Who Were the Sea Peoples?

Which takes a lot .

My friend Sandy Ikeda continues to say very intelligent things about urban development. PS -- What's the song referenced in the title of this post, and what "message" did that title disguise?

After, what, five years, I've finally admitted that my favorite blog is not named "Jim Henley," but "Unqualified Offerings" (see links to the right), and that people besides Jim do, in fact, contribute. I suspect it will only be another few years before I admit that Bush won re-election in 2004, and actually has continued functioning as America's chief of state since then. Sometime around 2020, I predict that I will stop checking the score of the Kansas-Davidson game to see if Davidson is still down by two.

digivolve .

Here are verses 16-18 of the Book of Jeremiah: "Make mention to the nations Yes, proclaim against Jerusalem, That watchers come from a far country And raise their voice against the cities of Judah. Like keepers of a field they are against her all around, Because she has been rebellious against Me," says the Lord. "Your ways and your doings Have procured these things for you. This is your wickedness, Because it is bitter, Because it reaches to your heart." From our comfortable vantage point, Christians today can chuckle at the Old Testament Jews, who had fallen into wickedness and no doubt despised Jeremiah's haughty lectures. I wonder what the average Jewish person felt when he heard such self-righteous condemnation of his people? I bet it felt something like this:

Yesterday I found a bar of soap, unwrapped, lying on Court Street. What scenario could have resulted in it coming to rest there? Was someone washing his hands on the sidewalk, dropped the soap, and didn't notice? On a sign at the World Trade Center railway station: "If it looks like a suspicious activity, it is a suspicious activity." Is this an attempt at defining what suspicious means? (I.e., it's a matter of appearance.) Sure, John Goes, but where does he go? And lastly, who was Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Augustus Herculeus Romanus Exsuperatorius Amazoncius Invictus Felix Pius?

I posted a question with the subject line, "Is the Fed inflating or not?" to a Listserv of professional economists. After about 30 replies, I still don't know what the answer is. Here is a plausible argument stating that in today's environment, Treasuries are actually safer investments than "cash" at the bank. (HT2 Pepe.) Soon the nominal yield on short-term Treasuries may be negative; institutions might actually give the government $1000 in cash today, in exchange for a promise of $995 (say) in three months. Why? Because if they keep it in the bank earning a better zero rate of interest, they could lose it when the bank collapses. Man oh man.