However, unemployment has been high in the U.S. for long enough that the Fed has run out of room to lower interest rates. It’s been at 0.25% since December 2008. They can’t lower it any more, which causes all sorts of issues. Paul Krugman has been blogging about this for 3 or 4 years.

However, it turns out that the zero lower bound is more psychological than real. I missed it at the time, but Sweden instituted a negative interest rate in August 2009. Banks that banked their money with the Swedish central bank actually paid a penalty to do so. I don’t think they went negative on interest rates to loan money, which might be more complicated. The Fed funds rate above is more like the second, but the two interest rates should move in tandem. (Couldn’t find a link to the comparable Fed rate.)

What penalizing banks for saving money does is make it worth their while to loan it out, where they can make money.

And what’s the result been? Sweden’s highest quarterly growth rate ever.

I own books by the author if they are bolded. If italicized, I’ve read them (including short stories). If marked with an asterisk, I’ve not heard of the author.

• Johanna Sinisalo *
• Andre Norton
• C. L. Moore
• Evangeline Walton *
• Leigh Brackett *
• Judith Merril
• Joanna Russ
• Margaret St. Clair *
• Katherine MacLean *
• Carol Emshwiller
• Marion Zimmer Bradley
• Zenna Henderson *
• Madeline L’Engle
• Angela Carter *
• Ursula LeGuin
• Anne McCaffrey
• Diana Wynne Jones
• Kit Reed
• James Tiptree, Jr.
• Rachel Pollack *
• Jane Yolen
• Marta Randall *
• Eleanor Arnason
• Ellen Asher *
• Patricia A. McKillip
• Suzy McKee Charnas
• Lisa Tuttle
• Nina Kiriki Hoffman
• Tanith Lee
• Pamela Sargent
• Jayge Carr *
• Vonda McIntyre
• Octavia E. Butler
• Kate Wilhelm
• Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• Sheila Finch *
• Mary Gentle *
• Jessica Amanda Salmonson *
• C. J. Cherryh
• Joan D. Vinge
• Teresa Nielsen Hayden
• Ellen Kushner
• Ellen Datlow
• Nancy Kress
• Pat Murphy
• Lisa Goldstein
• Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
• Mary Turzillo *
• Connie Willis
• Barbara Hambly
• Nancy Holder *
• Sheri S. Tepper
• Melissa Scott
• Margaret Atwood
• Lois McMaster Bujold
• Jeanne Cavelos *
• Karen Joy Fowler
• Leigh Kennedy *
• Judith Moffett
• Rebecca Ore
• Emma Bull
• Pat Cadigan
• Kathryn Cramer
• Laura Mixon *

• Eileen Gunn
• Elizabeth Hand
• Kij Johnson
• Delia Sherman
• Elizabeth Moon
• Michaela Roessner *
• Terri Windling
• Sharon Lee *
• Sherwood Smith *
• Katherine Kurtz
• Margo Lanagan
• Laura Resnick
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• Sheila Williams
• Farah Mendlesohn
• Gwyneth Jones
• Ardath Mayhar *
• Esther Friesner
• Debra Doyle *
• Nicola Griffith
• Amy Thomson *
• Martha Wells *
• Catherine Asaro
• Kate Elliott
• Kathleen Ann Goonan *
• Shawna McCarthy *
• Caitlin R. Kiernan
• Maureen McHugh
• Cheryl Morgan
• Nisi Shawl
• Mary Doria Russell
• Kage Baker
• Kelly Link
• Nancy Springer *
• J. K. Rowling
• Nalo Hopkinson
• Ellen Klages
• Tananarive Due
• M. Rickert
• Theodora Goss
• Mary Anne Mohanraj
• S. L. Viehl
• Jo Walton
• Kristine Smith *
• Deborah Layne *
• Cherie Priest
• Wen Spencer *
• K. J. Bishop
• Catherynne M. Valente
• Elizabeth Bear
• Ekaterina Sedia
• Naomi Novik
• Mary Robinette Kowal
• Ann VanderMeer

Privacy and Control — To the older generation, privacy is about secrecy. And, as the Supreme Court said, once something is no longer secret, it’s no longer private. But that’s not how privacy works, and it’s not how the younger generation thinks about it. Privacy is about control.

New York and the Moscow Subway Bombing — [Movie plot threats] threats are infinite, and the bad guys can easily switch among them. … A far better strategy is to spend our limited counterterrorism resources on investigation and intelligence – and on emergency response. These measures don’t hinge on any specific threat; they don’t require us to guess the tactic or target correctly. They’re effective in a variety of circumstances, even nonterrorist ones.

A few on Virginia’s Confederate History Month declaration

McDonnell’s Confederate History Month proclamation irks civil rights leaders — After getting criticized for a Confederate History Month declaration that didn’t include a mention of slavery, McDonnell says he didn’t include it because there were any number of aspects to that conflict between the states. Obviously, it involved slavery. It involved other issues. But I focused on the ones I thought were most significant for Virginia.

Spelling “Free Black Labor” in Greater Britain and Virginia, 1866 — for reasons of my own, let me take you back to a particular corner of it that I’ve gotten interested in, white reconstruction as a model for the British Empire. Aaron Bady digs up excerpts from books about Reconstruction, published during Reconstruction.

Sons Of Confederate Vets Split On McDonnell Apology — Brandon Dorsey of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (his actual position isn’t stated) calls the apology and addition of slavery to the proclamation regarding Virginia Confederate History Month and insult.

The Unpaid Intern, Legal or Not — The interns hired into our department at Expedia actually got to take on significant projects. We didn’t have them do drudgery so that we didn’t have to. Every time I see a place advertise for an unpaid intern that will be given all the crap work in exchange for contacts or the mere ability to list the employer on their resume, I seethe. The Stranger does the a lot.

Federal Air Marshal Service Has Taken Actions to Fulfill Its Core Mission and Address Workforce Issues, but Additional Actions Are Needed to Improve Workforce Survey — G.A.O. report from last year on the Federal Air Marshal program. Mostly boring stuff about employee satisfaction, but one thing that I noticed is that the program measures it’s success essentially by number of flights it sends marshals on. Not on whether or not it’s prevented any problems, not on arrests, not on anything else. Basically, how many flights were covered. Which is kind of like measuring the Seattle Police Department’s success by how many miles their officers cover. It’s bad if they are on no flights, but more flights doesn’t necessarily mean success.

I randomized the law, and the law won — Actual randomized experiments in policing to see what’s most effective. I wish we could do this a lot more, both in criminal justice as well as all sorts of other industries.

Demolition Dude — My time-waster today.

Seattle’s first technical book store coming soon to Capitol Hill

The bookstore is named for Ada Lovelace, a 19th Century pioneer in computer programming. She is celebrated today as a symbol of all the great women who add to the advancement of technology. a) Really happy we’re getting a tech book store. b) Really happy to see it named after Ada Lovelace. Women are way under-represented behind the scenes of tech, and a lot of that is because of attitudes that drive them away. Not that this will change a whole lot, but now everyone who goes to Ada’s Technical Books will hopefully have their curiosity piqued and know a bit more about women in tech because of the name.

Where are the Women?

NPR’s Ombudsman looks at gender balance in on-air staff, paid commenters, and interviewees, and finds the balance severely lacking in the latter two categories.

alikewise

Alikewise is a dating site that allows you to find people based on their book tastes. Anything from cooking to politics to yoga — we think we can find others who would like to talk to you. No, not on the market. But I totally would’ve used this a couple years ago. If nothing else, I know that the people using the site are actually readers! Very important to me.

You’re welcome.

Fairview and Lynn, 1962

Item #63791 from the Seattle Municipal Archives Photograph Collection: Fairview and Lynn, minus my apartment building, September 1962. No Pete’s Market either. It does appear that Robert in Yellow House’s house is there though.

From Tech Know: Kinky boot that whips

Seriously? I’m not a huge fan of the term Sci-Fi because it connotes schlocky Lost in Space style entertainment as well as Klingon costume wearing losers. (This is one reason I don’t attend Norwescon.) But people also associate it with halfway decent science fiction and the like. It’s not that bad.

Syfy is awful. And I’m betting this is just an early move to get completely away from genre. Kind of like Court TV is now just edited scenes of cops arresting people called TruTV.

Syfy will flop. It will lose the few science fiction genre geeks still watching the channel, and it will not gain a general audience. Prepare for lots of bad reality television.

The English half of the sign is printed correctly and says, “No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only.” Clearly enough, the point of the sign is to prohibit truck drivers from entering a residential neighborhood.

Since the sign was posted in Swansea, Wales, the bottom half of the sign is written in Welsh. The translation of the Welsh is, “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.”

For explanation, see The Case of the Welsh Autoresponder at Revealing Errors, an awesome blog.

Does Not Equal by Sarah Ennals used under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commerical No-Derivatives 3.0 license.