Kevin Drum 🕸

A few years ago a friend of mine got cataract surgery. He had worn glasses since childhood, but after the surgery he had perfect 20/20 vision and great reading vision. That sounded awesome, and naturally I wanted this surgery too even though I didn't have cataracts. I grumbled a bit about that and then forgot ...continue reading "Health Update, High Tech Optics Edition"

I'm not sure why I've held onto this picture. It was taken in the town square in Tecate, Mexico, and this pigeon looks so awkward on takeoff that it tickles me. Do all birds look like this at the moment they're trying to get their first bit of lift? I don't think so. Just pigeons, ...continue reading "Lunchtime Photo"

Not much blogging today, I'm afraid. But for a good reason! I'll tell you all about it tomorrow or Thursday.

This is the Seal Beach pier taken in late morning. There are lots of different ways of taking this picture, and I chose a long exposure without any adjustment for the background. The result is smooth, swirly water and a pure white background from overexposure. I tried a bunch of other variants, including some composites, ...continue reading "Lunchtime Photo"

Always remember: pi is not just irrational. It's also transcendental. Omm.

The other day, for no real reason, I was thinking about metric measurements and how often we use them. I'm not thinking of scientific contexts, just everyday uses that most people in the United States accept without thinking much about it. For example: Grams: turntable counterweight, illicit drugs Kilograms: illicit drugs (kilos) Kilometers: army distance ...continue reading "The metric system in everyday American life"

Wikipedia used to confirm that my favorite proverb is "Amateurs study tactics; professionals study logistics," but I guess somebody must have removed it. Nonetheless, it still is my favorite, and it's apparently something that the Russian military should have paid more attention to: Thread: on why the Russian advance into Ukraine has bogged down—their logistics ...continue reading "Professionals study logistics. Apparently the Russian army isn’t very professional."

I know that measuring COVID cases is no longer considered especially useful, but case rates are still the best early warning metric we have. Here are the case rates for the US and a bunch of European countries: The US has the lowest case rate among all these countries and it has the lowest test ...continue reading "Raw data: Omicron is making a small comeback in Europe"

A few days ago I noted that Sen. Rick Scott¹ had released an "11 Point Plan to Rescue America" which included a proposal to ensure that everyone pays at least some federal income tax. He wants no more of those free riders who pay zero in taxes. As I mentioned, the problem with this is ...continue reading "Rick Scott wants to raise federal taxes by $1 trillion"

I mentioned yesterday that my new Pixel 6 Pro phone has not just a pretty good normal camera but also an awesome low-light camera. I'll show you an example. In the early hours of the morning everyone is asleep except me, and the only light in the bedroom is my reading lamp. I can tell ...continue reading "Low light photography with the Pixel 6 Pro"

I was up in the wee hours (thanks, evil dex) and clearing out my RSS feeds when I noticed that the top entry on Memeorandum happened to be something by Francis Fukuyama. He's a smart and interesting guy and I had lots of time on my hands, so I clicked. It turns out that Fukuyama ...continue reading "Francis Fukuyama thinks Russia is going down to defeat"

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency—aka the hated ICE—announced today that it made about 74,000 administrative arrests last year. That's down from 104,000 arrests in 2020. These are not border detentions, which are handled by the Border Patrol. They are arrests in the interior of the country. This chart shows the number of arrests over ...continue reading "Raw data: ICE immigration arrests in the interior of the country"

My old phone spontaneously disintegrated a couple of weeks ago, so I got a new Pixel 6 Pro. I didn't get it for the camera, but it does turn out to have a great camera. This picture of Charlie and Hilbert isn't as sharp as I get with my regular camera, and the resolution isn't ...continue reading "Friday Cat Blogging – 11 March 2022"

Good news! Thanks to Obamacare, medical debt is way down. But not everywhere: This is from a study published in JAMA a few months ago. In states that expanded Medicaid, serious medical debt (i.e. debt in collections) has been cut in half. In states that didn't, medical debt has stayed about the same. And needless ...continue reading "Medical debt is way down thanks to Obamacare"

Yesterday's post about college grads pulling in starting salaries of $100,000 has prompted me to produce a chart showing the equivalent of $100,000 over the past century or so. Here it is: If you made $18,000 in 1970, that's the equivalent of making $100,000 today.

It's fine to be anti-Russia right now. Hell, it's hard not to be. It's OK to express this by writing about it; boycotting Russian products; supporting sanctions against Russia; hoping Vladimir Putin gets frogmarched to The Hague; and so forth. But in the spirit of avoiding another Freedom Fries folly, there are some things that ...continue reading "Maybe we should rein in the anti-Russia stuff a tiny bit"

I just picked up some prescription eyedrops from the pharmacy. I don't have any vision insurance, so this was an all-cash transaction. The clerk at Walgreens told me it would cost $365. Hoo boy. But if I joined their club it would only cost $104 plus $20 for the first year's fee. Great! Sign me ...continue reading "The penalty for not having health insurance is too damn high"

This is a grape juice lupine in a picture taken last year. It's one of the last wildflowers in my queue, but wildflower season is coming up soon so I should have a whole new set of pictures before long.

The Census Bureau released its analysis of the 2020 census today. Here is their estimate of overcounts and undercounts of the four largest demographic groups: White and Asian people were overcounted more than in 2010, while Black and Hispanic people were undercounted more than in 2010. For researchers, this stuff gets weighted and corrected, but ...continue reading "Black and Hispanic residents were way undercounted in the 2020 census"

A reader emails with a question: Could (would) you prepare a chart of gasoline prices (adjusted for inflation) say from 1950 to the present? I think it would be very informative. Yes indeed! I'd be delighted. Here it is: Data through 2021 is annual. Data for 2022 is the latest and greatest for this week. ...continue reading "Raw data: Gasoline price, 1950-2022"