Category: Links Dump

Smartypants: What it means to be the first African American President…getting your buttons pushed "We have probably all grappled with the experience that has been labelled "getting our buttons pushed." What we tend to mean by that is that there are people who know our sore spots…those places where we tend to react (in anger)… Continue reading Links for 2011-09-03

How where you live affects the life you prefer. Or not. | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network "How do people value a better life? The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently released the Better Life Index, an interactive graphic that lets you rank 11 different dimensions (income, environment, life satisfaction, etc.) to… Continue reading Links for 2011-09-02

How to read academic research (beginner’s guide) Some basic tips on finding useful information, and the rudimentary statistical knowledge you need to make sense of it. Most applicable in the social and life sciences, but worth knowing for anybody. A Quick Look at How Our Kids Are Doing | Mother Jones "I’m pretty sure I’ve… Continue reading Links for 2011-09-01

Sometimes I Take a Great Notion to Jump in the River and Drown | Alas, a Blog "Now, it’s true, the storm did not particularly batter New York City. And I think anyone with an ounce of compassion and decency would view that as an overwhelmingly good thing. A major hurricane battering the largest city… Continue reading Links for 2011-08-30

A Higgs Setback: Did Stephen Hawking Just Win the Most Outrageous Bet in Physics History? | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network Overblown anti-Higgs hype, just for balance. News: Breaking Bread – Inside Higher Ed "For the project, students were asked about their views on the state of race relations on campus. Not surprisingly (as… Continue reading Links for 2011-08-25

To my ultra-rich readers (in the unlikely event I have any) | slacktivist "Those seem to be the options. You can either risk losing a big pile of money for the slim chance of a decent return or you can give up on the idea of a decent return just to avoid losing a big… Continue reading Links for 2011-08-24

‘Infinite Jest’ Imbues Decemberists Video by Michael Schur – NYTimes.com "It is a project that so fully combines Mr. Schur’s favorite book — the first he ever read that he felt was written the way he thought and spoke — and favorite band, he says he would have been crushed if anyone else had gotten… Continue reading Links for 2011-08-23

hwrnmnbsol: Michele Bachmann: EXPLAINED "[I]t seems that a great many statements made by Michele Bachmann have the effect of generating bewilderment among a certain class of the population, a class that for brevity’s sake I shall label ‘people who know things’. I have a new theory to help explain some of Michele Bachmann’s statements in… Continue reading Links for 2011-08-22

Law, economics, and politics § Unqualified Offerings "This is a musing on large bureaucratic organizations. I have noticed that some people get frustrated because they do not understand that law, economics, and politics are distinct things and they are not equally persuasive as arguments."

Things I can only teach you in research § Unqualified Offerings "When I’m teaching a regular class, I know the answer. Or I don’t know the answer, but I think I do. Or I know I don’t know the answer for sure, but I’m “pretty sure” what the answer is and I’m winging it because… Continue reading Links for 2011-08-20