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Sunday Reads...

10/15/2023

An irregular round-up of interesting reads. Most of these made me go "hmmmmm," none of them imply concurrence:

Quote of the Day:

We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes, we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe.
-Elie Wiesel, “Night.”

Round-up:

Need a template on how to address a university body, here it is from the University of Florida.
Taxing businesses hurts workers the most, according to the data.
The emboldening impact of belief providing confidence for greater non-moral risk-taking is studied.
Charting the residents of Judea over time.
Kidnapping and killing children were strategic aims and goals pre-planned by Hamas, according to new research.
More evidence government COVID lockdowns harmed people’s mental health.
The evidence is very counter-narrative: Unionization levels are inversely related to the size of the middle class.
Counter-narrative facts on U.S. taxpayers.
Immoral Equivalence - well said.
More evidence that school choice programs help remedy the systemic disparities developed by the traditional government school system.
Legalizing marijuana has a disparate impact on communities, along the lines common sense predicts, according to new research.
Reflections on the ills of modernity as an offensive weapon.
Who runs the best government school systems? Evidence suggests the military.
Revisiting the overstated economic impacts of climate change.
Inflation, the Infant Terrible birthed by our Federal Government.
The anti-American consumer crusade the FTC continues to wage is a real choice killer.

Sunday Reads...

10/8/2023

An irregular round up of interesting reads. Most of these made me go "hmmmmm," none of them imply concurrence:

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
The Antitrust laws—an unenforceable, uncompliable, unjudicable mess of contradictions—have for decades kept American businessmen under a silent, growing reign of terror. Yet these laws were created and, to this day, are upheld by the “conservatives,” as a grim monument to their lack of political philosophy, of economic knowledge and of any concern with principles. Under the Antitrust laws, a man becomes a criminal from the moment he goes into business, no matter what he does. For instance, if he charges prices which some bureaucrats judge as too high, he can be prosecuted for monopoly or for a successful “intent to monopolize”; if he charges prices lower than those of his competitors, he can be prosecuted for “unfair competition” or “restraint of trade”; and if he charges the same prices as his competitors, he can be prosecuted for “collusion” or “conspiracy.” There is only one difference in the legal treatment accorded to a criminal or to a businessman: the criminal’s rights are protected much more securely and objectively than the businessman’s. - Ayn Rand

Today's quote comes to mind in the context of the nutty FTC-led "anti-trust" charges in the headlines.

New study suggests a cause (and hints at a therapy) for ADHD and autism.
Charting the internet-addiction spectrum.
A round-up of work-from-home trends, data and impact. Most of the data is essentially polling, not empirical evidence, nevertheless that the value of WFM is reported by team members as equivalent to 8% of their income is of note.
A good reminder when reading social “science” studies: 60% of them cannot be replicated. Meaning, their informative not definitive.
For those whose believe that disparate impacts (correlation = causation) are dispositive, then the evidence is now clear that the IRS is a racist government agency.
The evidence continues to demonstrate the liberals are challenged at being “good” or empathic people.
However, the troubling signal that partisan schadenfreude is on the rise. Abuse of power is directly correlated to the availability of power.
Two-parent families apparently provide higher income mobility probability to children.
Ditch the phone. Evidence that even in social situations it distracts and retards the benefits of prosocial interactions.
The Law of Attraction or value of anti-diverse social interaction remains founded in reality.
Fiscal hypocrites are a bipartisan problem, “we the people,” created.
Critical review of Ibram X. Kendi’s reductionist racism mounts.
Higher Ed bloat? Some cut options.
Shocker. When you pay people not to work – they don’t.
The case against the Jones Act.
Three questions for the man who lied to Congress, who is commonly called Dr. Fauci.
The corruption of “science” and “medicine.”

Sunday Reads...

10/1/2023

An irregular round up of interesting reads. Most of these made me go "hmmmmm," none of them imply concurrence:

Quote of the Day:
Those who promise us paradise on earth never produced anything but a hell. – Karl Popper.

The data is signaling a slow-down in payrolls.
Will notes the fascist nature of the crony “Consumer Protection Bureau.”
Childhood health has a coloration to adult conservative versus liberal ideological outlooks. And apparently brain scans of liberals versus conservatives are observably different.
“Problematic news consumption” appears linked to mental health issues.
Losing the First. Americans increasingly seem to be falling out of love with Free Speech and prefer fascism.
Good news! Americans are increasingly in favor or larger families. A hopeful trend for sure.
Ouch. Members of Congress behaving badly.
Long-Covid or long con? Understanding and learning still requires the humility of real science.
More troubling data on the use of puberty-blocking chemicals in minors.
The Bermuda Triangle is so Boomer. Meet the “Alaska Triangle.”
Unhealthy for civil society: One Party has nearly abandoned “religious” affiliation.
An interesting mediation on the loss of religion in communal life and the “wanting” the void creates.
Revisiting “Sporting Excellence,” distilling 14 attributes of “greatness.”
The relationship between a decline in “independent play” by children and later mental health is studied.
The odd story of the TED company hating Martin Luther King.
Why pandemics are always political – it’s an issue of institutional structure.
A guide to the varied voices and casts in the woke/anti-woke debates.
Elon Musk didn’t read the Constitution (shocker). The President is merely the top administrative bureaucrat, not the nation’s CEO.
“Liquid courage” has now an evidence-based concept.
It was always going to be thus: THC impairs driver safety. And thus, maybe its ok that the young(er) are driving less given the prevalence of impairment in their system.
Is brandishing a copy-cat value amongst officers in blue?
Evidence abounds for the “broken window” approach to community safety.
Exposure to blue light (think tablets or phones) has a profound impact on hormones, potentially disruptive for children.

Sunday Reads...

6/22/2023

An irregular round up of interesting reads. Most of these made me go "hmmmmm," none of them imply concurrence

Adam Smith still the "man!" Here.
Research countering the narrative finds that college-educated parents might experience more stress parenting than non-college educated. Shocker.
Choice in education drives learning and economic gains, research demonstrates.
Those happy in their work, produce more. Colonel Saito wouldn't be surprised.
More evidence suggesting both short-term talent reductions as well as absent workers aka remote workers contribute to productivity losses, here.
AI is apparently coming after middle-management first, this report suggest.
Yet another way that government lockdowns hurt low income people is documented.
Apparently having a college degree nudges up longevity, study here
The US's ill-prepared pivot to running itself on oil and coal-fueled electricity is pushing

Sunday Reads...

6/18/2023

An irregular round up of interesting reads. Most of these made me go "hmmmmm," none of them imply concurrence.

A data-backed review of the Chinese Communist Party’s economic track record earns the Commies a clear “F.” Additionally, it is noted, ““the problem for the Chinese government is not only have they spent money and at least not yet apparently achieved the desired innovative outcomes, but they've alienated and angered their trading partners and arguably brought down on Chinese firms and the Chinese economy a whole range of sanctions whose costs, at least in part, probably have to be added to the cost of the resources that were directly expended on.” Another report found the same.
By GDP, the most productive parts of the nation are nixing “remote” work. Here.
Global Inequality continues to plummet, here.
Why Trade matters – it’s not just a freedom thing, it’s economics –here.
More states are freeing the “bar,” meaning reducing the artificial barriers and quasi-unionization of the legal profession. Here.
If your job is remote, it can be done cheaper even more remote. Be careful what you wish for, Here.

Sunday Reads...

6/10/2023

An irregular round up of interesting reads. Most of these made me go "hmmmmm," none of them imply concurrence.

Emotional well-being & Academic Achievement somewhat inversely correlated amongst the rising generation, study here.
False-start. More evidence that "head start" programs have no data-backed value, here. The data-set debunking the value of "Head Start" programs is nearly unassailable. The next question should be: Why do they fail?
Divinely-imbued regimes tend to be more authoritative according to this study. With the exception of the worldwide cartel of communism, history concurs.
Just thinking about God makes people better, per this study.
Evolution is selecting more conservatives for the future of the human race, and deselecting liberals per this study.
Want to win an election? Go door-to-door. For candidates in a two-person race it provides a +6% advantage per this data.
Fascinating research on the major American trend of people moving from low economic freedom towards higher economic freedom locales, here.
Apparently another unintended consequence of WARN Act regulations is to lower innovation in America, per this research. Thanks Washington, D.C.

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