There's not much I can say about this that hasn't already been said better by others. One of the great men of economics, and philosophy in general, died today. While I don't personally agree with many of his philosophical conclusions, there can be no doubt that he was a man of brilliance and integrity. Smith, Keynes, and Friedman were in a league of their own. As with Newton and Einstein to physics, we may never see their like again.
The Financial Times has an excellent obituary.
Just a short post to say I'm still here - thanks to Stryker for asking how things are and reminding me that I really should post something so people know I'm still alive :-).
Winter came suddenly to Helsinki last Tuesday (I think). At 17:00 there was no snow on the ground, and by 22:00 it looked like the middle of January.
I just spent the weekend in Vilnius, Lithuania at a debating tournament. My first and only new country this year. I'm really going to have to pick up the pace if I'm going to visit them all before I die. I figure I need to add 3 to 4 new countries per year if I want to be reasonably certain of seeing them all.
I've been following the U.S. elections again - somewhat obsessively. That happens when you're supposed to be studying for exams and need an excuse to procrastinate. I end up checking Electoral-vote.com, cqpolitics.com, and crosstabs.org several times a day. A pointless exercise, since the sites aren't actually updated that often. Studying makes you neurotic like that.
I'm assuming that the Dems take congress, and hopeful that this will keep Bush from trying to go out in a blaze of glory by invading more countries. Hopeful, but not confident. I don't know much about the U.S. system of government, but I gather the House doesn't have to power to stop Bush if he really wants to go kamikazi.
Now back to studying... one exam today, two more on Thursday.
