Know Your Rights

When feminism doesn't mean equal rights. What I found interesting is "women are as likely to initiate partner violence as men." That's surprising to me. Though, men wouldn't be as likely to report violence done to them by their wives as much, I think, and the typical women is what, 80% of the size of the typical male? Well, height wise a larger percentage, but weight/strength wise maybe not even 80%. So, a male isn't going to have as many physical displays of the damage done by the abuse, I think.

Abortion, Contraception, and Unwed Mothers

Incentives matter, some people believe, matter. Even (especially?) when it comes to reproduction. Social stigma matters, as does technological availability. Technological availability of abortion and contraceptives mean a disconnect between sex and having kids/pushing for a long term relationship. It sounds, especially after the numbers (unwed mothers) haven't really gotten better since welfare reform, like Charles Murray's thesis that money drove the unwed mother trend is not completely accurate.

It doesn't really make conservative critics wrong, just might mean that homo economicus isn't quite right when explaining humans. It's possible Murray's thesis works better with other outputs of an increased welfare state.

Ig Nobel rewards

Hopefully, most of this research wasn't funded by tax dollars. Probably. After all, isn't it important if the bra you (or your friend, girlfriend, sister, mother) wear can be used as a pair of protective face masks.

Stem Cells

Some myths and facts. Shockingly, it's not as one sided as either side in the embryonic stem cell debate say it is.

Prosperity

What does prosperity mean? One Institute tried to measure what it is. These lists have their strengths and weaknesses. It all depends on the assumptions you make and what you consider to be the important outputs. But, they're still interesting.

It's good to be living in Nordic countries, or countries that speak (and have the cultural leftovers of) English. But, that gets backed the arguments that I've heard before, that if you have small homogeneous (culturally and genetically) populations you can have a Welfare state AND wealth. Else, you need more (relatively speaking) capitalism, to get prosperity.

An interesting abstract on Abortion & Originalism

Would originalism mean that Roe v Wade have been decided the same way it ended up being interpreted? One liberal non-originalist would argue yes. I admit, not being much of a law scholar I can't vouch for how convincing the articles are, but at the same time it's an interesting argument.

Dear Lord.....

All off balance, just beautiful. Now, if he could have brought that magic to the Bayern Munich game today. Still, beating Inter feels good.

In case the video doesn't stay, type in "Marchisio goal inter" in www.youtube.com and look for 12/5/09 Or this link.

Symbolic Politics

People do get angry about CEOs getting too much money. But, there are bigger problems. Of course, the big problems are usually the hard ones to deal with. Social Security, Medicare, etc. Also, it's never possible we're doing TOO much regulation/govt. action, we have to do more. Ah well. Also here's an article about the losses Fannie Mae Freddie Mac might have taken.

Trying to be too generous to the "other side"

Sometimes, Tyler can be that. As the Oct 22, 2009 2:08:47 PM comment by Curious says, all the examples Ezra Klein uses are the big, third party paying for your health insurance, markets. So, what the chart seems to really show is that whether you use third party payments from your corporation or the government, you still don't care too much how money on your health care is spent.

Shockingly, it's not JUST the insurers who are greedy

yes, yes, I'm an actuary, so of course, to some degree, unless I work at a state dept. of insurance I'm going to think that. I think Insurers are greedy, just like the doctors, product makers, drug makers, companies buying insurance, politicians, old people, young people, trial lawyers, etc. They just don't do as good a job as some other people at making "too much" money, as a percentage of money they bring in. Like say Yum Brands (KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell).

How to hire folks

What predicts a good employee? Well, number one is something that was outlawed by the Supreme Court. Number two is something that is hard to really look at, until the employee starts.

Anyways, 85 years of social science says years of education doesn't mean much, but IQ does. As one of the commenters in the blog says, that's largely because most people nowadays that are applying for the same job tend to have roughly the same education. So, duh having more education is not going to matter much. But, it is funny to think if you are interviewing for a position where your education level is "too much" it won't help you more then handwriting analysis.

Welfare for every one I guess

I'm a Yankees fan and this makes me mad. $1.2 BILLION dollars in subsidies to build their new stadium! What the h-e double hockey sticks?

Smoking Bans and science

And how, sometimes they don't go together. Why is it that everything has to become political? Yes, I don't want to be around smoke at bars or any where else. I find the smell to be disgusting too. But, I think property rights matter too.

Another marvelous Camille Paglia mailbag

Once again, I disagree with probably everything she believes in politically, socially, culturally, but she's at least consistent. Though, she's probably never been part of a political campaign, so she doesn't have to try to lie. She can take her small town background, her feminism, her dislike for over-thinking po-mo philosophy and mix it all together. I think she's wrong about Obama and kind of wrong on her answer about the war (so skip the first page if you want to read non making your head explode responses, if you're conservative, although even then she's level-headed, just, in my opinion, wrong).

I agree with Robert Reich

He's "gotten in to trouble" for saying some things at UC Berkeley a couple of years ago. And as a Obama adviser, there is some reason to worry. Except that taking his comments in context, he's correct. There are tough decisions that need to be made, at some point. Hence the title of the post linked to. Politically, I understand why he's in trouble, because politics is about telling constituents what they want to hear, not the truth.

Why does this surprise anybody?

I suppose it'll surprise some people, but it doesn't particularly surprise me. Democrats are the "rich person" party. They also are probably the poor person party, too. The history of that fact is kind of interesting though. Apparently, it hasn't always been that way, which is surprising as a 29 year old. I guess things do change. As some one who lived in San Antonio and now lives in West Hartford, I'm not particularly surprised. On a cost of living basis West Hartford is about 40% more expensive to live in. And there is NO competition in this area to the Democrats. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey are the richest states, and the Republicans are nothing in these states, even if a couple of them have had Republican governors recently. If the state assemblies are (as they are in Connecticut) veto proof, who cares if the governor is republican?

On the first related thought, I've often wondered if the wealth gaps that exist in Democrat areas are because of their policies. I don't know that to be the case, and I don't know how to test correlation, causation, or which way the correlation/causation goes. Are the wealth gaps the reason people vote Democrat, or the way around? My guess is a little of both ways. I think really rich people can afford the Democrat economic policies, which leads to more regulation, higher taxes, more governmental in general, which then this leads to the inability to get out of poverty, the "cycle" of poverty, people not trying to get out of poverty as they get all the "stuff" they want, etc.

On the second related thought, about the recent Rush Limbaugh incident (being part of an ownership group buying the St. Louis Rams). I've heard over and over again that the owners of NFL teams are "conservative" people. Is that because they don't like taking risks? Because I've also heard that only one owner came out for Obama. And? Did the other 31 come out for McCain? Or did they just not come out for anyone? I would hope they mostly kept their mouths shut, after all while I'm sure most of them voted, sports is supposed to be a place free of politics. If 15 or less owners came out for McCain, then they're not any more "conservative" (politically) then the rest of the nation. Maybe other owners did come out for McCain, I admittedly don't particularly care about NFL Owners' voting patterns. Oh well, it's almost like sports journalism is consistently liberal.

Heh

It's a little old at this point (at least of me posting), but a Top 10 list for David Letterman, what with his "problems" we should help him out with "Top 10 reasons Barack won the Nobel Peace Prize". My favorite is definitely the first comment "he was the 10th caller"

This disturbs me a bit

Or at least gets me thinking about how humans think about morality. Apparently, some science magazine editors don't think about it the way most of us do, at least about one issue. Death. Not the first place I would bend the morality rules, but to each his own. Why don't they just call for paying people for their organs, instead of re-defining death? I guess money is a bigger bridge to cross then re-defining death, for some people. Obviously, you can only really pay people for organs they don't need (second kidneys, etc.), so paying isn't the only answer.

The morality thing it makes me think about is the way we compartmentalize taking an action and causing X, and not taking an action and the same X happening (or maybe X + 1). I suppose you have to draw dividing lines somewhere, and this sounds as good a place as any, maybe.

Thoughts on the 17th amendment

I agree that pre-17th amendment, the Senate was not a Democratic (in the political representation sense, not the modern Progressive party sense) place. But, And? It wasn't perfect, but at least there was some checks and balances between the democratic impulses of the House and the aristocracy of the Presidency. Give the states a vote of whether they should have to pay for half of Medicaid for instance. Or fight back when it comes to spending on highways and trying to avoid the strings that always come attached (raising the drinking age, lowering the speed limit, etc.)

Via Volokh with comments

I guess we'll have to try something different.....

I know, maybe we should make everybody poor, then they won't be too fat! To be fair, what shot did this idea have, really? Great so people know, if they go in to a restaurant, how many calories they're eating. And? Until they make asparagus that tastes good, it's not going to matter, not in the West, when most of us have a decent amount of money. I just hope this seeming failure doesn't lead to even more draconian measures, like disallowing McDonald's etc. in neighborhoods that are deemed "bad" spots for the restaurants. Of course, that assumes that this measure had more to do with actually helping people then "doing something" about a perceived problem. I do wonder sometimes what's healthier for people being skinny or being happy?

Finally, a use for Twitter

Go Dilbert, go!

Scalia, at his provocative best

Do we have too many lawyers, or too many laws? Personally I think it's probably more option two, which has more to do with us as a society, then the lawyers themselves. Even if they do seemingly run the world, at least the "Civilized" part of it.

Nice boys and their (over) thinking

Yes, that would be me, at times. Some commentary.

Humor and Economics

The lone stand up comedian/professional economist, doing his thing.

Oh, so true

Wow!

You might have to search "Iker Casillas Sevilla 2009" to see the saves, because of licensing concerns. It's worth it though, especially the second save

Health Care spending and what it gets us

A long essay on a review of the literature on how much money we could save, and STILL get the same outcomes in health care. Or as the author calls it elsewhere show-care (we spend the money to show we care; kind of like public schools). With response essays from people who disagree, at least partly with his comments.

Walmart Medicine

Seems to be pretty good and cheap. Or at least as good as the expensive kind of medicine, along some lines of output. As the comments say, it's along some lines of output.

Twitteleh

Twitter, for Jews!

ACORN

A little late, but if even Jon Stewart is bashing a liberal interest group, you KNOW it's a real problem. And if a Democratic Congress defunds it, it's really, really bad. Whether the party actually thinks what they did was bad or not, it doesn't matter because it looks bad.

What Steve Sailer ACTUALLY believes about IQ & race

You will hear that he is racist bigot, etc., so it's good he put out FAQs on the subjects.

IQ here and Race here.

Turning Health care reform on it's head

Obviously, the oped is a bit over the top, but it is somewhat of a "turn about is fair play" moment. After all, the lawyers in the White House and Congress want to tell the doctors how to run their business and how to make their money, why not the other way around?

Bjorn Lomborg

In person, at a REASON anniversary. I, being who I am, like to prioritize problems, that can be solved.

American Vice, by region of country

A nerds view of the seven deadly sins, by region of country. For people that don't know that's Greed, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony, Lust, and Pride. I wish you could blow up the maps to see where, say, Connecticut is. It's hard to find such a small state on the maps. Ah, quantitative analysis, my fave.

Norman Borlaug, RIP

It turns out what I've been told is not as straight-forward as I thought, mainly because it's impossible to really quantify what he accomplished. He still accomplished a lot, whatever the guesstimates are on the number of lives he saved.

I'm also not completely comfortable with his whole attitude about there being "too many" humans in poor families. At least he has the ability to admit that while he wished poor people in poor countries had less children, that is not the reality, so we have to deal with the realities of today, as they are, not as environments wish they (or he, I guess) were.

Health Care from the perspective of a doctor

There's been a lot of talk about the article in the New Yorker a little while ago about money not buying results, when all is said and done. That article seems to have convinced Barack that we can save money but cutting costs in Medicare without any loss of quality in care.

I'm quite sympathetic to that view, but it is a little misleading, or so it seems. For instance, people talk about the Mayo clinic being cost-effective, and this is true compared to the national average, but demographics matter. See the link in this paragraph.

I do think it's a bit self-serving for a doctor to say more care does good, on average. Doctors do get paid more for more care, so I do have my doubts, but it does sound at least possible.

What to do, what to do?

The website that is the reason I am a libertarian, talks about where the United States is headed, given the major parties, and the libertarian party. where do we have to turn?

Heh

September 1, 1939

The beginning of WWII. There was apparently almost no mention of it in the MSM, but whatever. I'm a day late, but here's a reminder of what we were fighting against.

This strikes me as good news

Banning people for diving should happen more often in soccer. (watch :30 through :40) It is one of the things that really bothers me about the sport. Of course, because of momentum, and just the speed some of these people are running at, some contact (:09 to :20) can cause you to fall. Although, in the second video I wouldn't have called it, because nothing was going to be made of it, Rooney so far from the goal.

Does preventative care help cut costs?

I don't doubt it reduces suffering. Which, duh, matters. But, we're NOT going to save money for the most part, by pushing for preventive medicine, or so it seems. Specifically, I like the links at the bottom of the blog post, that talk about the studies that look at the costs/benefits of preventive medicine.

Who says government employees can't be creative?

And for that matter bears?

The "rubber rooms" part II

Oy, is it frustrating to hear things like this. And if The New Yorker thinks a liberal interest group is doing wrong, then it's likely it's doing wrong.

The Placebo Effect

Or the placebo "response" as one researcher calls is an interesting phenomenon. And apparently it was first noticed, at least in modern times, was during World War II, when a nurse, low on morphine, gave a soldier salt water and TOLD him that he was getting morphine but it relieved his agony. Mind you, Maimonides allowed, even though he didn't really believe it himself, people to do superstitious things when he treated them as a doctor because they believed it would help, so it's not a new concept. And if I am remembering my reading of his biography correctly, Galen (the famous Roman physician) also believed in allowing people to do things they think will help.

Here also is a response to the article, trying to differentiate two kinds of the placebo effect, the psychological part and the the accidental part. What I mean by accidental is the automatic repair that just happens.

Both links from Tyler

Preventive Medicine

Not all it's cracked up to be. 20% or so of preventive medicine saves money, the rest doesn't. Or so it seems. Mind you, and....? Are we going to stop giving vaccines to our kids because it costs more then the diseases they are designed to protect them from? Eh.

Why it will be so difficult to cut medical costs

Because if you look at what the big ticket items (premies, organ transplats, cardiovascular disease, and specialty drug therapies) are in medical costs in America, it's hard to imagine we're going to do much to cut the costs.

Maybe we will in the long run. But what democratically elected official is going to vote to not spend money on trying to save premies (for instance) when the "greedy, evil" private system that existed before did? It MIGHT happen, but wow would that take more stones then I've seen out of the 60 senators & 255 Congressmen/women (60% & 59%) Democrats have. Think about it all three branches controlled (to be fair who the hell knows what side Anthony Kennedy will be on) and still not the stones, just when is it going to happen (hopefully, but not likely, never)?

Of course self-preservation, fame, fortune, power matters more then "doing the right thing" even to Democrats. Shocking, I know.

Oh come on

Can't us geek boys not have to worry about the details of our fanboydom? Do the designs in Star Wars HAVE to make sense?

I'm walking, Through streets that are dead (Love Sick, Bob Dylan)

Well, apparently there was at least one person in their home, watching me walk.

And it seems that I was not the only person "clever" enough to use song lyrics in their title about this event. A 68 year old man wandering aimlessly around a town apparently is enough reason to take him to the police station. Though to be fair, he didn't have any papers (though you can be picked up for not having ID, that is at least somewhat worrying) and he could have been sick/in bad mental faculties.

Although he apparently was somewhat decent to deal with, when being put out by the cops, unlike a recent arrest of a "famous" person.

Kids as status symbols

Here's some odd news, given what we're told about wealth and having children. It seems that the inverse relationship between wealth and having kids stops and reverses itself at higher income levels. I guess whenever you can start to afford to have one of the spouses stay home you can afford to have more kids. I wonder what that means for this point about the dependency ratio. I suppose it only becomes more of a "problem" if we get out of this funk economically. Besides, the inverse relationship between income and children only seems to reverse itself at higher income levels, say above $250,000.

Why I'm adamently pro 2nd amendment

Stories like these are why. The pain that families of the guys who broke in to the store is real, and sad. But, the store keeper had the right to do what was necessary to protect his property.

Gun rights and free trade, those are the two things that on those "what is your ideology" tests I always put on the extreme end of the "let people do what they want" scale. Most other things I have qualms, though tend to come out on the liberty/freedom, over other concerns, side.

Thi is actually brilliant (and simple)

What is the definition of freedom? I like the definition, as it's simple, neat, and at least largely right, without being obviously political or ideological. Ironically looking at the comments, America is one of the countries that, at least from a tax perspective, you can't exit the country without renouncing your citizenship. Beautiful, ain't it?

It also reminds me of insurance regulation in British and Australia, sorry had a meeting today with guys who work in both those markets, and America. Those two countries have a LOT less regulation for personal lines insurance then we do. So, they are much more sophisticated then we are when it comes to statistics and modeling and differentiating risk. And not surprisingly, cheaper for most risks.

Where drugs come from

The relationship between Government development of drugs and Big Pharma. How they work with each other, etc.

How can this be bad news?

Woman are getting better looking over time. Well, it's certainly good news for us heterosexual males, anyways. Although, the question is does evolutionary psychology explain everything. I remember reading somewhere, I think Psychology Today, about how, for some reason couples with traits that favor males (historically, think money or confidence) tend to have boys more and couples with traits that favor women (think looks, like the link above) have more daughters. I also wonder how that fits in to the above story. I also wonder how many evo psych stories are, well just so story. I don't know enough about evolution, as I haven't taken Bio since freshman year in high school, but sometimes I wonder what would actually disprove it. Almost anything can be made to fit, or so it seems to an outsider with little understanding, in to the "when we were hunter gatherers, we only knew a small group of people, so any thing we do is explained by that environment" stories. I am NOT claiming it's not the explanation of how we got to where we are, I just sometimes wonder if it's falsifiable. But, that's probably coming from a place of ignorance and misunderstanding.

Uncle Miltie in his prime

What is greed?

G.I. Joe & Timothy Geithner

On a lighter note, dumb military designs, by G.I. Joe. And dumb moves by Timothy Geithner (that even liberals like Jon Stewart can laugh at).

Government Funding & Innovation

It seems that, looking at the best data we have, they don't go hand in hand. Well, to be fair, government funding doesn't seem to lead to economic growth, which isn't the same thing. And the study seems to indicate it's hard, if not impossible, to measure the long term "knock-on" effects of research (think ARPAnet and it's child, the internet), so maybe it's unfair to be completely dismissive of government research money. But, being a libertarian, I at least partly have to be dismissive.

a few comments on scientists and their expertise

Two quasi-offsetting comments on whether we should pay attention to scientists when it comes to public policy. They don't seem to think they are particularly neutral, even if we think they are. A few retorts to the Pew poll.

Also, an interesting post on Moore's Law and all of it's cousins. Also, thoughts on why it doesn't seem to apply to all areas of science/technology. (Hat tip Marginal Revolution) Or maybe it does, just not at such a sharp curve as with computing power. What causes it? Will it end? Etc.

All health care, all the time...

A couple of posts about health care.

How to be productive at work....

Lord knows I need some of this advice. Especially the first bit of advice.

Oy

City workers should be paid a "fair" wage, but this seems to imply they might, in some cities, be being paid a little more then "fair". It is interesting the article linked in the blog post is mainly about the "gatecrashers" to a sweet sixteen party. But, what's probably most interesting is what her parents do.

I second the third comment on this post

It really is the probably the best argument for Medicare I've seen. Of course, please pay attention to the title of the post too. Most of us vote for things and people that are good for us, not just the particular group the blogger is talking about.

An empirical analysis of the above bloggers' analysis. Oh and it makes me pretty embarrassed to be young right now. Though to be fair, maybe reform means fixing Medicare, though I doubt it. I still hold that the big reason, or at least one of the reasons, people in my generation are left of center, is because there hasn't been a real liberal government (other then '92-'94) in this country since Jimmy Carter and the Democrats controlled everything in the late 70s. So, we don't know any better, especially given most of us don't know any history.

The Newspaper Industry

A note on their profitability over the last five years. It depends a lot on the size of the newspaper, etc. but their still as a class making money, even if some of them have been losing more money recently. Though, even that's not the case.

I think the news industry is one of those areas of the economy where the "free" content makes it more likely people won't pay for the information. Some would argue it's other things, but I imagine it's more likely it's the "free" information out there. But, at some point I would bet we'll have to find a balance between free and paid for information. Like the music and movie industries. It's hard to imagine people, at least people that we would trust enough, doing the tough leg work to find a story, etc. Right now bloggers etc. that are free content tend to piggy back on some one's paid work. But, who knows?

Teachers Unions

And their power up north. And what that actually means in practice. It really is shocking, at least too me. When I got laid off, I didn't get to stay payed for three to six months (althugh to be fair, the company did pay for my health care coverage for six months after), and do nothing.

When Conservatives are NOT originalists

Or so says one conservative. Here is some of his peers response. And his replies.

On a lighter note

Or maybe not. Who can write this much about 80 million pound transfer from a MASSIVE soccer club, to another one, without being at least a little serious.

The Deficit

Who's "fault" is it? Who really cares, given no one cares (when they're in power). Most of the problems with the budget are "our" fault, in my opinion. Most (if not all) of us want low taxes AND the government programs that provide some stability on our lives. And you can't have both in the long run. Sure, you can it (ask the baby boomers, they helped vote in LBJ, Nixon, their massive increases in future spending and Reagan and his temporary tax cuts) in the short run. But, unless our productivity (here's hoping AI, nanotechnology, robotics, etc. save us) outpaces our need for security, we're (mostly my generation) Bleep out of luck. Although as recent days show every one realizes SOMETHING has to give between our two desires. Being conservative of nature, I'm pretty sure the part that I don't like (the big spending) will be thing that continues/expands. Besides, we have examples (the EU any one) of times where the spending increases massively, which eventually pushes the taxes up, and makes the people not care much about "the now". Although, to be fair, maybe it's the caring about "the now" only that leads to choosing security? I don't know. But, that doesn't mean I can't make light of things though.

Why I Heart Megan

Because, even if she disagrees with a group about their premises, she can still see where they are coming from. Even on an issue like abortion where she knows (Manhattan) she grew up affects what thinks.

IQ and heritability

A paper, that I admittedly didn't get through, and am probably too stupid to understand completely. It would take a lot of time and concentration, neither of which I seem to have much of these days.....

Is IQ completely environmental?

Statistical overreaction

Sometimes, something comes out that, even I not some one who works in stats (not yet anyways) can poke holes in the assumptions. It would be nice to say on some level, "ah ha" liberals hate Jews more then conservatives (look at pie chart). The answer SEEMS to be in their follow up questions (how much “individuals who took out loans and mortgages they could not afford” were to blame). From what I understand, historically, blacks and Jews don't particularly get along. I also tend to think that Democrats tend to be rich or poor and not, relatively speaking, middle class. So, you're more likely to get people who base their judgments on snap "simplified" judgements, and want to "screw" the big guys. Also, using jews as the control group as they do elsewhere seems silly. What, 90% of Jews vote democrat? And we all are more sensitive to "our" own in groups stereotypes.

I also wonder just what percent Jews do represent of the people in charge of these large companies who took out massive bets on the housing market through CDSs, etc. Or how many Jews were "quants" on wall street, or how many Jews were involved in the stupid government rules, that helped to create the incentive structures the companies faced. That doesn't mean "the Jews" are to blame for the crisis (duh!), but just like we tend to be overrepresented in "high education level" jobs, we're probably overrepresented in these areas too. Although, we're probably overrepresented in the group of people trying to get the economy out of this mess, too. Ah well, people are always looking for scapegoats.

It is a bit depressing that around 25% of the population "blames the jews". Although, I'm not quite to the point of making sure my passport and luggage (and diamond hidden in my walking stick) are ready.

Too funny for school

hilarious and Star Warsy

Proof Google knows more then G-d

Or at least that they can make the information look prettier then He can.

Hopefully I'm not repeating myself

But, here are some thoughts on "the war" and libertarians. The War being the war in Iraq. Different views, why you would be for and why against, and still reasonably (from some peoples' perspectives) call yourself libertarian

Influenza

What our past tells us about how to deal with pandemics. A study of how different cities, during the 1917 influenza outbreak, handled the pandemic

Thank you, Barack

Putting the $100 Million reduction in "promised" federal government spending in perspective, visually.

Yeah, the title of the Video works well

Another EX American international. Urgh.

A little interview about Maimonides

Finding this little interview is a nice coincidence, given I'm reading a book about the man. "Observant agnostic", now that's an interesting phrase, that some days, I can get on board with. The book I'm reading has been pretty 40% or so of the way through. Just through Mishneh Torah, and what they found in the Cairo Genizah, so not even to Mishneh Torah, or any of his thoughts on medicine, quite yet.

I thought it was just the republicans

Who lied/exaggerated for political reasons about science. Shockingly, it's just a matter of what you consider important, what you exaggerate about.

Columbine, 10 years later

Like a lot of things in the fast, fast information age, what we knew on the day of the event, and what ACTUALLY happened are very different. Not completely so, but largely so. And seemingly shockingly, a lot of it had to do with the NATURE of the kids, not whether they listened to such and such band, or were bullied. One a seeming psychopath and one a lonely kid who wanted to fit in.

I did hear the author on NPR the morning of the April 20th, so I heard from his perspective what the media got wrong, and HOW they got it wrong. It was this sort of feedback loop where they (the media) heard a rumor and sort of insinuated the rumor was true to the kids, who would then recycle it to the next report; rinse recycle, repeat. Thankfully, the two kids could not wire bombs particularly well, and got bored in one area and would sort of blow things up (with no people around) for entertainment purposes, otherwise the damage done would have been a LOT worse.

Wow

1:00 mark, the turn is gorgeous, especially for a retired from international duty American, Brian McBride

Thoughts on morality

This comic is a nice little summary of why we might STILL have to try to "philosophize" about morality/ethics, etc., even if science is telling us most (all?) of our morality comes from our emotions and not our abstract thinking.

Hat tip The American Scene

Sigh....

It speaks for itself. The deficit spending, I mean. And yet my generation, who are the ones who voted heavily for Obama and the democrats are the ones who are going to have to pay for it. NOT the rich (at least not by themselves).

Okay.....

This is just nuts. what was I doing at 25. Not rowing across the Atlantic, by myself, that's for sure. Or raising money for cancer awareness. just being a shlub, apparently.

Other things the internet changes

Peer Review of scientific papers. At least, in one case. It could end up being a one time thing, but it's still interesting that a paper that hasn't even been published can have already gone through peer review, in a way. But, that's the power of the internet, I guess. Although, attacking a whole field probably has something to do with it too.

How to get ahead

Work hard, shocking I know. Although, I really didn't really read the whole article. I hope they don't say we should hand out trophies to kids just "for trying". To be fair they have a "proper praise" section of the article. I also worry about some of the sample sizes mentioned

Two great men

Profiles of two men, whom most people SHOULD know, but other then as names, probably don't.

One a "civil" physicist, who has courted some controversy recently, with his stance on global warming (even in his family!), who never got a Nobel Prize. The other a Nobel Peace Prize winner (NOT Al Gore), who has probably saved more lives then any human being.

So, that's why I should have gone to a private school

well, maybe. The comments are interesting, me thinks.

Populist outrage

BOTH parties are prone to it. And I'm sure people on both sides of the aisle are up in arms about the AIG (sorry AIU) bonuses. Actually, it's definitely the case. But, given the amount the money is what, 0.1%, of what we've given AIG, eh from my perspective. How about THE rest of the money we've lent them, and what they've done with that. That worries more, for I think, obvious reasons. But, it's easier to get mad at Execs at a big corporation then your neighbor down the street. Personally, I think it's at least a little both of their faults, the rating agencies, the quants, and government.

Tim "the Toolman" Taylor

Would love one of these. I mean dear lord, a standard drill that goes through concrete, without hurting your shoulder.

Simple, Helpful, and probably right

Which means it'll never pass political muster. A wish list on health care change. Notice how the wish list makes every one bite the bullet (well not the poor, but everybody else). Also, notice how Obama/Democrat's changes aren't really related to these ideas at all. A little "punish the corporations" (and all the pharma companies tanked today apparently), "prevention"/screening, and big spending.

I have to post this cartoon

I don't know if it will stay until the next day, I don't know how Dilbert works, but this is too damn funny, but also sad.



Although, if these reports are correct (we'll find out soon, it's now 8:45 EST, the night of Barack Obama's first SOTU address) maybe we won't invent life-extending drugs, at least until after the baby boomers die.

For some reason the full cartoon shows in the preview, but not when posted, so click on it, or the first link above.

Urgh

Tottenham have been nothing if not frustrating this year. They pulled out a win on the road today, but bloody hell it was Hull City, who have disintegrated since their early hot start.

And both Juande Ramos and Martin Jol (their last two coaches) have their respective teams in second place in their leagues. It's almost like it's their idiotic, moronic management that has them in trouble (that's what you get for having Jews run your team (-:) As I've said earlier, I must have picked them as my team because they have a disfunctional management. I guess if they stay up, I can get my hopes up next year again.

At least Juve still is winning, even if they had a slide recently. They'll at least seemingly make the Champions League, but Inter is winning the league. Mourinho strikes again.

The Credit Crisis, illustrated

Suggested by my dad. Scarily, thanks to the actuarial exam I am currently studying for, I basically knew most of this already. Okay that and blog reading

Thoughts on Darwin

Well, really evolution since the agricultural revolution of about 10,000 years ago, and the human beings it still (?) affects.

Also, a less convinced review of the same book mentioned in the above post.

The bailout

Where the money is going, and where it probably actually SHOULD go. Surprisingly, there is not a ton of overlap. And surprisingly, it has to do with which constituencies the party in power care about more (hint, State Union employees & Bankers). Bankers get a lot of help from BOTH parties, so it's not fair to completely blame the Dems, but it's not like the two senators from NY are Republicans and Obama kept Paulson (an ex banker). I'm comfortable saying the financial folks gave more money to the Dems the last couple of years, if for no other reasons then they believed (correctly) they would be in power coming up soon (now). Although, the post assumes that those in power now DON'T want us at socialism or crony capitalism.

Stats and Sports

Not that as a Rockets fan, it seems to be completely helpful (second place in the division, fifth in the conference), although they are 21 - 12 with him and 13 - 9 without him, but apparently using the most up to date statistical methods, Shane Battier is one of the big keys of the team.

Yao's numbers (he's been healthy this year, apparently) 33 - 19 with Yao, 1 - 2 without Yao.

T Mac: 20 - 15 with him 14 - 6 without him

Artest:28 - 14 with him 6 - 7 without him

Seems like Artest might be the most important to winning for the Rockets, at least this year. And T Mac has gone the way of Stevie Franchise, as far as worthlessness, apparently.

Libertarians & Conservatives

What they can learn from each other.

Good News, we need it, occasionally

Some good news.

Mars 3D

This is pretty cool. Who wants to see Mars in 3D?

The last one

(I hope) about the 2008 election. What does Palin symbolize? To both supporters and haters.

But, but......

I thought abuse of executive power was something only "W" did.

Update: And this is kind of scary too. What the HELL is the POTUS doing deciding where to draw congressional districts lines? Well, duh most of the states picking up votes in the next census are purple to red, so he has to do something about that, i guess. To be fair, it hasn't happened yet, so maybe this is smoke and mirrors until it actually happens.

Too funny

See, Obama is promoting change and hope. And more taxes!

Not that any of us want to go back.....

But, this view of the Bush years is mine, in a nice nutshell. Notice how there really aren't any social conservative "goods" either, that a libertarian might obviously be against. The faith-based initiatives were puny, Terri Shiavo case was more of a Congressional thing (though obviously Bush approved of it), he said something right before the 2004 election about the Federal Marriage Amendment but never brought it up after being elected, he split the difference on stem cells, etc. He did fund abstinence programs, but they're no more worthless then condom education. On more negative things (from my perspective) his DOJ sided with Washington D.C. in Heller, he was for full blown amnesty for illegal immigrants, his people are the reason we have a trillion dollar deficits. It's hard to call any one who said (in relation to the stimulus), something along the lines of , "I had to destroy capitalism to save it" as being particularly conservative.

There is not a single group within the Republican coalition he didn't piss off. Those of us who still (barely) supported him at the end did so because of the Iraq War and following through with it. Also, especially as the congress became Democrat controlled he discovered his veto pen, at times. That and as the article linked above says, he's better (we thought) then the alternative.

This is the definition of madness

How do you go in to the second leg of a home and home UP 3 GOALS (4 - 1), to a team from a lower division (Premier League top 18 teams, Championship next 24 teams), and almost blow it! If this was like the European-wide tournaments, Spurs would have lost on the away goals rule, 1 - 0 after 90 minutes of this game. They can't score for 118 minutes, but score twice in 2 minutes. Sheer madness!

A bit of humor & humility

A video from Jon Stewart's show worth laughing at, and realization that the more things stay change, the more they stay the same.

It's a bit of humility for Obama supporters and those of us who are not his supporters. His language in the inauguration speech, was a bit reminiscent.

Western Civilization

Interesting thoughts on what western civilization is, and what Jews have to do with it (if anything). A bit philosophical, for those not inclined.

Just for humors sake

A fun video.

Lamarck v Darwin

Well, we know who won the Biological fight, but is it necessarily the same winner for technological progress?

Screening for diseases

What does it really mean when you say people live longer because of screening for the disease.

It depends.

I think the point is valid, if all you've done is discovered the disease, as in the example, eight years earlier. If it allows you to kill the disease BECAUSE you've discovered it earlier, not so much. But, it is an interesting point about statistics and medicine. The treatment part is the part that matters, not the ability to detect the disease earlier.

More thoughts on Gaza

Some on the side of a "two state solution". Some, less so (OK down right frustrated with the possibilities, but he's a paleo-con in an English suit, what you expect?).

Heh

Just sadly too true.

An interesting set of scientific predictions

I think trying to the future is a bit mad, but these guys should, at least in theory, be better at that sort of thing then I.