WSOP Housing - Renting Homes for World Series of Poker Lodging

Here it comes! The rush to book the best available homes for WSOP is about to get underway. If you're one of the many thousands of participants coming to Las Vegas for the annual World Series of Poker, then you are probably also one of the potential customers for a home to rent for WSOP. Fear not! We are here to help. Below you will find some of the best ways to secure of good home for the tournament, and some of the really poor ways to get a "good" deal.

What If I Don't Mention WSOP?

Las Vegas is a place where deal making is king. Probably nowhere else in the world, except maybe Hong Kong and Wall Street, has the art of negotiation been mastered as it has in Vegas. So keep that in mind when you come looking for a nice home to rent for WSOP. Owners and vacation rental management companies know well and good that the tournament is the big money making period of the year. Don't expect to hoodwink any naive owners to get a low price. It's not going to happen. They know very well why you are calling about a six week booking that starts June 1st. You'll be one of many calls they get exactly the same dates. See what we mean? Be realistic with your expectations and don't start off your search assuming we wont know why you are calling.

Where Should I Rent A Home For WSOP?

As usual, the World Series of Poker is going to be held at the Rio Casino Hotel. You will want to rent a home for WSOP that is as close to the Rio as possible. The best choices are going to put you within 10 to 15 minutes of the event. The worse choices will put you as far as 45 minutes away depending on the day of the week. Remember, you are here for about 6 weeks. We recommend homes in Southern Highlands, Green Valley and Henderson as well as Summerlin and Spring Valley on the west side. All of those areas are either close to begin with or have great access to the event via major highways and boulevards.

How Much Should I Pay For Good WSOP Lodging?

The answer to that question is really up to you. There is a great list of homes to rent for WSOP on our website that already includes everything in the prices. You can see up front what you will pay for your rental, how far the home is from the tournament, the size of the home, the capacity and number of bedrooms. You can also preview each home on our website and book directly by calling when you are ready. All rentals for WSOP housing must be booked over the phone due popularity of the period and demand for homes  We expect a complete sell out as usual.

Good luck in your search. Visit us and call today to make the whole thing easy!

Light from Christmas

The Pope reflected on the obstacles to faith in the modern world in his homily for Christmas Eve. There was 'no room at the inn'. Truth 'came to his own home, and his own people received him not' (Jn 1:11).

   'The faster we can move, the more efficient our time-saving appliances become, the less time we have. And God? The question of God never seems urgent. Our time is already completely full. But matters go deeper still. Does God actually have a place in our thinking? Our process of thinking is structured in such a way that he simply ought not to exist. Even if he seems to knock at the door of our thinking, he has to be explained away. If thinking is to be taken seriously, it must be structured in such a way that the "God hypothesis" becomes superfluous. There is no room for him.
   'Not even in our feelings and desires is there any room for him. We want ourselves. We want what we can seize hold of, we want happiness that is within our reach, we want our plans and purposes to succeed. We are so "full" of ourselves that there is no room left for God. And that means there is no room for others either, for children, for the poor, for the stranger.
   'By reflecting on that one simple saying about the lack of room at the inn, we have come to see how much we need to listen to Saint Paul’s exhortation: "Be transformed by the renewal of your mind" (Rom 12:2). Paul speaks of renewal, the opening up of our intellect (nous), of the whole way we view the world and ourselves. The conversion that we need must truly reach into the depths of our relationship with reality.
   'Let us ask the Lord that we may become vigilant for his presence, that we may hear how softly yet insistently he knocks at the door of our being and willing. Let us ask that we may make room for him within ourselves, that we may recognize him also in those through whom he speaks to us: children, the suffering, the abandoned, those who are excluded and the poor of this world.'

Siga o Papai Noel e Feliz Natal!!

Querem saber por onde anda o bom velhinho? Então cliquem no link abaixo e acompanhe a jornada do Santa Claus pelo mundo.

Divirta-se!

 

Jornada de Santa Claus ao vivo!

 

http://www.noradsanta.org/

 

 

Power managed Automobiles Benefits and Cons: Why Buy an Power managed Car?

Electric vehicles outstanding and bad aspects are basically a problem of personal viewpoint, and a disadvantage to one could be an benefits of another. Why produce such a car? What is it about such vehicles that attracts people not only to produce them but also to design and make them?

There are two camp on this - those passionate about the surroundings and those on economy. There is a third, as there is with any new technological innovation - those looking for to appear 'different' or 'cool.' Whether it is identified as being amazing to buy and produce such vehicles is a problem of viewpoint, but let's discuss electric car outstanding and bad aspects first before developing further viewpoint.

Electric Automobiles - Pros

For anybody to buy a car there must become benefits over frequent fuel vehicles for them to justify doing so. We shall start here with a uncertain viewpoint, but ready to be affected by discussion and see where it delivers. With that identified, here are some of the main advantages recommended by those who recommend that we buy electric by choice.

1. Power Energy is Ecologically Friendly

Let's evaluate this announcement. 'Environmentally friendly' - what does that mean? Presumably the discussion is that electric power has less of a as well as effect than a gas managed car. It has no need for energy sources, and so when you buy a automobile you do not rely on oil sources for your fuel.

Nor do you launch hydrocarbon invest or as well as oxides - co2 and monoxide which are regarded to be not only damaging the world, but affecting our greater atmosphere. Perhaps Messrs. Lenoir, Benz and Ford have much to reaction for - or perhaps not, because there is no query that the car motor and the growth of the motor car has conducted a huge element in the growth of latest industry and technological innovation.

However, coming back to the appropriate discussion regarding the potential effect on the surroundings of electric vehicles. There is more than just the automobiles and environmental effect going for them.

2. Power managed Vehicle Technology

An electric automobile functions from battery power pack power - so is not car. What does that mean? First, it generates less (or no) hydrocarbons in its exhaustion than frequent vehicles - because it has none! That's a outstanding discussion, as is that of absence of interference.

No interference indicates no need for a muffler, and no hydrocarbon contaminants indicates no need for a catalytic ripper or an car motor, provider, aspects, spark joins, rings, rad, fan belt, valves and everything else we believe at when we are trying to fix them or change them. That in itself is a advantages and a huge plus for resource of your.

These advantages are almost sufficient to persuade anybody to buy a car rather than a frequent car car. But then again, they said that about airships in assessment to frequent airplane of that era. Airships had one disadvantage that described against them - they managed to explode! This dissuaded people from using them, so what's the disadvantage with electric vehicles?

Electric Automobiles - Cons

1. The Power Source

Electric vehicles don't rush, but they do run out of power. Not for the absence of a cash, but for the absence of a asking for aspect. Larger locations might have them, but you won't get far down Direction 66 on electric - certainly nothing like from Chi city to L.A.! Nat Expert Cole, Position Fruits and the Stones would be very lucky to get out of situation with their electric vehicle! The typical car, such as the Car LEAF, does no more than about 90 miles on one price - what then?

That's the main disadvantage. They are outstanding for the school run and buying, and perhaps that's what they were designed for. With improvements, electric vehicles will never catch on significant unless something is done about re-charging. Not just with asking for programs, but also the amount of asking for since it needs up to 8 a opportunity to absolutely replenish an variety power. "I'm just going to finish her up unique - information an area for us!"

However, Car has managed this problem quite well with the Car LEAF (Leading, Ecologically Beneficial, Cost-effective, Near family members Car). A home battery power pack battery charger will take 8 time, sure, but you can get an experienced fast price at a Car provider, or street asking for place, that provides an 80% price in 30 minutes.

Once marketplaces set up these you can link in, do your buying and your car is charged ready for you when you come coming back. There is no query that as income enhance, this will become an experienced choice and all marketplaces will have them. Not only that, but a Car LEAF can get a 30 range price with a fast 5-minute supercharge!

2. The Environment

Electricity has to come from somewhere, and some have calculated resource of your to be only a little bit more helpful than gas vehicles in their automobiles. This will change as methods of producing useful energy changes, but it still cannot be dropped that electric automobile contaminants are zero.

3. Power

Electric search engines cannot go with the capability of car search engines, and in this respect they never will unless there is a excessive new growth in electric power. However, for frequent day-to-day use, a managed car provides sufficient amount and storage for frequent use. Again getting the Car LEAF as an example, this car can accomplish a amount of 60 MPH in 10.8 a few minutes. That is sufficient for frequent producing within the published amount limit.

Evangelizing an anti-intellectual culture

The recent Census revealed that in England and Wales the number of professed Christians in 2011 fell to 33.2 million, or 59% of the overall population, from 37.3 million (72%) in 2001. People who said they had “no religion” rose by more than six million to 14.1 million, almost double what it was ten years earlier. We have of course been aware of the decline for some time, and it has provoked much discussion both of the root causes and of
possible responses. The call to a New Evangelization has focused our thoughts on what it is in our culture that is turning people away from faith and towards materialism. The obvious culprit is something often called “secularism”, and many of us have come to the conclusion that faith cut adrift from reason tends to perish – it turns into fundamentalism and appeals only to a minority of pathetic extremists. A faithless reason, a secular rationality that takes no account of the supernatural, is therefore regarded as our number one enemy.

Some go further, and say that we are now living not just in a post-Christian society, but in a post-secular one. We inhabit a political and technological order that does not require us to believe, or even to think, anything at all. It makes no assumptions except pragmatic ones. It cares not about what is true or false, but what will work. Not what is good or bad, but what a majority will accept. Not what is beautiful or ugly, but what price someone will pay for it. This is the kingdom of will and of desire, the “dictatorship of relativism”. Words like “true” and “good” may still be used when convenient, but they have been evacuated of content.

If this is true, the real problem in our culture is not just the rise of reason and the decline of faith; it is the decline of reason. The Enlightenment, the cult of universal reason, with all its high hopes, has failed. This has become a stupid culture, a culture without intelligence, a culture that does not respect reason. It is a culture that is based not on thought but on feeling and instinct, on gut reactions and base desires. It isn’t interested in ideas, or consistency, let alone truth. (And without an interest in truth, it won’t be interested in goodness or beauty either. The three live or die together.)

Evangelization, many of us have thought, is easiest through art and literature – the Way of Beauty. But beauty is not enough. While it can stir the emotions and even awaken interest, beauty can only prepare the ground. To be effective, evangelization in the modern world has to address the root cause of faithlessness, which is not lack of art, but lack of philosophy.

This is a much more serious problem. How do you get a whole culture to think again? How do you even get a whole generation even reading again, after they have stopped? Reading is the essential prelude to thinking, because it slows things down and puts things in order. The kind of reading and writing we do now is reactive, instantaneous, prejudiced, colloquial. It is an extension of the chat room.

The only answer I can find is to begin with education. We need to build a thinking, literate, intellectual culture. Only then will a New Evangelization become possible. The foundations for the New Evangelization can be laid by re-booting the educational process. We might call this a process of “re-enchantment”, because enchantment conveys a sense of wonder and mystery – precisely the elements that are lacking in an education designed to fragment our sense of ourselves and the world. Wonder and mystery, amazement and appreciation, are the beginnings of curiosity and thought.

The essence of the ancient idea of the “liberal arts” was to prepare the mind for philosophical thought and thus for real human freedom. This could be done by studying the world as an inter-related whole reflected in man as the image of the Logos. It can be begun at any age, and indeed the foundations must be laid early, when the child is already awakening to the wonder that is the dawn of philosophy.

Car Automobiles and the Upcoming of the Hydrogen Car

Nissan cars are working together with their associate Renault, together with Honda and Daimler in boosting up the growth of the hydrogen car. While much perform is being performed on alternative types of to energy resources, there are no authentic solutions to the car motor.

Sure, 100% power resource such as the Car LEAF obviously meet this significance, but how is the power generated? Globally it is primarily by fossil fuel, oil or atomic operated turbines, with a portion of wave. Wind plants and other techniques are small in amount.

The problem is that the techniques used to produce power from energy resources can be extremely ineffective - but there are levels of ineffectiveness. So should Car keep perform with Honda and Daimler or is hydrogen less effective an power resource than electricity? The mathematical is quite clear on this.

Energy Efficiency: Electric powered Vs Hydrogen Powered Energy

Let's apply an power balance to the three ways of energy: petrol, power and hydrogen.

Hydrogen: currently produced from natural gas (methane) using the process of vapor changing. The heat performance of vapor changing is around 75% - 80%. However, the hydrogen has to be compacted or even melted, and then transferred. This decreases the heat performance to around 60%.

Gasoline: The heat performance of petrol by the time it gets to your container is around 80%.

Electricity: Electricity, using the common effectiveness of the various techniques of creation, is around 95% when it gets to your electric vehicle.

Efficiency of Use

The performance of use, significance the transformation of petrol to horse power and twisting, is reliant on the type and design of the motor. When every element is taken into account it has been measured that electric vehicles are anything from 3 to 4 times more effective than hydrogen vehicles.

In fact, when evaluating the performance of the use of power once it has been produced, a lithium ion battery power is 93% effective in comparison to a hydrogen petrol mobile at 40%. So the querry is still - should these car producers keep speed up analysis into the growth of hydrogen cars?

The Car LEAF

One day petrol will run out, but by then there will likely be better technological innovation available to produce power and to help increase the variety of electric motivated cars. Nevertheless, many are becoming enthusiastic about the Car LEAF, and once the highish initial price and the variety problems have been joined to no doubt power will become more popular.

Hybrid Cars

Hybrid cars are improving a little bit in reputation, although many feel if they are element petrol they may as well be all petrol. Many people believe that compounds are the temporary solution, but most in the motor market believe that petrol will stay the petrol of choice, and that pollutants will keep fall as cars become small and petrol performance becomes greater.

The car market is doing the right thing in looking for to decrease pollutants while also looking for to cut down on the use energy resources - which by significance is a limited power resource. It will one day run out, and with a quickly improving China economic system this will happen earlier rather than later.

But how soon? It is sensible not to hang on until that day comes to begin the analysis, and those starting now will benefit most. So yes, they are right to speed up their analysis, because, not only will it decrease our dependency on petrol earlier, but it is also a sensible investment for the long run.

The real questions are on which resource we should concentrate and whether the power of the long run will be the hydrogen car, electrical or even atomic. Right now, the greenest and most effective petrol is power. The difficulties are to create a submission system for this petrol, and also to improve the performance of the vehicles operated by it.

However, it is still legitimate for Car cars to immediate element of its concentrate to the hydrogen car. By making an investment in electrical and hydrogen power, Car is launching a web that should include the petrol of the long run. Unfortunately, the Flux Capacitor, High Drive and Unlimited Improbability Pushes have yet to be tailored to motor car technology!

Não há substituto para o Vermelho!

O vermelho está tomando conta da decoração de Natal este ano.

Olhem isso que lindo!

♥

 

(Aqui não tem substituto para o vermelho)

 

Make up para o Natal

Olá amigas,
Fica aqui a dica de make up!

http://tudoparamenininha.blogspot.ca/2012/12/makes-para-festas-de-fim-de-ano.html

Indicação do Blog - "Dicas de Menina" - Visitem!

Olá queridas amigas!

♥

 

Gostaria de convidar todas vocês para uma visita lá no blog "Dicas de Menina".
O blog pertence a uma menina muito especial na minha vida e pela qual eu tenho muito amor e admiração.

Por favor, façam uma visita por lá e sintam-se a vontade para seguí-lo!

Um imenso abraço para todos e tenham um ótimo final de semana!

http://tudoparamenininha.blogspot.ca/

 

 

 

 

Lovely white Christmas Decoration

Hoje tem neve nas montanhas aqui em Vancouver, então... Welcome the White Christmas Time!!

♥

Fotos by Julfint, HF

Benefits in Diesel petrol Performance Convenience Fuel Cost Concerns

As international oil costs have resolved in perfectly at a new regular of over 90 dollars per gun barrel, petrol efficiency has become more than just a catchphrase, it has become a way of lifestyle. With more and more issue over the ecological effect of multiple automobile battery power and awesome improves in diesel efficiency, more US automatic producers are seeing diesel as the long run.

Efficiency

It is a given that diesel google are more effective than fuel google. Diesel petrol efficiency, both in petrol and motor lifestyle, is the reason diesel google power the transport fleets of the world. Common knowledge has it that only compounds are more effective.. but are they? A latest analyze by VW, which marketplaces the Jetta design in diesel, gas, and multiple, may just convince you. An efficiency analyze of all three designs revealed that multiple efficiency and diesel efficiency were about equivalent, but that the diesel design compensated for in 50 percent the kilometers motivated.

Emissions

For decades, problems about diesel pollutants have outweighed the benefits of diesel efficiency. Technological advancement designed and applied in the last few decades has reduced that issue. New technology such as DEF, designed and applied in all diesel development automobiles, almost removes all air particle and nitrous oxide pollutants, and actually makes the diesel as fresh - better in some situations - as fuel google.

Availability

While diesel efficiency has always created it eye-catching, the deficiency of accessibility to diesel automobiles, especially in the US, has never created it an option for most automobile customers. With the diesel enhancements of the last few decades, that has all modified. For decades, the only diesel choices in the US were costly In german automobiles or heavy-duty pickups. Now, US producers such as Chrysler and Mazda are at the leading edge of the new diesel efficiency and advancement.

Diesel Production

After decades of automobile diesel choices in the U.S. being restricted to costly In german traveler automobiles, car manufacturers in the usa are moving into the traveler diesel market with both legs to both keep up with modifying client requirements and sustain CAFE requirements. Chevrolet has just declared development of the Cruze diesel, with automated gearbox and a 42 MPG EPA ranking. This is as opposed to Cruze Eco with stick shift and no takers. Mazda is searching for new diesel technology for its traveler automobiles, known as Skyactiv, that profits 43 MPG on the Mazda 6 and is extremely high-efficiency and low exhaust. Chrysler, credit google and technology from its Western relatives, will be providing a diesel edition of the 2014 Cherokee, as well as the only half-ton diesel pick-up.

Tolkien book - new expanded edition

Some years ago I wrote a book about Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings. It was called Secret Fire by the publisher DLT, and The Power of the Ring in the USA (Crossroad didn't like the UK title). This year, with financial troubles at DLT, it went out of print (in both versions) and I was asked by Crossroad to revise and expand the book for a new edition to be published on both sides of the Atlantic. Here is the cover (and the contents list – see below). I would not want people to go out and buy it thinking it is a brand new book, but it has been expanded and improved throughout, with an additional chapter about The Hobbit, and is nicely redesigned. It incorporates, among other things, the corrections and revisions I made for the Russian and Italian translations. The new edition of The Power of the Ring received an honorable mention in the 2013 Hoffer Awards under the category of culture. Please order from Sylvia Scott, Sales & Marketing, Crossroad, 831 Chestnut Ridge Road, Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977, 001-845-517-0180, ext. 115. Or email sales@crossroadpublishing.com. The book can also be ordered via UK Amazon or US Amazon.

There is always more to say about Tolkien and his writing – which is why I was so pleased to have a chance to add to my book. He never claimed to be anything more than a philologist, but he knew his faith well, and was an
instinctive theologian. Take for example Frodo's advice to Sam at the end of the novel when he is trying to decide what to do with Galadriel's gift – a little box of earth from Lothlorien. If we remember that in a sense the gifts represent grace, and the Lady is a Marian "type", then we can read Frodo's comment on several levels. "Use all the wits and knowledge you have of your own, Sam, and then use the gift to help your work and better it." Sam places a grain of the dust next to each of the trees he plants around the Shire, and the following spring "surpassed his wildest hopes." Grace is given not to replace nature but to heal and improve, and not to overpower our own nature but to help bring it to fruition.

See also (the post on homeschooling is included in the new edition):
Interview with author by Tolkien Library

Discussion of Tolkien with Greg Glazov

Lord of the Rings for Homeschoolers

Music of Creation in Tolkien
The Knight of Middle-earth

On Tolkien Studies

CONTENTS OF NEW EDITION OF POWER OF THE RING:

Acknowledgments
Preface to the Revised Edition
Introduction 

Part One THE SECRET FIRE

1. The Tree of Tales
2. The Hobbit: There and Back Again
3. A Very Great Story
4. A Hidden Presence: Tolkien’s Catholicism
5. Let These Things Be
6. Behind the Stars
7. Tolkien’s Achievement
Part Two APPENDICES

1. An Archetypal Journey: Tolkien and Jung
2. Tolkien’s Social Philosophy
3. The Shadow of King Arthur
4. Friendship in The Lord of the Rings
5. Tolkien for Homeschoolers
6. Tolkien and Paganism

7. The Beginning of Days

8. Myths Transformed

9. The Film of the Rings
Notes

Bibliography

Index

REVIEWS of previous edition:

“This book contains profound insights into the theology and spirituality in Tolkien's books. Caldecott gives the background of Tolkien's personality, letters, excerpts from other writings in order to provide a clear picture of what's at work in the Lord of the Rings.. The chapter ‘Behind the Stars’ is among the deepest commentaries on JRRT's work as a whole. Very fine. Definitely worth owning.” -- Dr Peter A. Kwasniewski

"Professor Tolkien, the academic philologist, was said to have travelled 'inside language'. Under Caldecott's guidance, here we travel inside the language of Tolkien. One sees at last what he was up to. It is a revelatory book." -- Church Times

Every Catholic school will want a copy as will anyone interested in Tolkien as a serious writer." -- Eric Hester, The Catholic Times

"As a general principle, the more worthwhile the primary source, the less worthwhile the secondary. Books about the most readable writers (Plato, Pascal, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and the Bible come to mind) are usually the least worth reading. The same, alas, is true for most of the plethora of books about Tolkien. Fortunately, there are a few exceptions. And this book, to my mind, is the most notable of all. There is no padding, no clichés, no belaboring the obvious. If anyone asks me what one book about Tolkien is the most worth reading, Secret Fire is my reply." -- Peter Kreeft, St Austin Review

"Caldecott's familiarity with Tolkien's writings and his clear analysis provide fascinating insights that enrich The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion in ways far different from previous studies. Some interesting appendixes offer additional observations. This book will be welcomed by those interested in the deep theological underpinnings of Tolkien's works, and is recommended to academic libraries supporting upper level coursework on Tolkien or religion and literature" -- Daniel Boice, Catholic Library World, September 2005

"Secret Fire elegantly unpacks the deeper meanings of the text, drawing not only on the classic works but on writings by Tolkien unpublished during his lifetime. Stratford Caldecott shows how Tolkien was one of a small group of writers who have succeeded in re-opening the world of the imagination for theological exploration." -- Church HouseBookshop , UK

"In this perceptive and well-reasoned book, Stratford Caldecott explores the roots of J.R.R. Tolkien's appeal 'to people of all ages and beliefs, in a broad spectrum from Christian to neo-pagan' ... Tolkien is portrayed in this book, fairly I think, as an explorer for whom the stories he carefully and diligently crafted over a long lifetime 'are notes of his expeditions in search of an older and "inner" world.'" -- Colin Duriez, Theology

"Essential reading for those who would like to understand the spiritual background to Lord of the Rings." -- Scientific and Medical Network

"Caldecott's work is a delight to read, with fascinating insights on nearly every page as he discusses the riches of Tolkien's work." -- The Sower

"A superb book that blends academic rigour with a clear passion for the subject." -- Christian Marketplace

“The book is truly outstanding and deserves the widest possible exposure. It is profound yet very readable.  I plan to use it with my adult CCD program soon, and I'd like to incorporate it into a university class as soon as I can.  I've even thought about offering a city-wide Lenten retreat using it.” --  Dr Henry (Hank) T. Edmondson III, Ph.D.,College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Georgia College & State University

“A literally wonderful - wonder-full - book. It will open the eyes of any reader who considers The Lord of the Rings just a gripping yarn in a fantasy world. Tolkien's ‘vision’ - Caldecott makes it clear the word is just right - draws on deep springs of philosophy and mysticism - and, not least, the orthodoxy of the church.” -- Aidan Nichols OP

Romanconomics - Greek Life

"... and I'll tell you how the
root of that word is Greek."
"Kimono."

So, I know that I coined the clever term "romanconomics" to describe the market forces at work in the dating market at large, but for just a second, let's pretend that the root word of "romance" sounded more like "Greek" and less like "Roman." This adventure was inspired by Greece ... and not the roiling mass of austerity riots we've come to know and love. No, this adventure was inspired by Lysistrata.

See, earlier this week, I was procrastinating by reading social commentary (please, continue to think I'm cool) about how not everyone loves the hook-up culture. How in fact, some women think that the hook-up culture is a rip-off. And how sometimes, women feel stuck because we don't have much of a functional dating market, and like maybe we shouldn't have high standards, because so many other competitors are willing to undercut you. Or in plain English, how sometimes it's hard to not date much because you don't casually hook up, and that's what's expected these days.

NOT THAT SIMPLE.

Granted, just now, I read an article on Salon about how "Guys Don't Want Casual Sex!" This article cites all sorts of exciting statistics, like how "15%" of guys are "very religious" and are interested in "courting," or "going on dates," to which I said "bahahahahaha, please. Continue to tell me how fun and simple the Christian dating scene is."

 My favorite part of the Salon article is where they discuss how only 15% (a popular number) of guys are real Cassanova types, hooking up with three or more women in a year. Here, 15% is a small number, so we're told that all the undergrad co-eds who think that all the guys are just interested in sex must be wrong. This is big news, because it's one of only 17 times since Descartes that we've been told that someone's own experience is wrong. So, mindless logical jumps aside, that statistic has some really fascinating philosophical assumptions hidden in it.

The point of all that is to tell you that you can find an article espousing* just about any romanconomics theory you might be interested in, but absolutely none of them are going to be as fun to read as mine. So, get excited.

Cartel members used to wear suits.

Anyway, the general theory of the original article was that "perhaps if all women banded together and quit hooking up so easily, maybe we could get a nice dinner every now and then." This tactic, of forming a sort of "battle of the sexes cartel," is famously brought to fruition in Lysistrata, the Greek play where Greeks get so tired of going without sex that they agree to end a war.**

There are two important economic concepts at work here: cartels and bilateral monopolies.

Cartel members now wear guns
and no shirts.

First, we turn to cartels. Essentially, this is where competitors band together and price-fix, thus raising the price of a single good (until someone undercuts them). Typically this works best with an oligopoly, because the more people you involve, the more likely it is that someone defects, hoping to make more profits by stealing customers than by enjoying a higher price.

In the dating market, this is especially difficult, because different people have different standards and different goals, and if you're in some sort of a bidding war for the same guy, the first shot may just decide everything. Tense.

CUP O' AMBIGUITY

This leads us to the second economic concept, that of a bilateral monopoly. A bilateral monopoly is when there is only one buyer and only one seller, and so they have to bargain with each other. This happens when you're really only interested in one guy, and he's really only interested in you, but you're not dating because the transaction costs of dating are really high, because of a lack of market standards. In other words, because of a lack of a "social script," there's not a clear-cut answer to important questions like "How do you show you're interested via tone-less text messages?" "What does 'let's get coffee' actually mean?" and the classic "If two people go on a date, but no one calls it a date, was it actually a date?"

Questions like this make male/female communication, which was already difficult, even harder. Everyone is confused - and the poor girl is stuck sending idiotic text messages like "Of course! 8:30 sounds great! See you then! :D" because saying "8:30 is good" somehow sounds like you're being short because you're mad. So, even though in a bilateral market you're not competing with everyone else, the behavior of others still affects the transaction costs of any single relationship.

The book for everyone else

Thus, Lysistrata-like ideas start to sound really appealing. Maybe you buy a book explaining all the "rules" of dating, or maybe you try blogging about ideal market functioning for the dating market. Regardless, you probably don't get very far. Why?

Because at the end of the day, the dating market is more like a conglomeration of bilateral monopolies than any sort of market. Even though some "industry standards" would be wildly helpful, every relationship is different—full of its own little quirks. And on that sappy note, I'm going to decode some text messages.


I considered cartels and bilateral monopolies in:
Black below-the-knee pencil skirt, blue and black sueded button-up with military detailing, silver hoops, blue glass necklace, black and silver watch, armored rhinestone ring, and floral platform stilettos with lace-up detail.

*E-spouse-ing. See what I did there?

** For those of you keeping track at home, this is the exact opposite of what American college children tried during Vietnam. 

Faith, analogy, and modern science

In his 8 November address to the Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope Benedict spoke of the "urgent need for continued dialogue and cooperation between the worlds of science and of faith in the building of a culture of respect for man, for human dignity and freedom, for the future of our human family and for the long-term sustainable development of our planet." He explained that

the sciences are not intellectual worlds disconnected from one another and from reality but rather that they are interconnected and directed to the study of nature as a unified, intelligible and harmonious reality in its undoubted complexity. Such a vision has fruitful points of contact with the view of the universe taken by Christian philosophy and theology, with its notion of participated being, in which each individual creature, possessed of its proper perfection, also shares in a specific nature and this within an ordered cosmos originating in God’s creative Word. It is precisely this inbuilt “logical” and “analogical” organization of nature that encourages scientific research and draws the human mind to discover the horizontal co-participation between beings and the transcendental participation by the First Being.

This is a point that is explored in my book Beauty for Truth's Sake, but has rarely been stated so clearly or succinctly. The Pope went on, in terms that echo the book by Barry R. Pearlman, A Certain Faith:

It is within this broader context that I would note how fruitful the use of analogy has proved for philosophy and theology, not simply as a tool of horizontal analysis of nature’s realities, but also as a stimulus to creative thinking on a higher transcendental plane. Precisely because of the notion of creation, Christian thought has employed analogy not only for the investigation of worldly realities, but also as a means of rising from the created order to the contemplation of its Creator, with due regard for the principle that God’s transcendence implies that every similarity with his creatures necessarily entails a greater dissimilarity: whereas the structure of the creature is that of being a being by participation, that of God is that of being a being by essence, or Esse subsistens.

Binders Full of Feminists

Binders full of women.

Yep. What may be one of the greatest rhetorical gaffes in history may have accidentally illustrated just what's wrong with all the politically-correct feminist tripe. The hoops politicians have to jump through to win women voters are getting out of control—and I'm not talking embroidery hoops here.*

THE DEBATE

The glass ceiling can't flatten
our ambition ... or this hair!

See, Romney made the "binders full of women" comment when discussing how he worked to hire women. This is after being asked a bogus glass ceiling question about how women make "72% less" than men for "the same" work. I mean really. Let's party like it's 1989. Or let's ask questions like Hillary Clinton is running (not just taking the fall for Obama's foreign policy failures a couple of weeks too late).

Back to the point at hand, Suzie-Audience-Member wanted to know how *sniff* the workplace *sniff sniff* was still SO UNFAIR *gasp sniff sob* that women made less and how that *humph* dirty capitalist Romney could live with himself. *sniff*

This puts Romney in a position where he has to sound like a jerk to answer the question.

Q: How did you work to get WOMEN good jobs?
A1: I looked through a bunch of qualified women HR compiled for me?
A2: I tried to fill all positions with women?
A3: I didn't, because clearly I hate women so much?

This isn't forced. No really.

None of these answers really sounds great, because when you ask someone what extra steps they went to to hire women, they're going to tell you all the extra steps that hiring women took, which makes it sound like hiring women is this great and inconvenient chore, and may or may not be indicative of actual events. If you ask a sexist question, don't be surprised when the answer sounds sexist.

Next, Romney explained how he worked to give women more flexibility in their hours because they asked for it. Despite the blogosphere's righteous indignation that any woman would possibly want to leave her office and make dinner, this is actually a great policy.

THE ADVENTURE

Just saving the world here.

See, last week I watched my younger siblings because my parents left town, and I'm the only family member around. So, for three and a half days, I pulled "double duty" as a law student and a suburban mom. And guess what? It was hard.

Let's not get carried away. On a full day, I have a whopping 3.4 hours of class. This is a far cry from the eight-hour standard work day. Yes, I also have homework, and no, those class hours aren't all consecutive. But from the start of my first class to the end of my last one is a span of just over six hours. It's a pretty "flexible schedule."

Defenestration: history/vocab
jokes in the making.

I'd then head back across town to beat rush hour, and say hi to my sister, who had gotten a ride home from school. I'd pick up my brother from football practice, we'd eat dinner (which my sister nicely made, even though I like cooking), and I wouldn't do any law school homework, because I'd want to talk to my siblings. We joked about defenestration and denominations and other intellectual things, because my siblings are awesome and hilarious. And guess what? They're not even MY kids.

I'd like to get married and have kids and get to spend time with them. And yes. I'd be willing to sacrifice a few rungs on the legal ladder to do that. And no, it's not because finger-painting is way easier than litigation.


THE FALSE DICHOTOMY
What I've just said would get me all sorts of hate mail from feminist groups if feminists read fashion and economics blogs (don't worry - I lost them at "stilettos"). But let's stop and think about this for a minute.

I don't do nature swings.

I'm a woman. Not to brag, but I'm a pretty smart and driven woman at that. I'm not really into touchy-feely "spend your precious moments on people you love" sentimentality. And I'm not allowed to give up any of my ambition to have kids, because it would be some sort of insult to the feminist movement.

Well guess what? If we're all about empowering women, let's actually empower women, and not just a bunch of angry butch bloggers stuck in some parallel universe where the only way to get hired is to eschew skirts, fight for sex-based quotas, and then be indignant when businessmen look through "binders full of women" to make hiring decisions per your request. Let's quit acting like being a powerhouse in the corporate world is the opposite of being able to whip up a delicious dinner and help your kids with math homework.

Admittedly, I'm happy to have career options open to me as a single 20-something female. But it's insulting to women who broke into industries and gracefully juggled families and career aspirations in much more hostile environments to pretend that my world is full of discrimination. I have lots of opportunities—so instead of complaining that they're not good enough, I'm going to say thank you and take advantage of them. I want kids, I want a career, and I'm willing to sacrifice the latter for the former. So sue me.

Oxymoron? Hardly.

If women can balance a career and a family, but would like more flexible work hours to do so, shouldn't we let them make that choice? Or are we going to pretend that women are only worthwhile if they abandon all family life to throw themselves into a career?

Feminists are putting women in either/or binders. Romney and other capitalists are letting them out.

I drove kids to school and learned the law in:
Black below-the-knee pencil skirt, teal semi-sheer sleeveless button-up blouse, black cami, black blazer, black rhinestone hoop earrings, gold and gunmetal watch, gold geode-inspired ring, and black and cream snakeskin pumps.

Oh, you stitch those flowers girl. 

*For those of you wondering, an embroidery hoop is what ladies (and probably a few men) use to stretch a piece of embroidery out so they can continue beautifying it. They are readily available at craft stores and when Pinterest finds out they exist, it will be a big day. Here's a picture. 

New Carpe Diem Site

For new posts please visit Carpe Diem's new home at The American Enterprise Institute.

Them's Fightin' Words

So, it turns out that sometimes, people call you names. If you have a long-ish first name, and you don't shorten it, people might call you by shorter versions of that name. My name is Alexandra. Often, when I introduce myself as Alexandra, people say "Hey, it's great to meet you, Alex!" Um, really? Are you deaf?

I'm clearly headed for a respectable career

Sometimes people call you names that aren't related to your actual name. They might call you "Homie" (outdated gangster slang). They might call you "Tex" (because presumably you drive a pick-up truck and are kind of a tough guy). They might call you "Miley" (because they realized they named you "Destiny Hope," and so the only career path open to you would be as some sort of inspirational/motivational stripper). I mean, there are a lot of options out there.

Sometimes, they could call you a mercenary.*

Apparently Australia is not heaven. 

For those of you who rusty on world history, mercenaries are hired soldiers. They're like rent-a-cops with actual power. They are typically thought of as "scum." After all, war is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad thing (an Alexander had a day like that, and an Alexander fought a bunch of ancient wars, and even though that name is very close, it is still not my name, barista-who-does-not-understand-gender-specific-nomenclature).

We do have some notion, though, that war might be vaguely permissible if it were tied to a sincere and temperate love of country or cause (this is why we all love Braveheart.) But mercenaries have no cause. Instead, they turn themselves into fighting machines for just a little filthy lucre. In fact, if you could create a mash-up of the worst possible ends and means, it would probably be someone who fights wars (bad means) for money (unworthy end).

And someone called ME one of those! And I wasn't offended.

My courtroom look

See, as a lawyer, I will lend my services (researching, writing, arguing) to those willing to pay for them. And because this will occur in the context of legal battles, it's sort of like hiring someone to go fight for you - except, instead of fighting with guns and swords, we're fighting with summary judgments and lesser included offenses. (Please, note the impressive blending of legal jargon into a military analogy!)

At first, it might seem sort of unjust that you could pay someone to argue your side of an issue. But wouldn't it also be unjust if those without excellent researching, reasoning, and rhetorical abilities had to try to fend for themselves in a legal system? The current system offers specialization, a market for a service, and even discounts said services when needed (it's called pro bono, and it means "I will do this for free because I am a wonderful human"). It's actually pretty great.

This is the way our world works. If I need stitches, I don't have to fend for myself. I go to a doctor, who stitches it up for me, and charges me (or my insurance company) for the service. If I'm tired of cooking, I can buy a burrito. If I need to get to New York in under eleven days, I can get on an airplane that I did not build (it took a village, really) and that I cannot operate, and I pay someone to take me there.

"Self-sufficient" snobs

This is what economists call "specialization" and what four-year-olds call "what you want to be when you grow up." Happily, we don't all have to do the same job. We don't all have to fend for ourselves, trying to be completely self-sufficient (unless you live in Brooklyn, where you'll grow a garden and ride a bike and shop at thrift stores just to prove you can). We don't even have to stay in the first job we try - with an astonishing amount of flexibility, we get to choose!

Thus, based on talents and interests and needs, we get a society full of chefs and nurses and lawyers and railway workers and engineers and accountants and doctors and cashiers and oilmen and farmers and entrepreneurs and mechanics and middle managers. And people do what they're good at, and get to charge money for it. So, in a sense, we're all mercenaries. But lawyers are mercenary in a special sense, because our jobs require fighting.

So, I take mercenary as bit of a compliment. Because even though others will cook and operate and sing and build for you, lawyers are the only ones willing to fight for you.

I got called names in:

Grayish pencil skirt, blue sleeveless button-up shirt, gold and colored glass necklace, gold earrings, coral bracelets, and chartreuse platform stilettos with bows.

*Here, we encounter a first in Adventures in Business Casual. We are blending two conversations into one seamless thought stream, because these two conversations happened in uncanny chronological proximity, making them the verbal equivalent of conjoined twins (but without their own show on TLC). 

Major CD Announcement

Dear Carpe Diem Regulars: 

Over the next several days, there will be some major changes taking place for the Carpe Diem blog. After six years, almost 10,000 posts, and more than 8 million visits and almost 12 million page views using the Blogger platform, Carpe Diem will become a WordPress blog at a new website. 

Starting within the next few days, Carpe Diem will be exclusively hosted by The American Enterprise Institutes's new AEIdeas website, which also features Jimmy Pethokoukis's blog as well as other AEI blog "channels" by topic (Economics, Foreign and Defense Policy, Politics and Public Opinion and Society and Culture). Many of the AEI scholars and fellows now regularly blog in the topic areas of the AEIdeas blog including Charles Murray, Andrew Biggs, Marc Thiessen, Michael Auslin, Mackenzie Eaglen, Dani Pletka, Nick Schulz, Karlyn Bowman, Alex Pollock, Ken Green and Arthur Brooks, among others.  

Here’s how the relocation of Carpe Diem will affect you: 

1. If you have the current Carpe Diem website bookmarked, you’ll be automatically re-directed to the new website and you won’t need to do anything.  (Here's a direct link to the new Carpe Diem website.)

2. If you subscribe to the daily email updates of Carpe Diem posts, you should still receive those emails with a summary of posts over the last 24 hours from the new AEIdeas website. 

3. If you regularly (or occasionally) leave comments on Carpe Diem, you can still easily make comments at the new AEI website, by providing a name and email address (the email address won’t be published). The comments at the AEIdeas website are moderated before appearing on the AEI website, and I’ll do my best to help with the moderation process to be sure your comments appear as quickly as possible. 

4. All of the 9,000 posts in the Carpe Diem archives have been moved to the new AEIdeas website, so they will still be available and searchable by key word.   

5. If you follow Carpe Diem by RSS feed, here's the link to the new Carpe Diem RSS feed. 

Thanks for your loyal readership and I hope you continue to follow Carpe Diem at its new home!

National Home Sales Snapshot from DQ News

Click to enlarge.

Today's "National Home Sales Snapshot" from DQ News is displayed above, which has been updated with U.S. home sales during the last 30 days in 98 of the top 100 MSAs (excludes Louisville and Wichita), and covers about two-thirds of all U.S. home sales.  Compared to the same period last year, home sales over the last 30 days have increased by 9.8%, following previous increases in September of 11.3% (last week) and 10.3% (first week of the month).  

The median home sales price increased nationally by 7.8% above a year ago in the most recent 30-days sales period, which is the highest year-over-year increase during the last six weeks of data displayed above, and reflects a pattern of gradually increasing median home price increases (from 5.3% in mid-August), even though the median price has remained flat at about $200,000.  

Quotation of the Day: The Fallacy of Redistribution

From Thomas Sowell's column today (emphasis mine):

The history of the 20th century is full of examples of countries that set out to redistribute wealth and ended up redistributing poverty. The communist nations were a classic example, but by no means the only example.

In theory, confiscating the wealth of the more successful people ought to make the rest of the society more prosperous. But when the Soviet Union confiscated the wealth of successful farmers, food became scarce. As many people died of starvation under Stalin in the 1930s as died in Hitler's Holocaust in the 1940s.

How can that be? It is not complicated. You can only confiscate the wealth that exists at a given moment. You cannot confiscate future wealth -- and that future wealth is less likely to be produced when people see that it is going to be confiscated. Farmers in the Soviet Union cut back on how much time and effort they invested in growing their crops, when they realized that the government was going to take a big part of the harvest. They slaughtered and ate young farm animals that they would normally keep tending and feeding while raising them to maturity.

We have all heard the old saying that giving a man a fish feeds him only for a day, while teaching him to fish feeds him for a lifetime. Redistributionists give him a fish and leave him dependent on the government for more fish in the future.

If the redistributionists were serious, what they would want to distribute is the ability to fish, or to be productive in other ways. Knowledge is one of the few things that can be distributed to people without reducing the amount held by others.  That would better serve the interests of the poor, but it would not serve the interests of politicians who want to exercise power, and to get the votes of people who are dependent on them.

Wednesday Afternoon Links

1. Markets in everything: WiFi enabled, multi-color, energy efficient LED light bulb that you control with your iPhone.

2. "Patchwriting" is more common than plagiarism, and just as dishonest.  I guess that's what happened to me, see recent CD post. 

3. Almost half (46.3%) of Irish residents buy private health insurance, despite "free" national health insurance.

4. Thanks to the commodity boom, 2012 graduates from the South Dakota School of Mines make more on average than Harvard grads, $56.7k vs. $54.1k.

5. New website archives every TV news program since 2009, and it’s now online and searchable for free.

6. Russia has vast new diamond field containing "trillions of carats," enough to supply global markets for next 3,000 years.

7. Airlines add service in North Dakota's oil patch:  Delta to add two daily Minneapolis-Williston flights, United to add three flights from Denver to Williston.  

The Year of the "Plow Horse Housing Recovery"

Some key reports today on architecture billings, existing home sales, and new residential construction provide additional evidence that a U.S. housing recovery is underway:

1. Reuters --  "A leading indicator of U.S. construction activity rose last month to its best level in five months, indicating that demand for design services is expanding, an architects' trade group said on Wednesday. The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) rose 1.5 points to a reading of 50.2 in August, according to the American Institute of Architects. Any reading above 50 indicates an increase in demand for architects' services. The ABI is considered a predictor of U.S. construction activity nine to 12 months ahead.  A separate measure of inquiries for new projects rose 0.9 points to 57.2, the group said."

MP: Both the Billing Index (ABI) and the New Projects Inquiry Index have risen in each of the last three months, and the ABI was at the highest level last month since March, while the inquiry index in August was the highest in six months.

2. Existing U.S. home sales surged in August by 7.8% over July, marking the highest monthly increase in home sales in a year, according to today's National Realtors Association (NAR) report.  Compared to last August, home sales this year were 9.3% higher, and last month's increase was the 14th consecutive year-over-year increase in home sales.  The median home sales price in August was $187,400, a slight decrease from July's median price of $187,800, but above last August's median price of $171,200 by 9.5%.  According to the NAR, "The last time there were six back-to-back monthly price increases from a year earlier was from December 2005 to May 2006. The August increase was the strongest since January 2006 when the median price rose 10.2 percent from a year earlier."

Other positive signs from today's report include: a) a reduction in the share of distressed sales in August this year (22%) compared to last year (31%), b) a reduction in the median marketing time from 92 days in August 2011 to 70 days last month (almost one-third of homes sold in August were on the market for less than a month), and c) a drop to only a 6.1 month supply of homes in August at the current sales pace, which except for a 6.0 month supply in January is the lowest inventory level of existing homes for sale since April of 2006. 

3. Associated Press -- "U.S. builders started work on more homes in August, driven by the fastest pace of single-family home construction in more than two years. The increase points to steady progress in the housing recovery. 

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that construction of homes and apartments rose 2.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 750,000 last month. That's up from 733,000 in July, which was revised lower from last month's initial estimate. Single-family housing starts rose 5.5 percent to an annual rate of 535,000 homes, the best pace since April 2010."

MP: Single-family home starts last month were the highest for the month of August since 2008, and were 27% above last year, marking the largest year-over-year increase since April 2010.  Further, the number building permits issued in August was 24.5% above permits in the same month last year.  In both July and August, building permits were above 800,000 in each month, and it's been four years since there has been more than 1.6 million permits issued in a two-month period.    

Bottom Line: The evidence continues to accumulate pointing to a gradual, but steady housing recovery that is underway in the U.S.  As with any economic or housing recovery, it can be expected that the improvements in the U.S. housing market will be somewhat choppy at times.  But the fact that most of the main housing indicators (existing-home sales, new home sales, pending sales, housing prices, asking prices, home affordability, etc.) are showing gradual, but consistently positive signs of improvement would support the growing consensus that a sustainable housing recovery is underway.  

Brian Wesbury et al. at First Trust have described the slowly improving U.S. economy as the "plow horse economy," which keeps moving gradually forward despite the pessimistic media reports of "gloom and doom."  Perhaps it would also be appropriate to describe the ongoing recovery in the U.S. real estate market as the "plow horse housing recovery" - which keeps making gradual, but steady improvements month after month.