Joseph Lejuene at the John Cockerill Statue in Seraing, Belgium

I was in Brussels Belgium for a conference last week and found myself with a Friday free, so Yeongmi and I took a trip to Liege, Belgium in the heart of Wallonia.  Before the trip my mother emailed me this photo of an ancestor of mine, Joseph Lejuene, who was from Liege.

After a long Google search I found the following entry at Wikipedia on John Cockerill, an industrialist who was responsible for building one of the first ironworks and a mechanical engineering companies in Seraing, Wallonia on the Meuse River, a few miles upstream from the city of Liege.

The statue in the photograph is a memorial to him and is located in front of the city hall in the town of Seraing.  Cockerill's grave is just in front of the statue.  The statue faces north toward the river, and on the northwest side of the pedestal is an iron statue of an ironworker that Joseph Lejuene posed for in the late 1880's.

Photo from the same spot taken on Oct. 2, 2015

Kyoto 2015

My first weekend in Korea, July 3 - 5, I took Alan to Kyoto, Japan.  This is one of my favorite places on the earth and Alan had never been to Japan before.  So I cashed in some Korean Air frequent flyer miles and off we went.  We visited a whole slew of UNESCO world heritage sites in our three days there.  I walked until I thought I would drop dead, rested, and then walked more.  We had a great time!

Fushimi Inari

Taiwan 2015

I was back in Taiwan this June for another conference, this time the Computational Economics and Finance Meetings.  And my youngest son, Alan, came with me.  We were there for week from the 19th of June through the 26th, when we flew to Korea.  The weather was hot and muggy.  It rained frequently and I had difficulty walking long distances.  The conference ran from the 20th through the 22nd, and I did get some free time to go out then, but frankly we were both uncomfortable enough that we went out very little.  When the conference was over, however, we went on a two-day tour to Sun Moon Lake in the mountains of central Taiwan and that was lots of fun.

Wenwu Temple at Sun Moon Lake

Switzerland 2015

Yeongmi and I travelled to Switzerland this past May and June.  We spent several days in Zurich for a conference at the University of Zurich UZH there.  Then we spent two nights in Lauterbrunnen in Bernese Alps.  We spent a night in Zermat in the shadow of the Matterhorn, and then stopped in Montrose on the shores of Lake Geneva before flying home.

The Matterhorn from Gornergrat

Both of us loved Switzerland.  The people are friendly, the scenery is amazing, the transport system is fast and efficient, and the food was great.

Skeptical about Economic Models? Don't Trust Climate Models Either, Then.

This is a repost of an entry at Ecconoseur, a blog that Rick Evans, Jason DeBacker and I run, but which has been in active for some time.

Skeptical about Economic Models? Don't Trust Climate Models Either

I read an interesting article at The Market Mogul today entitled, "The Problem with Economic Models," by Aarondeep Hothi.  I reproduce the essay below.

The Problem with Economic Models

Aarondeep Hothi

Economic models are everywhere. They're used both implicitly and explicitly by politicians, economists, journalists and even the general public. These models somehow manage to wrap entire concepts in beautifully presented mathematics and graphs before presenting clear, concise conclusions. They provide a framework for digesting things such as how wages are determined, the effects of a living wage, how countries can grow after exhausting the gains from capital accumulation, the effects of certain policy decisions and many, many more key economic concepts. What could possibly go wrong when applying them to the real world?

Two Snake River Waterfalls

From its headwaters near Yellowstone National Park to its confluence with the Columbia River at Kennewick, Washington the Snake River runs a little over 1000 miles.  Most of that is in the state of Idaho.

Shoshone Falls

Craters of the Moon

Craters of the Moon is a national monument run by the U.S. Park Service.  It is located in central Idaho.  The visitor's center is near Arco, Idaho.

Looking East from Inferno Cone

Hell's Half Acre

Hells Half Acre is a lava field in southeast Idaho near the town of Blackfoot.  Interstate 15 passes through the southeast corner of the field for a few miles and there is a rest stop about a mile from the southern entrance.

Photos of the Gateway Arch

Cahokia Mounds Update

I just ran across this article via Real Clear Science.

Floods might have doomed prehistoric American city

"...research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that a major Mississippi River flood around 1200 hastened Cahokia’s end."

Cahokia Mounds

I visited Cahokia Mounds today.  It is a very interesting site, and has a great museum or, as they call it, interpretive center.  Cahokia was the historically largest urban center in North America north of Mexico until the mid 1700's when Philadelphia surpassed it.  At its height more than 20,000 people lived in the six square miles centered around the complex of mounds there.

View of Downtown St. Louis from the top of Monks Mound

The largest structure there is Monks Mound, which rises more that 100 feet above the surrounding countryside and was ultimately a multi-level terraced temple complex.  Again, the largest one north of Mexico.

iPhone Photos between Salt Lake City and St. Louis.

I flew from Salt Lake to St. Louis today and it was great weather for taking photos out the window!  Check it out!  Taken with my iPhone 6; in airplane mode, of course.

Wasatch Front from the North

New York 2015

At the end of June I took a trip with Yeongmi and Joan to New York City for the Eastern Economics Association Meetings.  The meetings went well.  I gave a paper and one of my students from BYU presented another. Both on economic inequality, BTW.

But here is the travel report!

Taiwan 2014, Part 3

On June 25th through the 27th, we left Taipei and headed down the east coast of the island to Taroko Gorge.  This was a spectacular trip with some very stunning scenery.

Taiwan 2014, Part 2

The remainder of the report on Taiwan.  For the first half, see this post.

Friday - Sunday, June 20 - 22

 June 20th - 22nd was the Asia Meetings of the Econometric Society.  Since we were staying at an apartment in Ximending and the conference was at Academia Sincia, this involved a ride on the subway and then a cab ride to campus.  The conference was very good and I enjoyed the sessions.  I presented my paper on the last day, of course.

While I was busy advancing the frontiers of knowledge, Yeongmi and Joan were busy seeing the sights.

Photos from Ancestral Puebloan Ruins

Here are my favorite photos from Mesa Verde National Park and Aztec Ruins National Monument from last week.

Mesa Verde National Park

Politicians are the Worst Kind of Hypocrits

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I don't normally get overtly political, but this kind of hypocrisy (which happens routinely across the political spectrum, by the way) just demands a response.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK/DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - "Hillary Clinton, under pressure from the left wing of her Democratic Party to aggressively campaign against income inequality, voiced concern about the hefty paychecks of some corporate executives in an email to supporters.

Striking a populist note, Clinton, who announced on Sunday she was running for president in 2016, said American families were still facing financial hardship at a time 'when the average CEO makes about 300 times what the average worker makes.' "

Favorite Photos from The Week's Four Corners Trip

Here are some of my favorite landscape photos from this last week's trip to the Four Corners Area.

Shiprock

I Like Uber... A Lot!

I've been reading a lot about Uber over the past long while, but living in Orem, Utah, have been unable to really try it out.

This past week on a 4-day business trip to Washington, DC I've used it a couple if times myself and numerous times with a group.  I really like it and here are a few reasons why:

Venetian Landscape Paintings

I spent a few hours yesterday (April 4, 2015) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.  Most of that time was spent looking at early Italian painting and paintings by the Dutch masters in the west wing of the main floor.

The Fortress of Königstein

I fell in love with several landscape/architecture paintings by Venetian masters.  Mostly from this gallery. 

Tetonic Symmetry

Pine
Lonely hill
A bird of prey swoops
Eerie darkening skies loom
Dry grasses ripple in the pale sun
A herd of deer gathers at the meadow's edge
The reds, oranges and yellows of Fall are long fled
Stands of bare white aspen mingle with blue spruce and Douglas fir
Restless waves build on the midnight water of the lake
Far away granite peaks point to the heavens
A cold stream grey and wet rushes by
Small creatures huddle for warmth
Autumn is dying
Chill winds blow
Rain

Mary's Dog - A Poem

Mary got herself a dog, the cutest little pup
It played and tugged at her heartstrings and then the dog grew up

Mary left her dog at home when she went off to work
The dog chewed up her brand new shoes just like a total jerk

Mary took her dog with her when she went for a walk
I spied a cat, it broke the leash and chased it 'round the block

Mary traveled out of town and left her dog with Dad
And when the doggy misbehaved the old man got quite mad

Mary went to bed one night, her dog outside the door
At dawn the dog was in the bed and she was on the floor

Mary gave her dog a treat to teach it to behave
The treat was gone in no time flat into its mouthy cave

Mary let her dog outside when it began to bark
When she found spots burned in her lawn, she took it to the park

Mary's dog had "accidents" outside the hallway door
Mary got the carpet changed after she fixed the floor

Mary's dog got old and frail and finally met its end
Without her dog the world seems less, her heart may never mend

Photos that I Like from Last Summer

Assorted Sparse Poems

Yesterday is gone
No matter what we may wish
Tomorrow will come

Call it Fusion (퓨전)?

말없는 소리
폭탄후 혼란 사망
정없는 마음

A voice without words
After the bomb, turmoil, death
A heart without feeling

Haiku & Poem

Childhood Memories of a Duststorm

A strengthening breeze
A great wind comes from the south
I am lost in dust


Poem 3

A cool wind blow across my face
And leads me gently down
Across the meadows of the hills
And wandering to the town
I have gone
I have come
I am changed
Yet still numb.


March 24, 2015 10:22 pm

Two Poems

Insomnia breeds poetry?  Last night it did.

Poem 1

Malignant and imperial cruel spirit
Crouched like an assassin in the night
Cold and calculating scientist
Turning on the harsh remorseless light

Hiding in the vastness of the labyrinth
Boldly marching forth to face cruel fate
Stabbing up from hell at heartless destiny
Lingering in shame inside the gate

December in India, Part 8

After our whirlwind tour of Jaipur, we headed back to Delhi to the airport for our trip home.  We got to see some different country than the trip down to Agra.  There were more hills and it was noticeably drier.  We saw a lot of camels for the first little while coming out of Jaipur.  We also stopped and watched troop of monkeys being fed.  The traffic was heavier than the day before with all the long-distance lorries on the road coming up to Delhi.  The road to Agra was a toll expressway with no freight traffic and the road from Agra to Jaipur was not nearly as busy.  We stopped several times at intersections where the traffic backed up.  And once or twice we got delayed by construction on overpasses.  It was a long trip, but still interesting.  We stopped at great roadside restaurant and had chicken pakora and meat samosas.  The latter were very good and I wish I had tasted them earlier in the trip.

December in India, Part 7

We spent Christmas Day in Jaipur touring some very beautiful and interesting sites.  We visited Hawa Mahal, Amber Fort and Jal Mahal in the morning.  In the early afternoon we went to Jantar Mantar and the Jaipur City Palace in middle of the city.  Then we drove for several hours back to Delhi where we caught our flight home to the U.S.

Leaving the Hotel

December in India, Part 6

We left Agra on the morning of December 24th and spent most of the day driving to Jaipur.  The road was very foggy in the morning and we ended up stopped for about 45 minutes in a traffic jam.  As they day went on the fog burned off and we entered drier country.

On the Road from Agra