Brad R. Humphreys | Lightnews

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 5h

First Brandy Alexanders of the holiday season.

J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 13h

The $25 million econ impact is nonsense concocted by project supporters, yet it's repeated in the "news" story as if it's a reasonable expectation. This is a major reason why such boondoggle projects continue to be approved. Journalists *have* to do better than this. @wxyzdetroit.bsky.social

Field of Schemes @fieldofschemes.bsky.social · 14h

The Detroit city council approved $88m in tax breaks for a Detroit City FC soccer stadium; WXYZ reported that the project "is expected to generate $25m in annual economic impact," no source given or needed, nobody would make up a number like that, right?

Friday roundup: This Is So Dumb edition

For U.S. Thanksgiving week, let's take a moment to give thanks for the continuing gift of having lots of stupid to laugh and point at. We are truly in the golden age of laughing and pointing, which is...

www.fieldofschemes.com

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 1d

🤦‍♂️

Erik Angner @erikangner.com · 1d

"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se

Infographic with AI slop published in Nature Scientific Reports

Erik Angner @erikangner.com · 1d

"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se

Victor Matheson @victor-matheson.bsky.social · 3d

Based on what I am reading here, Denver Mayor Mike Johnson may be in the running for the dumbest mayor of a major US city.

Way to signal an absolute zero intent to negotiate a decent deal for Denver taxpayers.

www.cbsnews.com/colorado/new...

Mayor Mike Johnston says he won't let Denver Summit FC's soccer stadium be built in another place: "Over my dead body"

Mayor Mike Johnston says he's going to do everything he can to keep the Denver Summit FC stadium in the city.

www.cbsnews.com

Contemporary Economic Policy @cep-sky.bsky.social · 7d

Read Here:
doi.org/10.1111/coep...
#econsky

doi.org

Contemporary Economic Policy @cep-sky.bsky.social · 7d

✨New Article ✨
What determines an individual's willingness to pay for top sports teams? In a new open-access article, Jaume Garcia, Fernando Lera-Lopez, Jose Manuel Sanchez-Santos, and Maria Jose Suarzez find that social trust and civic pride drive WTP.

J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 7d

It's a bad sign when an elected leader pledges his life to ensure that the government will undertake an ill-fated boondoggle project.

Mayor Mike Johnston says he won't let Denver Summit FC's soccer stadium be built in another place: "Over my dead body"

Mayor Mike Johnston says he's going to do everything he can to keep the Denver Summit FC stadium in the city.

buff.ly

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 8d

Unbelievable

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 8d

Unbelievable end to this match. All time great performance for Caldera.

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 8d

PS: COBOL is a programming language not an operating system. Should be in COBOL not on.

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 8d

I learned to code in COBOL as an undergraduate in the early 1980s.

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 8d

“a 40-year-old computer system running on COBOL.” WTAF 🤦‍♂️

Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 8d

NEW: Mississippians still have not received their full SNAP benefits more than a week after the government shutdown ended due to problems with a 40-year-old computer system running on COBOL.

And there is no guarantee they'll get them before Thanksgiving—or even by December.

Mississippians Still Waiting on Full SNAP Benefits

Mississippi SNAP recipients are still waiting for full payments more than a week after the government shutdown ended due to technical issues.

www.mississippifreepress.org

Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 8d

NEW: Mississippians still have not received their full SNAP benefits more than a week after the government shutdown ended due to problems with a 40-year-old computer system running on COBOL.

And there is no guarantee they'll get them before Thanksgiving—or even by December.

Mississippians Still Waiting on Full SNAP Benefits

Mississippi SNAP recipients are still waiting for full payments more than a week after the government shutdown ended due to technical issues.

www.mississippifreepress.org

Monica Valentinelli is riding to Isengard @booksofm.com · 8d

If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."

There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.

André Darmanin 🇨🇦 🇹🇹 🇲🇹 🇪🇺 @andredarmanin.bsky.social · 8d

The biggest case of corporate welfare. This culture of taxpayer funded arenas in North America has got to stop. SA, Bexar County and the state are running a sham.

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 8d

🤦

Field of Schemes @fieldofschemes.bsky.social · 8d

Adding $500m in infrastructure bonds for the Spurs arena would bring the total to $1.3B, by far the largest arena subsidy in history, to replace a venue that is the 11th-newest in the NBA, in a city already dealing with staffing cuts to balance its budget.

Spurs arena subsidy could reach $1.3B, setting new NBA record for taxpayer money

One of the standard items in the stadium campaign playbook is "moving the goalposts" — setting a target for public funding, then once you get it, asking for more on top. It's a tactic that goes back w...

www.fieldofschemes.com

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 8d

People who send links to Zoom meetings with no calendar invitation should be beaten with sticks.

Field of Schemes @fieldofschemes.bsky.social · 8d

Adding $500m in infrastructure bonds for the Spurs arena would bring the total to $1.3B, by far the largest arena subsidy in history, to replace a venue that is the 11th-newest in the NBA, in a city already dealing with staffing cuts to balance its budget.

Spurs arena subsidy could reach $1.3B, setting new NBA record for taxpayer money

One of the standard items in the stadium campaign playbook is "moving the goalposts" — setting a target for public funding, then once you get it, asking for more on top. It's a tactic that goes back w...

www.fieldofschemes.com

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 8d

Yes. General benefit in higher education.

J.C. Bradbury @jcbradbury.com · 10d

Source: We made it up.

Cobb tourism generates $2.5 billion economic impact in 2024, report shows

Cobb Travel & Tourism released its annual economic impact report Tuesday, reaffirming the strength and momentum of Cobb County’s tourism and hospitality industry. According to new research from…

buff.ly

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 10d

Also: "Dr. X, editor in chief of the journal Headache". I have plenty of journal Headaches. Glad I'm not the editor of that journal 😀

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 10d

Interesting article. This seems crazy to me: 'Letters to the editor published in scientific journals are listed in databases that also list journal articles, and Dr. Rubin said that “they count as much as an article.”' (free article)

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/s...

The Editor Got a Letter From ‘Dr. B.S.’ So Did a Lot of Other Editors.

www.nytimes.com

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 11d

Pascal Courty at UVic has done some interesting work on resale markets. I’ll track down an undated copy.

Brad "Pencil Necked Geek" Humphreys @bradhumphreys.bsky.social · 11d

No. Raising the face price will just reduce demand in the primary market (between the team and the original buyers). Restricting resale of anything with a secondary market (tickets, art, vintage cars, etc.) reduces consumer welfare.