Message of the Day

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Leaving London tomorrow

I am leaving London tomorrow. I have really enjoyed this experience of "living' in this great city for one month! I'll try to post a few photos and make more comments about this in the near future.

In the meantime, I'm making a short trip to Greece before going back to Brazil. I'll see what I can do for their economy.

Image: London Subterranea by Stephen Walter via PD Smith

I would like to thank Daniel da Mata and his lovely wife Fabiana for their hospitality in Cambridge.

Soundtrack: Home

Labor Force supply (stocks vs. flows)

A short and interesting article by Bryan Caplan on The Myth of the Education Plateau (via MR)

Figure source: Digest of Education Statistics 2010

Assorted Links

1. Population Association of America (PAA) on the elimination of the American Community Survey
   
2. Prof. Michael Sandel will be in London for a public lecture at St. Paul's Cathedral on next Wednesday (I have just received my ticket!)
   
3. Intellectuals go to the beach: Albert S. (funny pictures)
   
4. Dramatic Differences in Childbearing by Age in U.S., Japan, and South Korea
   
5. Mind the Map: Inspiring art, design and cartography (exhibition at the London Transport Museum)
   
6. Dramatic Changes on London Streets in the Congestion Pricing Era
   
7. A good post on population density at Bostonography

Population density in the Greater Boston area 2010.

3 weeks in London

I have been now for almost three weeks in London. Here is what I have learned so far.

• Everybody is always in a hurry, especially in the metro stations (poor elderly people).
• The underground system (aka "Tube") is really impressive although it could be better...

• Every time you ride an escalator here in London, people who are just standing/riding stay to the right side to ensure a clear lane for others. Its' the same in Tokyo and other civilized overcrowded cities. 

• There's no such thing as a “queue” though.

• It's all pretty much well organized and signalized (I have taken the wrong train only once.. ok, twice).
• Here is an excellent travel time map of the Tube 

• The street markets are great, and the main streets are overcrowded.
• I already have my tickets to this presentation!
• One could spend hours and hours listing good and bad things about this amazing metropolis. I prefer to go to sleep. Tomorrow I'll make a visit to Cambridge.

By the way, here is the New Simplified Map of London.

Converging Subway Networks

A new paper comparing several subway networks around the world in large cities using various graph theoretic network measures (ht Leo).

So far I have only had time to read some comments on Wired but there is pdf copy availabe here.

Image: Roth et al./JRSI