Emptying the Bottle: Late-August '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile links I've Bookmarked recently:

• Exchangeable credits for skipping class to prevent skipping class.


• The misunderstood history of negative campaign ads [video].


• Turning good workers into criminals and criminals into bad workers.


• Ability to change your mind = Ability to Reason [graphic].


• Less than 3 percent of spending in the U.S. goes to China.


• How a secret roll of the dice can account for lying in large samples.


• Wishing someone luck (if they believe in it) can improve performance.


• Explainxkcd.com, explaining nerd humor to the rest us (via Justin).


• When it comes to group work, be sure to put someone in charge.


• Are youth the most discriminated people in America today [video]?


• Spoiling the ending makes for a better story [audio].


• The richer you are the busier you are (earlier).

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Early-August '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• The world's most dangerous zoo [photos].
• Movie plots that technology killed (ex: Trip Adviser vs. Psycho).
• What North Korea's "economy" looks like [audio].
• The story of the first skyscraper [audio].
• The greatest Superman comic strip ever made (earlier).
• "Bad people" get raped too.
• Why some businesses are family businesses [audio].
• Carrots and sticks as incentives can do more harm than good [video].
• No need to drink Gatorade, just gargle it.
• Patents prevent innovation (solution at minute 18 in this lecture) [audio].

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Late-June '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• It's time to stop worrying about invasive species [audio].
• Helping the homeless makes sense even if they aren't "more needy" (earlier).
• There is no such thing as a blue state or a red state.
• The use of SWAT teams by police, especially in non-violent offences.
• Why recorded, non-live, sports is so boring to watch (earlier).
• "Sleep on it" is good advice.
• Yet another reason to wash your hands after using the bathroom.
• The social economics of preschool [audio].
• The Freakonomics boys on Father's Day [audio].

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Mid-June '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• Digital factories behind real prison bars (earlier).
• The Post Office is going bankrupt and here's a great solution.
• Judges are more likely to grant parole after lunch.
• Many reasons why I can't wait for driverless cars (earlier).
• Try and spot the fake smile [videos].
• Economics of Fashion Property rights [video] (hat tip to Justin Scott).
• Why you shouldn't talk about movies on the first date (and maybe ever).
• Justin Wehr on why trying to impress others isn't so bad (part II).
• Really good put downs shouldn't feel really good [chart].
• A funny reimagining of what happened to George Lucas.
• The best advice is advice not seen as advice [video] (earlier).
• Why the South still celebrates the Civil War.

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Late-May '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• Republican professors are more comfortable with grade inequality (earlier).
• Being in charge makes us less empathetic (earlier).
• Honesty is bravery [graphic].
• The costs and benefits of logic [graphic].
• The point of owning of pet (by my request).
• Sorting email into folders doesn't help.
• Eating breakfast can help you lose weight (earlier).
• Exercise, multi-tasking, sleep, stress' affect on the brain.
• Boys who lack empathy don't react to a fearful face (earlier).
• Cable network news tickers decrease comprehension.
• Let the dead pay for Medicare.

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Mid-May '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• Why Bollywood (bottom up change) is better for fighting radical Islam [video].
• Justin Scott's thoughts on bin Laden with which I totally agree (earlier).
• Why MySpace eventually lost most of its traffic to Facebook.
• How politicians get around answering uncomfortable questions.
• NY Hasidic newspaper cuts Hillary Clinton from the situation room photo.
• Winning the lottery hurts (especially if you're the type who plays the lottery).
• Interview with the simple billion (here's his house) Warren Buffett's son [audio].
• Is depression just over self reflection and if so what are the benefits?
• Voting is correlated with satisfaction, not unsatisfaction (earlier).
• Early start times for schools can increase car accidents for students (eariler).
• What you see is what you hear, even when you know it's wrong [video].
• Wisdom of the crowd only works if the crowd don't interact.

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Early-May '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• The government asked for information illegally, but make it illegal to report them.
• A marital Should-You-Bring-It-Up-O-Meter [graphic].
• Why we left the gold standard in the first place [audio] (earlier).
• The top reasons for Facebook un-friending?
• U.S. home prices, sung as an opera [audio].
• Why students who sit at the front of the class do better.
• Why poor people buy TV's and why others' choices seem irrational.
• President Theodore Roosevelt on limiting "degenerates to reproduce their kind".
• The way you shape your face affects how you respond and makes you more creative.
• President Obama and Seth Meyers burn Donald Trump [videos].

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Late-April '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• Doing improv for more than just the laughs.
• Drug prohibition increases the homicide rate (earlier).
• Playing music only helps you learn if it's music you like (earlier).
• The BEST thing I've read on future budget and election issues.
• Half of all U.S. health care is already paid for by the government (earlier).
• Cooking today compared to the hassle from past generations (earlier).
• The one time America paid off it's debt (earlier) [audio].
• Even knowing our irrationalities (earlier), it's hard to nudge us successfully (earlier).
• Harsher prison conditions lead to more post-release crime (earlier).
• Tornados were mostly an American phenomenon [map].
• Our empathy affects our expectations for empathy, changing our interaction (earlier).
• You need 8 hours of sleep and worse, you aren't aware of it's terrible effects (earlier).

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Mid-April '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• How trademark law is being abused to the detriment of consumers.
• One way to understand other cultures is to eat at McDonalds [video].
• The first female congressman was the only to vote against WWI and WWII.
• When your favorite TV show gets canceled, it feels like a break-up (earlier).
• Past, present, and future of Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac [audio].
• Romanticism is not predictive relationship length (earlier).
• NPR's Planet Money on federal funding of NPR.
• Respect from the audience comes from a respect for the audience [graph].
• The best songs are ones you can "gently tap your thigh, and go crazy".
• Interesting discussion of the science and politics of addiction [audio].
• Upside to war is that female, black, young, and gay Americans are helped.
• A thought on why American politicians lie (hint: they're all the same).
• Coupons are used to price discriminate (long version) [audio].
• Workplace fatalities were decreasing before progressivism [chart].

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Early-April '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• If economists had a political party I might not join it (earlier).
• Want to improve your mood? Don't vent, be happy.
• How the washing machine helps us learn [video] (earlier).
• There is an I in Team [graphic].
• Awesome logos with secret messages (via Jeff).
• Exercise will make you eat more.
• Even suicide terrorists are price sensitive.
• Fake tweets by robot fool hundreds of followers (earlier).
• Why German history kept is out of Libya.
• The future of phones doesn't have phones (video).
• European national bankruptcy is fairly common.
• Humanity would organize themselves into haves and have nots.

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Late-March '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• Clumping history together: The Beatles in the year 3000 [video].
• The correlation of big government and immigration limits.
• "Life's too short to do the wrong job" [ads].
• Will the Japanese disaster help Japan reorganize (earlier).
• Why economists aren't very convincing [cartoon].
• Despite obesity, life expectancy is still rising (earlier).
• Diet may help ADHD kids more than drugs (thanks Cheryl).
• From the Diplomat blog: Exposé: James Scott Farrin Commercials.
• Lack of sleep makes you less ethical (earlier and earlierer).
• Is the phone call dying? If so, I feel old.
• Citizens in Switzerland are given a gun for national defense.

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Mid-March '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

•  In the future, we will all be Danny DeVitos.
• Non-religious arguments against abortion (earlier).
• The poor better at reading others, maybe because they need to.
• Justin Landwehr created a new blog: 99 things I'm embarrassed are true (later).
• Destruction doesn't create wealth, even for urinal cakes.
• Trading of carbon credits could subsidize backward nations like North Korea.
• Using electronics before bed can make sleep harder.
• "Starve the beast" (cut taxes to force cutting government) doesn't work.
• Employee of the Month may hurt more than it helps.
• It seems the midwest (and the Northeast) are the best places to live [graphic].
• Snoop from The Wire gets arrested (earlier).

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Early-March '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• There's a place in St. Paul that let's alcoholics go to drink and die.
• Does my blog help or hurt me get on a jury?
• Make meetings better and faster, hold them standing up.
• Most tourists take pictures from the same spot [photo] (earlier).
• Interview with Chris Anderson, curator of the TED Conference [video] (earlier).
• People are ruder in their car because of the barrier between them.
• Madoff is not a metaphor for Social Security, but for the government (earlier).
• Is lying okay? Here are three good reasons to lie.
• The un-famous story of Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes [audio].
• Make you blog posts into a book.
• Police bias can make police dogs bias [video].
• Who will still be famous in 10,000 years?

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Late-February '11 Links

"Hello", here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• Looking closely at the source of pain reduces the amount of pain felt.
• Ronald Reagan as a center-right pragmatic reformer (earlier).
• A serious and a funny fact-check on Scientology.
• Obama administration finally says not everybody should own a home (earlier).
• When the body has to fight off disease, it burdens intellectual growth.
• In the future, we'll never make purchases alone and without information.
• Superstition can increase performance (earlier and earlierer).
• The White House budgets increase, not decreases, deficits (earlier).
• Another kind of game theory game based on trust (earlier).
• Quit blogging or tell the truth (earlier).
• The most convincing argument in support of global warming [chart].
• Why people would confess to crimes they didn't commit.

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival Suggestions

Once again, live comedy converges on the South. This is the third and final week of the North Carolina Comedy Art Festival. Sketch and stand up weeks are over and it's on to my favorite, improv week! If you're within driving distance, this is your chance to see improv comedy from around the nation (and Canada). Here are my must see recommendations:

Friday:

• 7:30pm at the DSI Comedy Theater: featuring my friend James Robilotta and his NYC  freestyle rap/improv team, North Coast
• 9:00 pm at the Cats Cradle: featuring the Beatbox (more freestyle rap improv) and headlining comedian Emo Philips
• 9:30pm at the DSI Comedy Theater: featuring DSI's Cagematch champions, Sparky Anderzander, trying to hold on to the Super CageMatch championship
• 10:00pm at the ArtsCenter Main Stage: featuring, Death by Roo Roo, Mister Diplomat*,  and the Festival All-Stars (festival instructors)

Saturday:

• 8:00 pm at the ArtsCenter Main Stage: featuring PT Scarborough Is A Movie (one man movie) and The Josh and Tamra Show (puppet improv)
• 9:30pm at the DSI Comedy Theater: featuring Doctor Ballroom (Boston), 3 Men and a Little Lady (Charleston), BillyHawk (L.A.), and Date Night (Baltimore)
• 10:00pm at the ArtsCenter Main Stage: More Festival All-Stars, The 708**, the final show of the festival, The Bat (improv in the dark)

If you want to see me, I'm performing each night with different teams:

• Wednesday: with The 708: 9:30pm at the DSI Comedy Theater
• Thursday: with Pound for Pound: 10pm at the ArtsCenter Main Stage
• *Friday: with Mister Diplomat: 10pm at the ArtsCenter Main Stage
• **Saturday: with The 708: 9:30pm at the ArtsCenter Main Stage

Go here for a full schedule. You can buy tickets online or at the door.

Emptying the Bottle: Mid-February '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• Mubarak has a 30% chance (earlier) of leaving by April (earlier and earlierer).
• Every NBA slam dunk contest visualization (via Justin Wehr) [videos].
• Prison makes you more likely to commit crimes after release (earlier).
• New spray-on skin gun heals burns in days [video].
• "Hans Rosling (earlier) but for fatties!" [graphic] (quote from Justin Wehr).
• Discussion on whether we should drug test those on public aid [video].
• The six stages of Libertarian denial.
• The average person is rated attractive [graphic].
• TED talks set to a beat [audio] (earlier).
• ADHD may actually make people more creative (earlier).
• Meetifyr.com helps groups find the best time to meet up.
• A clock powered by dead flies it caught [video] (another from Justin Wehr).
• We have a bias against/for attractive people of a similar/opposite sex.
• Why China should worry about the protests in Egypt.

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Early-February '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• A new extreme sport that combines ice skating and downhill skiing [video].
• The Smoot-Hawley tariff wasn't a major reason for the Great Depression?
• Judge rules white girl will be tried as black adult [video].
• Drug raid gone wrong and how it could have been avoided [video].
• In Great Britain, it is still very difficult to adopt cross-racially.
• U.S. officials privately admit WikiLeaks damage was limited (earlier).
• A great idea for a class: Comparing Alternatives 101.
• Unintended consequences of government weight loss programs.
• How cutting off communication in Egypt may signal for more protest.
• Discussion of reports from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission [audio].
• Taking a shower can make you more harsh (earlier).
• Politicians collide with distracted pedestrians on walking with music ban.

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Emptying the Bottle: Late-January '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• Five rules for coping with national tragedy [video] (earlier).
• Prezi.com, may be the best way lecture I've ever seen. I hope to use it soon.
• How a cute animal contest explains economic bubbles.
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, corrected to reflect modern sensibilities [cartoon].
• 60 Minutes clip on a British savant nicknamed the Brain Man [video].
• GDP mis-measurements may mean the Chinese economy is number one (earlier).
• Cult classics depend on how good the movie is, but not linearly [graphic].
• Wikipedia's data on it's own fundraising attempts (hat tip to Justin Wehr).
• Not super surprisingly, brains and brawn come together not separately.
• Some Starbucks' now accept mobile phone payments.
• The politics of the thumb. I think I remember Clinton starting this.
• Allowing you to pay as you wish increases profits for roller coaster pictures (earlier).

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.

Worthwhile Sentences on Defense

From the Boston Globe:  "It seems sensible to make every effort to enlist the body's own ability to heal itself—which is what, at bottom, placebos seem to do"

From Doug Bandow: "Indeed, today the military does almost everything except defend the United States."

From Nassim Taleb: "Your reputation is harmed the most by what you say to defend it."

From Billy Graham's wife when asked if she had ever considered divorce: "Divorce? No. Murder? Yes."

From long dead economist Frederic Bastiat: "When goods don't cross borders, soldiers will."

Emptying the Bottle: Mid-January '11 Links

Here is a list of the worthwhile sites I've Bookmarked recently:

• Ideas of on how to improve Congress. Example: "Make Congress a temporary job."
• Cash for Clunkers turns out to be a clunker (earlier).
• Perhaps black men would benefit most from drug legalization (earlier).
• Manufacturing in America is doing great, just not for manufacture workers.
• Game Theory in punishing your two kids (earlier).
• Is the future leaking into the past? I honestly don't know.
• What libertarians should, and shouldn't, be blamed for.
• Goldman Sachs Facebook offer sounds just like the Nigerian email scam.
• Women's tear contents lessen men's sexual arousal.
• Story about how science and economics compete when market power exists [video].
• Hamlet gets his day in court, or at least in a mock trial before Justice Kennedy.
• Invisible tanks on the battlefield in five years (earlier).

As always, feel free to email me anything interesting you come across.