Climate Change Attitudes

posted on February 2, 2010 in

This is not helping us (as humans) have a rational conversation about this.

IPCC Mistakes

posted on in

There’s nothing particularly bad about accidentally letting non-peer-reviewed documentation into your official climate change summary document. It doesn’t make the whole process fraudulent, nor does it necessarily mean that the predictions are wrong. However, we shouldn’t be making major policy decisions based on this document.

Reblog with the Hogwarts house you think you’d be sorted into

posted on December 16, 2009 in

moorewr

ARKHAM

Tharashk

If you believe…

posted on November 3, 2009 in

If you believe that one can accurately analyze markets and make predictions such as ‘640k jobs created or saved by the stimulus‘, you should also believe that this study is true.

I’m such a Cassandra

posted on in

When they announced the bailout of GM, many libertarians predicted that the US government would not be able to resist meddling in GM’s business. Alas, it is happening

When they announced the Cash for Clunkers, libertarians predicted that it would reduce the supply of used cars, and increase demand, and also hurt the charity car donation business. Alas, this happened as well.

Because nothing says ‘reinvention’ like…

posted on in

.. NASA has started down the road to reinvention with the addition of four new committees to the external advisory group that drives the agency’s direction.

Yes, I’m sure the committees will be fonts of innovation for NASA.

H/T: Slashdot

Unintended Consequences

posted on October 26, 2009 in

You know about some of the perverse things that happen in life – people are forced to wear seatbelts, so they feel safer, so they drive faster, which results in more accidents. People get immunized for diseases, so they feel safer, and hang out with sick people more, and contract other illnesses. People have low-deductible health insurance, so they go to the doctor more for minor issues, get lots of expensive tests, and increase the overall money spent on health care.

Well, add rescue GPSes to the mix

The scent of virtue

posted on in

Wow, what an interesting result. Windex is next to Godliness

I will have to try this with my kids.

BTW, if you’re not reading Overcoming Bias, you are depriving yourself of an unbelievable amount of good information on a wide range of topics.

Renters Happier and Thinner

posted on in

This has apparently been sitting in my ‘draft’ queue for several months now. No time like the present!

This is making the rounds of late.

My economist nose sniffs a bit of correlation-not-causation here.

1. Did they control for single-vs-married? Single women have natural incentives to be thinner than married women. Married women living in an apartment would seem to be more likely to be looking to trade up for a better mate.
2. Did they control for # of children? It is, alas, a fact that, statistically, the fewer kids one has, the happier one is. (hard to believe, given how much I enjoy my kids, but I am not entitled to my own facts)
3. They also mentioned that homeowners spend more time on household chores, etc. I believe it – my chore duty dropped precipitously once I started renting an apartment. Plus, I can afford to live closer in, so my trips to the store take lest time and my commute is shorter.

Flu Vaccine completely ineffective?

posted on in

There are some very interesting points here.

This was so funny it hurts

posted on October 19, 2009 in

http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/sw_retold/

Web 2.0 RC1 – Vanity Faire

posted on October 8, 2009 in

Web 2.0 RC1.

It said Conan O’Brien for me. Interesting

The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » Globally Managing American Speech?

posted on October 7, 2009 in

The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » Globally Managing American Speech?.

This whole process of “engagement” on an issue like free speech by the US at the HRC or anywhere else in the international system is a mistake from the beginning. Among the many reasons is, first, that a process like that of the HRC is designed to lead to consensus, which in practice will mean some kind of compromise. But the whole point of freedom of speech under the First Amendment is that it is not open to compromise, and certainly not in the sense of elaborating standards from the outside for a sovereign people who govern themselves under a constitution.

Come now! Compared to the rest of the world, we are outliers on free speech standards. It is far past time for us to restrict our freedoms and join the international community!

all hail the lowest common denominator!

My take on the Polanski thing

posted on October 2, 2009 in

I have a young daughter, so I am quite puzzled about all the fuss over Polanski. Because if it were my daughter that Polanski had raped, there would be no issue 32 years later with extradition and ‘he should be forgiven’, since he would have been dead for the last 30 years at least.

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