“Strong Mayor” question in the Trib and on Exit133
Here's Callaghan in the Tribune: Tuesday’s apparent change of government in Federal Way, from council-manager to strong mayor, might trigger another look in the state’s third-largest city. If the majority holds in Federal Way, three of the state’s 100,000-people-plus cities will have strong mayor and three will have council-manager. Federal Way will join Seattle and Spokane with mayors who run the city while Tacoma, Bellevue and Vancouver will have mayors who chair the city council. In the next rung down – cities with populations between 50,000 and 100,000 – six are strong-mayor cities and six are council-manager cities. And Exit133 Read more…
We’re leveling out
Today’s fall in fertility is both very large and very fast. Poor countries are racing through the same demographic transition as rich ones, starting at an earlier stage of development and moving more quickly. The transition from a rate of five to that of two, which took 130 years to happen in Britain—from 1800 to 1930—took just 20 years—from 1965 to 1985—in South Korea. Mothers in developing countries today can expect to have three children. Their mothers had six. In some countries the speed of decline in the fertility rate has been astonishing. In Iran, it dropped from seven in Read more…
Last night’s poker recap
For poker enthusiasts only! So I entered the tournament last night with a $60 buy in. The tournament was no-limit Texas Hold'em with no re-buys. So, unlike last year's tournament, where players could routinely buy more chips if they busted, this was a "freeze-out" and when you're out, you're out. My $60 bought me $6,500 in chips and put me at a table with 8 other players. I knew going into the game that I was in the top half, perhaps even top quarter, of players. First, a healthy percentage had never played before. And second, I finished in the Read more…
Crossword puzzles on the iPhone
After “Wordplay” opened at the Grand in 2006, I subscribed to the New York Times, mostly for the crossword puzzle. Turns out I’m not very good at them. The puzzles get harder as the week goes on. Mondays are easy, Tuesdays I can ususally do, Wednesdays less frequently, and Thursday and Friday are brutal. But I got tired of having papers build up, and the subscription was too expensive for just the crosswords (I still ended up reading most of my news online anyway). Then last week I discovered the NYT Crossword puzzle app for the iPhone. It’s a subscription Read more…