A Separate Cycling Lane?

Money, Status, and the Ovulatory Cycle 
Kristina Durante et al.
Journal of Marketing Research, forthcoming

Abstract: Each month, millions of women experience an ovulatory cycle that regulates fertility. Past consumer research has found that the cycle influences women's clothing and food preferences. But we propose that the ovulatory cycle has a much broader effect on women's economic behavior. Drawing on theory in evolutionary psychology, we hypothesize that the week-long period near ovulation should boost women's desire for relative status, which should alter women's economic decisions. Findings from three studies show that near ovulation women sought positional goods to improve their social standing. Additional findings revealed that ovulation led women to seek positional goods when doing so improved relative standing compared to other women, but not compared to other men. When playing the dictator game, for example, ovulating women gave smaller offers to a woman, but not to a man. Overall, women's monthly hormonal fluctuations appear to have a substantial effect on consumer behavior by systematically altering women's positional concerns, which has important implications for marketers, consumers, and researchers.


Menstrual Cycle Effects on Attitudes toward Romantic Kissing 
Rafael Wlodarski & Robin Dunbar
Human Nature, December 2013, Pages 402-413

Abstract: Hormonal changes associated with the human menstrual cycle have been previously found to affect female mate preference, whereby women in the late follicular phase of their cycle (i.e., at higher risk of conception) prefer males displaying putative signals of underlying genetic fitness. Past research also suggests that romantic kissing is utilized in human mating contexts to assess potential mating partners. The current study examined whether women in their late follicular cycle phase place greater value on kissing at times when it might help serve mate assessment functions. Using an international online questionnaire, results showed that women in the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle felt that kissing was more important at initial stages of a relationship than women in the luteal phase of their cycle. Furthermore, it was found that estimated progesterone levels were a significant negative predictor for these ratings.

Nod to the estimable Kevin Lewis

Oklahoma is hiring in Time Series Econometrics!

It has been suggested to me that our ad in Job Openings for Economists is unclear, but we are hiring at the assistant level for Time Series!

Pay will be in the 6 figures (and is negotiable), teaching load is 2/2, start up funds, initial course load and summer support are negotiable, there is travel money available and we have a PhD. program and a funded seminar series.

If you are a time series person please consider applying! Operators are standing by.

If It Bleeds, It Leads

Interesting.  We are not really interested in helping people we could help.  We direct aid based on many people have already died.  Tell me again how government is "rational"?

The Number of Fatalities Drives Disaster Aid: Increasing Sensitivity to People in Need 

Ioannis Evangelidis & Bram Van den Bergh 
Psychological Science, November 2013, Pages 2226-2234 

Abstract: In the studies reported here, an analysis of financial donations in response to natural disasters showed that the amount of money allocated for humanitarian aid depends on the number of fatalities but not on the number of survivors who are affected by the disaster (i.e., the actual beneficiaries of the aid). On the basis of the experimental evidence, we discuss the underlying cause and provide guidelines to increase sensitivity to people in need.

Nod to Kevin Lewis, who is in fact rational.

Collateral Damages are Actually "Extra Savings"

My old article, "Bosses Don't Wear Bunny Slippers" is used in a number of business programs.

Never thought that it would turn out that "Deans Do Wear Bunny Slippers."  But it is true that colleges would be a lot cheaper without all those pesky faculty.

Another one bites the dust

Here's a great holiday themed "headline says it all" article.

Thanks to @tofias!

I got your headline right here (NSFC)*

Mungo's not the only one who appreciates a headline that make any subsequent text superfluous.

Check out this Humdinger!


*= not safe for church.

Headline (NSFW)

As has been noted, I love the sort of headline that one enjoys reading for the sake of the unexpected connections it delivers.

Ideally, there is really no need to read the story at that point, because you pretty much have the picture.  Of course, you DO read the story, because it's fantastic.

This may be the best example of the genre I have ever seen.  It is NSFW, of course, but then it wouldn't be, would it?

With thanks to @muttface , from MuttBlog. 

Basic Income

Tyler Cowen on basic income ("guaranteed income", as he calls it):

Must a guaranteed income truly be unconditional?  Might there be circumstances when we would want to pay some individuals more than others?  Many critics for instance worry that a guaranteed income would excessively reduce the incentive to work.  

So it might be proposed that the payment be somewhat higher if low income individuals go get a job.  That also will make the system more financially sustainable.  But wait — that’s the Earned Income Tax Credit, albeit with modifications.

Might we also wish to pay more to some individuals with disabilities, perhaps say to help them afford expensive wheelchairs?  Maybe so.  But wait — that’s called disability insurance (modified, again) and it is run through the Social Security Administration.

As long as we are moving toward more cash transfers, why don’t we substitute cash transfers for some or all of Medicare and Medicaid health insurance coverage benefits, especially for lower-value ailments?  But then we are paying more cash to the sick individuals.  That doesn’t have to be a mistake, but it does mean that an initially simple, “dogmatic” payment scheme now has multiplied into a rather complex form of social welfare assistance, contingent on just about every relevant factor one might care to cite.

You can see the issue.  Whether on grounds of justice, practicality, or just public choice considerations (“you can keep your current welfare payments if you like them”), we should not expect everyone to be paid the same under a guaranteed annual income.  And with enough tweaks, this version of the guaranteed income suddenly starts resembling…the welfare state, albeit the welfare state plus.  Unemployment insurance benefits wouldn’t end.  More people could get on disability, and without those pesky judges asking so many questions.

He's right, as far as this goes.  The Basic Income idea is a bit like the Fair Tax idea:  both try to smuggle in reforms that would actually solve lots of problems, but only if we can assume that the "clean" proposal is implemented.  Fair Tax-ers assume that the Congress really, really will accept getting rid of the Income Tax.  (Implausible).  Basic Incomers assume that the Congress really, really will accept losing all discretion over who gets extra cash and benefits.  (Very Implausible).

But there are other advantages of consolidation and transparency.  If the system were equal, and unconditional, it would get rid of a lot of incentive problems.  Sure, Congress might not pass that, probably wouldn't.  That's a problem, but it's also a problem with the current system.  Any large-scale reform would at least break up the existing coalitional structure.  That's not bad.

Monday's Child

1.  Why worry about fracking?  Ethanol policies have been far more destructive, and no one complains about THOSE.

2.  This is interesting, I suppose.  But neither Heinlein nor Calhoun were libertarians.  Not even close.  (Though The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is plausibly a libertarian novel).  As for Calhoun...um...no.

3.  Dr. Warren has a new idea:  Give away more money.  Wait, that's actually not a new idea.  Never mind.

4.  Mean girls.  It's biological.

5.  Never punt, and never kick off.

MOREMOREMOREMORE....

Economics is Hard, When You Draw Inferences From Residuals

Matt Iglesias showing once again that economics is hard.  At least, it seems hard for him.  Because he has been saying some remarkably ill-informed stuff lately. Here, he argues that "corporations" should pay more.  And in fact,  Matt (being smarter than anyone in business) recognizes that if they paid more, they'd make more money.  Presumably, Matt could take this insight and start his own business, and grossly overpay workers.  If he's right, he could make a FORTUNE, I'm telling you.

Problem:  Far from falling, total cost of employment has been rising, sharply.  Corporations have NOT been saving money by squeezing labor.  The "productivity wedge" that everybody whines about (see below) is real enough.  But it is due to our inability to come up with a sensible health care policy, and regulatory accounting rules that give substantial disincentives for hiring full time.





What is squeezing labor is enormous costs for medical care, pensions for older workers, and regulations that make hiring workers prohibitively expensive. You say workers are not getting pay increases? That's true. But those evil corporations are getting labor cost improvements, either.


For some reason, people ignore the second graph.  It is expensive, and getting more expensive, to hire workers.  The first graph simply assumes that all the "extra" profit from productivity gains is going to corporations.  But it's not true.  You can look it up.

Mourning Becomes Electra

And the Senate becomes the House.

This is interesting.

This is interesting, and also insightful.

The problem was not the filibuster, which actually was a problem.  The Repubs were abusing it, their obstruction was bad and dangerous.  That's all true.  However, if the Senate rule is that the rules are whatever a simple majority says the rules are....that's worse.

The U.S. is NOT a democracy, if by democracy you mean simple majority rule.  The dodge that "no, it's a republic" is true enough, but the real point is that many of our institutions are explicitly designed to prevent majorities from imposing their will.

An extremely insightful video, with a remarkably handsome commentator.

Department of Shaky Logic

Prof. Iglesias concludes that free trade makes workers better off.  Because the SHARE of total income going to labor is falling.  Here is his "logic."

Presumably, having labor have a bigger share of income makes workers better off, right?  The simple solution would be to destroy all capital.  Just blow it up, burn it, return to the stone age.  Then labor would have 100% of national income, because land would be basically worthless, also.

Of course, this is a problem.  Because (1) capital is a good thing, and raises the marginal product, and therefore the wages of labor, while at the same time (it's just accounting) reducing the TOTAL share of income labor receives, and (2) lower prices from higher productivity more than make up for the "decline" in labor's share of income.  The REAL wage skyrockets, and workers are clearly better off.

So Fantastic: Best Grand Game EVER

Got this email.  Here is the email (redacted to protect identity):

Remember, when you are grocery shopping, check out where your produce, fish and seafood come from, among other items. I never understood the logic of buying apples from Chile, blueberries from Mexico, shrimp from Thailand and -- heaven forbid -- fish from China when all of those can be found here in the US.

If you shop at Costco or any of the big warehouse stores, be sure to check your labels there too. They are notorious for selling imported goods. Pass it on!

S**** E******* (561) 254-****
******@bellsouth.net

And here is the informative expose video that you can't afford to miss!  (With thanks to Joel)

 

Bed Mandate

We have written about this before.  But it's pretty remarkable.

"In the past five years, Homeland Security officials have jailed record numbers of immigrants, driven by a little-known congressional directive known on Capitol Hill as the 'bed mandate.' The policy requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to keep an average of 34,000 detainees per day in its custody, a quota that has steadily risen since it was established in 2006 by conservative lawmakers who insisted that the agency wasn’t doing enough to deport unlawful immigrants. But as illegal crossings from Mexico have fallen to near their lowest levels since the early 1970s, ICE has been meeting Congress’s immigration detention goals by reaching deeper into the criminal justice system to vacuum up foreign-born, legal U.S. residents convicted of any crimes that could render them eligible for deportation. The agency also has greatly expanded the number of undocumented immigrants it takes into custody after traffic stops by local police...With federal spending on immigration detention and deportation reaching $2.8 billion a year, more than doubling since 2006, the mandate has met growing skepticism from budget hawks in both parties, particularly after DHS officials told Congress during the 'sequestration' debate in April that the agency could save money by lowering the bed mandate to 31,800 and relying on cheaper alternatives to jails. But House Republicans successfully pushed back, set the mandate at 34,000 detainees and ordered ICE officials to spend nearly $400 million more than they requested." WaPo.

Apparently, the whole thing is really due to the fact that Robert Byrd  hated brown people.  (You know how they are...all..brown.)  Actually, there is another explanation.  The prison-industrial complex makes a fortune out of running these "hotels" for their desperate guests.

Nod to Kevin Lewis

Bill Murray, A LONG Time Ago

True Facts About the Cuttlefish

MTSU

I gave a lecture at Middle Tennessee State, in honor of my hero James Buchanan.  They did a nice job filminig it.  And....here it is!

I can't call you sugar, cause sugar never was so sweet

The US government is a welfare agency for farmers with an army! Take the case of sugar (please). This year, the government spent over $100 million buying up sugar to "support" its price. However, producers made so much that the price was somehow not high enough to repay the annual loans they get from the USDA. So the growers just default, to the tune of $171 million!

And and and and and and.... they get to BORROW AGAIN from the same program for next year, como si nada! So far the USDA has issued another $86 million in loans, sometimes to companies that had just defaulted.

Like Amalgamated Sugar. Defaulted on $17 million this year, borrows $18.8 million for next year. This isn't like the World Bank giving new loans to countries so they can pay off their old loans.  That's fresh cash with no strings.

And and and and and and... experts expect the producers WILL DEFAULT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!

It's not a bug, it's actually a feature of our insane farm policies.

Goin' All Columbo...

Remember how near the end of the show Columbo would be about to leave, and then he'd turn around and say, "Just one more thing..." and then ask a pretty hard question.

I don't know if this is a hard thing or not.  But I sure don't know the answer.  So, "Just one more thing" for NC's Moral Monday warriors.

The Moral Monday folks have been going nuts that the NCGA has required people to get an ID to be able to vote.  Now, other states (including NY, where the NY Times lives, and the Times has been criticizing NC, which I ALSO don't understand) already have requirements like that.  Because they are worried about vote fraud. In fact, the ID requirements in NY are MORE stringent than the NC ID requirements.  But NC is somehow acting badly, and NY is a liberal bastion.  I don't understand that.  No fewer than 34 states have ID laws, but NC is acting badly.

But that's not the strangest thing.  The strangest thing is Ventra.  Look at the requirements to ride a BUS....we're not talking about a game, not talkin' about a game, we're talking about a BUS, just to ride a BUS, you have to go through all this crap and give all this information.  If poor people can't get an ID because it is too much of a burden, how dare Chicago impose this kind of burden just to ride the bus.

Now, I would have thought that poor people are more likely to ride the bus than wealthy people, who have cars or take cabs.  Where are the Moral Monday folks in Chicago?  Could it be because the city is owned by the Democrats?  Could it be because the "outrage" by the Moral Monday folks is pure political posturing?  Could it be that they don't actually care at all about the poor, or the outrageous burden that is being placed on people just to ride the bus, in Chicago?

So, just that one more thing.

(This post dedicated to my friend Bruce C., and his NYTimes subscription, which he values more than life itself).

A proxy for risk and a dummy for sex

From Gokhan Kula

ObamaCare Stinks for Young People

With a nod to WH:

Monday's Child

1.  What does your school smell like?  (Remember, NC State is a vet school.  I'm just sayin'...).  Presumably, UNC has a "wine and cheese" kind of thing.

2.  Come the revolution, you WILL like Obamacare.  Interesting that this woman means, by "moving forward," that other people give her more money.  And if she has to pay more money, that's moving backward.  I can see that in a career--you move forward, you get a raise--but not so much as a definition of progress in public policy.

3.  Elections have consequences, and I won.  But if YOU win, we'll change the rules.  That sort of election should NOT have consequences.

4.  I'm a fan of bike lanes.  But the point should be to foster bike travel at low cost, not to make auto travel prohibitively expensive.  This will make it very difficult for businesses to operate.

5.  This can't be right....can it?

More after the jump....

Best thing that happened in Norman Oklahoma yesterday!

That is a Oklahoma state trooper taking down an unauthorized interloper during the OU - Iowa State game.

Boomer Sooner?

This week's sign of the Apocalypse

Were people asking him to? Did Rand Paul insinuate that he could? Is a time machine the only way to fix mistakes? Does not having a time machine absolve one from any responsibility for their actions?

People, if that crawl-line is true, why do we even have a government at all?

Grand Game: Remarkably Dumb Economics Edition

"Discredited marginal productivity economics"?  Seriously?  One can say that there are problems with banks (barriers to entry, overly friendly regulation, etc.) without deciding to just make up your own personal theories of economics, pumpkin.

Enjoy?

Never predict anything, least of all the future

"This fall, as the exchanges come on line, tens of millions of people are going to find they can get health coverage they never could before. They are likely to be quite happy about that, especially if they’ve been hearing for months in advance that it will be a mess."

~Josh Barro, April 29th 2013

Grand Game: Really Dumb Stats Edition

Oh my sweet heavens above.  This is awesome.  Gives that whole "baby-killing conservatives" new vitality!

MSNBC jumps the shark

Consider this description of an MSNBC report:


MSNBC co-host Touré thinks the main reason Senator Mary Landrieu (D., La.) and other red-state Democrats are moving forward with bills to delay Obamacare is that they’ve been “gerrymandered” into safe seats. 

He explained on The Cycle that vulnerable Democrats such as Landrieu, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas have to deal with appealing to right-leaning constituents because of their . . . situation. “We see red-state Democrats who are dealing with the challenge of living and governing in a gerrymandered world,” Touré said. 

Um...he does understand that those are all SENATORS, right?  Elected from states?  The big things on the map, the ones with the state lines set by federal statutes of territorial admission?  

I mean, it's one thing to claim that problems in the House are caused by gerrymandering.  (They aren't).  But...the Senate?  Really?  I understand that MSNBC doesn't hire commentators with an IQ over 80, but this is embarrassing.

A Homeless Man in Hoboken?

I'm not sure this is legit.  Some legs may be being pulled.

I don't doubt that a homeless man got beaten up, and I'm sorry about that (in Hoboken?  In HOBOken, a homeless man?  Seriously?).

But the breathless "You should all be afraid of the very scary black people!" news reporters is a bit much.

early merry chrixmix

Cote Chow

People want to know:  What does James Cote have for breakfast?

Answer:  (Yes, that's a piece of salmon and five thick slices of bacon).

Identify the speaker....

Let's play...WHO SAID IT?

Here is the quote:

"The yawning inequality of income and wealth is not because the middle class isn’t working hard enough or because the richest fraction of a percent is making an enormous contribution,” [BLANK] told Salon. “Much of the reason is what economists call ‘rent seeking,’ or extracting money without doing anything useful, mostly in the financial sector. It’s a wonder the economy has the strength to get out of bed in the morning.”

Wow.  That actually sounds right to me.  Of course, when you read it in context, it's a little creepy.  Still, interesting.


 

Angus Update

Today I am 3 weeks post surgery to repair two torn tendons and shave down two bone spurs in my left shoulder. I was cleared to drive short distances last week. Monday I ate a meal with the fork in my left hand for the first time and yesterday I wrote on the whiteboard in class with my left hand for the first time. My physical therapist says I am ahead of schedule and reduced my visits from 3 a week down to 2 a week. I am off all pain meds and feel more like the old Angus again.

Grand Game: Academic Economic Follies

Grand Game!  A remarkable set of claims here.  Turns out that free markets have been discredited by an asset bubble caused by government mismanagement of financial regulation, money supply, and credit.  More importantly, and astonishingly, Marxism has NOT been discredited by the collapse, or moribund economy, of every country that has ever tried it.  Only in England would one see such a "conference." 

Enjoy, and thanks to John O.

How Fossil Fuels are "Greening" the Planet

Interesting talk (20 mins) by Matt Ridley

http://youtu.be/S-nsU_DaIZE
(Nod to Art Carden)

Seeking Arrnngement Dot Com: Obamacare Edition

Not exactly safe for work.  But pretty funny.

Waiving Goodbye

As noted before in this space, I do not say "goodbye" at parties or large gatherings.  I just leave.

This has been called "Mungering," which Martin defined as "Verb:  to waive goodbye."  Which I thought was pretty clever.

Here is an excellent argument for why Mungering is not only rational, but polite.

Grand Game: Outsourcing

This may be one of the most bizarre misapplications of logic and facts I have ever seen outside of the New York Times.

Please discuss.

Venezuela Price Gouging

Could this happen in the U.S.?

 The Christmas shopping season has started with a jolt here, with the socialist Venezuelan government dispatching soldiers to “occupy” a major chain of electronic goods stores, ordering prices slashed there and in other shops that it has accused of price gouging.

Huge crowds formed outside stores in several cities over the weekend as inflation-weary Venezuelans showed up hoping for bargains. Others took the government’s order as a license to loot: Some posted cellphone videos online showing large-screen televisions and other items being carted off in Valencia, the country’s third-largest city. 

 The dramatic measures, ordered on Friday by President Nicolás Maduro, were reminiscent of the populist gestures of his immediate predecessor, Hugo Chávez, the country’s longtime leader who died in March. They come as the government grapples with serious economic problems, including inflation of 54 percent a year and shortages of many basic goods, including toilet paper, milk and flour. 

All of that is weighing on Mr. Maduro a month ahead of municipal elections that the opposition is seeking to cast as a referendum on his young government. Mr. Maduro argues that his government is facing an “economic war” waged by what he calls the right-wing opposition in Venezuela and its backers in Colombia and the United States. In announcing that military personnel would occupy the five-store electronics chain Daka, Mr. Maduro said that the government would supervise sales at significantly lower prices and that the store’s stock would be liquidated. 

Answer:  If Chris Christie gets his way, yes.  Gov. Christie might well declare a state of emergency if he thinks prices are "too high" during the Christmas shopping season.  Christie is clearly a Chavista at heart.

Monday's Child

1.  Lots of questions here.  Most important:  There's a village called "Wool"?

2.  The 'Dome's going down.  We spent some time there, long ago, Chateau and I.

3.  Electric cars could work, if the electricity were generated by fuel cells.  But where to get the hydrogen?

4.  Movie better if meesa die! And this is disturbing.

5. Come the revolution, we'll all work for the state!

Absolutely Adorable

Pet Porcupine, named Ted (well, Teddy Bear, but Ted for short).  He likes pumpkin.  And he makes joyful sounds.  And I watched the whole thing. And it made me happy.


Nod Dd'A
UPDATE: Porcupine vs. Honey Badger. As you might guess, HB don't care.

Russian Marriage "Market": Fails

Not really very surprising these folks are single.  The rubber gloves are nice, for example.

Nod to MK

The future of work?

As AI and globalization chew up good jobs for the non-elites, there is a bright spot on the career horizon. The market for household staff is booming.

According to the WSJ, "A good housekeeper earns $60,000 to $90,000 a year. A lady's maid can make $75,000 a year. A butler may start at $80,000 a year and can earn as much as $200,000."

And, there are openings, "Demand for the well-staffed home is on the rise, according to agencies and house managers alike. Clients are calling for live-in couples, live-out housekeepers, flight attendants for private jets, stewards for the yachts and chefs for the summer house. In San Francisco, Town and Country Resources, a staffing agency for domestic help, has seen demand for estate managers and trained housekeepers grow so fast the agency is going to offer its own training programs in subjects like laundry, ironing and spring cleaning starting in 2014. Claudia Kahn, founder of The Help Company, a staffing agency based in Los Angeles, says she used to get one call a month for a butler but has gotten three in the past week alone."

If your skill set is more exotic, don't despair:

"She will also be bringing with her the two animal trainers who come seven days a week to care for Prince Mikey, a white-faced capuchin monkey. Prince Mikey's trainers work with him five to six hours a day during the week and three hours a day on weekends.  The annual cost is in the six figures"

Behold the future of American mass employment!

For Profit Medicine: Blood Work

The other day I had to drive 20 miles to my doctor's office, just to get blood work done.  It took about 3 minutes to draw the blood, but it took me 45 minutes in morning traffic to drive to the facility, then 20 minutes wait, then 45 minutes back. 

Why not just have generic facilities (drawing blood is no more complicated than an oil change) at grocery stores?  Wait....Schnucks!

Just can't do math!

It's plausible to think that some people are better at math than others (though if you speculate about why, you may be fired, like Larry Summers) (though this is interesting).

But no one of normal intelligence "can't do math."

Marc Bellemare's story.

Of course, this is how Marc dressed up his dog for Halloween.  So, even though he's good at MATH now, he has two "pupkins" in his house. (He'll probably try to blame Janet).

UPDATE:  If facebook doesn't put out....the pupkin pic:

 

If your kid is hungry, get him to take a nap.

People eat more if they need to sleep.

Kids, too.

Explanations smack of "Just So" stories, but it makes sense:  10,000 years ago, if you weren't getting enough sleep, you were under severe stress and probably in danger.  Needed to eat to keep your strength up.  Because humans probably slept 10 hours a day or more, normally.  Just laying around.

So, if your kid is eating too much, get him to sleep more.  And you are hungry, take a nap.

NOTA! Bene....

Libertarians have long advocated putting "NOTA" in as an option in all elections.  (And we practice it!) (Of course, sometimes this happens)

India has just decided that that makes a lot of sense.  The parties should have to nominate someone YOU want, not just people THEY want.

Monday's Child

1.  A tale of two systems.

2. Art Donavan talks to Johnny Carson.  A football time capsule.

3.  Regulating psychics in Salem.  (from Zach Weiner).  Author says the town is "picaresque."  I don't think that word means what she thinks it means.  It may be picturesque, but I doubt it moves around much.

4.  Some Art Carden, on WalMart.

5.  The 24 very most Hipster Highlights in History.

moremoremoremore!

Had a bad day....

Sometime, it is useful to think about what is going to happen AFTER you take the step you are considering.

This was one of those times, I guess.

Nod to WH.

Lou's gone, but I'm back

Blogging hiatus caused by rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder (yes, I am left handed). I can type now, so look out!

Like so many people, the Velvet Underground totally transformed my idea of what music could be and what could qualify as "good". While I was more of a John Cale guy than a Lou Reed guy, Reed was a modern music colossus.

Here's a great Reed cover:






And here's a very Velvets inspired band that I love (check the words around the 1:10 mark):

Oh, No! We Are Going to Run out of WINE!

Even by the standards of popular media, this is amazingly dumb.

The article.

If only there were some mechanism to signal wine producers to make MORE wine.  We could call it....I don't know.... price?

I am making a bold prediction:  THere will be no wine shortage.  "Peak wine is peak idiocy.

Schulze Method Voting

Description of Schulze Method

An implementation

Nod to Gordon F.

Tied Elections!

It is rare for an election to be decided by a single vote.

But here are two elections, both tied.  Still a small proportion of the total, but interesting examples to use for class or lectures.

Article.

Nod to Renan.