The Daily Dozen

1. Why do millionaires buy espresso machines? Because they can't afford not to, of course. Interesting.
2. Bad news continues to come in for law students. Opportunities for summer internships are down tremendously and graduating students face a quickly shrinking legal market. Law school is becoming an increasingly bad bet. (Not that it was that great to begin with.)
3. Killing a sacred cow: Getting rid of mortgage deductions. Sounds like a great idea to me. It is something that should be phased in over several years, but it would take a lot of distortion out of housing markets, level the playing field for renters, and stop people from buying houses for the "tax break."
4. Emotion v. Intellect: How we decide.
5. Why are there so few economists in elected office? Good question. Maybe because they realize better than most that the costs are not be worth the benefits? Economists also are more likely to realize how little can be done through the political process. That makes them both unpopular at times and invaluable.
6. Black Cover: A blog dedicated to the search for the perfect little black notebook. Moleskine comes close, but they want something better. Here is a photo directory of some of the notebooks they've reviewed.
7. A gear list for what you need to throw in your backpack for making podcasts on the go.
8. Myth: Toilet seats are the dirtiest thing in the bathroom.
9. Mathematician creates impossible, rule-bending mirrors.
10. Recipe for Disaster: The formula that killed Wall Street.
11. Walt Mossberg reviews Amazon's Kindle 2 and likes what he sees. I like it too.
12. The incredible shrinking American family. "The percentage of American families with children at home has declined sharply in recent decades." I wonder how much of this is because of higher rates of divorce? If two parents split up, they often form two households -- one with kids and one without. This household trend does not necessitate falling birthrates.