Sunday Reads...

An irregular round-up of interesting reads.  Most of these made me go "hmmmmm," none of them imply concurrence:
 
Quote of the Day:
“The conception of freedom under the law … rests on the contention that when we obey laws, in the sense of general abstract rules laid down irrespective of their application to us, we are not subject to another man’s will and are therefore free. It is because the lawgiver does not know the particular cases to which his rules will apply, and it is because the judge who applies them has no choice in drawing the conclusions that follow from the existing body of rules and the particular facts of the case, that it can be said that laws and not men rule.” – F.A. Hayek

• The debate over personality traits rages on with new research suggesting that heritable rates of personality are higher than previously reported.
• A new study challenges the safety of psychedelic therapies.
• The case against left turns.
• Research suggests a correlation between IQ and earnings.
• More evidence that seeding young people with mental health challenges as an identity yields poor outcomes.
• Oh, the irony: GPT-4 beats psychologists on tests of social intelligence.
• Intra-party class divides are larger than amongst the general population.
• Research affirms the enhanced “electability” of more pronounceable names.
• Good news: Homicide rates decline in the U.S.
• Dropping out in middle school – the rapid decline of reading amongst U.S. middle schoolers.
• More evidence supports that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.
• George Will:  The principled act of not voting.
• A freer market means less corruption.

• Daily use of cannabis outpaces the U.S. daily use of alcohol new research suggests.
• Foreign threats – only if coupled with unified policymaker responses – can unify a discordant nation, research suggests.
  
• A fascinating overview of “social work” education.
  
• Sadly, home mortgages underwater on the rise.
  
• Voting shifts amongst Latino Americans modeled.
  
• The marriage-happiness connection is reviewed.
  
• Research suggests that almost half of all Master’s programs fail to achieve an economic ROI.
  
• Is Patriotism a virtue?  Yes.  Nevertheless, interesting reflections.
  
• Counter-narrative factual:  Union wage growth lags non-union worker wage growth.
  
• U.S. Wholesale Inflation hits a peak.
  
• An interesting study of college admission essays finds a stronger correlation to household income than in SAT scores.
• The "Quant King" advises "...be guided by beauty and don't give up."  Watch: