The real cost of living, a belated Dalton Earth Day note (also the Future of Journalism), MIT Hacking

EPI is a proprietary index developed by the American Institute for Economic Research which claims to calculate "real" inflation by looking at things people only buy a lot of, and was sent me recently by a friend of mine who suggested it proves the government is lying about inflation. I prefer the Billion Price Index, and not just because it comes from MIT. I might also add that the BPI matches the government's CPI almost exactly. Inflation is in the eye of the beholder. Differing methodology does not amount to "lying."

Richard Dalton passed along this Earth Day note in time, but I am not printing it on time; still it is worth noting: "This article from Smithsonian cites mostly negative impacts on the planet since the last Earth Day <sigh>." Also from Richard: Robert Murdoch, everybody's favorite news executive, stuck his head above the swirling hacking rumors and accusations surrounding his British properties long enough to claim that he is taking all his print publications (including the WSJ) to Web-only soon.  This article (and the conference it touts (PaidContent 2012, May 23 in NYC) addresses some key issues beyond loading text on to servers--like the form, content and context of Web publishing.  Oh... and how you make as much money on the Web as you did in print.

MIT's fine tradition of hacking continues with the Green Building Tetris Hack.