Athenian versus Pirate Democracy?
Yes, you read it right. Read on... and check back on your choice.

Exercise!
"It's crazy not to do it," says NYT. :)

Security-compromising radiation from communications equipment
Here's the tale...

What an insult!
Here are some crazy feminists and church leaders insulting people from their moral high horses! If they don't want Playboy, then they shouldn't read or buy it. Better yet, why don't they publish their own magazine? Feminism and the Church together? What an historically odd couple! In the meantime, to show my support for liberty and the market, I can't wait to buy my first Philippine Playboy.

Goodbye, Arthur C Clark!
You will be missed. :(

What do McDonald's and a drug gang have in common?
Not cash but a solid corporate structure, say Columbia sociologist Venkatesh.

"Wir lassen nie vom Suchen ab, und doch, am Ende allen unseren Suchens sind wir am Ausgangspunkt zurück und werden diesen Ort zum ersten Mal erfassen."

The maestro on risk management
With all its mathematical sophistication, current financial and economic risk management breaks down. In an FT article, the maestro explains, "The most credible explanation of why risk management based on state-of-the-art statistical models can perform so poorly is that the underlying data used to estimate a model’s structure are drawn generally from both periods of euphoria and periods of fear, that is, from regimes with importantly different dynamics."

Adult neurogenesis
The orthodoxy is that we constantly loose our neurons as we age. Here's a heterodoxy. Plus, the idea that poverty could also be a matter of biology is something "free will" guys might not want to live with.

"Art will become a crucial source of scientific ideas"
So says Jonah Lehrer who himself has impeccable science credentials. See how Marcel Proust could be a neuroscientist!

Subprime woes
Here's the best comical presentation ever on the subprime crisis.

UC Berkeley lectures now online
For friends who have just come out of their batcaves, pick your courses here. Ironically, one of the lectures seems to suggest that face-to-face lectures are much better. "You can't beat the live performance," the professor says.

Economics professor as homo economicus
Watch him live la vida loca!


He is no other than Robert H. Frank of Cornell.

Economics has never been this funny!





If you can't get enough of the video, the text adds value.

Smart teens don't have sex (or kiss much either)
Here's the study, and a discussion. Now I know why I survived high school without losing it. :)

Science vs Religion, one more time
Religion wins, hands down. The Scientific American concedes. :)

Harry Potter and Economics
I've been looking for excuses to procrastinate on reading the last installment of the HP series. Once I missed a class because I was so engrossed reading the 3rd book that I totally forgot my class schedule. Now here's for the bashing and possibly my excuse too. Continue until you finish reading the comments as well. Probably the odds are not exactly in favor of my not reading it. Here's a piece that says exactly the opposite about HP not making any economic sense. Talk about economics being a dismal science.

Engineer vs Philanthropist
Who contributes more for the society's well being? An engineer or a philanthropist? Bill Gates the software engineer or Bill Gates the Philanthropist? It depends how you calculate their contributions. This guy has it his way.

Lead Exposure and Criminality
If you're a fan of Freakonomics that attributes the drop in criminality in the US to the institution of abortion, here's even more freakish link to criminality: lead exposure. Surges in crime correlate with heights of lead exposure in population. The evidence appears to be more solid than what's used to support the Freakonomics thesis on the abortion-criminality link.

Politically Incorrect Truths
Psychology Today (not exactly up there in academic reputation) published this nonetheless amusing article on "truths" about human "nature": why suicide bombers are Muslims, why men prefer sexy blonds, and so on.