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
 
“To whom do you award the right to decide which speech is harmful or who is the harmful speaker? To whom would you delegate the task of deciding for you what you could read?”  Bonus quote:  “I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.”  Both from the late Christopher Hitchens.

•  Study finds that both liberals and conservatives are conspiracy-theory prone (at some point, it just becomes a human proclivity, no?).
• Relaxing regulations on commercial real estate correlated with commercial and consumer gains.
• Wise words on what it takes to achieve from a former Spartan football coach:
• Unsworn school security officers will likely positively impact student behavior.
• Per the research, fostering “individualism” amongst students is positive for academic performance.  Agency begets accountability, is what common sense might suggest.

• More public policy unintended consequences:  The data suggests that Dodd-Frank harms low-income homeowners.
• More unintended policy consequences: Jones Act.  New models demonstrate the cost to the US in terms of fuel due to the infamous Jones Act.
• Contra logic – the “formality effect.”  Data suggests that the more formal local governments communicate, the more compliance they generate.  An Appeal to Authority does work when you are, in effect, the Authority.
• Knock, knock!  Humurbragging.  It works, apparently.
• The crying shield, it’s real.
• Roots matter.  The more rooted a state legislator is, the less radical they are according to this research.
• The impact of workplace appearances impacts diversity application outcomes little.
• The Opioid crisis killed adults and marriages but is leaving a generation of children harmed and at greater risk.
• The impact of art upon impressionable minds can be harmful, apparently.
• Tax-data research provides counter-narrative trends on income gaps.
• Good news – therefore under-reported:  Opportunity and equality are increasing in the U.S.
• Curiosity drives us but is very transitional research suggests.
• Excessive optimism a side product of lower cognitive ability data suggests.
• You versus We, the findings will not surprise you.