Comments »
About 10 years ago, the Center for Freedom and Prosperity released this video to explain that America's real fiscal problem is too much spending and that red ink is best viewed as a symptom of that problem.
I wrote a primer on this issue two years ago, but I want to revisit the topic because I'm increasingly irked when I see people – over and over again – mistakenly assume that "deficit neutrality" or "budget neutrality" is the same thing as good fiscal policy.
For instance, advocates of a carbon tax want to use the new revenues to finance bigger government. Their approach (at least in theory) would not increase the deficit. Regardless, that's a plan to increase to overall burden of government, which is not sound fiscal policy.
Just two days ago, I noted that Mayor Buttigieg wants the federal government to spend more money on health programs and is proposing an even-greater amount of new taxes. That's a plan to increase the overall burden of government, which is not sound fiscal policy.
Back in 2016, a columnist for the Washington Post argued Hillary Clinton was a fiscal conservative because her proposals for new taxes were larger than her proposals for new spending. That was a plan to increase the overall burden of government, which is not sound fiscal policy.
And in 2011, Bruce Bartlett argued that Obama was a "moderate conservative" because his didn't raises taxes and spending as much as some on the left wanted him to. Regardless, he still increased the overall burden of government, which is not sound fiscal policy.
To help make this point clear, I've created a simple 2×2 matrix and inserted some examples for purposes of illustration.
At the risk of stating the obvious, good fiscal policy is in the top-left quadrant and bad fiscal policy is in the bottom-two quadrants.
Because of "public choice," there are no real-world examples in the top-right quadrant. Why would politicians collect extra taxes, after all, if they weren't planning to use the money to buy votes?
P.S. In 2012, I created a table showing the differences on fiscal policy between supply-siders, Keynesians, the IMF, and libertarians.
P.P.S. I also recommend Milton Friedman's 2×2 matrix on spending and incentives.
Posted in Big Government, Buttigieg, Health Care, Health Reform, Joe Biden, tagged Big Government, Buttigieg, Health Care, Health Reform, Joe Biden on January 25, 2020| 5 Comments »
Government intervention has made a mess of health care in America. Programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, along with the tax code's healthcare exclusion, have created a massive third-party-payer problem.
The inevitable result is systemic inefficiency and ever-rising prices.
Some politicians look at these government-created problems and want us to believe that the right solution is to have even more government.
Consider, for example, the radical Medicare-for-All scheme that is supported by "Crazy Bernie" and "Looney Liz." That's like driving in the wrong direction at 100 miles per hour.
It's also a bad idea to head the wrong direction at 50 miles per hour.
In a column for the Wall Street Journal, Lanhee Chen exposes the reckless nature of the so-called public option that is supported by other candidates.
Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Mike Bloomberg claim they're proposing a moderate, less disruptive approach to health-care reform when they advocate a public option—a government policy offered as an alternative to private health insurance—in lieu of Medicare for All. Don't believe it. …those effects are predicated on two flawed assumptions: first, that the government will negotiate hospital and provider reimbursement rates similar to Medicare's fee schedules and far below what private insurers pay; second, that the government would charge "actuarially fair premiums," which cover 100% of provided benefits and administrative costs.
Mr. Chen explains that politicians can't resist buying votes by offering ever-more goodies at ever-lower costs (I made similar points in a video explaining why Obamacare would be a fiscal boondoggle).
Political pressure upended similar financing assumptions in Medicare Part B only two years after the entitlement's creation. The Johnson administration in 1968 and then Congress in 1972 had to intervene to shield seniors from premium increases. Objections from health-care providers to low reimbursement rates have regularly led to federal spending increases in Medicare and Medicaid.
And when politicians offer more goodies at lower cost, that means someone else will have to pay.
Either taxpayers today (higher income taxes and payroll taxes) or taxpayers tomorrow (more borrowing).
If premiums can't rise to cover program costs, or reimbursement rates are raised to ensure access to a reasonable number of providers, who'll pay? Taxpayers… If Congress's past behavior is a guide, a public option available to all individuals and employers would add more than $700 billion to the 10-year federal deficit. The annual deficit increase would hit $100 billion within a few years. Some 123 million people—roughly 1 in 3 Americans—would be enrolled in the public option by 2025, broadly displacing existing insurance. These estimates don't include the costs of additional Affordable Care Act subsidies and eligibility expansions proposed by Messrs. Biden, Buttigieg and Bloomberg. …if tax increases to pay for a politically realistic public option were limited to high-income filers, the top marginal rate would have to rise from the current 37% to 73% in 2049… Congress could enact a new broad-based tax similar to Medicare's 2.9% Hospital Insurance payroll tax. The new tax would be levied on all wage and salary income and would reach 4.8% in 2049.
Mr. Chen also reminds us that the public option would surely have a very bad effect on private insurance.
Beyond fiscal considerations, the public option would quickly displace employer-based and other private insurance. …Consumers seeking coverage would be left with fewer insurance options and higher premiums. …Longer wait times and narrower provider networks would likely follow for those enrolled in the public option, harming patients' health and reducing consumer choice.
For those of you who like lots of numbers, I also recommend a new report from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
The folks at CRFB are a bit misguided in that they focus too much on deficits and debt when they should be mostly concerned about the size of government.
But they do reliable work and their new report, Primary Care: Estimating Leading Democratic Candidates' Health Plans, is filled with horrifying data.
We'll start with this table looking at the details of the plans that have been put forth by Biden, Buttigieg, Sanders, and Warren. The red numbers are new spending. The black numbers are offsets (mostly tax increases).
As you can see from the above table, Warren and Sanders are definitely in the go-rapidly-in-the-wrong-direction camp.
But that shouldn't distract us from the fact that Biden and Buttigieg also are proposing a big expansion in the burden of government.
Here's another graphic from the CRFB report, but I'm focusing solely on the numbers for Biden and Buttigieg so that it's clear to see that they both want about $2 trillion of new spending over the next decade.
If you look closely at the numbers for Buttigieg in Figure 2, you'll notice that his health plan supposedly will reduce the deficit by $415 billion over 10 years (the difference between $3.3 trillion of new spending and $2.85 trillion of cost reductions and offsets).
Does that make his plan desirable? Of course not. What he's really proposing (and this is how CRFB should have presented the data) is $1.65 trillion of net new spending (the difference between his "new spending" and his "cost reductions" ) accompanied by $2.1 trillion of new taxes.
P.S. Most of the "cost reductions" in Buttigieg's plan are achieved with price controls on prescription drugs. At the risk of understatement, that's a very costly way of trying to save money.
P.P.S. And if his plan is ever enacted, don't forget that the actual amount of "new spending" will be much higher than the estimate of "new spending."
The Economic Consequences of War
Posted in Big Government, Economics, Keynesian, tagged Big Government, Economics, Keynesian Economics on January 23, 2020| 7 Comments »
Back in 2010, I wrote about the absurd contention, promoted by some advocates of Keynesian economics, that wars are good for prosperity.
According to this crackpot theory, destroying wealth is a net positive because people then have to spend money to rebuild.
Now this "conceptual bad penny" is showing up again.
The New York Times, in an article about Iran's economy, includes some analysis suggesting that war would stimulate growth.
…some experts suggest that the regime's hard-liners may eventually come to embrace hostilities with the United States as a means of stimulating the anemic economy. …Iran has in recent years focused on forging a so-called resistance economy in which the state has invested aggressively, subsidizing strategic industries, while seeking to substitute domestic production for imported goods. …it appears to have raised employment. Hard-liners might come to see a fight with Iran's archenemy, the United States, as an opportunity to expand the resistance economy.
Needless to say, Iran is marching in the wrong direction. Not only would a war be devastating for the country's prosperity, but Iran also is making a big mistake by pursuing a policy of "import substitution."
That's basically the Peronist approach that helped trigger Argentina's big economic decline. Though, to be fair, Iran presumably is doing the wrong thing for geopolitical reasons (avoiding sanctions) rather than protectionist reasons.
There are some Keynesians in other parts of the world who think war is good for growth, in part based on a misreading of America's economic history.
In a piece for the Foundation for Economic Education, Professor Burton Folsom exposes a great weakness in their argument, pointing out that advocates of Keynesian wrongly expected a return to depression when government spending dropped after World War II.
On the surface, World War II seems to mark the end of the Great Depression. During the war more than 12 million Americans were sent into the military, and a similar number toiled in defense-related jobs. Those war jobs seemingly took care of the 17 million unemployed in 1939. Most historians have therefore cited the massive spending during wartime as the event that ended the Great Depression. …In truth, building tanks and feeding soldiers—necessary as it was to winning the war—became a crushing financial burden. …In other words, the war had only postponed the issue of recovery. …President Roosevelt and his New Dealers sensed that war spending was not the ultimate solution; they feared that the Great Depression—with more unemployment than ever—would resume after Hitler and Hirohito surrendered. Yet FDR's team was blindly wedded to the federal spending that…had perpetuated the Great Depression during the 1930s. …Roosevelt's death in the last year of the war prevented him from unveiling his New Deal revival. But President Harry Truman was on board for most of the new reforms. …Republicans and southern Democrats refused to give Truman his New Deal revival. …Instead they cut tax rates to encourage entrepreneurs to create jobs for the returning veterans. …In 1945 and 1946 Congress repealed the excess-profits tax, cut the corporate tax to a maximum 38 percent, and cut the top income tax rate to 86 percent. In 1948 Congress sliced the top marginal rate further, to 82 percent.
Let's be thankful that FDR (and then Truman) didn't succeed in the plan for an "economic bill of rights" that would have radically expanded the power of government.
For those interested, there are other possible economic consequences of war.
In a scholarly study for the Journal of Monetary Economics, Professors Dan Ben-David and David H. Papell find that moments of significant economic disruption – such as wars – often are followed by periods of above-average and better-than-expected growth.
In this paper, we use up to 130 years of annual aggregate and per capita GDP data for 16 countries to investigate whether output exhibits a trend break and whether economic growth is constant or changing over time. …This study provides empirical evidence that, for nearly every one of the countries, the years that provide the strongest evidence for a trend break are associated with a sharp decline in GDP. These breaks are associated with World War II for most of the countries and either World War I or the Great Depression for the remainder. While countries do tend to exhibit relatively constant growth rates for extended periods of time, the occurrence of a major shock to the economy and the resultant drop in levels are usually followed by sustained growth that exceeds the earlier steady state growth. …On average, aggregate postbreak steady state growth rates are 79 percent higher than the average prebreak rates. The results are even stronger for the per capita case, where all fifteen countries exhibit postbreak growth rates that exceed prebreak rates. In the per capita case, the steady state postbreak rates are 163 percent higher than the steady state prebreak rates.
Their study doesn't explain why the economy expands beyond the pre-disruption trend, but one obvious explanation is that wars erode the power of privileged interest groups and thus reduce the deadweight cost of cronyism. Especially for nations that lose wars and have to start from scratch.
That's not an excuse to have a war, of course, but it does suggest that dark clouds can have silver linings.
But sometimes dark clouds have dark linings.
In a column for Vox, Dylan Matthews examines research about the link between war and harsh tax rates.
…for the first century of American history, the federal government was funded mainly through tariffs, not income taxes. It was only in the early 20th century that the 16th Amendment authorizing income taxes passed… A recent paper by UC – Berkeley grad student Juliana Londoño Vélez provides an intriguing explanation for this evolution. Progressive taxation wasn't an inevitable effect of democracy… It was an accidental effect of the 20th century's massive wars. …The first federal income tax proposal came during the War of 1812, and one was implemented briefly during the Civil War. While the Progressive Era brought a renewed push, and the 16th Amendment and an accompanying income tax law were passed four years before US entry into World War I, it wasn't until the US joined the conflict that the tax's scale expanded to modern levels. …World War I also greatly expanded the French income tax; in 1920, to help pay for reconstruction, the top rate grew from 2 percent to 50 percent. …Londoño Vélez's argument is quantitative. She compiled data on top income tax rates for sixteen rich, developed countries, and pairs it with data on mass mobilizations for war. …Londoño Vélez found that "no country had high taxes on the rich before the advent of war, with [the] top rate rarely exceeding 10 percent … the Wars created substantial income tax progressivity, with periods of mass war mobilization coinciding with significant rises in the top income tax rate." …Londoño Vélez also finds that war mobilization has a significant effect on income tax rates five years on, suggesting that the effect on taxes persisted.
Here's Figure 1 from the article, showing how tax burdens jumped because of World War I and then jumped again because of World War II.
My two cents is that wars may have been the initial excuse for income taxes and high rates, but politicians eventually would have concocted other reasons (based on their self interest) to extract lots of money.
Indeed, "Wagner's Law" is an entire hypothesis based on the notion that politicians figure out how to grab ever-greater amounts of money as nations get richer.
That being said, it's good to have another reason to oppose war.
Joe Biden: Worse than Barack Obama, Worse than Hillary Clinton
Posted in Big Government, Government Spending, Higher Taxes, Joe Biden, Statism, Tax Increase, tagged Big Government, Government Spending, Higher Taxes, Joe Biden, Statism, Tax Increase on January 22, 2020| 4 Comments »
Given their overt statism, I've mostly focused on the misguided policies being advocated by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
But that doesn't mean Joe Biden's platform is reasonable or moderate.
Ezra Klein of Vox unabashedly states that the former Vice President's policies are "far to Obama's left."
The rhetorical clash between "leftists" and "moderates" is obscuring the deeper truth: This is the most progressive Democratic primary in history, and even if, say, Biden won the nomination, he'd be running on a platform far to Obama's left. https://t.co/x3CMj5XqAn
— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) December 20, 2019
This is an issue where folks on both ends of the spectrum agree.
In a column for the right-leaning American Spectator, George Neumayr also says Biden is not a moderate.
Biden likes to feed the mythology that he is still a moderate. …This is, after all, a pol who giddily whispered in Barack Obama's ear that a massive government takeover of health care "was a big f—ing deal,"…and now pronouncing Obamacare only a baby step toward a more progressive future. It can't be repeated enough that "Climate Change" Joe doesn't give a damn about the ruinous consequences of extreme environmentalism for Rust Belt industries. His Climate Change plans read like something Al Gore might have scribbled to him in a note. …On issue after issue, Biden is taking hardline liberal stances. …"I have the most progressive record of anybody running." …He is far more comfortable on the Ellen show than on the streets of Scranton. He has given up Amtrak for private jets, and, like his lobbyist brother and grifter son, has cashed in on his last name.
If you want policy details, the Wall Street Journal opined on his fiscal plan.
Mr. Biden has previously promised to spend $1.7 trillion over 10 years on a Green New Deal, $750 billion on health care, and $750 billion on higher education. To pay for it all, he's set out $3.4 trillion in tax increases. This is more aggressive, for the record, than Hillary Clinton's proposed tax increases in 2016, which totaled $1.4 trillion, per an analysis at the time from the left-of-center Tax Policy Center. In 2008 Barack Obama pledged to raise taxes on the rich while cutting them on net by $2.9 trillion. Twice as many tax increases as the last presidential nominee: That's now the "moderate" Democratic position. …raising the top rate for residents of all states. …a huge increase on today's top capital-gains rate of 23.8%… This would put rates on long-term capital gains at their highest since the 1970s. …Raise the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%. This would…vault the U.S. corporate rate back to near the top in the developed world. …the bottom line is big tax increases on people, capital and businesses. There's nothing pro-growth in the mix.
And the ever-rigorous Peter Suderman of Reason wrote about Biden's statist agenda.
Biden released a proposal to raise a slew of new taxes, mostly on corporations and high earners. He would increase tax rates on capital gains, increase the tax rate for households earning more than $510,000 annually, double the minimum tax rate for multinational corporations, impose a minimum tax on large companies whose tax filings don't show them paying a certain percentage of their earnings, and undo many of the tax cuts included in the 2017 tax law. …as The New York Times reports, Biden's proposed tax hikes are more than double what Hillary Clinton called for during the 2016 campaign. …Hillary Clinton…pushed the party gently to the left. Four years later, before the campaign is even over, the party's supposed moderates are proposing double or even quadruple the new taxes she proposed.
The former Veep isn't just a fan of higher taxes and more spending.
He also likes nanny-state policies.
Joe Biden says he is 100% in favor of banning plastic bags in the U.S. …let's take a quick walk through the facts about single-use plastic bags at the retail level. …the plastic bags typically handed out by retailers make up only 0.6% of visible litter. Or put another way, for every 1,000 pieces of litter, only six are plastic bags. …They make up less than 1% of landfills by weight… 90% of the plastic bags found at sea streamed in from eight rivers in Asia and two in Africa. Only about 1% of all plastic in the ocean is from America. …Thicker plastic bags have to be used at least 11 times before they yield any environmental benefits. This is much longer than their typical lifespans. …Though it might seem almost innocuous, Biden's support for a bag ban is symptom of a greater sickness in the Democratic Party. It craves unfettered political power.
Let's not forget, by the way, that Biden (like most politicians in Washington) is corrupt.
Here are some excerpts from a Peter Schweizer column in the New York Post.
Political figures have long used their families to route power and benefits for their own self-enrichment. …one particular politician — Joe Biden — emerges as the king of the sweetheart deal, with no less than five family members benefiting from his largesse, favorable access and powerful position for commercial gain. …Joe Biden's younger brother, James, has been an integral part of the family political machine… HillStone announced that James Biden would be joining the firm as an executive vice president. James appeared to have little or no background in housing construction, but…the firm was starting negotiations to win a massive contract in war-torn Iraq. Six months later, the firm announced a contract to build 100,000 homes. …A group of minority partners, including James Biden, stood to split about $735 million. …With the election of his father as vice president, Hunter Biden launched businesses fused to his father's power that led him to lucrative deals with a rogue's gallery of governments and oligarchs around the world. …Hunter's involvement with an entity called Burnham Financial Group…Burnham became the center of a federal investigation involving a $60 million fraud scheme against one of the poorest Indian tribes in America, the Oglala Sioux. …the firm relied on his father's name and political status as a means of both recruiting pension money into the scheme.
I only excerpted sections about Biden's brother and son. You should read the entire article.
And even the left-leaning U.K.-based Guardian has the same perspective on Biden's oleaginous behavior.
Biden has a big corruption problem and it makes him a weak candidate. …I can already hear the howls: But look at Trump! Trump is 1,000 times worse! You don't need to convince me. …But here's the thing: nominating a candidate like Biden will make it far more difficult to defeat Trump. It will allow Trump to muddy the water, to once again pretend he is the one "draining the swamp", running against Washington culture. …With Biden, we are basically handing Trump a whataboutism playbook. …his record represents the transactional, grossly corrupt culture in Washington that long precedes Trump.
I'll close by simply sharing some objective data about Biden's voting behavior when he was a Senator.
According to the National Taxpayers Union, he finished his time on Capitol Hill with eleven-consecutive "F" scores (hey, at least he was consistent!).
And he also was the only Senator who got a lifetime rating of zero from the Club for Growth.
Though if you want to be generous, his lifetime rating was actually 0.025 percent.
Regardless, that was still worse than Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren.
So if Biden become President, it's safe to assume that America will accelerate on the already-baked-in-the-cake road to Greece.
P.S. Of course, we'll be on that path even if Biden doesn't become President, so perhaps the moral of the story is to buy land in Australia.
Fight on the Right, Part III: State Capacity Libertarianism
Posted in Big Government, Libertarianism, tagged Big Government, Libertarianism on January 21, 2020| 4 Comments »
In this podcast discussion with Gene Tunny, I pontificate on several fiscal issues, including the ideal size of government, Wagner's Law, and the importance of quality governance.
The conversation is a good introduction to the debate about "state capacity" generally and "state capacity libertarianism" more specifically.
Regarding the former, I explained last year why it would be a bad idea to expand the size and power of governments.
Most advocates of increased state capacity are on the left. For instance, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Todd N. Tucker, and Gabriel Zucman argue in an article for Foreign Affairs that high taxes and big government are a necessary condition for prosperity.
…markets have not flourished without the help of the state. …The invisible hand of the market depended on the heavier hand of the state. The state requires something simple to perform its multiple roles: revenue. It takes money to build roads and ports, to provide education for the young and health care for the sick, to finance the basic research that is the wellspring of all progress, and to staff the bureaucracies that keep societies and economies in motion. No successful market can survive without the underpinnings of a strong, functioning state. …States lay the basis for the healthy, educated populations that can participate in and contribute to the successful flourishing of markets. Allowing states to collect their fair share of revenue in the form of taxes will not usher in a dystopian era of oppressive government.
Their argument, in my humble opinion, is strikingly anti-empirical.
According to their theory, it was impossible for western nations to become rich in the 1800s when government was very small and there was no welfare state. Yet it happened.
According to their theory, it is impossible to provide public goods if government consumes only a modest share of economic output. Yet that's not what we see in the real world.
For purposes of today's column, let's focus on the issue of "state capacity libertarianism."
Professor Tyler Cowen from George Mason University basically asserts that libertarians should accept a "strong state" and focus on making it effective.
Strong states remain necessary to maintain and extend capitalism and markets. This includes keeping China at bay abroad and keeping elections free from foreign interference, as well as developing effective laws and regulations for intangible capital, intellectual property, and the new world of the internet. …A strong state is distinct from a very large or tyrannical state. A good strong state should see the maintenance and extension of capitalism as one of its primary duties…high levels of state capacity are not inherently tyrannical. Denmark should in fact have a smaller government, but it is still one of the freer and more secure places in the world… Many of the failures of today's America are…failures of state capacity. Our governments cannot…much improve K-12 education, fix traffic congestion, or improve the quality of their discretionary spending. …Public health improvements are another major success story of our time, and those have relied heavily on state capacity.
Depending on how one interprets Tyler's column, there's some room for agreement.
If "strong state" means a jurisdiction that has the rule of law, I assume everyone favors quality governance.
If "strong state" means that a nation can survive with a big welfare state, Denmark shows that is possible.
If "strong state" means government re-focusing on provision of genuine public goods, I'm very sympathetic.
But there's also room for disagreement.
In a column for the American Institute for Economic Research, Vincent Geloso and Alexander W. Salter make the critical point that proponents of state capacity get the causality backwards.
Cowen contends that state capacity (broadly, the government's ability to accomplish its intended policy goals) is not inimical to liberty and development. In essence, a strong state can protect property rights and provide important public goods, which may support and even extend markets, so long as it is appropriately constrained. Thus, a strong and capable state promotes liberty and economic growth simultaneously. …If anything, the relationship runs backward – greater development invites greater state capacity. …while it doesn't make much sense to claim state capacity causes development, it makes much more sense to claim development causes state capacity. …A rich country with a weak state invites the predation from other countries. The inability to defend a certain stock of appropriable wealth is a lure… The weak state-capacity country has two choices. The first is to be conquered and absorbed by the strong-state-capacity country. The second is to invest in state capacity (i.e. a centralized-hierarchical fiscal bureaucracy that can harness resources for the purposes of producing national defense and/or others). …growth generates an externality in the form of heightened attention from potential predators. …As such, state capacity is not causing growth. It is a product of growth.
Professor Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University, is very skeptical of state capacity libertarianism, in part because he finds little evidence for the proposition that strong government is a predicate for growth.
…it's worth asking exactly what Tyler means by "state capacity." He does not provide a very clear definition. …Tyler fails to specify how we measure the type of "capacity" he considers important… state capacity theorists have not done a good job of differentiating cases where state capacity is the cause of good outcomes from those where it is a result of them (e.g.—a state in a wealthier society has more capacity than one in a poor society, even if the state did little to create that wealth). …looking at some of the greatest evils and injustices out there, I see many that libertarianism is very well-equipped to handle. …In each of these areas, there are enormous gains to be had simply by having government engage in less of the activity that is causing the problem to begin with. …none of these incremental reforms require much, if any, state capacity that doesn't already exist. …The problems with education, traffic congestion, and discretionary spending are not a lack of "capacity" but a combination of inherent flaws of government and poor incentives.
He also is justifiably concerned that a strong government inevitably will misbehave, presumably for "public choice" reasons.
…even if "[a] good strong state" should see "the maintenance and extension of capitalism as one of its primary duties," it doesn't follow that it actually will. To the contrary, the more power the state has, the greater the temptation for politicians to misuse it, especially in a context where they are appealing to poorly informed voters. …at this point in history, it doesn't seem like the US and other Western democracies lack the capacity to do such things as provide a modicum of security and public goods. Rather, the problem is that our governments are engaging in way too many other functions, many of which are both harmful in themselves and divert resources away from the things that government should do.
For what it's worth, my view of state capacity libertarianism is the same as my view of national conservatism. And compassionate conservatism, kinder-and-gentler conservatism, common-good capitalism, and reform conservatism as well.
I will be highly skeptical until someone shows me the tiniest shred of evidence that further reducing economic liberty can lead to more prosperity.
P.S. While they're definitely not libertarian, international bureaucracies are big advocates of boosting state capacity. They argue that bigger government will somehow kick-start grow in developing nations. Here's my sarcastic – yet accurate – depiction of their methodology.
For those who disagree, all that I ask is that you successfully answer at least one of these two questions. Until and unless that happens, there's no alternative to the tried-and-true recipe for prosperity.
P.P.S. Here's Part I and here's Part II of my "Fight on the Right" series.
IMF Research on the Adverse Impact of Government Bureaucracy on Private Employment
Posted in Big Government, Bureaucracy, Bureaucrats, International Monetary Fund, Jobs, tagged Big Government, Bureaucracy, Bureaucrats, International Monetary Fund, Jobs on January 20, 2020| 2 Comments »
When I did this video about public-sector compensation almost 10 years ago, I focused on why it is unfair that bureaucrats get much higher levels of compensation than people working the private sector.
Today, let's consider the economic consequences of excessive bureaucracy.
And what will make this column particularly interesting is that I'll be citing some research from economists at the International Monetary Fund (a bureaucracy which is definitely not an outpost of libertarian thinking).
The two authors, Alberto Behar and Junghwan Mok, investigated whether nations lowered unemployment rates by employing more bureaucrats.
The contribution of this paper is to investigate the effects of public hiring of workers on labor market outcomes, specifically unemployment and private employment. In particular, does public hiring increase ("crowd in") private employment or decrease ("crowd out") private employment? …It is arguably the case that a private-sector job is more desirable than a public-sector job from a public policy point of view …there is evidence that a large government share in economic activity can be negative for long-term growth because of the distortionary effects of taxation, inefficient government spending due in part to rent-seeking or lower worker productivity, and the crowding out of private investment. …Crowding out could occur through a number of channels. Derived labor demand can be affected through crowding out of the product market, possibly via higher taxes, higher interest rates, and competition from state-owned enterprises. It can occur through the labor market, where higher wages, more job security, or a higher probability of finding a public-sector job can make an individual more likely to seek or wait for public-sector employment rather than search for or accept a job in the private sector… Finally, it can occur in the education market, where individuals seek qualifications appropriate for entering the public sector rather than skills needed for productive employment
As you can see, the authors sensibly consider both the direct and indirect effects of public employment.
Yes, hiring someone to be a bureaucrat obviously means that person is employed, but it also means that resources are being diverted to government.
And that imposes costs on the economy's productive sector.
So the real question is the net impact.
In their study for the IMF, the authors cite other academic research suggesting that government employment crowds out (i.e., reduces) private employment.
…there is prior evidence that crowding-out effects are sufficiently large to increase unemployment in a number of advanced countries. However, there has hitherto not been a thorough investigation of how public employment affects labor market outcomes in developing countries. We fill this gap in the literature by investigating the effects of public employment on both private employment and on unemployment. An important part of our contribution lies in the assembly of the dataset to expand the number of non-OECD countries… The most related and relevant work to this paper is by Algan et al. (2002), who explore the consequences of public-sector employment for labor market performance. Using pooled cross-section and annual time-series data for 17 OECD countries from 1960 to 2000, they run regressions of the unemployment rate and/or the private-sector employment rate on the public-sector employment rate. Empirical evidence from the employment equation suggests that the creation of 100 public jobs crowds out 150 private-sector jobs.
In the study, the authors look at two main measures of public sector employment.
And, as you can see in Figure 4, they look at data for nations in different regions.
They wisely utilize the broader measure of public employment, which includes the people employed by state-owned enterprises.
We have collected data for up to 194 countries over the period 1988–2011. …Our contribution to the literature includes the assembly of data on public and private employment and other indicators for a wide range of developing and advanced countries. …Definitions of "public sector" are different across countries and organizations, so we choose two definitions and generate corresponding public employment datasets, namely a "narrow" measure also referred to as "public administration" and a "broad" measure. …This dataset includes not only governmental agencies but also state-owned enterprises (SOEs). We call this the 'broad' measure of public employment, preserving the term 'public sector'.
In Figure 7, they use a scatter diagram to show some of the data.
The diagram on the left is most relevant since it shows that private employment (vertical axis) declines as government jobs (horizontal axis) increase.
And when they do the statistical analysis, we get confirmation that government jobs displace employment in the economy's productive sector.
…all coefficients indicate a very strong negative relationship between public- and private-sector employment rates. For example, 100 new public jobs crowd out 98 private job… Taken together with the unemployment results, public employment just about fully crowds out private-sector employment regardless of the definition, such that a rise in government hiring would be offset by decreases in private employment… Regressions of unemployment on public employment and of private employment on public employment, each of which is based on two definitions of public employment, find robust evidence that public employment crowds out private employment. …Public-sector hiring: (i) does not reduce unemployment, (ii) increases the fiscal burden, and (iii) inhibits long-term growth through reductions in private-sector employment. Together, this would imply that public hiring is detrimental to long term fiscal sustainability.
The final part of the above excerpt is critical.
In addition to not increasing overall employment, government jobs also increase the fiscal burden of government and undermine long-run growth.
So the long-term damage is even greater than the short-run damage.
P.S. The IMF isn't the only international bureaucracy to conclude that government employment is bad for overall prosperity. A few years ago, I shared research from the European Central Bank which also showed negative macroeconomic consequences from costly bureaucracy.
P.P.S. While I'm usually critical of the IMF because it has a statist policy agenda, it's not uncommon for the professional economists who work there to produce good research. In the past, I've highlight some very good IMF studies on topics such as spending caps, the size of government, taxes and business vitality, fiscal decentralization, the Laffer Curve, and class-warfare taxation.
The Impossibly Expensive Promises of Bernie Sanders
Posted in Bernie Sanders, Big Government, Class warfare, Fiscal Policy, Socialism, Statism, tagged Bernie Sanders, Big Government, Class warfare, Fiscal Policy, Socialism, Statism on January 15, 2020| 4 Comments »
I've written about some of Elizabeth Warren's statist proposals, but watching last night's Democratic debate convinced me that I need to pay more attention to Bernie Sanders' agenda.
When he ran for president last time, I warned that his platform of $18 trillion of new spending over 10 years would be "very expensive to your wallet."
This time, "Crazy Bernie" has decided that his 2016 agenda was just a down payment. He now wants nearly $100 trillion of new spending!
Even CNN acknowledges that his platform has a staggering price tag.
…the new spending programs Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed in his presidential campaign would at least double federal spending over the next decade… The Vermont independent's agenda represents an expansion of government's cost and size unprecedented since World War II… Sanders' plan, though all of its costs cannot be precisely quantified, would increase government spending as a share of the economy far more than the New Deal under President Franklin Roosevelt, the Great Society under Lyndon Johnson or the agenda proposed by any recent Democratic presidential nominee, including liberal George McGovern in 1972, according to a historical analysis shared with CNN by Larry Summers, the former chief White House economic adviser for Barack Obama… Summers said in an interview. "The Sanders spending increase is roughly 2.5 times the size of the New Deal and the estimated fiscal impact of George McGovern's campaign proposals.
My former colleague Brian Riedl has the most detailed estimates of the new fiscal burdens that Sanders is proposing.
Here's some of what he wrote last year for City Journal.
All told, Sanders's current plans would cost as much as $97.5 trillion over the next decade, and total government spending at all levels would surge to as high as 70 percent of gross domestic product. Approximately half of the American workforce would be employed by the government. …his Medicare For All plan would increase federal spending by "somewhere between $30 and $40 trillion over a 10-year period." He pledges to spend $16.3 trillion on his climate plan. And his proposal to guarantee all Americans a full-time government job paying $15 an hour, with full benefits, is estimated to cost $30.1 trillion. …$3 trillion to forgive all student loans and guarantee free public-college tuition—plus $1.8 trillion to expand Social Security, $2.5 trillion on housing, $1.6 trillion on paid family leave, $1 trillion on infrastructure, $800 billion on general K-12 education spending, and an additional $400 billion on higher public school teacher salaries. …Such spending would far exceed even that of European social democracies. …Sanders's tax proposals would raise at most $23 trillion over the decade. …Tax rates would soar. Sanders would raise the current 15.3 percent payroll tax to 27.2 percent… Sanders proposes a top federal income-tax rate of 52 percent…plus a 10 percent net investment-income surtax for the wealthy.
By the way, class-warfare taxes won't pay for all these promises.
Not even close, as you can see from this chart Brian put together.
By the way, the above chart is a static snapshot. In the real world, there's no way to collect 4.7 percent of GDP (red bar on the left) with confiscatory taxes on the rich.
if Sanders ever had a chance to impose all his class-warfare tax ideas, the economy would tank, so revenues as a share of GDP would decline.
And here's another one of his visuals, looking at the spending proposals that Democratic candidates are supporting.
Senator Sanders, needless to say, favors all of these proposals.
As Brian noted in his article, the Sanders fiscal agenda is so radical that America would have a bigger burden of government spending than decrepit European welfare states such as Greece, France, and Italy.
To his credit, Bernie acknowledges that all his new spending can't be financed by class-warfare levies (unlike the serially dishonest Elizabeth Warren).
But the new taxes he proposes would finance only a tiny fraction of his spending agenda. If Washington ever tried to adopt even part of his platform, it inevitably would mean a European-style value-added tax.
P.S. Even if tens of trillions of dollars of revenue magically floated down from Heaven, bigger government would still be bad for the economy since politicians and bureaucrats would be in charge of (mis)allocating a much greater share of labor and capital.


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The Meaning of Healthy Ageing in the MENA Region
Movement is A Blessing
Mobilising Research on Healthy Ageing in the MENA Region
COVID19 and the Wellbeing of Older People in the Middle East
Learning from the International Experience
Developing Ageing Policies in the MENA region
Menarah
Home Initatives Learning from the International Experience Identifying important models and variables influencing the operation of adult safeguarding
Initatives
Identifying important models and variables influencing the operation of adult safeguarding
Prof. Shereen Hussein
Summary Greater priority is now being given to improving responses to concerns that adults may be at risk of abuse or neglect in England and internationally. In England, the Care Act 2014 placed 'adult safeguarding' on a firmer statutory footing. Although local authorities were given the lead responsibility for adult safeguarding over a decade ago, little is known about how they organised their responses. This article reports one element of a national study in which semi-structured interviews with 23 local authority adult safeguarding managers in 2013–14 were conducted. The interviews sought to understand how local authorities arrange their responses to adult safeguarding concerns.
Graham, K., Stevens, M., Norrie, C., Manthorpe, J., Moriarty, J., & Hussein, S. (2016). Models of safeguarding in England: Identifying important models and variables influencing the operation of adult safeguarding. Journal of Social Work, 17(3), 255-276.
Image credit: Dylan Gillis, unsplash.com
Professor of Health and Social Care Policy, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
Shereen Hussein is a Professor of Health and Social Care Policy at the Department of Health Services Research and Policy (HSRP) at the LSHTM. She is a Co-Director of the PRUComm policy research unit. She is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Kent and King's College London in the UK and the University of Southern Queensland in Australia.
Shereen is a demographer with expertise in labour-migration, sociology and economics. Her primary research revolves around ageing, family dynamics, migration and long-term care. Shereen has previously worked with the United Nations, the Population Council, the World Bank, and the League of Arab States. Her current research focuses on ageing demographics, long term care demand and migration within the UK and Europe and the implications on policy and practice.
Shereen has conducted extensive research on population ageing and its impact on long term care and health policy and practices in the UK, internationally and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. She has contributed to recent United Nations' policy response to ageing in the region through collaboration with UN-ESCWA and directly providing expert consultations to several countries in the region including Turkey, Oman and Egypt. Shereen leads many large research projects on ageing and long-term care in the UK and contributes to a large project addressing responses to dementia in developing countries STRiDE. Shereen is the founder and lead of the MENARAH network.
https://www.menarah.org/author/shereen/
Towards Healthy Ageing in the Middle East and North Africa
TÜSEB Health Policies Institute of Türkiye: International Health Policies Congress
Mobilising Ageing Research in the Middle East and North Africa Region
Interventions to Support the Well-Being of the Long-Term Care Workforce
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Treating Older People with Dignity and Respect: Communications with People Living with Dementia
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Q: jquery focusin() and preventing bubbling UPDATE 2:
I slept on it and then whipped up some sample code to try and further figure out the issue.
Here's a sample using the console.log of firebug to show you which object is triggering the focusin event:
http://jsbin.com/axefo3/11
1) click the first link: yellow div shows
2) hit the tab key: It should tab into the link within the yellow div
It does that, but then it triggers the focusin event and, for some reason, it appears to bubble up again to the red div, which is told to then close the yellow div.
This is even after I've told the yellow div to not propogate focusin events:
$('#innerDiv').focusin(function(e){e.stopPropagation()});

I then tried attaching the focusin event on the parent div only AFTER I focusin on the inner div.
http://jsbin.com/axefo3/16
What happens there is that tabbing to the first link in the inner div does set up the focusin event on the parent div. This is good! But then tabbing to the very next link within the innerdiv bubbles up the focusin event again closing the div.
So, I guess I'm still stumped. It does appear that I can not stop focusin from bubbling up. Thoughts? Theories?
Original post below...
============================
I'm showing a div via an onclick event. If you click outside the div, I want to hide it. To do so, I'm binding a one time click event on the body:
$('body').one('click.myDivPopup', function(e) {
    ...close my div...
});

Within the div itself, I tell it to not propogate events so that actually clicking within the div won't trigger a click on the body:
$myDiv.click(function(e){e.stopPropagation()});

This works fine as intended.
I also want to hide the div if one tabs out of the div.
My thinking was that in that scenario, I could use a focusin event on the body:
$('body').one('focusin.myDivPopup', function(e) {
    ...close my div...
});

Again, I don't want the events to bubble out of the div itself, so added this:
$myDiv.focusin(function(e){e.preventDefault()});

This does NOT work. Changing focus within elements within myDiv triggers the focusin event on the body.
Is this maybe a bug in jQuery? If so is there a better way to accomplish this?
UPDATE:
The issue seems to be that there seems to be no way to determine if the DIV has lost focus, since it can never have focus. My solution logic was to see if something ELSE had focus that was outside the div (hence using focusin) but I'm running into the issue of the focusin events within the div seemingly bubbling out there by triggering it on the body.
For now, I think my solution is going to have to be adding a CLOSE elment to the pop-up and then having people have to explicitly trigger that. Not ideal though, especially for keyboard navigation.

A: Wouldn't it be easier to display 2 divs. One transparent (invisible) div which covers the whole page and the other you really want to show. Then you just need to set the z-index correct body < invisblediv < contentdiv.
Then register click event for invisible div and when clicked remove both. Finished. Atleast this is how most of those e.g. modal dialog jquery plugins work I guess
Demo http://jsbin.com/uzoyo/3

A: If you want to use focusin but not utilise event bubbling, why don't you just use focus...?


Quarna Un paese per la musica - 37th Edition with Milan Rericha!!!
Also this year Milan Rericha appeared at the well known music festival.
17. 7. 2016 from 21:00 in Auditorium Musno - Quarna Sotto in recital with renowned pianist Fatima Alieva he performed pieces such as Habanera of M. Ravel, C. Debussy's Premiere Rhapsody, N. Paganini - Caprice No. 24, Sonata by E. Denisov. Gabriele Oglina, guest performer of the Concert was the second clarinetist to play in duet with Maestro Rericha Concerto for two clarinets by F. V. Krommer and Concertpiece No. 2 from F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.
Part of the Quarna Un paese per la musica festival is International Clarinet Masterclass, it's 3rd edition again with Milan Rericha ran 18. - 21. 7. 2016.


The Old Nag's Head in Edale is a stockist of "Pennine Light" one of the official Pennine Way beers brewed by The Nook Brewhouse. A donation will be made to support the trail from every pint sold. So you can feel good about stopping off for a pint, or two. www.penninewaybeer.co.uk.


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Lol. I know, I'm sad it's over! Glad you've been enjoying the posts, Jane.
Beautiful! Reminded me of the (1972) song "On Top of the World" by the Carpenters. Thanks for sharing the last leg of your journey!
It's my pleasure! I haven't heard that song, but it sure did feel like we were on top of the world!
Thank you, Eileen! We enjoyed experimenting with different camera angles on our trip. I bought a $7 Selfie Stick and it really came in handy.
I've enjoyed your pictures pof your trip Ellie. I know I said this before but if you ever get over to AZ our family would love to meet you and Mr. Handsome for a meal. I assure you I'm not an obsessed fan. Just a humble wife and mother who loves fellowship.
Thank you, Regina! I really do appreciate it. I know you're not an obsessed fan. 🙂 Arizona is on our list, so hopefully we can make it there one day. My in-laws went recently and loved it.
I think one of the reasons your blog is so enjoyable is that your ability to communicate your "wife" life in such interesting blogs, can either add to or make up for this kind of news from people to people. I really enjoy all of your posts and this one is an obvious highlight! Those thrilling views are exceptional and all of the furry sheep are so fun to see! I'm glad to know you and your H. had a happy time! Thank-you both for sharing your summer vacation story.
Ellie, I thoroughly love seeing your amazing photos and reading about your travels to our beautiful Canadian Rockies. I have not had the opportunity to travel there myself, but have family who have.
Thank you, Cheryl. It's my pleasure. I noticed you said "our" Canadian Rockies. Do you live in Canada?
Yes, Ellie. I live in Ontario.


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Q: osm2po way tag resolver: how to use allow/deny for complex selection How to combine allow / deny in osm2po config file for complex selection?
As an example, I would like to include in my finalmask (car) all [highway=service] except the ones that DO NOT have the tag [surface=asphalt].
I would like to use this asphalt restriction only for highway=service but not for other types of highways. What should I write in my osm2po config file to achieve this?

A: Since 5.2.72 the declaration format has changed.
So I recommend to download the latest version (current is 5.2.84, link is on the download tab)
There are some comments regarding this in the osm2po.config.
Example (new format): To allow roads and service ways set
wtr.finalMask=road,service

If not all service ways are allowed, set sth. like this here:
wtr.flagList=road,service,asphalt
wtr.finalMask=road,service|asphalt
wtr.allow.surface.asphalt=asphalt

Another approach is to think the whole matter more abstract.
I haven't tested it yet, but this should work as well:
(Tricky part: service has no flags by default)
wtr.flagList=car
wtr.finalMask=car
wtr.tag.highway.service = 1,51,5
wtr.tag.highway.motorway = 1,11,120,car
wtr.allow.surface.asphalt=car

If you prefer the technical and non-verbose version, here it is:
wtr.finalMask=0x1
wtr.tag.highway.service = 1,51,5
wtr.tag.highway.motorway = 1,11,120,0x1
wtr.allow.surface.asphalt=0x1