Group selection has been a hot topic this year. Here’s a pairing from an interesting group in Binghamton (of which David Sloan Wilson is a member), and from Jonah Lehrer in a spring issue of The New Yorker. The ‘Dune…
Category: Uncategorized
Thinking about the 47%
Thanks to Mitt Romney, we have an incentive to think more fully about taxes. Here’s a collection of journalists and bloggers that are helping us fill in the gaps, finished off with some video and opinion Marketplace: The numbers behind…
College, and teaching
College, Still Worth It, with an amazing internal rate of return compared to other investments. Does It Pay to Become a Teacher? With a cool scale in the first plot: the fraction of a teacher’s pay compared to other college-educated…
Thinking about song, and Petula Clark
Why We’re Happy Being Sad: Pop’s Emotional Evolution Usually the Listen Now button is the best way to go for NPR stories, but the videos in the midst of the transcript are educational, too. Scroll down. Especially the first video (interesting source)—watch…
Gallup obfuscates
The weekly chats with Gallup’s Frank Newport are always interesting. In this week’s “attitude check”, though, Newport clouds the difference between his survey and “other organizations’” surveys. Gallup lets people answer only better off or worse off, but other surveys allow…
Hurricanes graphic
The path of every hurricane reported since 1851. Many interesting links on that page, such as the one explaining the Coriolis force, in particular the part at ~1:30 with graduate students on a merry-go-round.
Krugman and Planet Money on Hayek and Politics
The kernel of Krugman’s post is a Planet Money podcast about a perennial favorite of theirs. A good read for those thinking about theories, the equilibrium-rationality paradigm, and agent-based modeling. A good listen for those thinking about history, the macroeconomy, and…
Legitimate what?
Here is some commentary worth listening to, regardless of your political stripe. After putting the comments in context, the discussion continues with useful insight about that particular race and the national race as well. Rep. Akin, ‘legitimate rape’ and the…
Minute Physics
I’ve only watched two episodes so far, but it can’t be premature to proclaim this The Best Podcast Ever. Minute Physics
Some wayback good times with TMBG
Yes, let’s reminisce about They Might Be Giants, back in the No! days. Remember when we said, “They Might Be Giants is doing a kids album? … Oh, … sure, I can see it.” Here’s an interview from back then.…