I’m reading Stefan Klein’s excellent “The Secret Pulse of Time“. Recommended - Klein’s style is charming, if rather German, and his grasp of the science is strong. He covers the biology, psychology and physics of time and yes, it really is all relative. One observation that struck home was that we do not remember time as a continuum but as a series of events; that is why a fortnight recuperating in bed seems like an eternity (because we have no events to observe) but almost vanishes from the memory (because there are no events to remember). That is also why a wonderful day’s sightseeing can fly by, yet when looking back over an evening drink, that morning’s coffee can seem impossibly distant. Much to enjoy.

The Bastiat prize for journalism, 2008, is open to entrants:

IPN’s Bastiat Prize for Journalism was inspired by the 19th-century French philosopher and journalist Frédéric Bastiat.

The prize was developed to encourage and reward writers whose published works promote the institutions of a free society: limited government, rule of law brokered by an independent judiciary, protection of private property, free markets, free speech, and sound science.

The prize fund (a total of US$15,000) will be divided between First, Second and Third placed authors. Entries for 2008 will be accepted from 1 April 2008 with a deadline of 30 June 2008.

More detail here; I was fortunate enough to share the prize with Jamie Whyte in 2006.

The technology is here, HT Seamus:

TimeMachiner is a new mini-app that lets you email people in the future. Use it to remind yourself to do something that you’ll more than likely forget, keep your future self on the straight and narrow, even wish your friends happy birthday…

Useful for reminding yourself of last year’s resolutions, but beyond that, what economically-interesting applications can y’all suggest?

Update: A loyal reader comments:

I can suggest one interesting experiment. Put up a website which provides this as a service. On the front page, put an easy-to-use form. Make the service free and open. Then have no privacy policy at all, so you can do what you like with all the email addresses you harvest. Then all the helpful bloggers will do your marketing for you. (Step 3: Profit!)

Good point…

I’ll be debating with Dan Ariely (author of Predictably Irrational) on Amazon’s Omnivoracious blog. After all, our books do seem to contradict each other. Sadly, we’re both far too nice to tear strips off each other, but I suspect there will be a few disagreements…Dan’s first post is here; the Omnivoracious introduction is here. My first reply will be going up tomorrow, or perhaps Friday. And in case you were wondering, the photograph didn’t come from me: perhaps Dan was overly impressed by tales of my economics-based exercise regime.

You will all know that by sending your emails to economist [at] ft.com you will reach me in the guise of “Dear Economist“, where I offer advice on romance, odd socks and intimate waxing, all using the latest economic theory. All perfectly rational.

Now Dan Ariely proposes to offer irrational advice - or advice for the irrational? - instead… check it out here. I am looking forward to seeing the results. It all depends on whether you want to pander to your inner Homer Simpson or your inner Mr Spock!

Yoram Bauman is coming to the UK as part of his “supply side” world tour. Don’t miss it: Old Fire Station, 19 April 2008. (HT: Knackered Hack, and Yoram himself too.)

Videos from Yoram here; I am also speaking in Oxford twice in April, but that’s a lot less exciting.

As a cyclist, I find London’s buses - not just the bendy ones, but all of them - to be infuriating. They take up so much space! But a good economist always asks, “compared to what?”. Here’s the answer, via Virtual Economics. The original is from a campaign by the city of Munster, I am told. It matches up pretty well with my intuition.

Sudhir Venkatesh explains:

In fact, $4,300 is not an altogether alarming sum of money in the high-end sex market. Spitzer got a bargain—and that may have been his downfall.
In many so-called global cities, like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, sex is part of a lucrative service sector that has developed for those with expendable income. Soliciting a prostitute can be as pricey as hiring a personal chef or finding a private school for your kids. In New York, it’s not hard to find sex workers who charge $10,000 per “session,” which can last for 15 minutes or two hours (jokes aside).

The piece is up at Slate.

Meanwhile…

Astute readers of this blog know that we have an abiding interest in the economics of prostitution. One of the people who will be featured in our next book is a high-end call girl who goes by the name of Allie. Without giving away much detail here, let me just say that Allie is a very bright and attractive blonde who works for herself (not through an agency) in a large U.S. city, and often travels to other large cities. In light of the news about Eliot Spitzer’s encounter with a high-end call girl, we asked Allie a few pertinent questions:

Q. Have you ever had a client as powerful or well-known as Eliot Spitzer? (You haven’t had Spitzer himself as a client, have you?)

A. I have clients that are professional athletes, artists, and entertainers. They are probably better known, but obviously not as powerful. I don’t believe I have ever seen Eliot, or as I like to call him, Number 9.

More here.

Gary Gygax, co-creator of the first role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, has died at the age of 69.
Gygax, who developed the game in 1974 with Dave Arneson, had been suffering from health problems for several years.
Famous for its mythical creatures and odd-shaped dice, Dungeons and Dragons was an instant success that spawned a slew of video games, books and films.

More here and much more here.