The Empire Laughs Back

Funny throughout, but the real magic is around 2:10.

Assorted links

About time: three blink only turn signals from Ford.

An unambiguous number 1 you can cheer for.

I'd be happy to give you some advice...

on Renting vs. Buying. For what it's worth, I think that Scott and Beatta are wise renting, Alison and Tobin are wise buying, and April and I probably should have rented for the past 3 years, but we should buy in the future.

Economists are cheapskates. I disagree--I'd just say they are rational.

Number 1

Hooray for Boise State! Number 1!!!

New Year's Eve

So, are you all partying tonight? Or are you, like your parents, doing nothing except going to bed at the usual 10 p.m.?
By the way, did you all notice that Idaho won its bowl game? Idaho in a bowl game - just the idea is crazy!

Mom

Happy Joseph Smith Jr. Birthday!

Here is the official LDS Joseph Smith site.

Here is Wikipedia
.
Here is my favorite picture of the Prophet.

Here is my favorite passage of revelation from Brother Joseph:

Doctrine and Covenants 121: 45-46
Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.

The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.

Happy Birthday Scott!

Although I'm not sure your birthday is legal in this country if you are in Finland.

Christmas plans

Well, in keeping with Bosworth tradition, we are again not spending the holidays together. What is everyone doing>>>i assume that scott will be looking for his luggage? what about everyone else?

Other News

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled post about stuff I am interested in and nobody else is to bring you news of other stuff I am interested in that (probably) nobody else is:

Magnus Carlsen will be the number 1 rated chess player in the world when FIDE publishes their next Elo ratings list. Full report here.

A few questions you might ask:

Q: Why is this significant?
A: Magnus is only 19, by far the youngest to be ranked #1. He is also not Russian, another oddity in the world of chess. He's from Norway.

Q: If he is the number 1 player, why are Veselin Topalov (Boo! Hiss!) and Vishy Anand (Yay! Go Vishy!) playing for the World Championship next year?
A: Because Topalov earned the right to play for the world championship last year prior to Magnus becoming the best player. In chess, the only way to become "world champion" is to defeat the current world champion.

Q: I thought Garry Kasparov was the world champ.
A: You probably also think that Jack Nicklaus is the world's best golfer. Anand beat Vladimir Kramnik in 2007, Kramnik beat Kasparov in 2000. FYI, Kasparov beat Karpov in 1985, Karpov won by default in 1975 when Bobby Fischer went nuts, and Fisher beat Boris Spassky in 1972.

Q: Wait a minute, how do we know Magnus is the best player?
A: Chess uses an Elo rating system to rank the relative strength of players. I am interested in this because the underlying statistical model is very similar to the models that I use to model peoples' preferences in my academic work. Basically, the model uses your performance against other players to calculate how good you are. If you beat another player rated higher (lower) than you, your rating goes up (down) a lot. Beating an inferior opponent won't raise your rating much, if any. The nice thing about the model is that it is completely objective and updated monthly. Magnus' Elo will be 2810. You need to be about 2500 to be a grandmaster. My rating is about 1680. A complete novice is 1200.

Q: Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?
A: Yes. Aside from the Elo ratings, the chess world is completely dysfunctional. Because the only way to become world champion is to beat the world champion, the only way to lose the world championship is to get beaten. Thus, champions have the incentive to avoid playing except under favorable circumstances. There are no universally recognized organizing authorities, so players tend to break away and form new organizations continually. Sometimes years go by without world championship matches.

Imagine if the only way for the Lakers to lose their crown as world champions was to have a team beat them in a 7 game series. Then imagine that the Lakers did not recognize the NBA's authority to organize a playoff to determine a team to play them. Further imagine that the Lakers decide that they will only play on their home court, etc. etc. You get the idea.

Preference Ordering: Jolly Rancher Flavors

1. Apple
2. Watermelon
3. Blue Raspberry
4. Cherry

Not worth eating:

5. Grape
6. Strawberry

I remember Cinnamon Fire from when I was a kid, but I haven't seen those for ages.

Me again

About the 17 min mark:

VIR Nov 30 Asphalt Ventures - Inter / Advanced run Group from Jon Manhood on Vimeo.

Awesome Video for Mom & Dad

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

family pictures

Assorted Links

This is a feature that is popular at Marginal Revolution, and since I've been utterly lazy in posting here lately, I use it now to share some of the recent awesome I've come across.

1. Microsuede nails New Moon

2. Down, Set, Hut!!

3. Where to Eat

4. Two Great Classics, Together at Last

5. Zombie Reagan:

Zombie Reagan Raised From Grave To Lead GOP

November Happenings

November has been a busy month for the North Carolina Bosworths.

On the 8th and 9th we took a trip to Wilmington. We went to the USS North Carolina, Fort Fisher, and the beach.

On the 22 and 23, I went to the Southern Economic Association Conference in San Antonio where I presented a paper on class size, class composition, and student attainment. I also went to the Alamo and met one of my man-crushes.

On the 30th, I went to VIR for a day of driving fast (tempered somewhat by the rainy conditions) with a member of my stake presidency and a group of friends from my other religious organization. Below is some footage with a familiar white car in it.

House

I thought I better post this before I don't have a computer for awhile. We closed on our house Saturday and Tobin, Doug, and I (and the girls), stripped and refinished 900 square feet of oak floors. Thursday is move in day. It is a 4 bedroom, 2 full bath Cape Cod style house. Great Yard. Garage (which isn't common out here). And it is going to be a lot of fun...aka a lot of work.

Christmas is Coming; or, What to Read?

Since the epic fail that was our attempt to use GoodReads as a family, it ocurred to me that I am not really aware of what everyone is reading these days, or interested in reading in coming days. For me, the list is more or less only two-deep at the moment, and I don't have either, yet.

1. Agassi's autobiography (which, I assume, everyone will want to read).
2. Bill Simmons' the Book of Basketball (which, I assume, no one will want to read, except maybe Ryan, and which I will get a signed copy of at the book signing in a couple of weeks.)

Of course, I am always willing to drool over the Joseph Smith Papers Project volumes 1 & 2, but they are a bit pricey and more of a long-term reading project.

How about you folks?

Bosworth Battlefield Found

Details

Pepper

Imagine our surprise when we saw Pepper on the front window sill the other day. Actually it was Oreo, Kindred's cat.

Pine Needles

I crossed one off my "things to do before I leave North Carolina" list yesterday: I played Pine Needles--a famous Donald Ross course. They regularly have the U.S. Women's Open there.

It was probably the best golf experience of my life, surpassing even the memory of building a fire to stay warm while waiting on the tee at the Montpelier Golf Course. (Idaho High School golf!) Weather was perfect, we were the first group off, and I played well (not essential to a good golf experience, but it helps).

General Conference Coverage

Beatta and I are tired of watching conference on a computer. So this year, instead, we're going to attend every session. Yes, that is right. Every. Last. One.

Through BCC, we got special media passes, and I will be doing Live-blogging during all the sessions, as well as running a Twitter feed for ByCommonConsent. Advance copies of the talks, etc...

Beatta will be doing the Live-Photo blogging for the sessions, which will also be continually updated throughout the sessions on BCC.

Booyah!

(and 1,000,000 Thank-Yous to Mom & Dad for taking Henkka and Salla for the two days. It would not be possible without you. We love you!)