On another note, one of the puzzling underlying findings in this paper is the relationship between moderate alcohol consumption and increased lifetime earnings. For men and women alike, people who report downing two or fewer drinks a day earn slightly more than teetotalers do, on average. Heavy alcohol use tends to negatively impact earnings, as you might imagine, but not as much as abstinence. Sloan and Ostermann aren’t clear on the mechanics of this relationship, but the science seems solid.
Does drinking lead to higher earnings, or vice versa?
Can Binge Drinking Save Social Security? – Freakonomics – Opinion – New York Times Blog.
rePost: Except what makes life worthwhile
I’d like to borrow his phrasing. We exist doing everything, accumulating many things, experiencing the newest things, and the fanciest fads, everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.
from youtube, thanks to mark thoma here:
more information:
Forty years ago, Robert F. Kennedy challenged the basic way we measure progress and well-being in America. Today, the Glaser Progress Foundation is raising the same questions through a new medium. The Seattle-based foundation released a new web video marking the anniversary of a famous speech in which Kennedy said the Gross Domestic Product counts “everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.” (emphasis mine)
rePost: Hope They Taught Me Like This–Do It First, Then We’ll Talk | Addison Road
I was talking to rain last night after our videoke session with jizelle.
I was decrying my observation that most people I meet in school do not really come to love what they are studying. And it comes from the observation that most professors who could help students find love for their field of study just don’t. This creates two problems.
- People who were gonna love what they were learning loved it much later
- People who weren’t gonna love what they were studying found out much later.
I hope professors try to challenge their students, tell them if after this class you do not think you love what we are studying, shift , shift NOW.
“Joy first, theory second.”
Do It First, Then We’ll Talk | Addison Road.
Dani Rodrik's weblog: Alter-globalization
I haven’t studied this enough to even start forming an opinion.
emphasis mine from the excellent Dani Rodrik’s blog here:
As one might expect, the book takes swipes at the usual suspects: the Washington Consensus, the IFIs, the MNCs, Tom Friedman, and Jeff Sachs. Against the growth-focused and globalization-centered views of these institutions and commentators, Robin and John argue for a localized, community-based, self-sufficient model of development. What many others would celebrate as real development (for example the spread of commercial farming for export in the Philippines) they see as the destruction of local communities. They write: “We stand at a moment marking the end of what may well be the most destructive development era of modern history.”
Dani Rodrik’s weblog: Alter-globalization.
rePost: Paul Kedrosky: Evaluating Good Bank/Bad Bank, Banking Bailouts, etc.
I think this is excellent advice for problem solving in general.
- Imagine what you have to do to solve a problem. Now multiply it by 10(adjust by level of uncertainty) and that’s what you really have to do.
- Trying to keep things as they were is futile, be prepared for change.
- The surest way to solve a problem is to confront the roots of the problem. The disease and not the symptoms.
from pk here:
Be sure to read this too from the conclusion:
If there are lessons from the experience, several come to the surface:
1. Costs of intervention are generally larger than anticipated;
2. Interventions aimed at preserving the current institutional structure generally do not achieve the expected outcome;
3. The only sure resolution appears to come from confronting the insolvency directly and addressing its financial implications, no matter how large.
Paul Kedrosky: Evaluating Good Bank/Bad Bank, Banking Bailouts, etc..
Japan's new professional seducers – Times Online
Nods head in agreement!
“It’s much easier to seduce a man than a woman,” he goes on. “Women don’t have affairs for fun; for them it’s serious.” That makes it far more difficult to manipulate a woman than a man. Men are not suspicious when a lovely young girl starts chatting to them. Even a bald 40-year-old salesman in a crumpled suit with a cheap briefcase assumes he’s irresistible to women. Men are also much less hesitant about having sex with someone they hardly know.
Japan’s new professional seducers – Times Online.
rePost: Blogonomics: Brand Theft – Finance Blog – Felix Salmon – Market Movers – Portfolio.com
Sometimes its all about the money. I wish I started bloggin before bloggin was about the money, but sadly I was too preoccupied then.
Recently an econoblogger emailed me to ask about a website which had been stealing his content without his permission. He asked them to stop, and they did — but he was still unhappy; I told him that the best thing to do was simply not be unhappy.
It’s the nature of blogs to put intellectual property out there, on the web, for free. If you do that, there will be lots of unintended consequences. Don’t sweat them. If Barry really thinks that Seeking Alpha wouldn’t have used the phrase “The Big Picture” were it not for the existence of his blog, then, well, that tab over at seekingalpha.com is just another one of thousands of unintended consequences that Barry’s blog has had.
Bloggers can control the content on their own sites; that’s hard enough. It’s just not worth it to start getting upset about content on other sites, especially when that content isn’t doing you any harm.
Blogonomics: Brand Theft – Finance Blog – Felix Salmon – Market Movers – Portfolio.com.
funny? idts. You Tube Search Is Broken
just realized that i search for a channel, well I believe its still broken.
I Love The West Wing
.
Watching this obama ad, made me remember the my favorite show (tied with the Wire) the West Wing. I distinctly remember the matt santos ad where matt santos says “This is matt santos and you better believe that I approve this ad”. I was almost half expecting barack obama to say those very words.
This left me wanting to rewatch my favorite scenes from the west wing. thanks to youtube, Desire To watch Favorite Scenes + youtube means a half day spent on watching West Wing scenes. Damn you west wing. I love that show soooooo much!
rePost: Findings – As External Barriers Disappear, Internal Gender Gaps Widen – NYTimes.com
Interesting , if most of the changes are due to men then maybe, (humor me) just maybe the feminist movement has got it all wrong, its the men who have been forced to assume a not so normal role in more traditional hierarchical societies, it means that traditional societies in a way enslaved men more than women. And if this is true then is this the reason that men suffer higher rates of mental diseases? because we are not in a more natural state of existence.
It looks as if personality differences between men and women are smaller in traditional cultures like India’s or Zimbabwe’s than in the Netherlands or the United States. A husband and a stay-at-home wife in a patriarchal Botswanan clan seem to be more alike than a working couple in Denmark or France. The more Venus and Mars have equal rights and similar jobs, the more their personalities seem to diverge.
…..
The biggest changes recorded by the researchers involve the personalities of men, not women. Men in traditional agricultural societies and poorer countries seem more cautious and anxious, less assertive and less competitive than men in the most progressive and rich countries of Europe and North America.
…..
Findings – As External Barriers Disappear, Internal Gender Gaps Widen – NYTimes.com.