The 2010 Silverdocs festival got underway last night, with a slightly more sedate affair than the NBA star-studded red carpet function with the Wale-soundtracked afterparty that kicked things off in 2009. Last year's party, though probably tame by NBA standards, was an approximation of pro sports glitz. This year, the opening film was Freakonomics, based on the best-selling pop-econonomics book of the same name. And so it was that the champagne reception that followed the screening was more in line with an academic affair for university economists. Given the Silverdocs demographic, and the blank stares that greeted last year's Go-Go spinning DJ, this was probably the afterparty better suited to the occasion. more ›

My favorite blogger economist scoffs at his fellow Brookland residents who doubt the small area plan and comes up with a genius way to capitalize on their misconceptions: "[I]s there a market for NIMBY insurance? That is, I’d love to collect tiny premiums from residents looking at potential development near their homes, in exchange for which I’d take responsibility for the change in value of their home relative to homes outside of the directly affected area. If their property does poorly relative to other homes, then I’d shell out for the difference, either at an agreed upon time after development or upon sale. If it does better, well, the gain would accrue to me." I'm not a homeowner but I'm thinking about taking out a rental policy against the chance that Solea, the new condo building at 14th and Florida Ave NW, will sink both U Street and Columbia Heights into the ground by the sheer appalling weight of its horrible ugliness. more ›