Different Hues, Identical Views =/= "Diversity"

Interesting that the explanation of "bias" occurs to psych-os so readily, but not so much when it comes to the obvious bias against conservatives.

Or so says John Haidt, in this speech here, nicely power pointed. Terrific talk, < 30 mins. In fact, one of the best talks I have ever seen.

And John Tierney wrote about it, and the New York Times published it. I'm pinching myself. Must be dreaming.

Some little pieces on this debate in which I have had a voice.

One

Two

Three

Four

Five


Mr. Overwater? Thoughts?

(Nod to Neanderbill)

Regulation Helps Established Firms....

New Flash: Regulation helps established firms, creates entry barriers, and protects profit.

Next: The sun rises in the east.

The only thing surprising about this is that you lefties think that THIS time, if we only elect the right people, things will be different.

Fail!

(Nod to Angry Alex)

Man's Best Friend

Dog bites man's infected toe.

Ewwwwwwwwww!

(One of the commenters sympathizes with the dog, says dog needs antibiotics. Another wishes the man had been suffering from impotence. Tough crowd)

(Nod to the Blond)

Weiner Dog Diver

Using scuba gear and a wet suit!

A weiner dog is even shaped like a submarine. This is pretty cute: look at the tiny legs on the wet suit. The weight of the tank will keep him upright. Go, Boniface!

Police Car Chew Toy

(Nod to Angry Alex, who called this "the darnedest thing")

Icelanders: "No way, We won't pay!" Hey, We Don't WE Get to Vote on the Bailout?

So a bunch of goofballs in Europe put their money in a phony bank in Iceland, and lost a lot of Euros.

Then the European "We passed a law against risk" doofuses, (okay, the Brits and the Dutch) decided that making citizens take responsibility for being goofballs is just too harsh, and used taxes raised at gunpoint from non-goofball citizens to pay off the goofballs.

Not surprisingly, the non-goofballs were miffed about this. Though I think in Britain and Nederlands there are laws against independent thought.... still, some people said, "why?"

So, the European government thugs decided to use extortion: Iceland, you can't play in our EU sandbox until you tax YOUR citizens to pay back OUR non-goofballs for having bailed out OUR goofballs who should never have invested in YOUR fake bank in the first place.

The Iceland government agreed, of course. It's not their money. The money belongs to the citizens of Iceland, who already took a giant hit because (as far as I can tell) every citizen of Iceland is a giant goofball in his/her own right.

But losing money because YOU are a goofball makes sense. Having to pay other people because THEY are goofballs....I don't see that. The Telfarssons and Helgotsdottirs of Iceland appear to agree, voting "NO" quite emphatically.

On the plus side, at least Icelanders get to VOTE on their dumb bailout. In the US, we are even worse: we don't have votes, just back room deals and payoffs to Democratic senators.


(Nod to Anonyman)

Are we STANDING for this?

Lost the STOP GOOGLE! suit. Darn.

And, on a strange technicality. Turns out I did not have "standing" to sue.

In other words, it's my money (or part of it). It's state policy, and I live in the state. But you can't sue.

Note that this is NOT sovereign immunity, saying no one could sue the state. This is just that no one can sue the state. Get it? Neither do I...

(UPDATE: Anonyman shares this wisdom.... Think of standing like this: Your spouse wakes up and comes down stairs for coffee, she looks at you with an icy stare and says that in her dream you asked her to participate in a freaky three-way, and she's ticked at you because of her dream. You can now respond that since you were not a party to the dream, she does not have standing to be mad at you.

I'm sure it will work like a charm.

Oh, yeah. THAT will definitely work...)

Edwards: She Said That....I am the One! But The Kid Is Not My Son!

Wait. Yes, it is.

You have to like the "my mistress is such a slut she slept with everyone on my campaign" defense that Edwards tried at first. I'm sure Ms. Hunter liked that a lot.

Grade Inflation: Bad

Less grade inflation ==> more effort by students. Less "happiness," perhaps, but more effort and more learning.

Real Costs of Nominal Grade Inflation? New Evidence from Student Course
Evaluations

Philip Babcock, Economic Inquiry, forthcoming

Abstract: College grade point averages in the United States rose substantially between the 1960s and the 2000s. Over the same period, study time declined by almost
a half. This paper uses a 12-quarter panel of course evaluations from the University of California, San Diego to discern whether a link between grades and effort investment holds up in a micro setting. Results indicate that average study time would be about 50% lower in a class in which the average expected grade was an "A" than in the same course taught by the same instructor in which students expected a "C." Simultaneity suggests estimates are biased toward 0. Findings do not appear to be driven primarily by the individual student's expected grade, but by the average expected grade of others in the class. Class-specific characteristics that generate low expected grades appear to produce higher effort choices — evidence that
nominal changes in grades may lead to real changes in effort investment.

(Nod to Kevin L)

Stupid Human Tricks

Article from the Wilmington Star News (I was in Wilmington to do a radio interview on THE BIG TALKER)

Man arrested day after leading Wilmington PD on chase through town

A man was arrested Tuesday night after he led police on a chase in Wilmington the night before, officials said. Johnnie Mack Shingler, 23, faces charges including speeding to elude arrest, driving the wrong way on a divided highway and driving without a license, according to Sgt. Matt Hardee of N.C. Highway Patrol.

Shingler is from the state of New York.

On Monday, Hardee said, troopers joined a pursuit, which was started around midnight Monday by Wilmington police who spotted a 1972 Plymouth Valiant driving without a license plate, Hardee said. The chase went from Wilmington, down Carolina Beach Road and toward Monkey Junction. At one point, Hardee said, the fleeing driver drove north in the southbound lanes of College Road. Rather than following, troopers tracked the driver from the other side of the road. Eventually, the driver ditched his car off of Trombay Drive, ran into the woods and escaped.

Authorities found pictures of Shingler and his birth certificate in the car, Hardee said. – David Reynolds

1. A 1972 Plymouth Valiant? REALLY?
2. The guy left his picture and birth certificate in the car. IN. THE. CAR.
3. Monkey Junction?

Republicans are Hypocrites

Remarkable that the best defense the Dems can come up with for their "sell your children" deficit is "The Republicans did it!"

I thought that the Dems, and Obama in particular, had promised to make DIFFERENT mistakes. So far, foreign / military policy is Bush III. And, since the Republican fiscal policy was "run up the deficit, and pay off Goldman Sachs," and the Dem policy is "run up the deficit much faster, and pay off Goldman Sachs,"...well, I don't see much to pick from here.

Still, sure, for the record, the Republicans are stone liars. I agree.

Six years ago, "it was standard practice not to pay for things," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "We were concerned about it, because it certainly added to the deficit, no question." His 2003 vote has been vindicated, Hatch said, because the prescription drug benefit "has done a lot of good."

"Standard practice not to pay for things"? Only if you are a Senator, Orrin. And the idea that spending "does a lot of good" is amazing. Clearly, if I take money from A at gunpoint, and give some of it to B (keeping the rest to pay my expenses), then B is, in terms of that one program, better off. That is NOT the same as "does a lot of good," even if there are many people in the B category.

And the prescription drug benefit, since it was paid for with deficit, actually takes money from B's grandchildren in the future, and gives it to B NOW. B likely would not do that straight up, but give B the smoke-screen of this being a "government program," and it DOES A LOT OF GOOD!

(Nod to Anonyman, who never lies. Just ask him.)

Puppy Christmas!

I Must Be Just About the Most Handsome Guy Around!

When they are behind, "out" parties choose candidates with higher quality faces.

Mr. De Mille, I am ready for my close up!

Candidate Faces and Election Outcomes: Is the Face-Vote Correlation Caused by Candidate Selection?

Matthew Atkinson, Ryan Enos & Seth Hill
Quarterly Journal of Political Science, October 2009, Pages 229-249

Abstract: We estimate the effect of candidate appearance on vote choice in congressional elections using an original survey instrument. Based on estimates of the facial competence of 972 congressional candidates, we show that in more competitive races the out-party tends to run candidates with higher quality faces. We estimate the direct effect of face on vote choice
when controlling for the competitiveness of the contest and for individual partisanship. Combining survey data with our facial quality scores and a measure of contest comp- etitiveness, we find a face quality effect for Senate challengers of about 4 points for independent voters and 1-3 points for partisans. While we estimate face effects that could potentially matter in close elections, we find that the challenging candidate's face is never the
difference between a challenger and incumbent victory in all 99 Senate elections in our study.

(Nod to Kevin L, who has excellent face quality)

Governor Terminator Sends Message to Legislature

Governor A. Schwarzenegger sends message to Cal Assembly.

(Nod to Tommy the Brit)

Roamin' Polanski

Ken presents an argument from Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques, which I found appalling, amusing, and not surprising.

Ken does a fine job discussing the merits, and assumptions, of the Société.

And, as we should all see clearly, this is an excellent opportunity. All we need now is persuade Dick Cheney to make a trip to Switzerland. I know! The SACD can offer to give him an award.....

Overcompensation?

Sports Shorts

1. Roger Federer defeats Andy Roddick at Wimbledon to claim his 15th Grand Slam title. Tomorrow's news flash: sugar is sweet, sun rises in the east. You may want to watch this 2007interview, which is still as hilarious as any post-match interview you will see. Whatever else, Andy does a good job of telling the truth.

2. Steve McNair found dead in condo. Ick.

Hundesalons

There are some very interesting "hundesalons," or grooming and style shops for pups.

My two favorites so far:

1. Doggy Style, on Hauptstrasse in Elrangen (no, I not kidding. Doesn't seem to have a web site. But that's the sign in the window: DOGGY STYLE. And then some photos of dogs getting haircuts. I like it a lot.)

2. Queer Dogs, in Tübingen.

People are pretty serious about dog haircuts, I understand. But each of the above is a little surprising in its innocence.

TA Comes Up Big

On Friday evening, May 8, you can see PERC Executive Director (and KPC fan!) Terry Anderson in prime time on ABC's "20/20" with host John Stossel. As part of a special segment on saving endangered species, Anderson recommends markets as the best way to preserve those parts of our environment that we value most and that includes endangered species. The show airs at 10 p.m. ET.

ABC promotes the show as follows:

THE BEST WAY TO SAVE MANY ENDANGERED SPECIES IS TO EAT THEM. International bans on the trade of rare animal parts (tiger organs, elephant tusks, rhino horns) have been about as successful as the international war on drugs. Why? Because wherever there is a demand strong enough, market forces overwhelm law enforcement. Terry Anderson of PERC, the Property and Environmental Research Center, claims that governments have repeatedly failed when they tried to save animals by banning their sale -- it failed with the Colobus monkey in West Africa … with the alligator in China … and now, with the tiger in Asia. It's quite the conceit that a few conservation groups think a government decree can change history, and get a billion plus people to change their habits. By contrast, does America have a shortage of chickens? No, because people own them and eat them. Allowing private owners to sell animals for food or tourism saved the rhino and the elephant in Africa, and the bison in America. It could save the tiger too, if environmental groups would drop their resistance.

KPC exclusive: What Steve Jobs has been up to lately